TESL 170 - Teaching Journal

My Teaching Journal Report 

The following teaching reflection is a summary of my practicum experience done at H. Int. English School.

When I decided on the classes I wanted to teach at this school, I felt excited, nervous, and anxious all at once. My teaching took place in the afternoons with students registered in skill-based classes. I was going to see each group of students once only, and that made me a bit nervous.
Having to teach these classes meant having different groups of students every time. That was fine with me, but I have to admit that I would've loved to have had a more consistent group of learners throughout my time at this school. I think I would've had a better opportunity to learn about the students themselves and their learning styles. Somehow, I think I missed on that part, or maybe I didn't. This is something that left an unsatisfying feeling in me, but I am sure that it'll go away soon.

As my teaching experience began, I started to notice some skills I didn't even know I had. One of them was the easiness to connect with the students in every class I taught. Somehow, I feel that this was because I decided to take a couple of minutes at the beginning of every lesson just to get acquainted with the students. I realized how important this time was for them. They seemed to enjoy sharing some of their stories with me and with the rest of their peers.  Another skill I learned is to keep calm when things go wrong, especially when you are counting to use technology as part of the lesson. It is not always reliable, is it? Therefore, it's better to have plan B as an alternative.

Nevertheless, I recognize I have many other areas I have to grow on.  From managing the whiteboard to getting confident with rules of grammar are just a couple of areas that I need to focus right now. This makes me think of the comments given by the students about my teaching. Many of them were kind in their words, highlighting how well I had prepared the lessons were, how clear instructions were, and my speaking rate to be just right to their level; however, there was one student who wrote that I should've used more examples when teaching new vocabulary. Another one wrote that he could not comment much about my teaching skills as he just had me for a couple of hours and one more student said that I was not able to read his writing and that perhaps it would be a good idea that I learn grammar skills. All I have to say about their comments is that I value them, and I accept them as part of my development as an ESL teacher.

As for the future?... I would love to get into the field right away. My goal is to find a full-time job as soon as possible and work with any English level students, although my preference goes to beginner levels, I will not say no to any opportunity that comes my way.
I would like to close this journal with the following quote: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great” (Zig Ziglar). By these words, I decided to begin my new path in the world of teaching. I know I don’t have the experience yet, but I will get there one day.


Retrieved:

Brian Tracy International, 56 Inspirational Motivational Quotes About Success And Life












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