C&T 491 Weekly Journal #5 Hazara Leon

Dr. Cho & Annette

June 23, 2017

It is now our fifth week of the practicum and our final week of teaching is fast
approaching. As the weeks go by I find myself enjoying our days at the EB office. Each
day is filled with the same welcoming and smiling faces of the faculty, staff, and
students. After getting a taste of teaching and received very helpful feedback for our final
week of teaching, our weekend was filled with group collaboration and preparation for
this weeks lesson. As a continuation of last weeks party theme, we decided to throw a
party for the girls. Previously they had learned to create invitations and to accept/decline
an invitation through oral practice.
This weeks lesson was to prepare them for the next step of party planning, which takes
place at the actual party. As part of the lesson we were given the chance to decorate the
classroom with balloons and wall decorations as well as prepare drinks and snacks for the
party theme. The lesson for both the first and second graders consisted of a review
session of last weeks lesson, a party game and a culture section. However, our Monday
schedule was very different from the following days.
Since we had not gotten the opportunity to teach the girls the lesson the week prior, the
Monday lesson was modified so that the girls would still get the opportunity to
experience a real party and learn a condensed version of last weeks lesson. This meant
that they would lose out on the opportunity to create their own invitations, but they would
still get a chance to learn the five elements of an invitation (Company name, Purpose of
the party, Location, Date & Time, and RSVP). We did this by preparing an invitation
with these five elements, explaining what each meant and practicing how to read the
phrases on an invitation. In addition, we prepared a vocabulary list that would only
include the vocabulary relevant to the example invitation rather than giving them the
extended list of vocabulary that the other classes had received in order to create their
invitation. The most important part of this part of the lesson was to then have the students
practice how to invite and accept/decline and invitation. Similar to the previous week, we
had the girls volunteer to take part in the review by being the host of party and then
choosing three of their friends to invite. Rather than picking on the girls to go one at a
time and leading them step-by-step through the activity, they had the option of choosing
who would take part and had the ability to accept/decline their friends invitation. This
promoted a more interactive and comfortable learning environment for the girls. Instead
of feeling pressure from being chosen from the teacher, they found it fun to respond to
their friends with their own personal responses.
Besides the review, the Monday classes would then have the chance to carry out the
activity 1 game. Unlike the classes in the Tuesday and Wednesday schedule, the Monday
class would not get a further look at the cultural aspects of parties in America. Overall,
the lessons on Monday were a chance for us to try out the games and to see how we could
effectively teach the girls the concepts we laid out in a 50-minute period within a
shortened 20-minute overview. This was very difficult to do because the girls were not
given much of a chance to look at the forms on an invitation in detail and they had no
time to fully process the information and review it in the class to come. That day my
partner and I happened to get swiveled and were given the chance to look at our teaching
in detail. Video recording our lesson gave us insight into what needed to be improved or
reworked. Since the recording was of our second grade class, which required a lot of
moving from one classroom to another and the application of small talk, we say the
C&T 491 Weekly Journal #5 Hazara Leon
Dr. Cho & Annette
June 23, 2017
disconnect between one portion of the lesson to the next. From the recording, we
gathered that there was a need for more thorough instructions of the activity, a need for
us to address the back of the classroom by walking towards the groups in the back and
involving them in the lesson, time management, and communication with the co-teacher
when things were unclear. Therefore, that night we spent working on our presentation
and rewording of our slides.

On Tuesday we had our first graded lesson. It was a nerve-wracking experience to

know that we were being watching. That day we received plenty of feedback from Dr.
Cho, the Korean co-teacher, and Dionne. All this combined helped us to improve our
presentation of the material (PPT) and the way in which we presented the material. Some
of the biggest changes were reorganization of the lesson and time management. We had
initially allotted time for the students to get drinks and settle down, but we then changed
it so that they would walk in through the door, receive a number that coordinated with
their table number, head to the drink area to get a drink and then find their seats. This
alone gave us 5 extra minutes for us to carry out our lesson. Another one was a
suggestion made by Dionne. Knowing the students from years of teaching them, Dionne
suggested that we break down the text on the slides and add in more images to build
connections to the information. In addition, we were to use bolding effects, popping
effects, color coding, and symbols to help the students better understand key points and
areas that would need further explanation by us. Lastly, she suggested that we encourage
the students to use all their senses by making sure to write what the students say to us
when asked to answer our questions, having them repeat unfamiliar terms or phrases, and
writing them down as well. Class after class we found ourselves working on the PPT and
making slight adjustments that made a huge difference in our presentation of the material.
That day was full of nervousness and stress for us all. As we received more feedback, we
found ourselves feeling more stressed with our performances. This built up to the point
where we found ourselves frustrated with one another and disagreements ensued. In order
to clear up the air I took it upon myself to seek out help from the professors to carry out
an intervention. During this discussion we talked about all the frustrations we had with
the entire practicum and one another. Things had built up and we had pent up anger we
had towards one another that made it difficult for us to understand each other. This lack
of communication led to our downfall. However, after a long hour of us finally
communicating our likes/dislikes, disagreements, and personal hardships; we moved on
to a point where we could once again work in a comfortable environment. Even if it was
a hard task for us to accomplish, being able to voice our thoughts about each other really
helped us move forward. On Wednesday, our final day of graded lessons, both pairs
ended up carrying out their lessons better than ever. I truly believe our open-heart
conversation was the key to our success. The reason we had so many issues with our
lesson was not because the lesson was hugely lacking. It was because our teamwork had
been severed through our lack of communication. Without honest communication we
were never able to accomplish the tasks that we laid out for ourselves and we were never
content with our performances. Instead of working it out together, we would use words to
attack the actions of our partners behind their backs and never truly communicate with
them our concerns.
C&T 491 Weekly Journal #5 Hazara Leon
Dr. Cho & Annette
June 23, 2017
In the end, the fifth week of the practicum was one of the most enriching. I learned so
much about co-teaching, professionalism, and the importance of good communication.
The key to our success was communication. As simple as it sounds, it was actually one of
the most difficult skills for us to acquire. It took a lot of trials and errors, but we finally
figured out how to work together and communicate with one another.