Entry number five.

                      Tips for teachers.

    1- Be polite.

    2 -  Plan your lessons according to the context.

    3- Dress appropriately.

    4- Have a plan B in case the first one does not work.

    5- Allow students to have some agency in their learning.

    6- Establish a good rapport with your pupils.

    7- Be open to new technologies.

    8- Keep a record of the tasks you’ve given.

    9- Be positive if thing don’t go the way you planned.

    10-  Make the lesson about students, and not you.

Entry number four.

                              Types of Teachers.

I find it extremely interesting the way certain teachers just stick in your mind, and no matter how many years have gone by, you still remember them. And it is even more interesting that in many cases, you remember them not because of their teaching methods, or because you like the subject, but for personal reasons as well.

Consequently, I started digging in my mind, trying to identify the three types of teachers Carl Rogers states there are. It was not particularly simple, for the concepts in the text are not always so easy to find in real life. The world is not black and white; there are shades, and grey areas. However, I think I was able to grasp the main idea Mr. Rogers tried to explain in his book, and apply it to my former teachers.

The first category is described as the explainer. For this type of instructor, I thought of Mr. Merker. He taught History in the 8^th grade, in the Normal de Quilmes. As the book says, he too had incredibly deep knowledge about his subject, but he was a little rusty regarding methodology. Personally, I believe it was due to his age (he was over fifty when I was his student, back in 2007). Don’t get me wrong, he was a good teacher, but he could have been better if he worked a tad in his methods of teaching.

During his lessons, he was always in control. Students weren’t allowed to speak unless they raised their hand and the teacher granted them the right to speak. The rapport between teacher and student was not the best, for he would always order us, often shouting, what to do next. In addition, he gave us no agency. Every class, he stood up on the front of the class and explained the chapter we were supposed to read. Once he was done, he gave us exercise. Working in pairs was not possible, and talking during the class was forbidden.

Perhaps, if he were a little bit more relaxed, and let the students have some control over the lesson from time to time, most of the students would have not failed as they did.

The second category is involver. I thought of Mrs. Garbarini for this case. She taught language and literature, on 9^th grade. Obviously, she was very well-learned, but not only regarding her subject, as Mr. Merker. She had a firm grasp concerning methodology too.

On the first class, she made us write an introduction of ourselves, to see the level of the class. The following class, she told us that she had read all the introductions and that we would learn according to the needs and difficulties of the group as one.

From there, her methods varied a great deal. One day she would give us short texts to read, or even stories. Borges was one of her favorites, and we would read a lot of his work. Syntax she taught as well, allowing the students to be part of the lesson. And I remember particularly that one day she told us that we would act a small play. As there were not a lot of characters in the play, she divided the class into several groups, each of one devoted to a task. There was one for the scenography, one for sounds, one for the small pamphlets you get when you go to the theatre, one to control that we weren’t interrupted while acting, and so on.

The point is that she had a great number of methods for teaching, which made her classes a lot more interesting than they would have been if she just stood up on the front and explained everything.

Enabler was the third category. The moment I started reading about this type of teacher I thought of Roxana, my private teacher of English. Instead of taking control over the class as Mr. Merker did, she usually asked us how we would like to proceed. She would point out the aspects we needed to improve, and different ways of working on them that were not so common –and why not? So boring-.

We could choose the activities we wanted to carry out, and sometimes, how we would like to be corrected. Moreover, when we made a mistake, she didn’t look down on us, or laugh. She would politely explain where the mistake was and why we were wrong. Also, when she thought we should write a narrative or an essay, she would let us choose the theme. She suggested some, but we had complete liberty to opt for whichever we wanted to.

 Roxana was very ecological as well. Some classes, she looked for articles or stories dealing with contamination, or the greenhouse effect. I remember one in particular, about a ship that sank in the ocean, spilling all its petrol in the sea. It may not seem much, but little by little, ecology made its way through my brain.

Entry number three.

                                   Self-assessment.

The first term is officially over. We now adventure into the second, and last one, of first year. It has been a grand experience, most gratifying. There were ups and downs, as usual, but I’m quite satisfied with the process.

Regarding my performance, I’m glad to say that it’s been regular, and without great complications. I believe I’ve done well, so far. I’ve passed all of the mid-terms -or at least I think I have, we still are waiting for results of the Sociopolitica test-. Although my grades are not spectacular, I feel comfortable with what I got. Sometimes, I could have done better, but they are good enough for me.  

Of course, there have been some failures among the process. The first papers were not so great, not in Práctica Docente Generalista, at least. Leaving aside my handwriting, which is not brilliant, as I’ve stated in the previous entries, I encountered some difficulties with what was expected. Mrs. Chavez is not particularly specific with task, so most of us have a hard time figuring out what we are supposed to write. Consequently, I failed some of those papers. That is a significant problem, as there are not mid-terms in the subject. And if I do not succeed in the Spanish part of the subject, I will fail the one in English, for they go together. On the bright side, I got an eight on the report about our visit to the school. Yes, it came as a shock.

However, I do not regret taking the subject. It granted me the opportunity to learn how to write a proper report. I had never written one before. In middle school I was not asked to, so I never wrote one. And though it was hard, I liked it.

Following that train of thought, I now know how to transcribe a piece of text, and how to analyze a sentence, to a certain extent, thanks to Oral and Written expression. My social skills have improved as well. And my fluency, too.

Concerning the other subjects, there were no greater obstacles. In my opinion, there is a good rapport between teacher and student, in the majority of the cases. The teachers are very well-learned, and have deep knowledge about the subject they instruct. Their explanations are quite transparent, and they are always willing to explain concepts twice, or three times if it’s required. In addition, they are open to questions outside schedule. That’s not it, though. They are also very polite, and they allow us to have some agency in the classroom, which are two extremely important factors to be accounted. Some of them even upload tasks and material to the website, so we can access it no matter where we are.

There is also a good relationship among classmates. A certain fellowship has been created, multiple Facebook groups serve as proof. Some of us consider each other friends, which I believe is a key point. Foster good bonds and you will go far, don’t you agree?

To sum up, the process has been definitely worth experiencing. And despite there is room for improvement, I’m quite comfortable with my performance throughout this period. I look forward to the next. 

Entry number two.

                           My experience as a learner.

In the beginning, I had little to say about learning English, for it was an obligatory subject in school. However, when I found out that I truly liked it, and following the advice of my mother, I chose to study privately as well. I started going to an institute near the place I used to live, but then I had to momentarily postpone my English education because the schedules overlapped with rugby. Having to opt between one and the other, I decided to go with the second one, since it was the one I enjoyed the most. Two years later, I resumed my instruction in another place which turned out to be better than the previous one.

If I am completely honest, I’d say that there was no real purpose for learning the language. Or at least, the purpose was a sum of factors. As I have stated, I really liked it –and still do, obviously-. English becoming a lingua franca also helped. And how can we forget the fact that it gave me extra time to be with my best friend, who attended there too. It’s ironic that we don’t speak anymore now, isn’t it?

The teacher we had there was quite good. She taught me lots of things, but I think I achieved my level of fluency by watching tons of movies, tv shows, and listening to music in English. Soon, I was able to understand what they were saying without subtitles, or checking the lyrics. Well, not always. If I’m trying to watch an Irish movie, or listen to ‘‘Flogging Molly’’, there is no doubt that I will need to recur to subtitles, for the Irish accent is too thick for me to understand yet.

Regarding expectations, I think they were met. I wanted to be able to communicate with English-speaking folks, which I can now. It’s a bit unnerving to not be able to understand when spoken to. I believe that was my main motivation, communicating with others.

In summary, I think I got the best out of the experience. I would walk that same path again if I were given the chance to go back. So there is no doubt in saying that I’m genuinely satisfied with my formation.

Entry number one.

                             Expectations.

I don’t really expect anything about anything. I believe that if you expect nothing from someone, or something, you can never be disappointed. Besides, thinking in advance leads to anxiety, which clouds the mind, and generates tension. That is definitely not good. If you try to anticipate or foresee something before it actually happens, chances are that you won’t be right, or as I have said, you will be let down. For that reason, I try not to expect much from anything, and just let it flow naturally.

However, if the question is if I like, so far, what we have been doing, the answer is yes. I particularly like English subjects, such as Written Expression, Teaching Practice, and Language and Culture. Oral Expression is a bit difficult for me, but I’ll manage. Regarding subjects in Spanish, some I like and some I do not. Perspectiva Filosófica - Pedagógica is interesting, and so is Práctica Docente, but I’m not thrilled about Psicología. It just does not work with me.

One thing I do have to criticize is the general organization. I understand that it is quiet hard to run an institution as large as ours, but there is definitely room for improvement in that area. The fact that we switched classrooms four times is not great. And the fact that they told us that we should prepare ourselves for the initial examination, only to tell us later on that there would be no exam brings no joy to me. I wasted time, effort and money studying when I could have been enjoying summer with my friends. That bothered me a lot. But well, that’s on the past now. Let’s move forward.

       Strong and weak aspects as a student.

Strengths.

I think English is my strong suit. Sometimes it happens to me that I can’t say a word in Spanish, because I can’t remember that word, but I remember the word in English for that exact expression. I’ve even experienced entire dreams where I spoke in English, and even thought in English. Thus, I have no difficulties when speaking, or writing for that matter. And explaining my ideas is relatively easy for me, for I’m not shy at all. I do not feel uncomfortable participating in class, or engaging in a discussion. You may have seen me doing that already.

Another positive aspect is that I am curious about many things. I’m eager to learn most of the time, as long as the topic awakens my interest. So avoid history and math, ha ha ha.

My memory is good, especially if I hold what I'm studying important, or meaningful. Whereas, if I consider it to be not useful, the topic will be pushed to the darkest and deepest corners of my unconscious as soon as I've shown that I learned that.

Weaknesses.

Interpretation is tricky for me. I have a hard time figuring out what people really mean, or what the author is trying to imply in a sentence. I think it has to do with the fact that I’m very literal and straight-forward.

I find it harsh to be concise, too. Respecting the limit of lines is not something I often do. I rather detail my thoughts, what I’ve learned, or what I’ve looked for than summarizing it in a few words, so that I can be understood. Don’t get me wrong, I do not go rambling about something that has nothing in common with what I was asked, but I do like to explain myself properly.

My hand writing is terrible. I definitely have to work on that, but I hope it’s not a mayor issue.