FP002 – OBSERVATION & RESEARCH IN THE CLASSROOM

PORTFOLIO

Student’s full name: Sheila Candinho de Almeida

Group: TESL_2017_10

Date: 11/13/18

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SECTION 1: Starting Point (Length: 1 page)

The training and professional relevant experiences that I had were teaching full-time in
a school, giving private lessons a one-to-one basis and writing a course syllabus for a
community volunteer work as an English teacher for learners that had no previous
knowledge of the language. I consider these experiences relevant because I had to
reflect my own practice as a teacher when preparing units for students that had no
knowledge of the language, I had to research the order learning acquirement of
grammar structure, to choose an approach to make the syllabus, in addition I had to
be aware of good management skills in class. All of these experiences contributed to
my development making me aware of the gaps that I didn't know what to teach first and
what is taught on each level. I had to make a lot of readings about approaches,
grammar structures and sound of new words. I have learned so much from my
coordinators and superiors.

I have some initial representations and beliefs about classroom observation and
research. I think the observer is supposed to record everything that students and
teachers do during a given time using a checklist. Reflective teaching practice means
looking at what I do in the classroom, thinking over the outcomes, and drawing
conclusions. Professional development for me is a specialized training or formal
education to acquire in order to grow professionally. From this subject I expect to get
the confidence, to get the experience to be useful to students with different classes
sizes, levels, types of materials in all teaching contexts, to understand that observation
takes time e requires time which often is not available. Also, as a teacher being
observed I want to feel comfortable when I am chosen to be observed.

My aims are adapting textbooks to match the classes, using classroom aids and
resources, understanding and reviewing how the process of second language
development occurs.

I will organize my learning process, firstly by being confident from the beginning in
order to improve. Secondly, by becoming familiar with the subject being taught. Thirdly,
by trying out new practice.

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SECTION 2: Learning experiences (Length: 1 page)

The first sample refers to a significant and representative learning experience with
an immigrant student from Netherlands, who was living in Brazil for a short period
of time, he was 45 years old, he paid for Portuguese private lessons at the
institution. It happened in Brazil, in 2015, at Wizard language school, where I work
at. The characteristics of this experience were a naturalistic setting, an one-to-one
basis class, the learner didn't know much of our first language, that is Portuguese,
L2 learning took place by conscious study, and through teaching resources such
as audios and books. The people who were related to this sample were me, as the
teacher, the learner and the coordinator.

The second sample happened in Brazil in the beginning of the year 2017. I
volunteered my knowledge and time to help the less fortunate people from the
community to learn how to speak English. I created my own syllabus. They were a
mixed ability group, all Brazilian, their age ranged from 13 to 45. I was able to use
a room from the church that I a member of, so we had an informal setting, L2 took
place through my syllabus, small warm ups, mixed drilling, repetition, exposure of
grammar, and all four skills: Listening, reading, writing and speaking. The people
who were related to this sample was me, as the teacher, 60 students, 35 women
and 25 men, a class assistant, and an really experienced ESL teacher.

The third sample happened in Brazil in 2015 when I was teaching in a formal
setting classroom of 24 students, being 13 girls and 11 boys whose age ranged
from 8 to 10. I had this uninterested and disruptive boy that I needed to find a way
to work with. I looked for strategies for improving behavior, I was trying all sorts of
techniques to turn a difficult student into a dedicate one. I had such an experience
to help change a student with major behavioral issues into a learning one. The
people who were related to this sample was me, as a teacher, all 24 students and
my coordinator.

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SECTION 3: Personal reflection (Length: 1 page)

I choose these experiences because all of them had an impact on me and they
improved my teaching quality and effectiveness. Research with observational
methods has brought important information to improve teaching practices. In all the
experiences I had an administrator observing lessons at an assigned time and
examining my strategies and skills, such as planning and organization,
communication skills, class interaction, knowledge and attitude, students' learning
attitude, strategies and use of generic skills. These observations made me improve
with all the given useful feedback received.

Some effects on my trainings were: it made me recall and analyze considered data
to ease the reflective process. After the given lessons the observation and
discussions gave me the opportunity to be aware of how problems were related,
how to develop appropriated skills and techniques, and to lead them to my
professional improvement and experience.

It made me focus on the main goals learners should get by the end of the unit,
relating them to their interests and needs, making them finding the connections
between topics and items, everything in a creative way. These activities and goals
were aimed at providing students with a more holistic and integrated view of
themselves and others (Saluveer, 2004). It also helped me to grasp what topics
were in fact effective for building significant learning units. In addition as a
decision-making process, a great deal of reflection was needed in order to ensure
effective training and development (Wallace, 1991). It required a lot of dialogue with
my experienced coordinators and ESL teachers to reach an agreement. It was very
difficult for me the role of grammar in learning.

The achievements I can recognize are my development in classroom instruction,

the allowance for me to freely evaluate and connect the theories and techniques
that I had studied, and the encouragement to reflect upon my teaching and make a
permanent part on my teaching regimen. The limitations I found was the direct
observation has limitations and it is associated with methodological issues that
could interfere valid conclusions. The presence of an observer changes the
behavior of teachers or students, it could cause them anxiety.

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Relating it to my professional practice, I believe the teacher's observation should be

part of my professional practice with innumerous development opportunities. Another
important thing is the reflection made by both the teacher and the instructor about what
they have learned from the observation. Moreover, the observer has to be an
experienced and well trained observer. According to Namaghi (2011) untrained and
unskilled observers who do not have a basic knowledge of teacher training and
observation in the classroom make it difficult for teachers to live.

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SECTION 4: Other relevant experiences (Length: 1 page)

Besides the above experiences, I only had a short period experience in a private
bilingual School, called Escola do Futuro, in Brazil in August 2018. I was teaching there
for a temporary position as a teacher helper for 3rd grade.

Here in Brazil most of the schools have a relaxed schedule of 4 hours daily. So this
school was a different one, it was a full time school. In the morning we had our classes
in Portuguese language and in the afternoon we had the same content in English.

I had noticed, inevitably, an interference from the dominant language, in this case
Portuguese. Most of the students were not speaking in English during informal times
such as recess or lunch time. I concluded that even they were not speaking as they
should, they were a way ahead of other school students, because being bilingual allow
learners to gain success in two languages, to gain broader qualifications, better
chances for employment opportunities, among other advantages. Li Wei, a professor of
applied linguistics and editor of the International Journal of Bilingualism (2000), states
that bilingual children:

"understand the internal structures and subtleties of different languages. By

having an automatic point of comparison, multilingual children automatically
understand the universal of languages and have a high level of language awareness."

I found out it relevant because I was there for only 2 months and I learned a lot. It was
a naturalist paradigm, where I was sitting and learning through observation. While it
last, it was interesting. I had learned from the main teacher new terms, and I had the
opportunity to know this branch of English teaching.

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SECTION 5: Self-evaluation (Length: 1 page)

The most compelling lesson was that we can distinguish between individual approach,
and collaborative ones. The individual approach involve only the researcher himself, as
an example of that the use of a journal. The advantages of this approach, as Wallace
points out, were that: They tend to be more flexible, less professional and risky and
easier to implement than others. Collaborative ones involve other people. The
experimental model, involves the collaboration between the researcher and the teacher
whose class is being observed, while within the naturalist paradigm, it involves the
teacher collaborating with her or his classmates, most likely in the same institution, for
example, sitting and observing the lesson from another co-worker, or recording a
debate about teaching. I developed more enthusiasm for collaborative working.

The difficulty I encountered during the study of the subject was the persistent use of
first language. To solve it, I established clear rules for speaking English in classroom,
and I started with easier sentences and activities to allow them to experience small
successes to build up their confidence. I value my performance by never forgetting that
my improvement as a teacher depends always on myself. I understood that well
motivated teachers bring their enthusiasm to their students, and it encourages them to
learn. It made me wish to improve and reinforce it.

My vision has been transformed by discovering the credits of reflective exercises in

teacher education are common. That reflection through surveys / questionnaires,
magazines, action research or supervised teaching and discussion in the classroom
makes opportunities for trained teachers to think analytically about what they do in their
classes. Dewey (1933/1993) first recommended elevating teachers' awareness of their
own pedagogy through reflection, which he defined as "the active, persistent and
careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the
motives that they support it ". Reflection, therefore, is a process that helps teachers
determine what they are doing, why they are doing it, and what they can do best to
benefit their students by participating in some kind of process in which they describe,
compare and criticize the evaluation of teaching (Akbari 2007).

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SECTION 6: Action plan (Length: 1 page)

The challenge to teachers is to discover which approaches may help students to learn
efficaciously. Not until had teachers became familiar with learner’s individual needs
and strengths, did we realize the difficult to know which learning methods and
pedagogy will have a positive impact. After all, research suggests that some forms of
pedagogy are frequently more successful than others in helping students acquire
broader understanding skills. Pedagogies that support broader learning should include
personalized learning strategies, collaborative learning and informal learning (Gijsbers
and van Schoonhoven, 2012).

A strategy through strong communication skills would be important to teachers to

communicate with the students they teach. Sharing knowledge, back and forth with
colleagues is essential for both individual and collective growth. It is important that
these skills develop continuously. It is also essential that you can communicate
effectively with students. I have learned more and more as an educator the valuable
learning that can be gained by communicating with peers and how important they are
for the development of the school and the culture of the class. As a master teacher I
will effectively take advantage of this knowledge.

These are the characteristics that I believe make a master teacher. I definitely know
that, as an administrator, these are ideal as a leading teacher that I work with every
day and I want to be one. The only thing I know is that my learning is not complete and
I can still learn. In addition, I should continue my reflective professional practice
following some factors: finding time and energy to become a thoughtful professional,
making opportunities for peer-to-peer discussing, and accessing to information for
action research in the classroom.
Although traditionally, classroom observation appraisal has been considered to take
three main forms (the first one for professional development, the second one for
reward, and the third one for promotion), researchers and practitioners generally agree
that the most effective use of classroom observation is for professional development
(Montgomery 2002).

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References

1- Akbari, R. (2007). Reflection on reflection: a critical appraisal of reflective practice in

L2 teacher education. System, 35, 192-207.
2- Brock, M., Yu, B., & Wong, M. (1992). Journaling together: Collaborative diary-
keeping and teacher development. In J. Flowerdew, M. Brock, & S. Hsia (Eds.),
Perspectives on second language teacher education (pp. 295–307). Hong Kong: City
Polytechnic of Hong Kong.
3- Dee Fink (2003): Creating Significant Learning Experiences (Jossey-Bass, Orig. Ed.,
2003; Updated ed., 2013).
4- Dewey, J. (1933/ 1993). How We Think: A Re-Statement of the Relation of
Reflective Thinking to the Education Process. DC. Health, & Co., Boston.
5- Gijsbers, G. & Schoonhoven, B. (2012). The future of learning: a foresight study on
new ways to learn new skills for future jobs. European Foresight Platform ( EFP)
6- Ostovar-Namaghi, S. A. (2011). Theorizing EFL teachers’ perceptions of the
rationales and methods of classroom observation. US-China Foreign Language, 9(3),
147-157.
7- Saavedra, A. (forthcoming). Dry to dynamic civic education curricula. In D.
Campbell, F. Hess,& M. Levinson (Eds.), Making civics count. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
Education Press.