The Evolution of Teachers

I am José Eduardo Escobar Vásquez. I am a student at Universidad Don Bosco. I am studying the major in languages teaching option. I am studying my ninth semester. This is my fifth year in this major.

In all this time studying at the university I could understood and learnt a lot of important things. Useful things that I will be able to put in to practice not only in the future at my job, but right now in some subjects in which I have to implement some strategies for teaching. Last year and at the beginning of this year I was teaching some classes for my social work. I was teaching English to some kids on Saturdays.

When I started this year of classes I had to take this subject called Teaching Practicum II. In this subject we had to deal with teenagers in the classroom. I thought that this situation would be a little bit difficult for me because I know that teenagers sometimes are problematic. Also in this subject I studied a new framework to plan my lessons, ECRIF. At the beginning I had hard time planning with this framework because I have never heard or read something about it. When I started to plan with this ECRIF, I spent a big part of the day thinking about what I could implement in each stage of this framework. I had a lot of doubts while planning my lessons, but now I feel really comfortable with this framework because I know better how it works. Now, I can plan a lesson with this framework on less time. I think that practicing is the best way to get something. Personally I prefer to work with this framework because it is better. This framework is really complete and it is more understandable while delivering a lesson. We as teachers could appreciate in a better way how the process of learning works on students. With this framework teacher has the total control of what he is doing during the lesson. Teachers can adapt the different activities for each stage of this framework in order to take advantage of it.

I could see and learnt some things from my classmates. Most of they are really creative with the activities that used for any stage of their lessons. I would like to share some things that catch my attention from Vanessa Aguilar. She is a great teacher, I admire her attitude a lot. She looks confident when she is in front of the students. She is willing to help, to give her best in anything that she proposes to do. She is really creative with the material that she used in her classes. She presented some ideas that I have never thought about them. She is really serious when she is delivering a lesson (I cannot be that serious). Probably been serious while delivering a class is a good way to stand, a good attitude to take. At the end of the course I could see and perceive that she was more relaxed while giving her class. Students felt comfortable in her classes. Teacher Vanessa encouraged them to participate, and they did it. In the three lessons that she delivered I could see that she was really prepared for them. That’s a characteristic of a great teacher.

I conclusion, I could say that I improve a little my skills for teaching English. I feel more confidence standing in front of students. I feel really exited making the material I will use for my class because I saw that students learn better and enjoy a class with creative material from the teacher. I saw that with the activities that I use with them. For example with the crazy hat and the big smile. I think that I reached most of the objectives of this course. I can plan a lesson using ECRIF in approximately 2 hours, and that is a big step for me!! I know that with more practice planning I will create my lesson on less time. I can differentiate which activities would work better for students. If we want good results in our students we should learn from all of them. All the people is different and all of them have something to teach us. It is our duty to identify the differences between our students and take those differences in our favor. We could explode the best of them, and we have to do it.