![Introduction:
During my practicum lessons, I spent some time reflecting on my performance
applying the activities, strategies and resources planned, through the padlet
journals. Now, it´s time to make a final reflection about my teaching experience
in Jardín Maternal Pepe Pío. For that aim, I will follow the text “The Four
Dimensions of Reflective Learning”, adapted from the work of Karen Barnstable
(2009).
Thinking back:
The original aims of my project were to present the children the English language
and guide them to construct their first English words and expressions, considering
their interests, previous knowledge in their mother tongue and daily experiences.
Looking back to what happened in the practice, I consider that the experience
was in general successful. I can say that the aims proposed as well as the choices
of activities, materials, strategies and resources were appropriate to the context,
children´s age and interests and previous knowledge. The group participated
actively in every activity and lesson and managed to overcome every challenge
presented to them.
For the planning of the lessons it was necessary to look over to what I had learnt
in “Didactics for Initial Level” and the reflections I had made in the documents
Comentado [CZ1]: Great!](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rl-finalreflection-practicai-191125132538/85/Rl-Final-reflection-Practica-I-2-320.jpg)
![“Diagnosis of the group” and “Institutional Report”. I was able to reflect about how
the children learned and what the role of the teacher should be (help, guide and
motivate them continuously).
In the practice, I could also see that children have really great potential to learn
and we as teachers have to strongly believe in their potentialities, and what is
also important "have fun" with them. Creating an atmosphere of joy was of great
importance to exploit and help them develop their abilities, skills and keep them
engaged.
Thinking forward:
This teaching experience will surely influence my future decisions as a teacher of
very young learners. It gave me the opportunity to see which were the most useful
strategies, activities and materials, to achieve the aims of each lesson, and to
device which ones may need some adjustment. In example, if a had the chance
to develop this practice again, I would make changes in the “lead in” and “closure”
stages, incorporating a second repetition of the greetings songs but without the
audio support, telling the children to repeat phrases after me, so that I can guide
them better to sing and learn the songs.
I would also make some changes to present materials and new language more
clearly. One strategy may be to organize the children through a semi-circle or
circle, and remind them to remain at their places so that everyone can see. Other
strategies may be to stand up at the front of the classroom and show the materials
and present the language, or paste pictures on a board or fabric while explaining,
reminding them to stay at their places. If some of the children stand up or start
talking and getting disperse, I could use a rhyme or chant to ask for silence or to
ask them to sit on the floor.
Thinking about materials, I think that working with tales was a great resource,
because children liked them a lot. So, I believe that a good idea to fully exploit
this resource in the future would be to incorporate an activity where the children
tell the story by themselves, with the necessary teacher´s guidance and support.
Thinking inward:
Comentado [CZ2]: Right! It is good to know that you
found the rationale behind the reports that you were
requested to design.
Comentado [CZ3]: Yes!
Comentado [CZ4]: Right!
Comentado [CZ5]: 😊](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rl-finalreflection-practicai-191125132538/85/Rl-Final-reflection-Practica-I-3-320.jpg)
![Making an introspective reflection about how I felt during this experience, I have
to say that it make me grow a lot. I had never worked with little children before,
and now I feel satisfied to see that most of the ideas and interpretations
developed, were useful to have a meaningful practicum experience. I believe that
the experience was important to me and to the children too. For me because I
could reflect on children´s learning and on their interests and needs, and for them
because they were offered a natural experience to make contact with the English
language for the first time. I could see that they felt comfortable during the lessons
and lived the opportunities to practice the language very naturally. That was great
for me. I felt very pleased to see that happened.
The only thing that didn´t completely satisfied me was my implementation of the
behaviour management strategies. I think that I managed to implement various
of the strategies considered in my lessons plans but I also feel that I had to think
a lot what to say or what to do in that aspect, for fear perhaps of making children
feel uncomfortable. This is an aspect that I have to think about to improve.
Thinking outward:
Before the planning of the lessons, I considered that was important to tell the
teacher of the group what activities, materials and topics I was thinking to
develop. This allowed me to be coherent with her project and the institutional
educational aims. In that sense, I talked about “families” (the central topic of the
lessons) from a diverse point of view. This perspective of the topic kept also
concordance with my beliefs and the prevailing society conceptions.
Another aspects I would like to mention are: the condition that the kindergarten
doesn´t have English language teaching and the fact that the institution was not
used to receivinge resident student teachers s. This factors produced at first a
sense of doubt or questioning about how my practicum experience would be
developed, the results and how children would react to it. Despite this little
uncertainty, my residence was accepted and I soon started the observations
period. The teacher of the group, the children and I soon started to understand
each other. The experience began to bear its first fruits and continued with good
results up to the final part.
Comentado [CZ6]: Reflection together with experience
will provide you with new insights in this respect.
Comentado [CZ7]: 😊😊😊
Your attitude and commitment have also contributed to the
success of this experience.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rl-finalreflection-practicai-191125132538/85/Rl-Final-reflection-Practica-I-4-320.jpg)
![Final conclusions
The classes observations, the assistantships lessons, the analysis of the
institution and the group, the development of lessons plans, the feedbacks
received, the practical experiences and the works of reflections, have been a
challenge but have strongly contributed to my learning and development to be a
teacher of very young learners. It was a very positive and enjoyable experience
and I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to do it and to have finished
my practicum period successfully.
I have started to walk the road, and surely, there will be more challenges ahead
and opportunities to grow.
Here I include the link to my Journals in Padlet:
https://padlet.com/liliconcordiaer/v43rra7c615n
Romero Liliana B.
Comentado [CZ8]: Indeed, Liliana!
Congratulations on your learning and your performance!
Way to go!
Ceci
Comentado [CZ9]: Liliana, your journal is fully developed.
It includes the entries as they were required. You also
included illustrating photos that display both your creativity
for materials development and the way children experienced
your lessons.
I hope you have found these reflections enriching.
Best
Ceci](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rl-finalreflection-practicai-191125132538/85/Rl-Final-reflection-Practica-I-5-320.jpg)
Rl - Final reflection - Practica I
- 1. INSTITUTO DE FORMACIÓN DOCENTECONTINUA LENGUAS VIVAS BARILOCHE Profesorado de Inglés – Opción pedagógica a distancia. PRÁCTICA DOCENTE I Final Reflection Alumno residente: Romero Liliana Beatriz Correo electrónico: liliconcordiaer@hotmail.com Tutora: Cecilia A. Zemborain Fecha de entrega: 06/11/19
- 2. Introduction: During my practicum lessons, I spent some time reflecting on my performance applying the activities, strategies and resources planned, through the padlet journals. Now, it´s time to make a final reflection about my teaching experience in Jardín Maternal Pepe Pío. For that aim, I will follow the text “The Four Dimensions of Reflective Learning”, adapted from the work of Karen Barnstable (2009). Thinking back: The original aims of my project were to present the children the English language and guide them to construct their first English words and expressions, considering their interests, previous knowledge in their mother tongue and daily experiences. Looking back to what happened in the practice, I consider that the experience was in general successful. I can say that the aims proposed as well as the choices of activities, materials, strategies and resources were appropriate to the context, children´s age and interests and previous knowledge. The group participated actively in every activity and lesson and managed to overcome every challenge presented to them. For the planning of the lessons it was necessary to look over to what I had learnt in “Didactics for Initial Level” and the reflections I had made in the documents Comentado [CZ1]: Great!
- 3. “Diagnosis of the group” and “Institutional Report”. I was able to reflect about how the children learned and what the role of the teacher should be (help, guide and motivate them continuously). In the practice, I could also see that children have really great potential to learn and we as teachers have to strongly believe in their potentialities, and what is also important "have fun" with them. Creating an atmosphere of joy was of great importance to exploit and help them develop their abilities, skills and keep them engaged. Thinking forward: This teaching experience will surely influence my future decisions as a teacher of very young learners. It gave me the opportunity to see which were the most useful strategies, activities and materials, to achieve the aims of each lesson, and to device which ones may need some adjustment. In example, if a had the chance to develop this practice again, I would make changes in the “lead in” and “closure” stages, incorporating a second repetition of the greetings songs but without the audio support, telling the children to repeat phrases after me, so that I can guide them better to sing and learn the songs. I would also make some changes to present materials and new language more clearly. One strategy may be to organize the children through a semi-circle or circle, and remind them to remain at their places so that everyone can see. Other strategies may be to stand up at the front of the classroom and show the materials and present the language, or paste pictures on a board or fabric while explaining, reminding them to stay at their places. If some of the children stand up or start talking and getting disperse, I could use a rhyme or chant to ask for silence or to ask them to sit on the floor. Thinking about materials, I think that working with tales was a great resource, because children liked them a lot. So, I believe that a good idea to fully exploit this resource in the future would be to incorporate an activity where the children tell the story by themselves, with the necessary teacher´s guidance and support. Thinking inward: Comentado [CZ2]: Right! It is good to know that you found the rationale behind the reports that you were requested to design. Comentado [CZ3]: Yes! Comentado [CZ4]: Right! Comentado [CZ5]: 😊
- 4. Making an introspective reflection about how I felt during this experience, I have to say that it make me grow a lot. I had never worked with little children before, and now I feel satisfied to see that most of the ideas and interpretations developed, were useful to have a meaningful practicum experience. I believe that the experience was important to me and to the children too. For me because I could reflect on children´s learning and on their interests and needs, and for them because they were offered a natural experience to make contact with the English language for the first time. I could see that they felt comfortable during the lessons and lived the opportunities to practice the language very naturally. That was great for me. I felt very pleased to see that happened. The only thing that didn´t completely satisfied me was my implementation of the behaviour management strategies. I think that I managed to implement various of the strategies considered in my lessons plans but I also feel that I had to think a lot what to say or what to do in that aspect, for fear perhaps of making children feel uncomfortable. This is an aspect that I have to think about to improve. Thinking outward: Before the planning of the lessons, I considered that was important to tell the teacher of the group what activities, materials and topics I was thinking to develop. This allowed me to be coherent with her project and the institutional educational aims. In that sense, I talked about “families” (the central topic of the lessons) from a diverse point of view. This perspective of the topic kept also concordance with my beliefs and the prevailing society conceptions. Another aspects I would like to mention are: the condition that the kindergarten doesn´t have English language teaching and the fact that the institution was not used to receivinge resident student teachers s. This factors produced at first a sense of doubt or questioning about how my practicum experience would be developed, the results and how children would react to it. Despite this little uncertainty, my residence was accepted and I soon started the observations period. The teacher of the group, the children and I soon started to understand each other. The experience began to bear its first fruits and continued with good results up to the final part. Comentado [CZ6]: Reflection together with experience will provide you with new insights in this respect. Comentado [CZ7]: 😊😊😊 Your attitude and commitment have also contributed to the success of this experience.
- 5. Final conclusions The classes observations, the assistantships lessons, the analysis of the institution and the group, the development of lessons plans, the feedbacks received, the practical experiences and the works of reflections, have been a challenge but have strongly contributed to my learning and development to be a teacher of very young learners. It was a very positive and enjoyable experience and I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to do it and to have finished my practicum period successfully. I have started to walk the road, and surely, there will be more challenges ahead and opportunities to grow. Here I include the link to my Journals in Padlet: https://padlet.com/liliconcordiaer/v43rra7c615n Romero Liliana B. Comentado [CZ8]: Indeed, Liliana! Congratulations on your learning and your performance! Way to go! Ceci Comentado [CZ9]: Liliana, your journal is fully developed. It includes the entries as they were required. You also included illustrating photos that display both your creativity for materials development and the way children experienced your lessons. I hope you have found these reflections enriching. Best Ceci