PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE DIARY

Hello, there. As a college student myself, I know that managing several tasks from different subjects at the same time can be tricky and exhausting, which usually leads us to feel very stressed at times. That's why I would like to dedicate this entry to this specific topic, as I've recently experimented myself, now as a teacher, the effects that stress can have even in learners from early stages. I am currently teaching a group of teen and pre-teen students in a private language institute and I really like to work with them because they are very participative and hardworking, which makes my work very easy and enjoyable. However, every four classes, according to the rules of the institution, we are supposed to have either a midterm or final exam, something that occasionally used to stress my students out, even though they knew they were ready to be evaluated. When I started to notice this, I'd been working with them for a while and I thought that it was just a matte...

Hello, there. As we know, these last two weeks have been pretty intense due to the Coronavirus outbreak that right now is the main concern of many governments around the world, and of course, that has affected our country's education system as well. As the son of an elementary school teacher and a college student myself, I have witnessed the radical change for both sectors and it has been surprising for me how everything has radically changed overnight. But, of course, as English teachers, something that characterizes us is our adaptability during emergency situations, and this case hasn't been the exception. In less than a week, I've found out different ways to work and study by distance learning that I thought I will never ever use. You'll see, about a year ago, I was assigned by my English teacher at the time to finish a whole English teaching online course of any type from the Cambridge official website. So, I decided to sign up for one called "How to t...

Hello, there. This time I would like to share with you this drawing that I made which represents Benjamin Bloom's taxonomy with a flower. I think this taxonomy is very important because it helps us to determine our educational objectives realistically and be more precise when planning a class. As a teacher, especially in the beginning, I felt a little bit lost because I did not know where to start and how to set limits regarding the activities I had planned for my students. However, Bloom's work was an anchor for me because writing a clear class objective from the beginning set a starting point that I would keep in mind before taking any decision or including any activity on my planning and, following this as a guide, I realized it was much easier to develop and embody the further stages and sessions in my lesson plan. I represented Bloom's work as a flower because it symbolizes growth, which I think in education is what both educators and learners are seeking to achieve...

In my limited experience, I've learned that being a teacher is way more than only planning and showing up to teach a class. It requires patience, involvement, and nerve, especially when correcting student's mistakes, which sometimes can be a touch-and-go situation. That is why, in this entry, I am enlisting the ten commandments of feedback that have helped me maintain a good rapport with my students while providing them with comments and observations without perishing in the effort: 1. Don't overcorrect:  Try to keep it short and simple, otherwise, students may feel unmotivated. 2. Vary the assessment type:  Let students receive feedback from each other once in a while. 3. Don't expose your students:   Try to not point out a specific student when a mistake emerges. Instead, address the whole class and ask for their help to solve the problem. 4. Balance positive and negative feedback: Comment about the student's areas of opportunity, but ...

"What should I do?". Every teacher at one point in their career has experienced a situation where they don't know what to do or how to react to a specific situation while being consistent with their moral values and their school expectations. I have been there. It was not a matter of life and death as I have less than a year of working experience, but it was still one of the first situations when I genuinely didn't know what to do after I had promised myself since way before I started my major that if I ever got the chance to be a teacher, I would be the fairest, coolest, most understanding of all. Well, it isn't as easy as I thought.  This starts about a year ago in a private college where I started to work as a substitute. I had been there for a few months and the period was about to end. I was in charge of one small group, which I would say was not the most gifted in regards to English, but they did nicely most of the times. Despite the difficulties, I ...

My name is Diego Roberto Rodriguez Farell, I am 22 years old and I am an English Teacher. Currently, I'm studying the English Teaching Major at Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Besides being passionate about teaching, I really like to do some other activities in my spare time such as singing, listening to music, watching movies and films. In regards to my professional experience, I started working about a year ago as a substitute teacher in some schools ranging from public elementary institutes to some other language centers such as CELEX from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional that are more focused on teenagers and adults. As well, I spent some time working as a private tutor and also as a teacher in the Instituto de Formación e Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación y el Deporte, however, nowadays I am working in a private language school called Institute Global Competence Centre, where I teach students from differ...