DEMETRIOS

10 READING

LOGS
1) CHAPTERS 3 and 4
UNDERSTANDING
TEACHING THRU
LEARNING
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I like how both chapters highlight the need to assess what my students
know or have experienced about the topic being considered at the
beginning of the lesson. I feel that this would help me to plan the lesson
in a way that adapts to what my audience (student) knows. It would
help me to provide activities that allow students to self-learn and selfpractice. After the lesson, I need to remember to look for concrete
evidence that they have (or have not) learned what I wanted them to
learn. This is important because the reading explains that you can read
a book about swimming and yet still not be able to swim. [Hahaha!] So
true! Likewise, we can present students with the information they need
to learn but they still would not be able to know how to use or practice
it in a real life setting. Also, providing simple and concise instructions
during the lesson will allow my students time to focus and internalize
the task at hand.

2) CHAPTER 5 SET UP ACTIVITIES AND CLASSROOM TO

SUPPORT STUDENT LEARNING
This chapter made me aware of something I had not thought about
when planning activities. The classroom set up needs to be adapted to
maximize the benefit of the learning activity. It also provided me with
various desk configurations that I can apply. So the desk can be set up
in diverse ways when doing group work, pair work or simply having a
class discussion. I believe that these configurations allow the student to
feel comfortable and prepare them to anticipate the activity.
Another thing I need to be aware of is how I can give more control to
the students over the activity so that I can keep them engaged and
focused on the activity without allowing them to wander off mentally
and to make them feel relaxed and give them the sense that everyone
is on an even playing field. The goal is to be able to include everyone in
different activities and to provide just the right amount of time to do
the activity. This avoids the students from being frustrated or bored or
indifferent to the activity. In the end, we want to help the student have
a positive experience with the language or vocabulary that we have
learned.

3) THE GROUP: A CYCLE FROM BIRTH TO DEATH

This reading helped me come up with my own conclusions. I believe
that the most important stages are the infancy and the
adolescence. Just like in real life, the way your parents raise you and
guide you establishes the values, principles and that you pursue in life.
The infancy stage for my students begins on the first week of class

when they are happy, submissive and are curiously anticipating what
the learning experience will be like. Community building activities are
the key to help students get to know and understand their peers and to
get to know themselves in terms of the skills they bring to the group.
They need also to see clearly a reasonable leadership from the teacher
and also they need to feel that it is worth it to be part of this English
learning group. Of course, its not an easy process but it is doable.
In the adolescent stage the students feel comfortable with their
teacher and their peers and start to bring out their real personality
traits, the good the bad and the ugly. Some want to establish their
leadership by showing a rebellious attitude toward rules, regulations or
the attacking the teachers authority by trying to undermine the
teachers knowledge and/or leadership skills. The teacher must be wise
to recognize how these students can be given appropriate
responsibilities in the classroom so they feel recognized and
appreciated for the skills and abilities that they want to contribute to
the class.
4) GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK
This article helped me to give positive feedback to my peers after my
observed teaching practices as well as looking forward to receiving
feedback from Shatty, Marcus and Linda-Marie. The points that I can
apply in any situation is to always describe the negative behavior or
action rather than being judgmental and saying: You were rude and
inconsiderate. It is alright to include how the inappropriate action
made me feel or a negative consequence of the described action. We
can also CCQ the receiver of feedback to see if they understood what
we said or meant. I should be careful not to become a feedback addict

by avoiding being a perfectionist. Now, if Im the receiver I should listen

until the person has stopped talking and not to be defensive about it by
coming up with excuses. Rather, I have a choice to accept or not accept
the advice. Something that I like doing is to thank the giver for taking
their time to give me the feedback. The goal for both the receiver and
the giver of feedback is to maintain the communication lines open and
the good relationship intact.

5) THE THREE
DIMENSIONS:
FORM, MEANING AND USE
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To be honest, the first time I

skimmed the Language Analysis
Form I thought it was not too
important and it would be too
much work aside from doing the
lesson plan, creating and
gathering materials. But after I
filled it out, it helped me to realize that this was an aid to organize my
ECRIF lesson plan and materials in a way that I was able to anticipate
the challenges students would face with the new vocabulary. And
rather than focusing entirely on form and meaning, I should also spend
time on how the vocabulary is used in different real life situations. In
other words, I need to show the students how the words or expressions
taught can be used in different contexts to convey a different meaning
each time. It is also important to be aware of the challenge principle

where the teacher needs to identify which dimension is most

challenging to the students in the classroom as a whole and
individually.

6) SEEING STUDENT LEARNING

The reading spoke about observing students in the class without
passing judgment or analyzing the situation rather by simply describing
in our minds the behavior of the student(s). A teacher is able to reflect
in two ways: Reflection in the midst of an experience (reflection-inaction) or outside an experience (reflection-on-action). This helps me
to be as objective as possible when analyzing my students behavior
while completing an assigned task.
I also like how the article mentions that we notice people and get to
know their background. But we rarely associate the facts and what they
show us about the students learning style. It also said that Most
teachers rarely take the time to engage the student in a conversation
about their learning. Thats something I want to talk about with my
students regularly. So my objective in the classroom is to always
observe what is happening as students are completing an activity. The
end result is to see that the student has really learned rather than
covering the material and assuming the student has learned. As a
teacher I have to remain objective and avoid jumping to conclusions
and acting impulsively. Its better to reflect on what occurred in the
class by asking myself these questions: what did I say or do? How did
the students react when I did or said that? Its a good idea to ask
another teachers opinion about my description. In the end, this will

help me to brainstorm how to react better in any situation that arises in

the classroom.

7)

TELL ME MORE

Photo Credit: www.curiositiesbydickens.com

It makes people happy and free

when they are listened to wrote
Brenda Ueland. I could not agree
more. This article reminded me to be
aware of how I listen to my wife,
family members, supervisors, teachers and students. I like how the
writer talks about her negative listening experience with her father and
how she had learned to really listen. So by listening to the man she had
not seen in over 20 years she was able to draw out all this thoughts and
feelings that he had bottled inside of him. After this, he was ready to
listen to her advice about fixing his communication problems with his
children. I would like to apply this in the classroom as I am giving a
lesson to the group. So when I elicit answers I need to listen without
interrupting and briefly repeat back to the students what I understood
they said. Also individually, if a student asks me a question I would do
the same, listen and then ask more questions if necessary. I believe that
as imperfect humans we need to be reminded regularly to listen to
each other. In my Bible reading, I found this gem: Know this, my
beloved brothers: Everyone must be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow
to anger. (James 1:19.) It sums up the main idea of the article nicely.

8) THE CHANGING FACE OF LISTENING

Listening techniques have changed a lot. So I would like to apply the
following points in my classes: In the Pre-Teaching I should only teach
the vocabulary words that are critical to understanding of the
listening. I shouldnt fall in the trap of pre-teaching all the new words.
So the goal of the Pre-Listening stage is to provide my students with
sufficient context without giving away what the listening is about and
have students try to predict what the listening will be about to create
motivation in them to really pay attention to it. Also my listening tasks
should be scaffolded from gist of listening to more specific details and
allow students to compare answers in pairs, in groups and together as a
class. The article concludes by saying that we want our students to be
better and more confident listeners that are not afraid to analyze,
discuss or come up with their conclusions about the meaning of what
they have listened to.

9) PDP INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

This is one of my favorite readings because the author uses PDP to get
over his aversion of going to museums and at the same time improve
his relationship with his wife who loves museums. Thats why PDP has
become my favorite methodology for doing readings or listening
activities. I found PDP to be very user-friendly and intuitive because it
sets clear guidelines as to what I, as the teacher, am supposed to do
and what the students are supposed to be doing. I will use the Pre stage
to create anticipation for what is to come in the form of a reading, a
video or a recording and to motivate the students to pay attention. In
the During stage, I need to ensure the tasks are interactive. This means

that I have to ensure that Im using Think-Pair-Share and group work so

that my students can clarify any misunderstandings and help each other
out to complete the tasks at hand. Finally, the Post stage provides
closure to the PDP lesson by providing students a way to internalize
what they experienced and express ideas and opinions they came up
with by writing them down like a hot reflection. Then I would have my
students share their thoughts with their partner first and then those
who are willing to share what they learned from their partner with the
class. I love PDP so much; Im not going to marry it but I will use it in the
classroom!! (ha ha!)

10) WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CLASSROOM

This article was one of the easiest to read because it is in point form but
it is full of many things that I need to be aware of in the classroom.
Some highlights are as follows: I should avoid is desks in rows. Instead I
would try and do semi-circles or groups of desks and I should get
creative with the space Im given in any particular classroom. Also
having the students work and projects displayed on the walls helps to
build the sense of community and pride in our accomplishments. It is a
good idea to include personal students mementos, e.g., photos of
students doing the activities. Another point mentioned is that I need to
ensure that my students faces reflect the eagerness to learn and them
being engaged in the activities I provide. I need to use my SWBAT,
ECRIF, PDP and mini-PDP effectively to achieve this. I have learned so
many techniques, ideas and activities from my trainers and peers that I
now feel that I have thousands tools at my disposal to use in the
classroom to help my students speak English fluently.