"Here and now" as a teacher

- What was useful, what wasn’t so useful in terms of your classroom practice?

Sincerely, at the beginning of the semester my knowledge about approaches was not the best. Nowadays, after the lectures, the activities I have designed and the texts I have read I have not only learnt about new strategies and their theoretical foundation but also I have been applying them at school and analyzing what works and what it does not and how to improve them.

I would never thought about leaving my students to speak aloud at the same time during classes. I was always concerned about what other teachers and coordinators would think about the noise. In that sense, I would like to highlight a point that I have applied during the semester which is to let my students speak aloud, despite the noise and the “mess” that they could create.

From this course, I learnt to try new things and encourage my students and myself to different activities. They are able to follow new instructions and it motivates them. At the end, I am investigating what types of activities do work out with my students and which one do not.

I do not have a negative comment.

- What things you enjoyed/didn’t enjoy about the sessions

I enjoyed reading in class all together and talking about the article/ text immediately. When we read at home there are few things which we forget, therefore it was helpful to reflect about them during classes.

At the beginning I didn´t know what the aim of the course was, so I felt a bit lost. I think what happened was because of the lack of knowledge we had before starting the semester.

- What you think would improve this module and why.

Doing the presentations is very useful, but while my classmates presented each approach it would be better to hand in something written (a summary) in order to have the main ideas of each one.

Developing our profesional competence: some relfections

What type of "New Year resolutions" do you tend to make each new school year?

At the beginning of 2011 I had many ideas and goals I wanted to reach as a teacher, but since it has been my first year working I did not know exactly what I expected. All the ideas I thought at the beginning have changed because of the Master´s program. Nowadays I have already many ideas in mind for next year. First of all, I do not want to rely too much on the Students Book, as I have done this year. I asked the English coordinator if I could apply different activities in relation with the topics and the answer was a positive “Yes!”. Secondly, I want to develop speaking and reading (I have read only two books with my girls). This year I have had more a controller role than a facilitator. I want to change that!!

Is it easy to keep them?
I think that we forget all the resolutions we have thought before, but it would be a great idea to write them down and each month take a look and evaluate whether I have been applying them or not.

What practices would you like to see your institution adopt?
I would like to feel freer in planning my classes. The school has a very structured view and the main goals are the results and in second place the process.

Why do you think this article appears in a book on methodology?

The article shows and explicits the importance of teachers´ development, which is the base of the teaching practice. A dedicated teacher has to work based on principles and skill, but also with knowledge!