Week 1: MY BEST TEACHER

Answer these questions according to the directions:
1a) Who was your best teacher? The most outstanding teacher I've ever had in all my years of education was my Chemistry teacher, Dr. Maria Voght from Bloomfield College in Bloomfield New Jersey. Her lessons were extremely interesting, efficient, and fascinating. She always practiced what she preached: her methods of teaching us demonstrated the desirable teaching methods for our use. She was approachable and always had time for students. Her lovely personality also contributed to the success of her teaching and lessons. She made every student feel like one of her own. Having her as a teacher was a blessing!

1b) Why do you consider him/her your best teacher? I consider Dr. Maria Voght as my best teacher because She was always in a good mood and kept us laughing. She was respectful of us as pupils, she knew how to listen. She was the one person who really understood me and she Helped me to change my life in the right path. She made me realize that I could achieve whatever I wanted to, if I was willing to work for it. It was she who inspired me to become a teacher today.

1c) which were the characteristics that this person had? Her passion for teaching was very intense. She enjoyed what she was doing. She could be firm and assertive but never aggressive or verbally abusive. She was warm, loving, and understanding. Most importantly, she care for all students and treated all her students with respect, dignity and with fairness.

1d)Do you - as a teacher/potential teacher- share any commonalities with your best teacher? If so, which ones? Be specific- Use a)b)c). The fact that she inspired me to become a teacher, sure there are so many of her characteristics that are reflected in me. Similar to my favorite teacher, I have a passion for teaching; I care for my students; and I make my students in my classroom feel special. Most importantly, I treat them with respect and with fairness.

2) How do you use technology in the classroom?

Sometimes it is obvious that a student, or students, just isn’t going to master educational skills in the traditional way. When that happens, maybe a technological solution is worth trying. Some of the modern technologies that I’ve found particularly useful in my classroom are:

• Calculators: This technology is so useful in improving computational skill and math literacy that I encourage all my students to use one. I especially like the Texas Instruments TI-83 graphing calculator, which lets a student enter a string of math operations in the order in which they’re presented.
• Pocket Translators: these devices have really helped my non- English speaking students function more effectively in an English speaking educational system.
• Pocket Speaking Dictionaries: These are particularly useful because they allow my poor readers as well as my bi-lingual students to work more independently, allowing me to give my other students the time they need.
• Spell Checking Pocket Electronic Dictionary: No wonder half the people in America can’t spell when we have words like pneumonia in the English language.
• A PC with Internet access: This is the most useful technology by far because it will allow you to find the grant money, and there is a lot of it out there, to purchase all the compensating technology your students will need. Keep an eye out at this site for my tips on grant writing.

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Week 2 AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD

Week 2 AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD
Do you think that the Audio-lingual Method would work in your classroom? Why? Why not? Give 5 reasons for your answer.

The audio-lingual method was widely used in the United States and other countries in the 1950's and 1960's. It is still used in some programs today. It is also referred to as "The Army Method," because it was developed through a U.S. Army program called ASTP, standing for "Army Specialized Training Program." In this method, oral interaction was emphasized in pattern drills, and conversation practices. As an ESOL teacher I think that the Audiolingual Method would work in my classroom for the following reasons:

• It provides students to lots of exposure to language they can understand before they become proficient in the English language.
• It gives students a chance to negotiate meaning with speakers of the language
• It allow students a chance to observe and participate in a variety of real communication situations
• It provides students a chance to get to know what people who speak the language think and believe.
• Learning is acquired through language and interaction as well as learned from the teacher.

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Week 3 MOTIVATION

Week 3 MOTIVATION (Read Chapter 5)
How would you motivate your students according to Maslow's Theory? How would you help students satisfy their needs? Be specific. If you have an experience in this regard, please describe experience in five sentences

The most important educational goal is for students to learn. Another important goal is to make this newly gained knowledge and information purposeful and meaningful to the students so that it may be retained and useful through their lives. An essential factor involved in meeting these goals is motivation. If students are unmotivated in one way or another, it is likely that little learning will take place, or if by chance some learning should take place, it is probable that it will not be retained. For motivation to take place in a classroom as teacher, we must consider the student’s needs. According to Maslow, if the student’s needs are not met, learning cannot take place. For instance, if a student has not had her breakfast before she comes to school, she will not be concentrating on learning; she will be preoccupied with the need for food. As a teacher, to motivate my student according to Malsow, first I will create an environment with the correct room temperatures where students are comfortable. I will let them have some bathroom breaks and drink breaks especially when they have an activity that requires a lot motion. I will plan lesson that will connect to real life activity and hand on. .By doing so will make learning meaningful and student will be enthusiasm to learn. I will furthermore get students involved in self-expressive projects and allow them to be involved in creative activities and projects. I will employ cooperative learning in such a way as to develop trust between group members. I will provide praise, positive feedback for correct responses instead of punishment incorrect responses. By doing so will increase the student’s self-esteem. As you know, with strong self-esteem, students will strive to succeed. As a result, if we can build student’s self-esteem in our classroom, we will have a greater chance to motivate them to excel.

To help my students satisfy their need, I will show them that I care for them, love them, and believe that they can learn. I will also show that I value their thoughts, opinions, and their judgments in my classroom. I will listen to them and make time to work with them if they need extra time. Finally, I will treat them with respect and dignity. Generally, I strongly believe that gaining my student’s trust and having high expectation for them and show them love are the key to encourage them to success academically and help them satisfy their need.

I had a student whose parents were going through an ugly divorce. Almost everyday the child was not paying attention in class. His grades went down dramatically. I called his home not one answered. I spoke to social worker about the student. Base on the investigation, I was told that the parents we not getting along at all. He was in middle of the argument and fight that was going on between the parents. After all that was done, he was removed from the home. They provided him with tutoring after school. With the support he was receiving and where he was placed have helped him to make some progress in his classes.

As it mentioned, one must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing on to meet higher-level growth needs. Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the highest-level called self-actualization. Every individual is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs. Life experiences including divorce and loss of job may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy.

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Week 4 AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

Week 4 AUTHENTIC MATERIALS (Video available at STU, AEC)
Which are the authentic materials that you use in class?

Why did you choose these materials for your class?
Be brief, please.

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Week 5- TEACHERS' STYLES

Week 5- TEACHERS' STYLES- After reading pg 201 from your book, specify which is the type of teaching style that you prefer and why.

It is important that you know your style of teaching. Each and every day you communicate messages that tell each student how you feel, not only about students, but also about yourself. It may be scary for you to see who you really are, but it is also reassuring to know who you are not. The good new is no matter what inadequacies you might possess, once you become aware of the kind of teacher you are can take steps to become even better. The teacher style that I prefer is establish rapport. This is a crucial step in teaching. This is the first step that you (the regular classroom teacher) need to take to establish a relationship -- even before the students enter the building. When the teacher and the students have a comfortable relationship, the children feel more comfortable in the classroom. Students can sense tension as well as harmony within the learning environment. A positive relationship will help minimize misunderstandings and motivate you to resolve problems before they escalate. As you are all aware, an effective classroom is designed to create student wellness through positive relationship based on mutual dignity, respect, and trust. In a general way, Establishing "an especially harmonious or sympathetic connection" with students is not likely the result of any single act. Rather, rapport is more likely the result of many things done consistently right. In this sense, rapport may be thought of as an emergent property of teaching, or, for that matter, any kind of social relationship. In general, we must do two things for rapport to develop. First, we must extend students a warm and friendly invitation to join the "community of learning" that we attempt to establish in our classrooms on the first day of class. Second, we must adopt this demeanor every day afterwards, in or out of class, and irrespective of the myriad problems that may develop over the course of the term.

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WHICH METHOD YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE IN YOUR CLASSROOM AND WHY

Very briefly explain which method you would like to use in your classroom and why.

Direst method is the most common approach in TEFL, where language is taught through listening and speaking. I will use the direct method because the English language is used from the very beginning; the mother tongue is never used; there is no translation. Moreover the preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in the target language based on the dialogue or an anecdotal narrative. Furthermore, questions are answered in the target language. Finally, grammar is taught inductively--rules are generalized from the practice and experience with the target language. I recalled that I learned English through a series of listening skills, conversation skills, and interaction with peers who are fluent in English. I believe that the direct method is very effective. In my point of view, the main goal of using the direct method is to make new learner to become fluent in the language to be learned.

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