SECOND DAY OF CLASS (Tuesday/Third week)

Second day of class

(before the class) 

Before the class I felt a little bit nervouse, but this time I knew that I needed to improve from the last lesson experience. Therefore, I tried to change this time and take advantage of my nervousness, so I had to present the topic that "Body Parts" and I knew that I needed to control my students, so that they could understand the topic.

During the class

During the class, I felt more confident when teaching and presenting the target vocabulary, and I think my students could notice that because they seemed to enjoy more the class; therefore, being confident not only helped me but also my students. I also think that I improved classroom management because my students looked more interested in the class and the majority of them were paying attention to the class. Thus, I think this time I improved many things and I did better than the last time.

 After the class

I could appreciate the other teachers' work, so I had the opportunity to learn from their experiences and learn different activities that we can use with children. Such activities can be considered really effective because they demonstrate that children enjoy them and even more important they learn. In addition, I saw a big change with different difficulties we had last time that in this class we as a group improved. Therefore, I believe that all the feedback that we received last class was helpful for our teaching practicum, for we make our students learn more. 

Of course after we all finished teaching, we received feedback again from that lesson, which is very important in our process of learning how to teach children. Once again, this feedback was excellent, so we can improve in the next lesson different details that I am sure our students will notice the difference. 

My case of study

Today, my case of study was as always paying attention to class, although there were some moments in which he got distracted, but I think it is normal at his age. Nonetheless, I could notice that in his cognitive skills or development, he is able to create strategies to complete tasks like answering the worksheets, or when working in groups or pairs. I also noticed that he is very active, so I could say that in his physical development he is well-stimulated, for in his gross motor skills he shows to use them a lot, but in his fine motor skills, he shows to have some difficulties like in his handwriting that he cannot write different letters correctly or in a good way. In his psychosocial development, he shows that he is still in the negativism stage in which he is a little bit close with others, for example, I asked him if I could take a picture of him but he did not want to, so I think because of his age he is still in that stage.   

FIRST DAY OF CLASS (Tuesday/Second week)

My first day of class 

(before the class)

The topic of my lesson was School Objects, so before starting the class I felt terribly nervous especially because in the diagnostic class I had difficulties with classroom management, and so I thought that this time with the activity I had prepared for this lesson; I had to be very careful when controlling the students. Thus, my expectations for this lesson were really high and I wanted to do my best this time. Furthermore, I knew that I was prepared for this lesson, for I had all the materials ready and I knew how I had to start with the activity. 

During the lesson

At the beginning of the lesson I felt comfortable with it, but while I was developing the activity, I realized that my students were getting distracted, so I started getting overwhelmed. Nonetheless, I still think that the activity I prepared for that class was good because my students' attention was caught, the problem was that I could lead the activity in the way it had to be. Therefore, at the end of the lesson some of my students were distracted, although I could notice that my goal of having them produce the vocabulary and recognition was achieved because the chosen students were able to recognize and say the target vocabulary.

After the lesson

After the lesson, I still felt excited for the first lesson I taught to children; however, I knew that my performance was not the best and that I needed to improve in the next lesson. Thus, I received feedback when the lesson was done. The feedback I received was meaningful, so that helped me to know what things I needed to improve in the next lesson. 

As for the teachers' classes, I noticed that they did a great job, for the activities were really effective and interactive, so students seemed to be focused on them and had fun. I consider that for the two lessons taught, the results of them were good because students demonstrated to master some of the words taught in each lesson. Thus, I believe that the lessons were effective as well as the teachers' job.

My case of study

As for my case of study I noticed that he enjoyed and participated in the class. Cognitively talking about him, he seems to have developed the different abilities that children at 6 years old have developed. For example, he can follow instructions easily, he can classify non-abstract information and separate it.  He can also distinguish between reality and fantasy like in games during lessons and breaks. Physically talking, he seemed to have developed the gross motor skills well like descending stairs without parents' help, or changing directions, jumping in a specific height (not so high), etc. Lastly, psychosocially talking, he shows having good communication and friendship with his classmates, so it could be said that he has had good stimulation in his three major areas of development.

DIAGNOSTIC CLASS

DIAGNOSTIC CLASS

The diagnostic class was an excellent experience, for this helped me to realize all my weeknesses and strengths when teaching children. Moreover, with this experience I could realize what my students already knew and if all the materials and lesson plans were appropriate for them. 

Some of the things that I realized I did good before starting the diagnostic class were the materials, for I noticed that my students enjoyed having colorful boxes and doing something with them. Besides, I noticed that the activity was effective with my students, for I could confirm what my students knew so I could achieve my goal. However, I noticed that I had some difficulties with classroom management, for there were some moments in which my students seemed to be distracted from the real task. I also noticed that my voice was not the best at that moment, so I had to speak out loud in order for my students to listen to me and follow instructions.

As for the other activities done by the other teachers, I consider these classes were very good, for there were many interactive activities and there were some others that required the students to use their cognitive skills. Thus, this could help me to know what students' preferences are. Furthermore, I observed that just like me, the other teachers could achieve their goals of confirming what students knew about the different topics covered that day. For example, with the activity in which students had to put the numbers in order, I think that it was noticeable that the majority of students knew the numbers from 1 to 10. Therefore, I consider the activity was really effective because not oly the teacher could confirm students' knowledge, but all the teachers. 

My case of Study

My case of study is called Alex Enrique Rosales Regalado.

Alex is seven years old, he is studying his first grade and he has a big sister called Astrid. Alex is an energetic little boy. He likes to participate in class, for during the diagnostic class, he seemed to enjoy the classes and whenever he had the time to answer questions, he did it. Besides, he looks like an obedient boy because he follows instructions and commands easily. This is what I could appreciate the first day of class, the diagnostic one.