El Encierro (the Running of the Bulls)

Transcription

1 Kristy Hagerup Classroom Management Video Tape #1 Reflection 22 October 2009 El Encierro (the Running of the Bulls) For this lesson, my cooperating teacher gave me freedom to do whatever I wanted for as long as I wanted. Because we weren t going to be teaching the kids anything new (finals were next week) and they would be reviewing ALL of next week, I decided to do a culture lesson, particularly concerning El Encierro (or the running of the bulls) in Pamplona. I picked this topic because I knew it was something that the kids (or of them) had at very least heard of before, so I figured they would have some (even if very little) background information that should spark their interest to want to know more. Now, I should mention right off the bat, I didn t intend to use the full 60 minutes for this lesson, but as the lesson unfolded I figured as long as I had the 60 minutes, I might as well use them all. So, let me just apologize for making you sit through a 60 minute lesson. I think I m only actually teaching for about 25 minutes (tops), and the rest of the time is spent letting the students work together. If you would like fast forward through those parts, that would be fine. But I will leave that up to your discretion. Alright, now to reflect. First, I ll start with the things that could some improvement, or things that didn t go as according to plan, starting with the day I chose to do this lesson. I m not sure if it was as big as a factor as I think it is, but I chose to do this on a Friday, which generally results in students being pretty rowdy because the next day is the weekend. But more so than that, this particular weekend was homecoming.

2 So, Friday night would be a big homecoming game and the next day would be a big homecoming dance. So, naturally, the kids had that on their mind, they were all excited and talkative because of it and I think that might have contributed to having a hard time getting them to focus and listen. But that s not to say they were exclusively to blame. I m sure I could have done a better job at realizing that this day would be a little harder to maintain their attention. That brings me to my next point of doing a better job of realizing their potential distractions and deciding how to discipline them. I felt like a lot of times I wasn t waiting long enough for the noise level to just die down on its own and I was having to tell them to be quiet too much. I should have tried other methods to make them pay attention rather than calling them out each time. I also wish I could have done more TPR. While the kids were working together and did have to get up to find their partners, they were still sitting a great deal. I should have realized that they would be antsy and should have planned something that would let them get up and doing things. Finally I would have liked to make the kids talk in Spanish more. I m glad that talked more in Spanish, but I would have liked. Alright time for the good. First of all, I think I used more Spanish. I m still not at the 100% level, but I am glad that I used more. I m still a little hesitant to use Spanish the whole time (especially with this class) for a couple reasons. For one, while my cooperating teacher does speak a great deal in Spanish, he doesn t talk the whole time, so if I were to do that, they would not be used to that. Because of that (and that brings me to my second reason) I would have to spend more time repeating myself in Spanish. Some of the students have kind of conditioned themselves to just be helpless rather than trying

3 to figure it out on their own, so I would have to waste time going over things multiple times (maybe). Again, this nonchalant attitude might have not necessarily have been anything I did (though that s not to say I m relinquishing responsibility), rather it could have been the time of day, the topic, the day of the week, the fact that they might just be burned out by this point in the quarter, the fact that this teaching style isn t one they are used to, or something else. But I digress. Ultimately, given the amount of Spanish they know, how much their teacher speaks to them in Spanish, and given the other social factors I was working against, I think I spoke in Spanish the right amount for this particular class. Another thing I did well was my lesson itself. I feel like incorporated many useful methods, done something the kids would be interested in, and did a good job with variety and scaffolding. I chose a topic that would invoke some of their background information because it was something they had to have heard about at some point, even if that information was very limited. In the beginning I spoke (mostly) in Spanish which immersed them in the language as well as Swain s forced output by asking them to talk (well, that didn t work as well as I wanted because I really wanted them to speak in Spanish, but they were still staying on topic and talking about what I wanted them to talk about). I used Vygotsky s cooperative learning with the info gap activity to get them talking together as well as lowering the affective filter because they were working with a peer. This also was activity was also an example of i + 1 because it was taking something they know how to do (reading and simple Spanish) and putting those skills in a context that might have been challenging (like having to talk to their partner, read a selection that might have words they don t know, in a context they don t know a lot

4 about.) Retrospectively, it was more like i + 1 ½ but, surprisingly, I think for the most part most of them appreciated the challenge tried it regardless (even though initially it was met with the tell-tale This is too hard ). Also, I feel like I incorporated a great deal of variety to help students of different learning styles. I let them read, I let them talk (I talked as well), I showed them a visual representation which was accompanied by explanation, and I gave them a chance to write creatively. I think with this variety, the lesson was scaffold well and maintained the students interest. In terms of my students performance, I was very impressed (despite the fact that they were amped about homecoming). While at some points in time when they were working in groups, they did get off topic, for the most part they stayed on task and were very engaged the whole time. I personally think that allowing them talk periodically about social things is a healthy element to building a community of learners (and it s inevitable if I let them pick their partners). The good thing about this class is even though they do talk a little bit about off task things, they generally are still doing the assignment that is asked of them to do. There were even times when a student would get off task, and some of the leaders of the class would call them out. It was refreshing and an affirmation to see that some of the students really wanted to learn and complete the task, even if it was hard. I also think I did a fairly good job at making the lesson more student centered. I didn t give them all that much background information about the topic before I started the activity, I let them do them discover it themselves. I let them answer the questions when they were done. I let them share with me their thoughts. I m sure there were more things

5 I could have done to make it even more student centered, but overall I think I did a good job. Finally I am glad that I maintained a level of enthusiasm throughout the lesson. I really think this is something that is important and it s something that will help me tremendously when I m a teacher on my own some day. I think when the students see you re excited to be there, no matter how mundane the topic for the lesson is, the students will catch on and get excited too. I have no problems getting excited about a lesson and what I do, and I think the students will appreciate that quality in the long run.