Thinking on a better version of me!

I'm a perfectionist even though I know nobody is perfect, and with the time I have learned that things do not necessarily need to be perfect to be good or acceptable. If the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, then I have to reconsider how I teach and how I want the thing to be developed in the classroom.
After some questions that Matthew make me think about and also after a video I watched about classroom management, both make understand that the bad behavior of my students or others students could be the result of a lack of activities in class, where students are busy learning, using their creativity, and being thinker trying to find a way to do something, without someone telling them what to do.
I have to change first, I have to understand that my way works for me but not necessarily for my students. I have to plan engaging activities where students can use the previous knowledge and build from it, learn by practice and not only repetition or copying something from the board. I have to at least try and I have faith that my student will behave better if I start letting them do things on their way.
I'm teaching a language, the class could be loud if we are singing, discussing a topic or having a conversion, I cannot expect to have a quiet classroom all time.
I think my first step should be to know what I want them to learn from a topic and then think on some activities where students can try to use as many skills as possible, also making the activity hands-on, I have to let them try and make as many mistakes as needed until they can find a way to resolve it or to achieve the objective of the activity, I have to be more an observant and give some opinion to redirect them to a better path if they are going to off of the road.
After the TTP program and the field experience, I MUST change, if not I came to nothing, and I will be the same teacher that cut the student's wing (learning opportunities, creativity, development of a critical mind, chance to learn how to resolve problem, motivation to like school and see it as a safe place to make mistakes and learn from them).

How important is to read?

One of the biggest challenges that I have faced myself as an adult to study at the university level is reading.
Why? Because I don't like to read. I remember that I was told to read some novels in middle and high school, but these novels never were selected by me. The teacher ALWAYS tells us what to read, no matter what I would like to read, so we never got the chance to pick a book of our interest, NEVER.
How much would this have marked a difference in my life? A LOT... Now the question again is why?
Let me answer why would this had have changed my present me or marked a difference. As an adult, I believe that by reading we have access to one of the biggest sources of information: BOOKS... It doesn't matter it the book is on paper or it is a digital version. Books can provide us knowledge, entertainment and let us learn how to do new things, or see how was life before us. Maybe by now I would have read many interesting books and be a more knowledgeable person.
Why didn't my teachers teach me to love the habit of reading books?
Now, it is my duty as an adult to find a way to read a little bit more every day until I get used to it, and more importantly to teach my little ones to love the habit of reading.
I was impressed how much the Westwood kids love to read. Since pre-k, they are teaching them, how a reader should behave or what a reader should do to be an active reader. They explain to them how to understand, take note of a reading or analyze a story.
Westwood, it is using the Heinemann’s Philosophy that empowers teachers to help students through reading to become literate, empathetic, knowledgeable citizens.
Every day students grabbed their reading basket and had the opportunity to go shopping in their classroom library (OMG, yes! they have a library in their classroom, for sure this takes years) but students can go and see the cover or maybe read the back cover to make their selection, then they can read alone o read in pairs, they gather on the carpet to talk about their readings. I was in a second grade, and they never complain about reading a book, they always showed excitement and interest in the reading class.
For sure this is something that I want to try in Panama. I will assign some minutes to read every day and have some activities to complement, like write your own ending of a story, or find some solutions for a character problem and so forth. 

Hands on Activities!

Yesterday, I reflected on the activities that Westwood students do on a daily basis in the different subjects. So, what I have been able to observe is that all the classes have a theoretical beginning. If it´s a new topic the teacher does a brainstorm, where she explains the subject and makes the children activate their previous knowledge. In the event that it a topic of the previous day, there is always a review where the children actively answer questions, the teacher always plays and perform a game called Teacher versus Students and she asks questions, the students accumulate points and students always win, It is super fun.
In most classes students have activities where they use their body to simulate actions, make letters with their hands, they are always in constant movement. They sit on the carpet, they listen to the teacher, interact, get up to look for books, read in groups or individually, they always share and discuss with their classmate about questions (Think Pair Share). In each unit they have a project to develop which usually includes the 4 skills, they always read the topic, do an analysis and summary. This week they had been working on an amazing museum, of the Mayan, Aztec, Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. It is amazing how children have created all sorts of sculptures and artifacts to represent their cultures, using ipads and their imagination. In Westwood, being an IB school, they try to develop values and activities such as risk-taker, thinker, knowledgeable, open-minded, principled, communicators, inquirers, and reflective.
Based on these strengths students are more focus and have their minds set on learning every single new topic the teacher try to teach them.
I understand that in Panama there are very few schools with this teaching style but I would like to implement part of this ideology, where children have more responsibility for their own learning, the teacher is only a guide and facilitator. Children should always analyze and think, they should ask themselves how to solve a difficulty and take the risk of treating that alternative. For this reason
 majority of the activities are developed mostly by children.
In Panama the children are always guided by the teacher's instructions, most of the classes are teacher-centers, and the students usually repeat. Few activities are done because the students have bad behavior or because the conditions do not allow to do them.

Materials, resources and equipment...

I  have wished to see all the ideas, techniques and activities as opportunities to develop them in my country, but I can´t deny a reality, that whenever I will go back to Panama, our school system doesn't have even half of the material that Westwood has, we don't have technological devices (maybe we could have a projector) so what can I do to perform and conduct all this activities. I understand that the main purpose of this school visit beside to blog our reflections is that we could be able to adapt the activities and ideas to our reality, that unfortunately is very different.
Maybe, I´ll have to make a list of the resources that I do have, and the material that somehow I could need, and design lesson plans using what I have to work with the Panamanian kids have. Instead of powerpoint, I can write in poster paper the slides that I want to use to explain in class. For handcraft, the school won't provide me with materials, so based on the planning I can ask parents for the material and have some material for those students that never bring their own material (we have many of those).
I don't want to lose hope, so I have to continue observing and at the same time continue asking myself what can I do to adapt all the amazing ideas to be able to use them in Panama.

My first day at Westwood Elementary!

What an amazing day! I never thought that a public school could have so many resources, be so beautiful and colorful, also well organized and structured. we were very welcome, had a tour and spend all day observing and sometimes participating in classes. Mrs. Sirkis gave the opportunity to be her assistant in class, help to check assignment and assist kids with questions about her nouns and adjectives class and also in maths.
Kids asked me so many questions, from my favorite color to my favorite wood, what kind of animals we have in my country, even about transportation, so creative and curious students, I loved it.
I took notes about some techniques that she used in her ELD (English Language Development) class, and also the math class. I noticed that most of the classes were students centered, I was astonished that she usually give them some ideas but almost never do anything for them, whenever they need help, they showed her what they had and she ask them that they thought they need to make it better or to make it work, and most of the time they came with a brilliant idea. I never thought that a 2nd grader ss could be able to do so many things on their own. In Panama I have done so many things for them, just to save time. I feel ashame imagine how many time my student lost a learning chance because I thought they weren't able to do it. They also have a marvelous classroom call EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) were students also develop theirs on technological projects, based on problem-solving for worldwide situations and innovation opportunities.
I still thinking about what of the classroom arrangement technique and activities I can apply in Panama. Certainly, we don't have as many resources and this delay the class, because not all the student brings assign material to work on a project, we don't have as many books for reading and technology is not an available resource in all moment.
Tomorrow is a new day, I will continue observing and notating as many ideas as I can to make a full strategic plan for when I go back to Panama to start a new teaching style.

How important is education?

On the past weekend, we went to Little Rock the capital of Arkansas and we visited Central High School, the oldest high school in the city. I was very impressed by the visit through the history of the little rock nine and all the things that happen to them in order to receive a decent education. Nowadays, in many countries education is compulsory and in others not, but all children have the right to attend school. It is unlikely that a student has problems of racism, nor is there racial segregation as before. It amazes me so much the risk that those students took just to be able to have the opportunity to advance in their education. We teach our students and some are interested but others are not. When we have everything in life and we get it without any difficulty, we tend to appreciate too little. This trip makes me think that as teachers we should open our students eyes for them to know that education is more than an obligation, it is a right and a duty that every person should take advantage of, to develop a critical thinking, help the national economic growth, and gives them the ability to realize their dreams. Upon my return to Panama, I would like to tell stories or show documentaries to teach students how much it has cost others to have an opportunity for an education and that students try to appreciate more the opportunity they have so easily achieved.

Classroom management importance

I had a terrible time last year in the classroom because of my lack of classroom management skills. I didn't set rules at the beginning of the year, I was only worried about setting a routine, for them to be organized. Routines like, greet me, pray, and pay attention when I'm calling attendance.
The classroom management was one of the topics that I was expecting the most, but I have to admit that I could have been more self-learner. I surrendered to a cruel year with misbehaving students because I didn't do it right since the beginning.
I'll be arriving in Panama on March 9th, that's a week after the class began, and even though I would be a week delay, but certainly I will spend as much time as possible to make sure my students know their rights and duties in the classroom, what it's acceptable or not, and what's behavior will have consequences. I understand that I have to set other procedures like seat arrangement, how to organize groups easily and faster. I have to be able to manage my group in a better standing this year, if not it would in disadvantage again, I will have a mess in the classroom so I can't let that happen.

Different proficiency levels in the same classroom, What can I do?

After reading chapter 15 of classroom management, I started thinking how difficult it is to give the class with children who handle different levels of proficiency. In public schools there are usually children who come from private schools and their English level is very different from the children who have always been in public school and receives fewer hours of English classes and does not receive specialized classes either.
Last year I had children who always answered my general questions, and never gave the opportunity to others, I had to use a technique of using a ball and only the student who has the ball can answer, in this way I could realize if a quiet student knows the answer or not, because his silence may be shyness and not necessarily that he or she does not know the answer.
Another problem is when I make group activities, students who are smart or have a higher level of proficiency always sit together and do not like to work with others. Which is why I had to find a way to build more varied groups.
I understand that this can always happen in a classroom and I will always have to use classroom management techniques to observe which students have a higher level and to adapt the class to a higher level to keep them enthusiastic and also be able to go down to a level of the others.
I think its the best to take some time to identify each type of student I have and then be able to make the adaptations, so I know it will be worth it to have a more balanced and committed classroom.
Observation since the beginning of the year will be my best tool.

Lesson Planning: My cryptonite

Lesson planning has always been my toughest task as a teacher. I do understand how important is a lesson plan, for this reason, it's frustrating not being able to be effective creating one effectively. I want to have engaging classes in my classroom, I want to make sure I know what I am doing and for what reason I'm doing an activity. I usually create an activity thinking on the topic, but I don't have clear what my students should achieve with the class activity.
In Matthew's class was suggested that a good strategy to develop a good lesson plan is starting backward, so if I start knowing how I will evaluate the students, and how I intend to achieve that learning, I can have an objective according to what I want to achieve, and I have to take into account that the objective must be measurable. so the action they are going to make must be measured with some tool either an oral test, a workshop or something that allows me to know if the objective was achieved by the majority of the group.
What am I doing wrong? Starting with the objective and not been careful enough to make sure to measure and achieve my objective. How frequent should I plan? Everyday for every lesson I have to give, but this it seems hard for me I feel like I will spend the rest of my life planning.
What can I do to improve? I believe this will take some time and practice. I have to get used to write my lesson plan, as simple as possible but very SMART, hahaha OMG, easier said than done, but I understand is a tool that I really need to have any chance of being a successful teacher. If I don't do it I will continue having a high percentage of students that haven't acquired the desired knowledge.

Is it important to teach vocabulary?

Certainly, I have little time in my role as a teacher, and it has been my trial and error time. I began to study in 2015, at the same time I began to give English courses, and only last year I had the opportunity to teach the whole year in the public system of my country. I bring this to attention to express how little experience I have as a teacher and how much I still need to learn.
As a language students, I know how important it's to learn vocabulary in order to connect ideas, build sentences, so I always emphasize on new vocabulary. However, in which way do I teach vocabulary? It's a shame to say it but I had to admit that I've been doing it wrong and in an unhelpful way to improve the communication skills of my students. I usually use repetition to teach vocabulary and it always worries me that they learn to identify the word on a flashcard, use realia if possible and also I do translation of the terms, but I never make them to associate ideas, or that they show me with some mimic or using TPR the understanding of a word, I also don't use the words to introduce some synonyms or antonyms, and very rarely I use music for them to learn a vocabulary.
Everything I learn in my Teacher Training is fascinating, it's new, and it makes me see that I have a lot to learn, that there are many techniques that I can apply, but a part of me gets depressed and think how bad I have been giving my classes, how much have I lacked to teach correctly, and also I doubt how little or much my students have learned, because, on top on everything, I used to continue with a class, if after after asking Did you understand? everybody said Yes we did!!!. What a great teacher I am!
Nevertheless, I know that I have to focus on the positive aspects and move forward. Certainly what I have not been doing well is not more than a point of reference to improve it.
After my class with Wendy, I understood that reading is very important in the learning process of vocabulary, that not only  I can use flashcards, I can also use several of the methods mentioned above and something very important is to ask WH questions, to know if students are understanding the vocabulary within a reading or an audio, I can also make them fill in blank with words in a new context for students to analyze and associate, also to use words in sentences. Also words can be taught in chunks or phrases instead of single words.
I know my path to follow it's very long and I need to be patient with my students and more with myself to be able to apply all the new techniques and knowledge that I have been learning here.

How easy is to take thing for granted?

How easy it's to say: I can read, do math, speak, run and many other activities... Whenever you are a person without any limitation all these things that we do thinking that it's normal to be done or that every person can do them. But whenever we sit down to think that there are people who did not have the same luck as us and who can not read because they suffer from dixlesia or because they have a physical problem like use a crutch or wheelchair, or because they can't speak fluently, or simply have concentration problems and it's so difficult to memorize anything because they don't retain the information.
Now, what happen when we have a room with different types of students, average children and also children with difficulties, children that we have to help more frequently, children to whom we have to have a different teaching technique, and taking into account their limitations we have to redesign a whole class trying to reach them in a different way than other children and evaluate them in a different way as well.
How do I feel about this? I don't feel trained at all, first to understand every limitation, because the possibilities are endless. In a certain way I feel that it's an additional work, that I have more activities to work on, and although it sounds selfish, I think that qualified people should attend to children with these limitations so these people who does have the training and expertise can be the ones that take them by the hand and helps them achieve their goals. A part of me is in agreement with the inclusive education, but that part of me that is not an expert in this, that does not know how to handle each case, and that I do not have training in what type of technique is the most appropriate to help each child is not agree at all. It makes me feel frustrated. What can I do about it? Self-training seems to be the only option. I remember that I attended a seminar where they talked about the different types of limitations that a student can have in a classroom, that day I understood that a child with ADHD is not guilty at all of being distracted and that does not achieve on average the objectives of the class, but I still need help when creating an activity to get to develop the learning process in that particular student and then be able to measure how much of a lesson the student has learned.

How to have a Student-centered class?

What is a student-centered(SC) class for me? I thought after I learned this topic in college that I was clear about the meaning but the big question was, if I was giving a SC class in my own classroom. My answer was affirmative, I knew what the meaning of the concept was, but was I applying my knowledge to have a SC classroom, were all my activities were hands on, and perform by my students, or was I talking like a parrot, as usual, making questions and thinking that their answers, good or bad were my best SC class demonstration.
After few practices with my instructor, I discovered that I was clueless about how to conduct a SC class, what kind of activities should I use, the importance of a real SC class.
I feel that now I have a better idea, I understand that a SC class should give the students the opportunity, for example, as a pre-reading activity create a series of questions about predictions they might think will happen, then read a paragraph and take turns, discuss in a group their own questionnaire.
In conclusion, I know this is a meaningful practice that won't be easy for me to achieve, I will have to make many changes in my current teaching style, I'm still learning how to balance more the classes. When I go back to Panama, I will have to sit and plan my lesson been more aware of the type of activities that I want them to do to learn a lesson and ask myself if they have the leading role or if I always have it.

What do we emphasize more: Accent or Pronunciation?

This past week we had the expected but feared Slang speech in the Listening/Speaking's class, we all investigated and prepared our speeches and it was the first moment that I got the opportunity to hear each one of my classmate to talk for more than three minutes, speaking fluently and expressing their ideas. In class, we answer questions and talk about various topics but this time I enjoyed so much to listen to the different accents of my classmates. 
After this, I realize that even though I always focus and worry about imitating an American accent, that is not completely necessary to make myself understand, whats the purpose of having an American accent if your pronunciation is wrong.
I have to accept that I will always have a different accent just for the fact that English is not my first language instead Spanish is. Furthermore, my perspective as a teacher should change as well, I have been teaching my students listening lessons only using American accent, what would they do if they listen to a British or Jamaican person, for sure they will nervous and may think that is a different language, just because I didn't take in consideration the importance to get familiar with different accents because English is an international language and many people from many countries speak English.
I have 3 Saudi, 1 Hindu, and some Panamanian fellow classmates in the class and I have discovered how beautiful it is to listen to so many different accents and be able to understand them it is wonderful. From now on I will focus more on my pronunciation and stop worry to sound like an American native speaker.

Best classroom experience

It's not easy to find the best classroom experience, without thinking in many classes at the same time. I have had great professors in my 3 years of studies for my BA in English Teaching and one remarkable professor that I can mention it's nowadays one of my best friends. 

Her classes were always well planned and organized, she started all her classes with a quote to analyze or a brainstorm of a previous class, she taught us that a teacher should always be studying new things, watching videos, listening to podcast, taking online courses to become better in so many fields as possible and also to be prepared for unexpected situations, or a radical change on the class for any unwanted  reason. 

My experience in her classroom was always pleasant, fun, and educational, her syllabus was full of activities, readings, assignments and a final project that challenge us to do something new, but at the end, we always felt great and proud of ourselves.   

An English class in Spanish

After a demo class in mandarin performed by one of my instructors for a bilingual class where none of them speak the target language or understand it. Consequently seeing their reaction, interest on the class, and participation I have come the conclusion that I have been failing as an English instructor, but the good thing of all this disappointment is that is never late to start doing it right.
I have always had the impression that I needed to provide instructions in L1 for EFL student to understand and then continue any activity, also I used to translate vocabulary words or phrases instead to try in TL all the time, for them to get familiar with the new language and start thinking in the new language with a translation attach to it.
I have to create a strategy for this because I know it won't be easy for me, I will have to change my own way of teaching first and avoid to all cost L1, then think on a suitable method for the lesson to provide introductions or warm up, as well as the lesson itself in the TL.
Unfortunately, I thought that was almost impossible to give a complete lesson in the TL, for that reason, I'm so glad my instructor did this activity to shows us the level of comprehension that could be achieved, as well as participation.
I know it will be a long way to change my current methodology, and way of thinking, but I already started by knowing that it's possible to be done.