Practicum Journal & Microtheme Assignment (10pts.

Purpose:
 To think critically about what you are learning during the practicum experience.
 To reflect on what was learned during the practicum experience about basic issues,
concepts, orientations, and processes that shape the teaching of English for diverse
students in schools.
 To develop important habits of mind related to teaching (e.g., reflection & self-
assessment).
 To demonstrate continual professional development.
 To list questions about events that take place during the practicum experience that you
want to discuss with your methods teacher and classmates.

Assignment:
1. Maintain a practicum journal during the practicum experience containing at least 3
entries.
2. Write a 1 page reflective microtheme.

Practicum Journal Requirements:

1. Heading

Each of the entries must have the heading below:

Date of observation: Time -beginning to end: Grade level:

Name of course: Location of field visit: School District:

2. Sequence of events
Make a list describing what happened, even things that might seem unimportant at the
time.

3. Elaboration of one or two episodes related to culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP)

Choose one or two episodes/events related to CSP, including missed opportunities to
enact CSP, that are significant to you perhaps because the episode intrigues you, validates
your thoughts, challenges you, bothers you, and so on. Once you select the episode,
describe it in detail. Include what people said and did. Describe the important features:
CSP connection, subject/content of the lesson and the learner’s interaction with the
content, the teacher, and the context (e.g., physical surroundings).

4. Analysis of episode
Interpret what might have caused the episode to occur, why it’s significant, questions
raised, and lessons learned. What was accomplished? What challenges emerged and how
do you plan to grow from them? Did you learn something about your philosophy of
teaching? What does and does not work? How does the episode relate to culturally
sustaining pedagogy? Does the episode relate to something else studied in your courses?
Microtheme Requirements: What can you now say about teaching in a culturally sustaining
way?

1. Lean on
A. entries in your practicum journal,
B. your answers from the Practicum Experience section of various modules when
appropriate, and
C. insight drawn from class readings

to write a microtheme paper that draws some conclusions about what you’ve learned
about teaching in a culturally sustaining way.

Possible talking points to help you frame your paper:

1) What have you learned about yourself? (Your values and goals as a teacher, strengths and
weaknesses, growth over time in the placement, interest in and knowledge of ways to sustain
students’ languages, histories, and cultures)

2) What have you learned from youth? (The needs and interests of young people at this grade
level)

3) What have you learned about youth culture? Which youth cultural practices might be
critiqued? For example, are there practices that might marginalize others? Reproduce exclusion?

4) How does the social context of schools affect learning/teaching? Are diverse students (e.g.,
ethnic/racial, special needs, language minoritized students, poor) given opportunities to use their
funds of knowledge to learn content?

5) What are some ways students’ languages, histories, and cultures were fostered/sustained?

6) What do you believe is the purpose of schooling and how do racial, ethnic, linguistically
diverse students fit into that purpose?
7) Based on your overall practicum experience, what area(s) do you think you still need to
personally improve in terms of your own growth and preparation as a teacher?

8) Are there any surprises you have encountered during this experience?
9) What have you learned about teaching diverse (e.g., racial, ethnic, linguistic…) students? How
did teachers make the exploration of the experiences of marginalized people central to the
curriculum?