IV. Teaching Practice
1. PROCEDURES OF MY TEACHING
My steps in teaching are kind of similar with every lesson that I made. I usually start the lesson through asking them about our previous topic or asking them questions that could lead us to our topic for the day. The activities that I gave are always arranged from basic or just information that asks for information (remembering level) to activities that requires higher order thinking skills or the so-called HOTS.
The following procedures are the ones I have used during my class with Grade 10/ X-10 on January 11, 2019:
The subject matter of my lesson is on the ‘7 Language Features of Event Advertisement.” As the topic is related to advertisements, the titles of the tasks usually have the word, ‘AD’ in it. First task is called as ‘AD in the blanks.’ In this task I have posted an incomplete event advertisement poster. The students were tasked to fill the blanks. In order for them to see what will they put, they draw from a box of sheets of paper in which the Structures of an Advertisement (the previous topic) were written on these. And as the students were able to show mastery with the previous topic, the 8 structures of advertisement, they were ready to proceed to the next topic.
The second task is called as ‘To read is to ADventure.’ In this task, I let the students read an advertisement text as this will be used for the discussion of the next topic. After, I asked them what kind of ad was presented. As they were able to unravel that it was an event advertisement, I asked them to write in the board related words and phrases to the word, event, to be able to define it. This is to prepare them that our topic is on event advertisement.
The third task is called as ‘ADvancing knowledge.’ In this task, I have introduced the seven (7) language features of an event advertisement: (1) Evocative Language, (2) Informative Language, (3) Persuasive Language, (4) Powerful Language, (5) Simple Language, (6) Positive Language, and (7) Active Sentence. To let the students explore these different language features, I have grouped them wherein in a class there must be 7 groups only. As each group was able to choose their leader, the leaders draw from a box containing the 7 language features. The language feature that their leader has picked was the language feature which they will give and share something about it. In this acitivity, the students are allowed to open their phones and search in the internet. All of 7 groups were given carton/cartolina but different colors. They were tasked to write words/phrases related to the language feature they have picked and then they used this in their 2 minute discussion. As each group was finished, I have facilitated the activity and more importantly sufficed the information that the students have shared.
The fourth task is called as ‘AD in the box.’ As the students were able to understand the seven language features though the previous tasks, in this activity, the students are ready to display what they have learned. With their same group, they read again the advertisement text that can be found in their book, Pathway to English, page 133. After, the students were given worksheets to answer; the worksheet asks the students to fill up the table in the worksheet through writing sentence/s (that were found in the ad that they have read) corresponding to the different language features. After then, the students and I have both checked together their answers.
The last task is called as ‘Crossword with a Twist.’ In order to find out if the students have familiarized themselves with the different language features, the students were tasked to find a partner and complete the crossword. The twist is that the first 10 teams who were able to finish this activity will be given additional 10% each member, while the rest of the team was given additional 5% each member. This task is done to evaluate whether the students have mastered the language features of an event advertisement already.
2. TIME MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZING ACTIVITIES
Managing time in a country you are not really familiar is quite hard. We cannot deny the fact that managing time is a very important skill that a teacher must have. This helps the teacher to optimize learning opportunities for students, and to make more engaging and effective activities and tasks.
At first, I made an activity plan in which the allocated time for each activity is written or presented. This helped me to picture what is going to happen in the class and budget the time allotted for each tasks given to the students. First, I have considered the learning competencies that the students must and can achieve. As the competencies were already written in the book that was being used by the teacher and the students in the school, I have chosen the competencies that needed to be targeted first to create a good foundation for the next topics and activities.
Second, I planned for learning tasks appropriate to my students and to their level. As I have wanted that my students will not only learn and study in my class, I have incorporated different approaches and techniques so that the students will not get to learn only but also to enjoy while learning something new. And thus, I have come up with learning tasks that are both efficient and engaging.
Third, I made sure that the number of students and the allotted time to every activity does not get in the way of the teaching and learning process. As some of the activities needed more time, I have encouraged the students to finish certain activities in a given time; this is to optimize the learning and also to let the students push their limits.
Lastly, I thought of approaches or techniques that could help me have several tasks which have a good flow. Indeed, effective teaching strategies gave me several benefits. One of the strategies I have used in some of my activities is the collaborative strategy. This strategy does not only allow the students to work together and have fun with their classmates as they study but also makes the activities faster to finish as many members will contribute and share their knowledge as well to achieve a specific goal that was given to them as a task. Instead of having individual practices in all of the activities, I have also incorporated this activity since sometimes not all of the students are fond of individual activities. There must be balance and fairness in everything. –
3. PROBLEM-SOLVING
Teaching without problems is even at times a disadvantage as we may not be able to learn anything or gain some lessons. Indeed, during my practice teaching, I have also encountered few problems. And the main problem that I come to across is the language difference. Because of this, the students and I need to use the English language. Through using the universal language which is English, still I was able to communicate with them and thus, they also try to response in English.
Indeed, as a result, we both needed patience, time and effort – affecting the teaching and learning process. However with the use of plain language or simple words and speaking and explaining things as straightforwardly as we can, many of the students or almost all of them can cope up already in the lesson. As the students that I have met are already in 10th grade, there are several students in the class who can quite understand English well, and thus help the others to understand what I was also saying to the class.–
4. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
As the students are quite matured already, there have been just few problems under the classroom management that I have encountered. And to be able to deal with these, I made sure to use techniques that could keep my students organized, orderly, focused, attentive on task and academically productive during the class.
In language education especially in literature, mobilizing the attentiveness of students should be a priority in achieving a purposeful and effective teaching-learning process. According to Parsons, Hinson and Brown (2001), attentiveness promotes active learning, self-direction, exploration and creativity. If the students then are not attentive, it does not only affect the teaching instruction but also the learning process of the students. Thus, the techniques I have utilized in my lessons to keep the students engaged and active are the cooperative learning strategy and the reward-based system.
Cooperative learning is an educational strategy which aims to organize classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. There is much more to cooperative learning than merely arranging students into groups. It has been described as structuring interdependence. This means that students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively toward academic goal.
On the other hand, I have also applied the reward based system. In using this technique, students were tasked to share related information and ideas in the class to gain points. Also, the groups who were able to finish things first and were correct were given another point. Whoever perform the best in the class also gain points. The students who showed any good performance were given points. The students who gain the highest points were given a reward. –