Mind Map and Micro Teaching

I would like to begin with a quote that says: “be prepared for the unexpected.” With this I refer to everything we planned and went wrong at the end. We had planned our mind map to be one of the better ones, but we couldn’t make it work. The day came, but I was prepared with the material since I thought I knew it. I was the last one to explain the topic and the first one to perform the micro teaching. I began explaining the topic and didn’t forget what I had to say. I know that when I’m teaching or presenting, I do not smile too much. This time was not the exception. After explaining the topic, I told the class we were going to move on to the micro teaching. I prepared an activity which was called “built the pattern.” The activity was aimed to introduce the pattern or structures of the conditionals. I told my students that the zero conditional was going to be conditional 1, so conditional 1 was going to be conditional number 2, and so on, but they didn’t pay too much attention to that since the common way goes from zero conditional, conditional 1, conditional 2, and conditional 3. Students couldn’t perform the task as expected because I chose a different order for the conditionals. Additionally, I committed a mistake when grouping the students since I couldn’t do the math to divide the groups equally. After the activity, since I didn’t have time because the activity took too much time, I ended my performance. I had prepared another activity, but I couldn’t perform it. At the end, it was time for feedback. I was told that I didn’t smile too much and that I was looking to the floor and didn’t maintain eye contact. Moreover, I was told that I stayed in the same place and didn’t move too much to catch students’ attention. My strengths were that I have good language manage and that I knew the topic. I really agree with the things I was told since I think the judges were objective. Once, some friends told me that I tend to do all the things previous mentioned, so I was aware of that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid doing that. My plan to better that is: I am going to talk in front of friends to practice my smile while explaining something; for example, I can form a study group to have mini presentations so that I get use to smile while explaining or presenting. In that way, I will cover and overcome my challenges since I will have to maintain eye contact with the audience- my friends.

My Teaching Practice Experience

My teaching practice has been the best practice I had because I created a good rapport with my students, and I think that helped my students learned better. At the beginning, I could notice who the intrinsic motivated students were and who were not motivated at all. I identify one student, whose name is Francisco and who is wearing a black shirt in the picture, that was not willing to pay attention and that always complaining about the activities (just as the way I am). I said to myself that I had to make this student understand the topics and get good grades because I was told that he always got bad grades. I paid attention to all my students, but he was my principal focus of attention. First, I brought some activities for them so that they could learn and enjoy at the same time. I could notice that Francisco didn’t like to participate in any activity, but one day while I was sitting on a bench he approached me with some other classmates, and I talked with them. I told them that I did believe they were capable of succeeding in the subject and asked them to participate in the class. That talk followed more random talks in which we talked about different things and in which I could create a good rapport. My surprise was that in the following classes, he seemed more interested in the class, and in fact, I asked him to participate, and he doubtless helped me with the activity. Once he told me that I was calling on his name all the time, but I told him that I was doing that because he was capable of solving the exercise. At the end, I assessed if my students had understood the topic I had taught. I prepared a test for them, and some of them didn’t get good grades, but Francisco got a 10 in the test. I think that I reached what I had set for my teaching practice tough with the tutor’s evaluation I am not so in agreement because she was not in the classroom all the time, so I think that it would have been better if she had stayed in the classroom to assess my performance and to give me grades with which I would agree more.

My Drama Experience

What I can say about the drama we performed met what I expected because I remember that we were giving some good ideas when preparing the script. Besides the time it took us to get it done, we had a lot of fun since we laughed a lot when practicing it. I could notice that we worked as a team because we helped each other with the pronunciation of the words and other stuffs. It was not an easy task to get the drama ready since we had some schedule problems, but at the end we overcame that problem since when we gathered, we worked hard and gave our 200% to do it well. As I said before, I got to meet my classmates even more and though my classmates told me I was so strict with what they were doing (specially performing) I was worthy because I could realize I worked. At the beginning, I was not excited about performing a drama, but now I think it is great, awesome, and fantastic. Now, I love the idea of performing a drama, and that is what I consider the best thing above all because it changed my perception towards dramas.

The Stage before Performing the Drama

In this stage, we were so busy working in the drama. we were having problems because not all the members of my team could get together. We are doing our best to make it work. What i liked is that we were having fun while creating the stoty and that we are becoming more friends than ever. everybody said that i like perfect things, but it was becuase i know we can do it. i think we are going to do well!!!

My own perception about using dramas in the EFL classroom.

I think that dramas are new and good way of learning here in El Salvador. What would the benefits be of using it? In my experience, I can say that they help to create a good environment among students. For example, I think I created some stronger bonds with my classmates especially with Geidi because I never got the chance to talk to her till this time we performed the drama based on Dangerous Minds. Dramas are an excellent way of practicing the language without worrying about using it correctly since students have the chance of creating their own story. Additionally, it helps to promote their imagination so that learning takes place easily. Finally, what I can say is that if I am to use dram, I have to give some freedom to my students to choose the topic since in this way the experience would be more significant and that I have to help them in the areas they need improvement.

Second Reaction Paper

Some people may argue that teaching is a science or an art, but in the seeking of this answer; many of them have not reached an agreement. First we have to define what an art of science is, and then, we may be able to determine whether teaching is a science or an art or to what degree it fulfills any of them. Science has a specific object of study and a purpose that may vary according to what science is studying at the time and may have its own jargon; for example, lawyers have a specific way of talking when they talk at courts. On the contrary, art, for me, may have not a specific object of study. Art is the abilities a determined person has to do amazing things with a limited resource or with what this person has. Science may follow some fixed procedures that may barely change with new emerging theories through time and that will show the same result since it is based on facts, but art, on the other hand, has the characteristic of being adapted according to the circumstances.

After knowing this, we may proceed to determine what teaching is- science or art or if it fits in both. As stated before science has its objects or purposes; however, teaching may have purposes and object of study. Teaching is a complex process that requires not only “lecturing,” as it has been done, but observing. We, as teachers, have the responsibility to observe or assess whether learning is taking place. Though learning and teaching may be seen has different, they are linked to each other. It may happen that some teachers do not even know some specific terms used in the teaching field, but certainly, there exist some terms referring to teaching. So far, these are some hints that may lead us to think teaching is a science. On the other hand, when talking of teaching as art, we can highlight that teaching can be adapted to different circumstances or in this case, students. I, as a teacher, can do amazing things in the teaching field even if I have limited resources. But the most remarkably point is that, in teaching, there is nothing to ensure the outcome of the students as in scientific outcomes that you can foretell the result. With this, I can say that teaching is art since it depends on how well I can adapt teaching to my students. Additionally, in teaching, it is an art to achieve the outcome you want.

To sum up, I can say that teaching is an art since it depends on our abilities to achieve the students’ outcome we want, but at the same time, it is a science since it has the objects of study, purposes, and even a jargon that not all of the teachers know. Teachers, in fact, have to change the way they teach since the way they teach is teacher-centered. There must be a change into student-centered classes where the students are faced with reality and where they develop their thinking skills. Above all, teacher must include or teach how to learn since this is going to help the student during his or her life.