Last Saturday I became immersed in the world of EAP! It seems to be pretty challenging and enriching. I guess I have found what I was looking for....All the best!
Helena
Of course you can use this blog to work. Just some things for you to work on:
1. Include a brief intro under your title. 2. Remember that the audience is wider as regards blogs. That is, not only your tutors & classmates will have access to it but other people. They may not know what EAP is. Clarify acronyms and expand on your presentation.
Your blog is very cosy and academic at the same time!
Griffin Helena Analysing teaching practices Final version
Focused journal
Reflection tools for teachers: Critical incidents C.I.
The importance of critical incidents along a teacher’s career has been highlighted at T.T.C. lately , to such an extent that their use has become a matter of case-study. Based on the fact that teaching practices need constant revision for improvement, many educational professionals have laid strong emphasis on this kind of personal narrative. The initial issue sprang from the idea of applying written language in order to reveal some ways of facing difficult situations to cope with in class. One way of reflecting on classroom experiences is by narrating a detailed account of personal conflicts while teaching, as well as by reading other colleagues’ experiences and their way of dealing with complex matters. The acquisition of a reflection habit demands considerable expertise as well as efficient narrative styles which should be introduced at an early stage during the teachers’ course of studies. Therefore, teachers will be assuming a double role, on the one hand, behaving as constant learners and on the other, as model teachers for their students. Monereo (1999) has noticed that by offering student-teachers instruments for interpretation and analysis, they will become active apprentices and, at the same time, skillful teachers, widening their teaching scope from the beginning of their professional career. What is more, critical incidents should be patterned, presented within a certain context described by the author. In addition, they should provide a detailed description of the issue, followed by possible causes and solutions to the problem.(Fernandez&Fernandez,1994). Hence, teachers-to-be should be provided with in-depth instruction in order to understand the important role that critical incidents will have along their whole career. All in all, it can be stated that every professional will develop a didactic model which, in the long run, will determine their way of analyzing facts as well as the solutions proposed. (Gonzalez; Escarín; Pérez, 2003). Ultimately, there will rarely be an identical analysis of critical incidents since each of the professionals are bound to take a personal point of view about the given teaching situation, depending on their personal experience on this field. Eventually, this condition is the factor which will enrich their own reflection: recognizing diversity of opinions on a given teaching issue. Not only will they be practical for teaching practices, but for life-long professional learners in an education environment, as well.
REFERENCE González J; Escartín N; Medina Pérez M (2003) Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria para ciencias de la naturaleza. Universidad de Zaragoza. España. FERNANDEZ, T. y FERNANDEZ J. (1994) Técnica de trabajo con profesores sobre su práctica docente: “Terapia Knoll”. Investigación en la escuela, 22, 91-103. MONEREO, C (1999) Estrategias de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Barcelona: Graó.
Griffin Helena Analysing teaching practices Final version
Teaching oral presentation skills
When I got my job as a primary school bilingual teacher, I was faced with the challenge of teaching various disciplines in English to ten-year-old children. It was a fifth grade with twenty-five pupils in all. During our first planning session with my two peer teachers it was agreed that pupils would be asked to prepare an oral presentation, which they called “Show and Tell”. I was told by them that I should assign each pupil the presentation date and start off as soon as possible. The activity called “Show and Tell” sounded familiar to them, as if they had done this type of presentation since first grade. They seemed to be thrilled about it which gave me some relief, considering I was their new teacher. The first speaker arrived earlier than usual on presentation day, loaded with posters and gifts. It was his day, he was in the spotlight. He could not wait to start off his oral presentation, which seemed to be quite promising, in fact. I picked an inconspicuous seat at the rear and got ready to write my feedback for the student. To my surprise, there was not much to write about. The pupil just showed some of his material and tried to explain his topic without following a logical order, whatsoever. Instead of speaking spontaneously, he peeped some of the lines that he had jotted down on a sheet of paper. As I watched the child getting nervous by the uncomfortable situation of having 25 people looking at him pitifully, I started reflecting on the reasons why this was happening in this way. The first reason that came up to my mind was that this pupil felt intimidated by the fact of being speaking in front of a new teacher. Another reason was that the qualification standards had not been clearly stated so this pupil might be scared of failing or being scolded by his new teacher. However, the strongest cause that came up to my mind was that perhaps these pupils had never been properly explained which were the main steps to prepare an oral presentation. One of the first steps taken, was to help them brainstorm which should be the steps followed for a successful presentation. Selecting an attractive topic suitable for their age was the first decision. Detailed research with script developments had a great importance for them, as well. Rehearsing in front of a mirror or to someone at home was also suggested. In addition, picking a real object that would symbolize the topic chosen was accepted by most of the pupils in the class. Rehearsal turned out to be crucial by the end of the discussion, to conclude. To sum up, a set of agreements were drafted down on a poster, which would be read over and over by the class members. Not only did oral performances become more appealing, but also richer in context and eye-catching to grab the audience’s attention.
REFERENCE Ryan, Margaret (2009) Extraordinary Oral Presentations. USA (New York). Scholastic .
Dear Helena,
ResponderEliminarOf course you can use this blog to work. Just some things for you to work on:
1. Include a brief intro under your title.
2. Remember that the audience is wider as regards blogs. That is, not only your tutors & classmates will have access to it but other people. They may not know what EAP is. Clarify acronyms and expand on your presentation.
Your blog is very cosy and academic at the same time!
Kindly,
Yanina
Dear Helena,
ResponderEliminarI can have access to your blog with no problem.
Read U around,
Yanina
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
ResponderEliminarGriffin Helena
ResponderEliminarAnalysing teaching practices
Final version
Focused journal
Reflection tools for teachers: Critical incidents C.I.
The importance of critical incidents along a teacher’s career has been highlighted at T.T.C. lately , to such an extent that their use has become a matter of case-study. Based on the fact that teaching practices need constant revision for improvement, many educational professionals have laid strong emphasis on this kind of personal narrative. The initial issue sprang from the idea of applying written language in order to reveal some ways of facing difficult situations to cope with in class. One way of reflecting on classroom experiences is by narrating a detailed account of personal conflicts while teaching, as well as by reading other colleagues’ experiences and their way of dealing with complex matters.
The acquisition of a reflection habit demands considerable expertise as well as efficient narrative styles which should be introduced at an early stage during the teachers’ course of studies. Therefore, teachers will be assuming a double role, on the one hand, behaving as constant learners and on the other, as model teachers for their students. Monereo (1999) has noticed that by offering student-teachers instruments for interpretation and analysis, they will become active apprentices and, at the same time, skillful teachers, widening their teaching scope from the beginning of their professional career.
What is more, critical incidents should be patterned, presented within a certain context described by the author. In addition, they should provide a detailed description of the issue, followed by possible causes and solutions to the problem.(Fernandez&Fernandez,1994). Hence, teachers-to-be should be provided with in-depth instruction in order to understand the important role that critical incidents will have along their whole career.
All in all, it can be stated that every professional will develop a didactic model which, in the long run, will determine their way of analyzing facts as well as the solutions proposed. (Gonzalez; Escarín; Pérez, 2003). Ultimately, there will rarely be an identical analysis of critical incidents since each of the professionals are bound to take a personal point of view about the given teaching situation, depending on their personal experience on this field.
Eventually, this condition is the factor which will enrich their own reflection: recognizing diversity of opinions on a given teaching issue. Not only will they be practical for teaching practices, but for life-long professional learners in an education environment, as well.
REFERENCE
González J; Escartín N; Medina Pérez M (2003) Los incidentes críticos en la formación y perfeccionamiento del profesorado de secundaria para ciencias de la naturaleza. Universidad de Zaragoza. España.
FERNANDEZ, T. y FERNANDEZ J. (1994) Técnica de trabajo con profesores sobre su práctica docente: “Terapia Knoll”. Investigación en la escuela, 22, 91-103.
MONEREO, C (1999) Estrategias de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Barcelona: Graó.
Griffin Helena
ResponderEliminarAnalysing teaching practices
Final version
Teaching oral presentation skills
When I got my job as a primary school bilingual teacher, I was faced with the challenge of teaching various disciplines in English to ten-year-old children. It was a fifth grade with twenty-five pupils in all. During our first planning session with my two peer teachers it was agreed that pupils would be asked to prepare an oral presentation, which they called “Show and Tell”. I was told by them that I should assign each pupil the presentation date and start off as soon as possible.
The activity called “Show and Tell” sounded familiar to them, as if they had done this type of presentation since first grade. They seemed to be thrilled about it which gave me some relief, considering I was their new teacher. The first speaker arrived earlier than usual on presentation day, loaded with posters and gifts. It was his day, he was in the spotlight. He could not wait to start off his oral presentation, which seemed to be quite promising, in fact. I picked an inconspicuous seat at the rear and got ready to write my feedback for the student. To my surprise, there was not much to write about. The pupil just showed some of his material and tried to explain his topic without following a logical order, whatsoever. Instead of speaking spontaneously, he peeped some of the lines that he had jotted down on a sheet of paper. As I watched the child getting nervous by the uncomfortable situation of having 25 people looking at him pitifully, I started reflecting on the reasons why this was happening in this way. The first reason that came up to my mind was that this pupil felt intimidated by the fact of being speaking in front of a new teacher. Another reason was that the qualification standards had not been clearly stated so this pupil might be scared of failing or being scolded by his new teacher. However, the strongest cause that came up to my mind was that perhaps these pupils had never been properly explained which were the main steps to prepare an oral presentation.
One of the first steps taken, was to help them brainstorm which should be the steps followed for a successful presentation. Selecting an attractive topic suitable for their age was the first decision. Detailed research with script developments had a great importance for them, as well. Rehearsing in front of a mirror or to someone at home was also suggested. In addition, picking a real object that would symbolize the topic chosen was accepted by most of the pupils in the class. Rehearsal turned out to be crucial by the end of the discussion, to conclude. To sum up, a set of agreements were drafted down on a poster, which would be read over and over by the class members. Not only did oral performances become more appealing, but also richer in context and eye-catching to grab the audience’s attention.
REFERENCE
Ryan, Margaret (2009) Extraordinary Oral Presentations. USA (New York). Scholastic .