A rewarding experience

A new experience added to my life, which certainly every time makes me think that the best decision was to have chosen this major. I am studying a degree with a specialization in teaching English at Don Bosco University, this is my fifth year so I am about to graduate. Teaching teenagers was something I might said was afraid of, but through this experience I can say I really enjoyed it.

                              

Not only teaching teens I was new at, but also start planning with ECRIF.  When I heard it,I didn't have an idea what it was about, or what it was. Hence, I can say that One of my first challenges in this course was to start planning with ECRIF. Being honest, it was really complicated for me to understand it, while planning I got confused, for example, one of my issues was to know what activity was going to fit perfectly in each stage. It was very overwhelming at that time. It was not easy for me to overcome it, I had to take my time, read about it, see examples of ECRIF activities, and  had to plan almost every day just to practice and to understand it. It was a good way for me to practice and to understand it. Finally when it was time to plan and design my own classes, it was much easier for me.

During the teaching practice, I felt very confident because I really took my time to plan my classes, to design my material and try to clear up my mind. I can say I improved  many things in my performance, for example: classroom management, it was very important for me to know that i had to monitor my students, but still i have to improve it because as I was told, I can help my students, but I can’t do their work or make other students feel they are not part of the class.

Another thing I improved was my tone of voice. My tone of voice is soft, but i was able to speak laud enough that all my students were able to listen what I was saying.

Also the use of the space, I think it was something really important and being able to use part of the room, it makes me  feel comfortable as a teacher.

Regarding the peer evaluation, I was so impressed to see how my colleague Eduardo developed his classes. Many times not having the experience of doing something makes us feel nervous and anxious, and I think Eduardo felt that, but it was really impressive to see how he grew up.

From the first to the last lesson he taught the changes were present, he felt comfortable teaching his lessons and that was something important because  it was shown in the way he developed his classes. Something I really liked about his classes is that he took his time to prepare catchy materials, it was very interesting to see how he used his creativity to prepare materials and activities, and I considered that is important to develop a good class. 

I am happy to see how he is growing with every experience he gain, and I really hope he took advantage of what he learned during this course.

On the other hand, my colleague Wanda did an excellent job. Since she had experience teaching I guess it was something not that difficult for her, but I am really happy that she improved her tone of voice and the use of gestures, and avoid the repetitions of some words. Her materials were always colorful and catchy, but what I like the most is the energy and enthusiasm she gives every single time she teach. And to be hones it is something I will like to have in my future classes.

I am happy because every day she learns and seeing how she improves makes me feel proud and happy.

As I said before this is a new experience added to my life, and I am proud of myself because i give my best to the students. Planning with ECRIF was tough at the beginning, but now I can say that I would definitely make my lesson plans with it. It is something really interesting to see how you can focus on your students and how effective you can teach them with ECRIF, besides that is student centered and in my case as teacher made me feel so comfortable being able to play with the time.

This experiences are the ones that makes me think that being teacher is something to be proud of, having the feeling that you helped and shared what you know is something that not only change your life, but it change someone else’s life.

Physical and psychosocial development on the adolescent student.

This week I have been learning about the physical and psychological development in the adolescents. But this time, I will  not talk about  changes in adolescents in general, I will share about the changes I presented during the adolescence.

I have some memories of my physical and psychosocial development.
First of all, I will share  my physical development. To be honest it was not a bad or shocking  transition to me, since I didn't change that much. Of course, I presented changes in my body, but they were not so evident  because I have always been thin and tall. When my breast started to develop it was uncomfortable, not because I care about what people thought, but  because I used to practice sports and started to wear bra, and it was something new for me.  The only shocking change for me was my period. It was shocking because  my parents never took their time to talk about it, so I never had those advice on what or how to do things regarding to my period.

My psychological changes are few as well. I grew up with my grandmother's advice. She installed in me some valuable values, and I can say that to this day those values still are my guide. During my adolescence I never paid attention on what other might thought  or said about me, because I dedicated a huge part of my life to sports, so I might say that I have always been a risk-taking person. I practiced soccer, basketball, skateboarding, rolling skate and even surf, and then I start to be engage into cars and speed.

Besides that, one thing that influence my life is that I traveled a lot, and being aware of how other countries and cultures are, made a difference on how I started to see things, and increased my expectations on what I want  in and for my life.

Now, with things I have been taught, I understand why teenagers act the way they do. It is really easy to point out attitudes that teens adopt without knowing the real factors and reasons behind that, but still some people attached it  to rebellious attitudes. Hence, it is really important to know theory and understand why are this changes occurring, because, we teachers are there not to judge  but to help them to overcome what they are struggling with.

And that is the reason why as a teacher, I would like to help my adolescent students by offering and giving them guidance, not as a friend, but as mentor, so they know that there will be someone they can count on and for advice whenever they need it.

Meeting and dealing with changes in the brain of a teenager.

I am starting a new experience. This time I will have the opportunity  to learn and practice how to teach teenagers, since this will be my very first time teaching teens it will be a very insightful and meaningful experience.

Adolescence  can be a confusing and hard time, because they go through some changes  that they are not aware and because of that some teenagers often know how to act or react to specific problems or situations that are presented in their life. And that is why my perspective  on teaching teenagers make me  feel challenge, because as teachers we always want to teach and give them our best, but teens often feel embarrassed to participate or refuse to do an specific activity, or even sometimes they don't feel that motivated to learn something new.

During this week, I have been studying about teens behavior, and it is quite interesting to learn how actually the brain works and  how the transition is from being a child into a teenager. 

There are many factors  that had influence in the life of a teenager, such as: family, friends, school, technology,  environment, but also their brain. Since our brain are in constant development, during the adolescence the greatest change occurs in the frontal lobe, it undergoes growth and a wave of reorganization. This changes in the frontal lobe are significant in their lives, it not only implies affective connections and maturity but also, it brings with it cognitive and behavioral functions such as: 

• Reasoning.
• Problem solving.
• Organization for multiple task.
• Judgement.
• Empathizing with others.
• Emotions.
• Impulse control.

It is important to remember that as teachers, we need to teach teenagers in manners that enables their brains to see that what they are learning is relevant for their lives, and that is why Ic consider that teachers need to take into consideration the environment, background information and abilities  when planning a lesson.

For instance, my expectations toward this course: "Teaching practicum II: Teaching English to teens." are high, because I really expect to learn a lot, not only about their behavior, but also some techniques on how to teach them, and everything that I require to know to give my best to my future students.