Leadership

Finally it was our time to present.

Felipe, Rodrigo Adaro and I chose Leadership in view of the fact that some teachers act as administrators instead of teachers, reason why we decided to start with a brain storming about which are the characteristics a leader should have. Overall, we achieved our main goal, make our classmates to have an active role while we were giving the lesson. They were whiling to read, to participate in the activity we prepared, and to share their opinions about the quote we wanted to share with them. I think as a team, and even though some organizational troubles, we were able to catch their attention.
In terms of my personal opinion about my performance, I will never be completely pleased, maybe I am too autocratic, but I always find something I did not like and that I would like to improve.
I really appreciate the positive feedback Mr. Litman and some friends as well as classmates gave us.

Classroom Management II

Daniela and Evelyn also choose classroom management, even though they gave another twist to their presentation. They presented a well-organized and bright power point, which made even clearer all the strategies a teacher should use while is giving a lesson. I have to admit that I was late, so as far as I could see their presentation I consider they did a good job. I apologize.
The important fact that I would like to emphasize, is that they made us participate; they prepared an activity in groups. It was a discussion and then we had to share the solution to the given problem with the rest of the class.
I consider they were almost near to present all the stages of a micro lesson, overall, good work!

Life

It is a flash created by Bruno Bozzetto, in his animation we can observe how a man goes downstairs through the galaxy to a desk, in which he has a telephone with six digits, and the character presses number one and the begging of a world starts; vegetation and animals appear, then humankind comes into view and also their shacks, the man presses another number and buildings also appear, then chaos has the leading role; violence in almost all its ways are shown in this new, big, and gray city, shootings, suicides, fights, assaults, abductions and runs over. The man takes a minute to think, is evident that he does not like what he sees, on his telephone a delete button appears, he presses it and this world in disrray, rapidly goes to the trash, where there are more planets which I think, were deleted for the same reason.
Human nature seems destined to self destruction. Would this be a shocking statement or is our reality? Everything around us evolves except for us, it seems that we had forgotten what truly turns us into a civilization, we had forgotten those simple things and the universal values that make us all the same.
Excellent video, made me think a lot.

Teacher's Personality

Nicole, Dreny and Katherine presented about how teachers should positively behave in front of a class. My classmates pointed out the importance of recognizing one’s personality in terms of strengths and weaknesses.
In relation to students, they talked about how vital is to recognize that each student is different; every student has distinctively manifestations of what is affecting his/ her behaviour and academic performance. Every student has different learning styles and assumes troubles also in different ways.
A teacher’s personality can also vary; some teachers are more active others are stricter and so on, reason why, the girls in one part of their power point, exemplified the possible variations in terms of character and personality, which I consider, was a wise move. The girls were able to clearly explain each point and were also able to interact with us.
Another great part of their presentation was a very touching video about a boy, Teddy, who at the beginning was an outstanding student, but his new teacher did not know why Teddy suddenly changed his behaviour. At the end his teacher is capable to reflect about her attitudes towards Teddy. The teacher is able to understand what was happening with Teddy and decided to help him.
I think they did a great presentation because they exemplified through a video some important aspects they explained before it.

Bullying

Pedro, Claudio and Fabián talked about this very common kind of harassment, which was focus on “bullying in secondary schools”. They started explaining its origin, causes and definition. Bullying is any kind of physical, emotional and verbal abuse and is carried out by students who are also being bullied. Frequently, a bullying child is also being bullied at his/ her home by his/her parents or by a caretaker.
They also pointed out the crucial importance that parents have in shaping their children’s values which is very important because all children should be nurture to respect diversity, on the other hand parents should not teach children how to be violent and aggressive. Children can learn diverse values by seeing how their parents interact with each other, with friends, and other family members.
Finally, our classmates showed us a real-life bullying video, in which different students from different ages and schools were being victims of physical bullying, which unfortunately is, a world wide reality.
As future teachers we should be under alert of these situations, how can a teacher help identifying a bullying victim or a bullying aggressor?, how to help parents and affected children in dealing with the physiological troubles that bullying conveys? These are some questions that we should try to answer while we gain experience as teachers.
In relation with my classmates presentation, I consider they pointed out very important and useful information and the video was very interesting and shocking. They seemed comfortable while they were presentig, which is good because students notice it. But once again, they did not follow the stages of a micro lesson. Overall they made a great presentation.

Classroom Management

Diego, Eduardo and Rodrigo were in charge of the first micro lesson.

They chose classroom management as the topic to develop through the class. They provided us a well-organized and complete power point with useful information or hints for us as future teachers.
Classroom management is motivating students to learn and practice in a safe and comfortable environment provided by the teacher who is creative, imaginative and knows how to cope with stressful circumstances. A teacher has in his/ her hands the method -or methods- to accomplish a pleasant environment for both; the students and the teacher.
Another important aspect about classroom management is focus attention on the entire class as well as proximity and eye contact. Maintaining eye contact will provide confidence on students.
Room arrangement is also important because an effective teacher should make sure that the entire class can see and hear while he/she is giving a lesson, moreover there are some techniques such as grouping or moving around the classroom. The key is to arrange the classroom the best possible way.
I consider that my classmates did a great job; beforehand preparation and clear explanations. There was an only issue pointed out by Mr. Litman “A lesson or a lecture?” If we reconsider the stages of a micro lesson (previously posted) we will realize that our classmates did not strictly follow it, even though their presentation was outstanding.

Micro lessons' comments.

Classmates' presentations or micro lessons ended a couple of weeks ago. In general all made a great work, evidently well prepared and all also utilized clear power points in order to allow all students understanding.

As follows, you will find a summary for each micro lesson I attended.


Regards, Fernanda.