Goal 2
the ability to reflect on, critically analyze, and evaluate my own teaching practices.
I find self-reflection extremely important because it helps us become better people and better teachers. At first, I found evaluating my teaching practices difficult because I made so many errors and it was hard to admit that, but once I realized that my students would benefit by me improving myself, my feelings changed dramatically. I am now eager to critically analyze myself to find where I can improve: "experience is often the best teacher" after all.
Seth, Me, Ann, & Qiang
Artifact 5 is a reflection that comes from the first time I ever taught in a classroom setting. It was a team teaching experience for APLNG 493: Methods for Teaching ESL, so I developed the teaching materials with three classmates and Dr. Johnson, the course instructor; we divided the classroom teaching time into four parts (See Goal 7, Artifacts 20 & 21). This team teach was video recorded and our assignment was to watch the video and write a reflection paper evaluating ourselves and discussing what we learned.
Because this was my first time teaching to a classroom, I learned a lot about myself as a teacher/presenter and interaction with students. I also learned more about my own preferences for how I want to prepare and present information and how I want my students to respond in the future. Although I was nervous, I felt I did better than I had expected to. I was thrown off by a student question and happy that my teammates were there to "save" me! Thank Dr. Johnson for recording the experience because I was surprised by what I saw. I realized that I did look extremely nervous through my body language and nervous laughter and stuttering. I also realized that I did not answer the student's question well, nor ask the type of questions that illicit student response. I did not look like a teacher at all. I was disappointed with my performance after watching the video, but it was an eye-opener to areas I needed to improve. Without the video, my self-reflection would have been very different and perhaps unrealistic. Not only did I learn more about myself, but I also learned the value of video self-reflections.
Because this was my first time teaching to a classroom, I learned a lot about myself as a teacher/presenter and interaction with students. I also learned more about my own preferences for how I want to prepare and present information and how I want my students to respond in the future. Although I was nervous, I felt I did better than I had expected to. I was thrown off by a student question and happy that my teammates were there to "save" me! Thank Dr. Johnson for recording the experience because I was surprised by what I saw. I realized that I did look extremely nervous through my body language and nervous laughter and stuttering. I also realized that I did not answer the student's question well, nor ask the type of questions that illicit student response. I did not look like a teacher at all. I was disappointed with my performance after watching the video, but it was an eye-opener to areas I needed to improve. Without the video, my self-reflection would have been very different and perhaps unrealistic. Not only did I learn more about myself, but I also learned the value of video self-reflections.
| artifact5.doc |
Poster from presenation of final project
Artifact 6 is a final paper taken from APLNG 410: American English Pronunciation. In this class, I tutored Jake individually in pronunciation. I performed a diagnostic evaluation of my tutee's pronunciation, analyzed the diagnostic for problem areas, and developed a lesson plan to target one of these problematic pronunciation areas. The assignment was to teach this lesson plan and reflect on the success or failure of the lesson objective. This is the final paper from that course which summarizes the three sections I mentioned above and, more importantly, reflects on the lesson plan I taught (see Goal 1, Artifact 1).
I always get excited when I get to apply a project from class to real-life. This project allowed me to practice teaching an area I was not extremely comfortable with prior to this course and reflect on my ability to teach the lesson target. Not only was I able to reflect on my own abilities, but I also reflected on the method I used to teach the target and measure how effective it was. This is extremely valuable information because it prepares me for future pronunciation classes.
I always get excited when I get to apply a project from class to real-life. This project allowed me to practice teaching an area I was not extremely comfortable with prior to this course and reflect on my ability to teach the lesson target. Not only was I able to reflect on my own abilities, but I also reflected on the method I used to teach the target and measure how effective it was. This is extremely valuable information because it prepares me for future pronunciation classes.
| artifact6.docx |
Artifact 7 is my final reflection paper from APLNG 412: Teaching Second Language Writing. I took this class the semester after I taught two sections of ESL 015: Academic Writing II and throughout the semester, I constantly reflected on my past performance as a writing instructor. As the saying goes, "Hindsight is 20/20."
Because hindsight in 20/20, I learned much more from this class taking it after teaching writing than I would have if I had taken it before teaching writing. Ironic, but true! Because I had already taught writing, I took the course very seriously and compared everything I learned to my experience teaching writing, reflecting on myself. Perhaps this is my own personal learning style, but I think I learned more from this class than any other in my four years of studying linguistics! In this short paper, I try to express what I learned and how meaningful the class was to me.
Because hindsight in 20/20, I learned much more from this class taking it after teaching writing than I would have if I had taken it before teaching writing. Ironic, but true! Because I had already taught writing, I took the course very seriously and compared everything I learned to my experience teaching writing, reflecting on myself. Perhaps this is my own personal learning style, but I think I learned more from this class than any other in my four years of studying linguistics! In this short paper, I try to express what I learned and how meaningful the class was to me.
| artifact7.docx |
