Final Reflection Paper on TSL 507: Teaching Practicum 1

Introduction

The Teaching Practicum course aimed to develop our teaching skills by allowing us to teach in different types of classes where there were different levels of learners from different backgrounds. We were given the opportunity to develop ourselves and discover our potentials through creation of materials, lesson plans, class observation, micro teaching, and peer teaching in groups and writing reports to create a Portfolio. All of these helped me to build confidence in myself to be able to teach learners of different levels. Throughout the course, our respected teachers Ms. Hasna Khanom and Mr. Aminul Islam helped with ideas, provided suggestions and effective feedback on each of our teaching sessions which helped me to correct my errors and learn my lacking teaching and preparing materials.

Tasks Accomplished

We have accomplished different tasks that not only involved teaching but also learning from my peers and learning to create and maintain a portfolio which I have never done before. Among the different tasks we have completed, there have been –

Learning from Classes

Apart from my own teaching and peer teachings, there was a lot to learn from the lectures of our course instructors, who, from the very first day provided us handouts and guidelines on preparing lesson plans, materials on teaching, taxonomy list which was definitely the most helpful handout for me throughout the semester and also sample materials on different skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking which helped me to get idea about how to create materials on different skills. From their handouts of lesson plan, I learned to develop a more developed lesson plan than I had done before.

Class Observation

From the class observation, I have learned how to maintain a class and manage all levels of learners. We had made observation of five classes so far which helped me look at the teachers as a model for learning teaching. Practical experiences from class observation are the best anyone can learn about teaching and this course provided me the opportunity to make so many class observations for my own learning. We were briefed before the class observation by our course instructors and we were also briefed by the teachers beforehand who took the class, so there were helpful suggestions that I received for adding to my own teaching.

Micro Teaching

The practice and the graded Micro Teaching sessions was a different experience. I had the opportunity to teaching the BRAC Education Program managers, which I had never done before. They were adult learners and to be able to teach the adult learners was an accomplishment. I had to think and prepare materials different for them, so I gave myself the opportunity to experience on creating different types of experimental teaching materials which I have never done before.

Peer Teaching

Peer teaching was a totally different experience, because for the first time, we had to work in groups with other peers. For this, we had to collaborate on working and preparing teaching materials. Each group members contributed their best to make all the sessions of my Peer Teaching successful. The integration of everyone’s ideas helped me prepare the materials based on different skills and my peers helped me prepare the whole lesson plan through their suggestion and discussion.

Challenges in Group Work

Group work is always a challenge because there are different group members with their different opinions, but when I had to work in groups, I learned how to accept good ideas from my group members and also provide them suggestions on improving their materials. At certain times, when one group member was unavailable when we needed to discuss on our lesson plan and teaching materials, it seemed as though we would not be able to prepare our materials in time. However, we did and very successfully all three of us, in each of our group Peer teaching sessions worked till the very last minute to improve and create wonderful teaching materials which proved to be very successful in implementation.

Learning from Peers’ Teaching

Learning from my Peers’ teaching on their micro teaching and peer teaching lessons was a different experience. By observing their teaching, I have learned how to improve or add certain materials in my own teaching. Sometimes, I felt that my peers did better teaching than me, so I tried to understand what was lacking in my teaching and what was effective in their teaching that I could learn and apply in my teaching next time.

Preparing and Maintaining Portfolio

The hardest part of this course has been so far preparing and maintaining the Portfolio. It is because we had so many materials to submit which included from class observations to one’s own reflection of teaching, submitting the lesson plans and materials, submitting the observation notes and observation record sheets etc. The task of arranging them in order carefully before submission was a hectic task too as I had to check and recheck which submission I have completed writing and which I have not. Also, writing all the observation and reflection papers on my own was a successful task which I think I have accomplished in this course, because I have never submitted so many papers for my previous Teaching Practicum course in Undergraduate years.

How Did I Prepare the Materials?

Preparing the materials based on different skills and different levels of learners was a difficult task to do. For preparing my teaching materials, sometimes I collaborated with my group members who helped me to add certain activities or change certain exercises or add new activities that they thought would be effective. For most of my materials, I tried to create something different, I read articles from the web which were opinions by experienced teachers and I also collected materials which were prepared by experience teachers. Later, I edited, modified and revised these materials and added my own exercises and activities for different levels of learners.

How did the Report Writing Help Me?

All of the reflection report writing and observation report writing helped me develop my writing skills which were much developed by the time I completed this Portfolio. Earlier I had not much experience of report writing, but our course instructors helped us with ideas and tips on writing report. They even provided us with certain bullet points to follow in our writing which I think helped me a lot to improve me writing and complete good reflection and observation reports.

How did the Overall Teaching and Writing Reflected on my Qualities as a Language Teacher?

The overall teaching and writing reflected on my qualities as a Language teacher by helping me to become more proficient not only in teaching but also in writing. I learned how to be able to teach all the skills and improve the lacking in teaching which I had before. I also looked at all the teaching sessions and the teachers as my model for improving my own teaching. The good feedback at the end of each of my teaching session by our course instructors and their tips on writing reports have certainly helped me develop as a language teacher, to understand my abilities and potentials and to improve and make proper use of my knowledge in teaching.

How do I plan to go for Teaching in the Professional Field?

From the very beginning, I had a keen interest to go on Teaching in the Professional Field. For this reason, I have enrolled myself in the Masters in TESOL Program so that I can learn and experience the practical aspects of teaching from different perspectives. After the completion of my degree, I would certainly plan to associate myself in a teaching opportunity where I can not only contribute to learners but also develop and test my own skills to become a good teacher.