Did you alter the seating arrangement of the classroom? Why? Why not?

Seating arrangements play important roles because they have the potential
to help prevent problem behavior that decrease student attention and diminish
available instructional time. The physical setup of chairs, tables, and
presentation in a classroom can significantly influence learning. Instructional
communication theory suggests that seating arrangements can impact how the
instructor communicates with students and how the students interact with one
another, impacting engagement, motivation, and focus. Therefore, when
teaching them writing, I felt that I had to change the seating arrangement so that
students could work together and, as a result, could enhance and promote their
team skills. I used round table arrangement because I thought it was the best
choice. As it encourages student to sit in friendly groups, facilitates free
discussion and allows educators to monitor student work.

What did you to cater for the one of the multi-level classes you taught?

Learning to teach is challenging, yet so interesting. As for a novice teacher,

teaching multi-level classes can be quite a challenge for it requires more prep
time and also involves high level of classroom management. Thus, when
pondering on students I had to teach, I thought that best way to do them justice
and get them all engaged is through grouping them. This way, they could work
together, learn and help each other. Because doing that could give the weaker
students the opportunity to learn from their higher-level partner. One more
important thing is that the partner will improve by teaching the lower-level
student.

When teaching, did you have to face any unexpected problem (electric cut,
unexpected visitor, forgetting a document…)? How did you go about it?

As the saying goes, the unexpected always happens. I did not face any
unexpected problem like electric cut, unexpected visitor or forgetting a
document, but I faced another problem which was that students lack motivation.
Students do not want to study and all that they care about is getting grades,
which will allow them to get their diplomas.

What is it that you did to motivate the unmotivated?

Motivating someone means tapping into their own goals or purposes – helping
them to be more purposeful and intentional about what they are doing. It is a
much more challenging task! However, no matter how challenging it is, it is a
teacher’s duty to try his best in order to motivate his students, because if
students are not motivated and involved in the process of learning, the whole
session, and likely, the whole academic year goes in vain. Thus, I tried the
following techniques to motivate the unmotivated: “The moment you doubt
whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it .” Many students have
never experienced success and as a result they have no reason to believe that
success is possible. Instead of working toward being successful, they often
entertain themselves with driving the teacher crazy by harassing other students.

I learned a method of discussing outcomes and rewarding students with frequent

positive post cards when they had a small victory, have them discuss what their
parents will feel if they brought home a successful report card or how would
they feel if they could make their parents proud. Positive feeling is a strong
motivator. Students must believe they are capable of succeeding. Many students
never realized that this was possible, but if the teacher takes baby steps, the
teacher can sell "the idea of success" to them. Like Peter Pan, a teacher has to
help students believe that success is possible and then give them the skills to
succeed. The younger they experience success, the more likely it will continue.
Confer with each student individually, “Never believe that a few caring people
can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.” Students perform
for other people that they care about. They care about people who care about
them. As a result, if a teacher takes time to discover what difficulties a learner
might be facing and what needs the learner has, that learner is much more likely
to perform.

If the teacher stands in the hall between class changes and interacts with
students, a great deal of information can be gained. Simply speaking to each
student cordially when passing in the hall can increase the likelihood that they
will be more successful in the classroom. Students need to learn to set small
goals and large goals to be successful in school and life. Having frequent
individual conferences with student enables the teacher to direct the student in
creating and adjusting goals while reassuring the student that an adult cares
about his/her success. Remember some students have parents who do not have
the time or the knowledge to have these types of interactions with their child.
Establish classroom procedures, “Almost all quality improvement comes via
simplification of design, and procedures.” When students are confronted with
changing classroom procedures, they often become apprehensive and even
aggressive. If they know that each day, they will need a book, a notebook and a
pen or pencil, they are more likely to bring them. If they know that each class
begins with certain activity: silent reading, an interactive debate, or a problem to
solve, they waste less time getting down to the business of education.

There are many methods that can be used to reconnect students to their
education. Don’t give up on them. The best method is to discuss with other
teachers a tactic that they might be using that might work on that particular
students. Each child is an individual, so there is no one method that works on all
of them

Did you have the chance to go beyond the textbook? What was the rationale
behind that?

Research regarding science pedagogy suggests that textbooks fail to provide the
hands-on, inquiry-based learning that is necessary to master new concepts, In
our modern information age, textbooks are no longer sufficient for conveying
information in a timely and interesting manner, as most textbooks, by their
traditional nature, are very institutionalized and resistant to change. It is
imperative that teachers find new methods of instruction that utilize a variety of
resources. I had the chance to go beyond the textbook because I wanted students
to discover something new. For they already recognized and stopped actively
interacting with what is in the textbook. I did not use ICT when I taught, but I
am positive that combing through, newspapers, magazines, and the internet to
find relevant news stories and items would be of paramount significance to
enrich and promote students learning about real issues.

Did you manage to set up any classroom routines of your own? What were
they? (Give an account of at least two of them?

Setting up classroom routine helps with time management in the classroom. It

also helps children to know what is expected of them and how to perform
independent tasks. This way, by setting up routines, the teacher paves the way
for students to know what to do and how to do it. Here are two routines that I
tried to set up: first, asking students to repeat the instructions back to me. In so
doing, I discover to what extent my students have understood what I have taught
them; it helps me also to see if all my students have got a clear vision of what I
have explained to them. If not, I will change my methodology so that students
can understand the activities being targeted.

Second, leaving the classroom for the bathroom or drink break, this is the
second routine I tried to set. They had, in order to ask for permission, to use
English because it is the classroom language and it is the targeted language. In
so doing, first language was not used at all and that helped them learn and use
English classroom expressions enthusiastically.

Did you try to combine between learn and play? When was that and why?

Although a great deal of research has concluded that play-based learning is

genuinely and positively impactful on student learning and development, I did
not combine learn and play except for warm up. I did not venture to do so, first
because I am not familiar with those students and, second, because I am a novice
trainer, I thought it be better to follow how the host teacher taught. But in the
future, I will make sure to combine play and learn because of their positive
impact on students learning and engagement.

What was the best moment in your practicum? (Use the experiential cycle,
describe, analyze, generalize, future action plan)
Classroom is full of wonderful things as well as worst things. It is a double-age
sword. If the teacher knows how to keep his students busy with the business of
education, s/he will certainly make the most out of them and as a result build a
good rapport with his students and promote a good environment for learning.
Personally, the best moment that I had in my second practicum was when almost
all students got engaged and showed an interesting interest in my class. Seeing
them trying to interact and participate with me was really inspiring and gave me
the impression that what I was doing was of value to them. This came as a
consequence of listening to them, because if we listen to our students and watch,
we can engage all of our learners in our passion-driven classrooms. As for future
action plan, I will devout my time and energy to help my students learn and
grow through activities that ignite their inner desire for learning and
development.
What was the most confusing moment in your second practicum?
(Use the experiential cycle: describe, analyze, generalize, future
plan)
The most confusing moment was when I did not plan well especially when
teaching grammar. I got confused with the target language whether it is right or
wrong, and sometimes I got confused with spelling difficult words on the white
board. Thus, I had to check my dictionary from time to time. I really felt bad
about it, but I learnt from it that I have always to plan very well, pick up the
target language carefully, and more importantly consult with my colleague
teachers. For their guidance and advice play an important role in helping us
learn and grow.