Kriscia Lorena Castelln

TEACHING PRACTICE I
June 15th 2014
TEACHING PRACTICE
REFELECTION AND
SYSTEMATIZATION











































1
In the present paper, I will show you a complex explanation about my
Teaching Practice in which I am going to explain a lot of important things along
the Teaching Learning Process.
These are some points that I need to use to give the explanation about my teaching
Practice.

1. Explain and include a Teaching Critical Reflection in what you have been
through in you TP and during the course.
2. Explain step by step how you are going to do a systematization of the
Teaching Practice Process.
3. Explain and describe how you are going to apply the e-portfolio approach
including the new learning environment in the ELT.
4. Explain how you are going to deal if you want to use technology in a
school or place of work but if there is not Tech in the classroom. What are
you going to do? How are you going to solve the problem? Provide
resources that you will use and the procedures.



























2
1. Teaching Critical Reflection
Reflective practice is a mode that integrates or links thought and action
with reflection. It involves thinking about and critically analyzing one's actions
with the goal of improving one's professional practice. Engaging in reflective
practice requires individuals to assume the perspective of an external observer in
order to identify the assumptions and feelings underlying their practice and then
to speculate about how these assumptions and feelings affect practice (Kottkamp
1990; Osterman 1990; Peters 1991). According to Peters "it is a special kind of
practice that involves a systematic inquiry into the practice itself."
When I reflect about the experience that I have been as a teacher, it could be
hard but amazing at the same time because being teacher is not an easy task. I
made mistakes, but I learned of them. I know that I need to improve my level. I
need to get more vocabulary. It is necessary to improve a lot of things of myself to
share my knowledge with my students. Teaching seems to be easy, but anybody
has the art to teach. If you teach, you must love your teaching, do your best in the
classroom, and use a dynamic methodology to convey a meaningful learning
towards the students. Engaging is a key word, that as a teacher, I must have in
order to create an excellent classroom environment.
What does critical reflection involve?
Teachers recognize that their personal assumptions, values, beliefs may
affect decisions they make about curriculum (reflecting, planning, interacting,
monitoring and assessing). Critical reflection involves analyzing your own
learning and teaching practices that may contribute to effective pedagogies.
Critical reflective teaching practices encourage teachers to regularly evaluate their
approaches to teaching and learning. It is important to think that critical reflection
involves teaching philosophy because it refers to believe in your own practice. It is
like an evaluation of me about what I did, what I need to improve, what I need to
change, and what I did well. Critical reflection is not just thinking, it means that
good things and the opposite o negative things that maybe I need to improve or
change.
As I said before, critical reflection has a relationship with Teaching
Philosophy because the definition of philosophy says that for a teacher is the belief
in their own teaching practice for getting good results from their students, and the
ways in which students and teachers should relate and interact in the classroom.
This philosophy often impacts on the choices a teacher can make regarding with

3
teaching methodology or methodologies that they can choose to use, but they are
not directly connected. Teachers commonly refer to their preferred teaching
methods and philosophies together to give other teachers or students an
understanding of their approach to education. The philosophy of a teacher, as I
said before, it would be good, but I contrast the philosophy that a teacher must
have in teaching practice. Also, as a teacher, I asked to myself, what did I teach?
Which were the contents used to develop a class? Why did I teach? What is the
reason of teaching, the purpose, and the like? How did I teach? What was the
media to be used in the class in order to get an affective result? (Effectiveness).
In critical reflection as a teacher I must take several teacher responsibilities.
Longwise my teaching practice, I did a systematic process in which I had to create
my planning about all the activities that I needed to use in my classroom. Also, I
had to be prepared to do my best in the classroom because every teacher must be
prepared and make a plan to perform each activity correctly. Also, in the
classroom management, in order to manage the classroom effectively, I was able to
handle a range of variables. For instances, how the classroom space was organized,
whether the students worked on their own or in groups and how to organize
classroom time, and the way I had to talked to the students. Successful classroom
management involves the ability to deal with difficult situations. Presentation,
Practice and Production (PPP) involve how to present the contents and the activity
I prepared to get production from my students. The teacher must be a controller,
advisor, and tutor in the classroom.

2. Systematization of the Teaching Practice Process

Description of course Material

This is like the spine of the whole teaching learning process inasmuch as
everything is about the amount of tools that are used in order to make it
meaningful and successful. To start teaching is not only about having the
knowledge or a book recorded inside your head and considering yourself quite
competent to teach. You have to know about the different approaches, methods,
and techniques which are the basis in order to channelize and interchange the
information with the pupils. This implies the knowledge about the national
program of the subject to teach. The teacher has to know the contents what the
syllabus comprise and how to develop them according to the pupils reality. There
is a great necessity to take advantage of a teaching methodology practice where the

4
teacher-to-be can have the chance to experience by applying for the first time all
the theory that he or she has studied about teaching and all the stuff pertaining to
the principles that this beautiful discipline is about. So, the teacher-to-be will be
certain about the different resources to use in the classroom according to the
environment and the necessities that the pupils might present. This means that the
teacher must provide the students with the most suitable and attractive material to
awake the pupils curiosity and interest in the subject, in this case English.
Therefore, we must not forget that approaches, methods, and techniques are
intermingled with the sundry of resources to use in the classroom. The teacher-to-
be must be conscious and certain that the success in the teaching learning process
is to know how to combine all the related tools whether didactic or theoretical ones
in order to build the wishing learning in his/her students.

Longwise my teaching practice, I made my planning or my program, but
first of all, I needed to know the importance and definition of the educational
program that I found. An Educational program it is a document containing all the need
elements for a teacher and a student make an educational course or it is a document that
allows organizing and detailing an educational process. When I created my program, I
had to work hard because I had to identify the contents to teach and the date and
time that I have to need in order to develop my classes. Educational programs
often have certain standardized contents which are established by the government.
It is like status or regime that they manage in education. A planning or program
usually includes details of the topics that you must explain, such as objectives,
teaching methodology, assessment, and references to be used during the course.

The lesson plans were tools that I needed to work because it is a hard task to
make a dynamic class. Every lesson plan was a bit difficult because I put all my
efforts on them even though I do not have an advanced level, but I loved to read
and look for new innovations. As we know, lesson plans provide the guideline to
the activities that will be performed in the class. It is a teacher's detailed
description of the class of instruction for one class. A daily lesson plan is
developed by a teacher to guide class. Details will vary depending on the
preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the need and/or curiosity of
students. There may be requirements standardized by the school system regarding
to the plan. Another material was the outline. It provides an overview and guide of
the main activities of the classroom. Each activity performed gave me a pattern
form my students learning.


5

This is an important key that I have to use in order to reflect because it
contains a fundamental base for teaching. I decided to take a teaching
methodology which I could apply in the correct way, and get good results. Indeed,
all about my methodology was almost excellent. I made a lot mistakes because
perhaps I did not apply it in the correct way. I was aware about it.

A Methodology is the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a
field of study, or the theoretical analysis of the body of methods and principles associated
with a branch of knowledge. The methodology must work together with methods,
techniques, strategies and objectives, that as a teacher, I can set at the beginning of
the process.

I applied some methods, and some of them did not give me a good result.
One of them was the Direct Method. Maybe I do not have the communicative
competences in order to teach with this method, but I tried and I failed. That is part
of the experience itself. I reflect on my own teaching, and I can think that my
English is not good, but every day I have the necessity to learn something new.

The Method is a way of teaching a language in which is based on systematic
principles and procedures. The Method gave me the patterns to know what I need to
do with my students in the classroom because I could have the excellent contents
to teach and find the best way to perform the class and get good results from my
students. So I sustained that teaching is not an easy work. It is the most important
and hard work in this world.

After using the method, I needed to apply the technique because the
method and techniques work together, but what is a Technique? It must be consistent
with a method and therefore in harmony with an approach as well. The techniques are
the practice the student does in the classroom. Some techniques that I applied in
my classroom were:

Discussion or Debates - Students are talking about any topic giving the point of
view, also, making Questions and Answers exercise. It was not good in my classroom
because, my students did not have the communicate competences to speak among
them in the classroom. I was frustrated because they just wanted that the teacher to
speak in Spanish. If I had applied the Direct Method, it would have been even
difficult for them. One of the principles is of this method is that the translation is

6
not allowed. But at the end, I just spoke in both languages, English and Spanish. I
did not have any other choice, but I reflected that it was just the only way in which
students were conscious about the activities that they had to do in the classroom.
Also, I used Concept Mapping - A concept map is a way of illustrating the connections
that exist between terms or concepts covered in course material; students construct concept
maps by connecting individual terms. The use of this kind of techniques helps us
understand a little more about the topics because, as a teacher, I created some
charts or maps so that the students could identify the images o main words to
know what teaching was taking in that moment.

Another one that I used in my teaching practice was Dictation: It refers to
know about the identification of the listening skill. This is the most complicated and
difficult at the same time because the students had to identify the topic and what
they were about. It is not good because they could not understand, but eventually I
improved it in other way to change it. When I reflected, it helps me think what kind of
things have been good and what kind of things I need to improve and change. It was an
excellent experience in my teaching practice. Moreover, I engaged Communication
practice: Making conversations among the students. It was the most feasible because
the most students have the possibility to exchange information, with basic
vocabulary. It was satisfactory for me.

A teacher never misses the principal essence of himself. When you start to
teach, the principal element that you must think is to SET OBJECTIVES. So, as a
teacher I put some objectives with a main purpose to achieve in each of them. It is
not easy but eventually you will have failures, but at the end, you will learn of
them because it gives a pattern to start again and try to do it better. In my process,
the most objectives were achieved; I had the satisfaction to achieve something
good from my students because I learned of them, either.












7

3. The e-portfolio approach includes the new learning environment in the ELT.


I am conscious about e-portfolio, because I have one. However, in the
process of teaching and learning to have it, it is necessary. The teacher needs to
know a lot about the subject that he is teaching. The teacher will need to know
what equipment is available in their school and how to use it. He needs to know
what materials are available for teachers and students. Recently, the new space of
teaching -learning has been changed. Nowadays, the use of technology has become
an impact on education. Classroom equipment over the last decades has grown in
different types. Classroom equipment is incredible. Once upon a time we only had
pens, board and chalk to work with. Nowadays, there are tape recorders, the
language laboratory, video machines, the overhead projector, computers, data
projectors and interactive whiteboards. Some teachers are more comfortable with
these various piece of educational technology than others.

However, students will expect that teachers should know how to use the
equipment that they have elected to use or learning how to use various types of
equipment as a major part of modern teacher training. For example; Post cards and
blogs on the web. To develop new learning environments, we just need a keeping
up-to-date. The teacher needs to know how to use a variety of activities in the
classroom, of course, but he also needs to be constantly finding out about new
ways of doing things. A good way of learning about new activities and techniques
is to read the various teachers magazine and journals that are available. There is
now a wealth of information about teaching on the internet, too. Magazines, books
and websites often contain good descriptions of new activities and how to use
them. We can also learn a lot of from attending seminars and teachers' conferences,
and listening to other teachers describing new activities and the successes they
have had with them. The knowledge is not static, hence the need to keep up-to-
date.

Recently, we have an EDUCATION 3.00 in which, as a teacher, I have to
uproot fossilization. The teacher must innovate and look for new learning
environments. The use a Websites or virtual program could help us to improve the
Teaching practice. We never lag the students behind the technology. The teacher
must include technology in the classroom. The use of websites is a set of related
web pages served from a single web domain. A website is hosted on at least one

8
web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area
network through an Internet address known as a Uniform resource locator. All
publicly accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web. As a
teacher we could create a Real and virtual learning environments; language has
traditionally involved a teacher and a student or students being in the same
physical space. However, the development of high-speed internet access has
helped to bring about new virtual learning environments. The best virtual learning
sites have online tutors who interact with their students via email or online
forums. Also in each an activity, we could use a program Called Rubistar It gives
me an elements that I could take account in a specific evaluation.


4. I want to use technology in a school or place of work but there is not
technology available in the classroom.
What will I do?
Action Plan
If there is not anything of technology, I take my own resources to develop a
dynamic class without technology. These are some things that I could develop in
my Class.
My own Resources:
I could use my Laptop and speakers to work on the listening skill. But it is a
case I have these resources all the time.
Flashcard: This is a resource that I could apply with my students. It refers to
show some images about the topic that I have in the program.
Poster and wall chars for Teaching: Great posters and wall charts that will
help me brighten up in my teaching environment and provide a great
source of elicitation and practice for my students.
Audio script Dictation (Listening skill) and questions about it. Students
must listen. Then they will have the idea to answer each question given by
the teacher.
Reading an audio script: The students catch the idea and answer the
questions referred to the reading.
Conversation in pairs: I would use a bunch of conversation patterns so that
the students can practice them.

9
Most of public institutions nationwide, lack of technology in their classrooms.
In some cases the situation is even worst since there are some of them that lack of
an electricity system, too. Well. Currently, technology can be found everywhere
with different types of devices that offer a comfortability to be taken with us any
place we can go. There are some gadgets in which ones we can store files, such as
mp3s, mini laptops, tablets, cell phones, etc. The point is not to find technology in
the school. The point is to take technology to the school. Just a simple device can
make your class become interesting in the way you take the smalllest technological
resources so that you can make gigantic things in the classrooms.

Conclusion
At the end of the process, I could say that I learned a lot of things, I am sure
the all my effort was grateful because every mistake gave me a pattern so that I
could change something. It was a hard but an amazing experience. As I mentioned
before, maybe I dont have the communicative competences, but I feel satisfied
because I taught something, and learned something. In teaching there is an
exchange of information and ideas. But the most important thing is that you work
for love. You must know how to rapport with your students. You must be
comprehensible and motivate your students to create an AUTONOMOUS
LEARNING in each of them.

Good teachers make good students.
In reflective practice, reflection is the essential part of the learning process
because it results in making sense of or extracting meaning from the experience.
(Osterman 1990).

Failure is the only opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely. (Henry
Ford)











10


REFERENCES
- ERIC Identifier: ED346319, Publication Date: 1992-
00-00, Author: Imel, Susan, Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Career
and Vocational Education Columbus OH. Reflective Practice in Adult
Education. ERIC, Digest No. 122.
- THE PRACTICE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING, Jeremy Harmer, third edition, completely revised and
Updated
Osterman 1990 Reflection on practice
WordReference