Hello! this is our chance to reflect on what we offer ours students when we come to class.
It is our beliefs about teaching, learning, knowledge and our own history as students what can be of influence on what we do or not do in class.
Please post your reflection page here where you show your opinion about this issue!
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Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteThis is my reflection about cideb teacher's (the ones whose groups I practice with) beliefs about learning, learners and themselves.
In the progressive program, I have seen that teachers adapt their teaching to students. They apply more a traditional way of teaching rather than a constructivist one. The one who has all the knowledge and mastery of the subject is the teacher so the presentation step in a class is given more importance and emphasis. Curriculum is seen as a list of topics that need to be covered. Learning happens when students can imitate what the teacher models. Learning is most of the time a one-direction process: from teacher to learner.
Students are seen by teachers as being able to receive as much information as possible since they know they have always had the best grades, are very intelligent, and hardworking. Besides that, teachers sometimes don’t challenge them enough in English language learning. They modify their speaking too much to the point that they translate phrases or speak completely in Spanish. Because of this, when I do my practice, teachers ask me to lower the level of English or speak more slowly.
I think teachers see themselves as providers of knowledge and as models. They are an example to follow in the English language usage. Their job is to be strict with them, give them many tasks to do, but at the same time, they have to be a great help for everything. Another teacher’s task is to cover all the content in class and give extra help when a topic is difficult for students.
Sixth Entry: Teachers’ Beliefs
ReplyDeleteCIDEB: International Program, 2nd Semester.
a.Teacher beliefs about learning
Knowledge is to be carried out by both teacher and students, and in this particular case, students know that they are in charge of their own learning; the teacher does not need to “force” them to learn. I think that the profile of these students enhances and deepens the learning process. Discussions, debates, expositions, analyses, among others, are the ways the teacher sees learning. The learning process is deeply aligned with the students goals, and their maturity and analytical skills serve very well to the purpose of learning.
b.Teacher beliefs about learners
Learners’ role is active. And this class was a good example of it. A team of students were presenting an exposition on a reading studied. The complete presentation was carried out by the students and before they started, some other students were chosen to provide feedback at the end of the class. It was very clear that the teacher sees students as mature enough to grade their classmates, and this belief was correct: the students provided a constructive criticism on the presentation. In this process learners are encouraged to become self-learners: they read the topic by themselves, researched about the author, background, analysis, and also created an activity to reinforce the learning of their classmates. The teacher was in charge of guiding the students to the best and most important of the information presented, however, this class could have been carried out without the teacher, in accordance with what this program implies.
c.Teacher beliefs about themselves
The teacher I observed saw herself as a knowledge facilitator and guide, since she was not the only one providing information; actually she did not provide much information. However, she did work as a filter to enhance the learning of the best information. I think that in this kind of educational program the role of the teacher changes drastically: teachers guides the class, and somehow are a little displaced by the students. The teacher is aware of the features of a classroom like this and makes the best to avoid becoming obsolete or useless to the students.
CIDEB: BILINGUAL PROGRAM, 2ND AND 4TH SEMESTER
ReplyDeletea.Teacher beliefs about learning
Knowledge is just a matter of the school, the students are conscious that they need to learn but they did not worry about that. Some teachers tries to improve with movies, and sometimes they force them to learn, because of their behavior, they are really mischievous. Other teachers just present the content and that is enough, it is based on expositions, and that is it. While one f them enhances the knowledge of the students developing their curiosity and creativity through songs, games, projects, etc.
b.Teacher beliefs about learners
Learners are passive. Students just receive the knowledge and teachers are conscious of that, even they said some comments about that, they said that students did not care about the content because they are coming from schools where they talk all time in English, that is why sometimes the class was managed in both languages English and Spanish, because they said that students feeling is like they knew everything and they tend to discriminate other programs like the progressive. And it was true.
The students are just forced to learn and they are just receiving the information, while the teacher is the one that just exposes the content and leave the classroom.
c.Teacher beliefs about themselves
I have observed 3 different teachers, the first one is a facilitator but sometimes opts to talk in Spanish because of the conception of students she said that they came from private institutions and that she could not make them to worf, that they were impossible, the biology teacher in 4th semester is just the kind of teacher that gives the information in Spanish and some words in English because he felts insecure about his level of English, and he gave the same excuse that bilingual are complex. And the biology teacher but 2nd semester, he is completely the opposite, he tout that the teacher is just a guide for them, and he prepares the classes in that way in order to develop the curiosity of the students, he prepares activities like projects, he activates previous knowledge before to present the content and at the end he finishes with a question that he knew would be like interesting for them. He felt like one of the best teachers in the institution and from my point of view he was correct.