MDD5: INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION MAKING

MDD Standard

The teacher candidate makes adjustments to the lesson plans based on

assessment data and pupils engagement, communicating the analysis
and conclusions regarding the impact of instruction.

3.1 Student Response to Lesson 1

At the beginning of the lesson, I consider that students were mostly interested on

participating on the warm-up activity, because I started the class asking them what do

they do on their free time or which activities they would like to do more frequently.

Consequently, all of them wanted to give their perspectives about it. Surprisingly,

students who had never participated in the class with the teacher, were sitting closer

to the board for participating and, additionally, I was glad to realize that they raise their

hands to give their opinions instead of just yelling the answers as they usually do.

During the reading comprehension, although I had to explain it more than twice and

then explain it to each pair separately once more, they were willing to carry out the

activity and doing their reading comprehension. They asked me some questions;

moreover, I was also surprised by the fact that they asked me for permission for using

their cellphones for looking for certain words in English because the dictionaries were

not inside the classroom, and every time I walked towards them monitoring, I could

see that they were actually using their phones for the right purposes. Another aspect

that surprises me a lot was the fact that all of them were totally engaged with the

reading and the worksheet and, it was a huge surprise because most of them do not

want to do any activity at all during English classes.

3.2 Adjustments for Lesson 1: Describe how you will adjust your second lesson in

response to your analysis above.

For my future lessons, I think it is really important that they are able to learn and

comprehend the necessary vocabulary during previous classes. As in their previous

lesson they saw some vocabulary related to the new unit, I had not complications in

those terms. A change I could make is related to giving instructions since I could notice

that some of them were lost for a while, even if later they understood what they had to

do next, I think that instruction must be clear from the very beginning of the activities.

3.3 Analysis of Learning Results

3.3.1 Whole Class: Include samples of student work. (Attach these in the appendix.)

During the 90 minutes class, I could observe that students had a difficult time trying to

figure out what they had to do. They called me to their seats for asking me what they

had to do next, every time they finished one stage of the reading worksheet. I reckon

this might be due to the fact that they do not usually do reading comprehensions with

the activities in English because it is not compulsory in this adults institution. When it

comes to the results, they were really good, all of them worked hard to complete their

worksheets and to receive an incentive (extra points).

Despite of the struggle they had to face the instructions in English, they were capable

of complete the worksheet with minor grammar mistakes and most importantly, the

aim of the lesson was achieved.

3.3.2 Individuals: Select two students that represent different levels or kinds of

performance. Describe what these students learned in relation to two significant

learning goals, one of which must represent higher-level learning. Use specific

examples of the students' work including student writing, test results, specific student

comments, or your observations to draw conclusions about the extent to which these

students attained the learning goals.

The first student I am going to describe, I could notice a huge change in his attitude

towards the class from the very first moment, starting from the fact that he seats in the

front of the class and raise his hand to give his opinion about freetime. I can tell that

he was really engaged to the reading comprehension and the worksheet, when I

delivered the reading, he immediately offered himself as a volunteer to read the

dialogue part with his classmate. Furthermore, he was constantly asking me whether

what he was doing was right, also asking me about the pronunciation of certain words.

In terms of learning, I think he did learn some of the new vocabulary since in the

following class, he was able to use the language I had taught them. Not only do I think

he learnt because of what I observed, but he also told me he had finished the activity

because I explained it so well to him that it was really easy.

The second student, I could notice she did not have a major change in comparison to

previous classes, due to the fact that she is always engaged with English classes. She

always do the activities and help her classmates when they have doubts. But, she was

always raising her hand to give her opinion or to answer my questions when doing

CCQs and asking me if what she was answering was right.

3.4 Impact of your instruction on Student Learning

3.4.1 Identify what you believe to be the instructional strategies and activities

that contributed most to student learning.

I believe that the most useful strategies I used in the lesson were, firstly, telling them

that I want to know what they do on their free time since they are adults and they really

enjoy to discuss about their lives; thus, they were immediately interested in what we

were going to do. Secondly, using some pictures (movies) to ask them what they think

are we going to do next, they had to predict it and I think it was helpful because all of

them wanted to guess.

3.4.2 Explain how your teaching behaviors affected student learning. Consider

student response to explaining, giving directions, modeling, organizing

activities, leading discussions, the pacing of the lesson, and the overall

organization of the lesson.

As I already mentioned previously, some students had big difficulties when

understanding instructions in general; therefore, they also had some problems to

understand my instructions even if I gave them examples and explained to them

carefully the steps of the reading that they had to follow. Hence, I realized that this

was not enough, whereby I tried to explain the instructions again, but in different ways,

I include CCQs and ICQs for checking their comprehension and going back if they had

a face of not to be understanding. Even though the tasks and the reading I made were

planned for a certain time, I understand now that anything could pass while doing a

lesson.
Repeat same sequence of prompts for Lesson 2

3.1 Student Response to Lesson 2

First of all, it is important to highlight the point that my second lesson was exactly the

same as my first because I did not have other instance during my teaching experience

to develop my real planned second lesson (This was already talked with my teacher);

therefore, it was developed in the next classroom with the parallel of the first group.

During my second lesson, I had to confront just few different things. One of them was

that I had some problems with students behaviors before I started my class, for

instance one of them started erasing what I was writing on the board, other students

were talking through the window, some others were developing different tasks for

different subjects, etc. When I asked them politely if they can sit and pay attention to

the class, most of them immediately started paying attention to me, and as the

previous group, when I asked them what they do during their free time, all of them

wanted to discuss about it. I did not have major problems in participation terms, just in

behavior. After the lead-in activity, some students started distracting their classmates

and the teacher was talking with some of them about final activities, while this was

happening, I was trying to give the instructions for the reading comprehension and I

told them that these activities will have some points to their final grade. At that moment,

all of them started to work, even those who never worked with the teacher and from

that moment the class was in peace; consequently, I can give the instructions again

and they understood clearly everything.

3.2 Adjustments for Lesson 1: Describe how you will adjust your second lesson in

response to your analysis above. Consider instructional strategies, the organization

and content of the lesson, motivational strategies, preventative management

strategies, procedural changes, materials, activities and assessment. Explain why you

believe these adjustments will improve student learning.

As I mentioned before, I did not have the instance to develop my true second lesson.

However, considering the aspects that I had to confront during this second grade, I

think it is really important the classroom management, due to the fact that they distract

easier than the previous grade, and are a bit more conflict and confrontational than

the other grade. I considered that this point is important because in English classes is

incredible significant paying attention to the pronunciation and instructions since is

difficult to catch everything from the very first moment, and even more if students

distract so easily; thus, all can be transformed in a mess inside the classroom without

the necessary knowledge of these kinds of things.

3.3 Analysis of Learning Results

3.3.1 Whole Class: Use the assessment data you collected to draw conclusions about

the extent to which the whole class attained all learning goals. Support all claims about

student learning with observable data (e.g. student writing, test results, specific

student comments, or observed student performances).

During the whole module of class (90 minutes), I could observe that students were

incredible distract with other tasks, with the teacher while observing their grades from
the class book, and other things; therefore, it was hard to catch their attention for a

minute. Nonetheless, when I explain what they have to do, everything was in order

again. They called me just few times to their seats for asking me what they had to do

next. When it comes to the results, they were as good as the previous grade, most of

them worked hard to complete their worksheets; although they were so disordered,

they were able to complete their worksheet even if it was to receive their extra points.

3.3.2 Individuals: Select two students that represent different levels or kinds of

performance. Describe what these students learned in relation to two significant

learning goals, one of which must represent higher-level learning. Use specific

examples of the students' work including student writing, test results, specific student

comments, or your observations to draw conclusions about the extent to which these

students attained the learning goals.

The first student I selected, had a good level of proficiency in English language.

Besides, she paid attention to the lead-in and instructions from the very beginning, she

completed all the activities of the worksheet, she participated actively during the whole

class and offered herself has a volunteer to read out loud the reading comprehension

(dialog part). Also, she asked me when she had doubts about the activities and her

results had only few grammar mistakes.

The second student that I could observe from this particular grade, had a bad attitude

from the beginning of the class since he started erasing what I was writing on the

board. As far as I know, this student had always conflicts with all of his teachers

because he is a bully and he do not want to do any activity at all. Despite of being a
very disrespectful student, when I started giving the instructions and when I told them

that the activities will have extra points, he made an effort to complete the worksheet

because he urgently needed to raise their grades to finish his fourth grade.

3.4 Impact of your instruction on Student Learning

3.4.1 Identify what you believe to be the instructional strategies and activities

that contributed most to student learning.

From my perspective, even if the class at the beginning of the lesson was a mess and

my teacher does not help, I think that this time my instructions were clearer than with

the first group of students. This could be because my teacher was evaluating me with

the previous grade and I was extremely nervous at the beginning, but with this group

I was a bit more relaxed; thus, they can do their work without asking that much as the

first group.

3.4.2 Explain how your teaching behaviors affected student learning. Consider

student response to explaining, giving directions, modeling, organizing

activities, leading discussions, the pacing of the lesson, and the overall

organization of the lesson.

Before starting this class I felt nervous, but not as the first time. Thank to this, later I

felt more confident when explaining the reading comprehension and the activities they

had to develop next. I think that this could be because I looked at their faces and they

had a peaceful and understanding expression. Even if my teacher does not help me
maintaining the order of the classroom and controlled them, the class was successful

because the aim of the lesson was achieved.

4.1 Identify two concrete aspects of your lesson planning, assessments or

implementation of the lessons that you will do differently the next time you are

asked to plan and deliver instruction to a group of students.

L2 use: Previously, I explained that this institution does not use English compulsory

during the developed of the class, but I always try to find some ways to communicate

with my students using the English language instead of Spanish. Furthermore, I

believe that the use of L2 is extremely important in English classes because for my

future lessons I would like to controlled the use of the L1 inside the classroom, of

course I would not exaggerate with L2 use because I do not want to overwhelm

students Additionally, when planning and during my formation as a teacher candidate,

I need to find ways for explaining the learners without going back to their L1.

Giving instructions: For my future plantings, I think that I should practice more how

to give instructions. Moreover, I have to plan more than one or two ways of providing

the same instruction in order that students can understand easily what they have to

do because not all of them will understand the same way. Using more modeling and

maybe providing more detailed examples.

MDD 6: REFLECTION AND SELF EVALUATION

MDD Standard

The teacher candidate identifies the main things learned in this practicum and ways

in which this learning has informed their professional development needs, reflecting

on the meaning, values, and purposes that will orient his or her professional life.

4.1 Reflect on the main things you have learned about teaching and how these

relate to your understanding of the profession and the values that guide your

work.

The first day I arrive at the institution, I realized that it would not be easy because it

was an adults institution and many times I heard whistles and students screaming

things while I was walking by the hallways. I must say that it was very uncomfortable,

they were adults or young adults and I cannot say anything to them. During the

planning of my lessons, I tried to do things differently as the usual, such as doing a

warm up activity, or giving them the opportunity to express their opinions. It was difficult

to think in how can I do to engaged everyone, or how can I start my class if they arrived

late (40-50 minutes late) because of what I observed previously, they simply did not

arrive to classes or did not pay attention to the teacher. It was hard and I felt scared

and extremely nervous before starting the class, I felt also insecure about students

response to my lesson.

One of the most important things that I learned of this experience, was the fact that

while I was observing the previous classes, the teacher usually confronted them, and
as this institution have students with high social risk, many of them start fighting back

to the teacher. I considered myself very patient, I do not have problems in explaining

the instructions as many times as students need it. I also think that as I am soft and

sweet to talk, it could be a problem with those students who are always confronting

you. Luckily, it was all upside down. When I explained things, they were always listen

to me, they asked me without scared, they work incredible well, they told me that they

like how I treated them, and that for me, was incredible surprising and exciting. I

learned that we do not have to be so frontal with them, sometimes they only need to

be listen, they only need a bit of care, patient, humor and love. Now, that I already

finished my experience, I can say that was gratifying to achieve the aim of the lesson

and to be listened by the same students that I was scared about the first day of my

teaching experience. I am glad to say that my students want me to go to their

bachelor's degree and share with them that day. To conclude, I must say that even

though I had no high expectations on certain students since I had seen they were not

interested in previous classes, they positively surprised me by actively working,

making questions and asking for help every time they needed it, and I was glad to

provide it.

4.2 Describe one or two areas of professional growth (e.g. instructional

strategies, content knowledge).

As I write on my MDD 5, I really think I should practice more how to give instructions

properly. Furthermore, we must give a huge importance to learn about some

disabilities that students can present because the process of inclusion requires
teachers that can know about this topic, how to deal with it and how to treat students

appropriately.

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