Class number 9

Class number 9

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job.  ~Donald D. Quinn

In my life, I have met so many people who have told me that being a teacher is the easiest job around the world, that teachers do not care about people, but  about payments and that whoever without any preparation can be a teacher. However, no one can talk about something they have not experienced, and in my personal opinion; this profession goes beyond these critics. Teachers who really love and are passionate about their profession, see every day as a new opportunity to inspire and motivate their students to be better people through learning.  

Now, let’s discuss about class number nine.

This class was in charge of Ingrid and Mercy, and the topic for this week was “FOODS AND DRINKS”.

During the class

The presentation stage was in charge of Ingrid. Ingrid developed many activities during her participation in order to not only review some topics previously taught in the classroom, but also to present the new topic to the children. Some of the activities that Ingrid did were: having the students take an envelope were some carts with vocabulary of preceding classes were inside, and the use of a puppet to teach the food and drink items. Finally, she made students decide whether the food and drink items presented were good or bad for their health.

I could observe a more confident and skillful Ingrid. In the first participation of Ingrid, she faced many problems such as, students not understanding the directions for an activity, and losing the control of the students’ attention. Nevertheless, in this opportunity; I could see a more positive Ingrid who knew how to control the kids’ attention, and also she had more control over her activities. It was very impressive for me to see a shy girl like Ingrid using puppets, and modifying her tone of voice to make the representation of the puppet more appealing. Thus, I think that Ingrid did a great job and designed very good activities that were very meaningful for the students’ acquisition of the topic at issue. To sum up, I think that Ingrid performed activities that could really challenge her personality, and at the end; she demonstrated that she is capable to adapt herself to the needs of the students in order to inspire these kids to learn.

The practice stage was in charge of Abigail. Abigail presented some tactile activities in which kids had to manipulate glue, dishes, and pictures of food and drink items; besides, she also made use of a kinesthetic idea in which she had students in group. These groups were commanded by a leader so that the leader could lead his group in the search of some items that were written on a piece of paper that they were given. Finally, kids could sing the goodbye song as usual.

 A problem was observed in one of Abigail’s activities. In the last activity that Abigail developed in which she had students in groups to work together in the search of some items; students did not understand the instructions that easily. This was because this game required long instructions, and these kids are not ready for long instructions yet. Instructions must be given in chunks and not making use of complete sentences. Furthermore, kids started to lose attention and started to talk. It is necessary to consider that activities like the one described about make students get more energetic; thus, the teacher needs to be aware of this and make use of some tips to make students stay focused.

Here you are some tips that can help your students pay attention to instructions..

Ø Cues: Be sure to give appropriate cues to let children know it’s important to pay attention. Not everything we say and do is of equal importance, so engage in a hand-clapping routine, or ring a bell, or do a call and response chant to be sure that you have all the children focused before giving directions, explaining a new activity, starting a story, etc.

Ø Keep directions clear, brief, and to the point.

Ø . Raise your hand and stand still until the students are quiet. Or, raise your right hand and put the index finger of your left hand on your lips. The children are to do the same. 

Ø  Hold up your hand and say, "Give Me Five." The children put their hands in the air and shout "five!" As they count down to one, they get progressively quieter until "one" is said in a whisper or, after saying, "Give me five," everyone puts their hand in the air and counts loudly using their fingers from 1 to 5. Teach the children that the five fingers on their right hand stand for the five things they must do when you hold up your hand. Say, "Give me five," and wait until all the children hold up their hand. Then lead them in saying the five things together.(

1)    Eyes -- look 
(2) Ears -- listen 
(3) Mouth -- closed 
(4) Hands -- still 
(5) Feet – quiet

Later when you say, "Give me five," the children are to think of these five things and hold up their hand to show they are ready to listen.

About my case of study

Throughout this course my case of analysis has been Jefferson Alejandro Zelada Blanco, he is seven years old. Since the beginning of the course he presented some learning problems such as, not being able to read or write lack of concentration, and little retention. All these have problems have been observable in Jefferson along this English project, and his mother has expressed that he presents the same problems in the school where he studies as well.

I have analyzed Jefferson in many ways regarding his conduct and behaviors and also in the way he learns. About his behavior, it has been proved trough this course that Jefferson misbehaves a lot, he rarely obeys directions and he gets distracted easily and, he distracts his classmates. I have always wondered why he behaves the way he does. In a previous entry I mentioned the fact that Jefferson’s misbehaviors are to do his parents’ way to educate him, which is something that papalia (2006) calls “permissive parents” (referred to as indulgent parents, have very few demands to make of their children. These parents rarely discipline their children because they have relatively low expectations of maturity and self-control). However, now I realize that this is not the only problem why Jefferson is not a well-behaved-boy. Another significant aspect why Jefferson misbehaves is not only his parents’ instruction problem, but also his learning disability.  Jefferson is not a kid that can shine by his skills in the class; thus, knowing that some kids get attention by answering accurately to the teacher’s question, Jefferson needs to look for a way to call for his classmates attention, and here is when we see a bad behaved Jefferson trying to get people’s attention out his bad conduct.

Thus, all the mentioned above indicates that Jefferson needs special attention in both cases, in his conduct and in his learning problem. Hence, I have advised Jefferson’s mother to look for the special service of a psychologist so that he can really confirm whether he has a deficit attention disorder or what the really problem is.!!!

To sum up, as I have mentioned in previous entries, a big progress between our first class and this second time of teaching has been perceptible. This means that every group took the feedback received in the first part of this English project as a challenge to overcome their weak areas in this second opportunity. Thus, all these classes in this last period have demonstrated that we have all taken advantage of this great experience to be better professionals who love teaching!!!!!!

No matter whether we teach kids, teens or adults; what matters is our passion about teaching!!!

References:

Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldma R. D. 2007. Human development. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill

http://www.thepositiveclassroom.org/2013/04/pay-attention-how-to-help-children.html

http://www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticles/TeacherTip54.html