Name: Xiao(Echo), Zhang

Date: 02/22/15
Title: Teaching articles
Context: Student Teaching_Listening

1. Brief description of the artifact: What is it? How is it used?

This artifact is a PowerPoint used in my student teaching class. Compared to the audio material
and worksheet, this PowerPoint was used as a secondary material for that class. On the second
slide, there were six disordered words which appeared in audio materials. I showed students these
six words before playing the listening material, and told them to number these words in order.
After the first listening, students were asked to give their answers. At this time, I listened to
students and did not give any comments. Then, I played audio material for the second time.
Students could check their answers during this time. After that, we moved to the third slide and
checked the correct order of these six words. Because the listening material is about story telling,
which usually contains simple present and simple past tense, I explained to students several usages
of these two tenses. Slide four to six indicated functions of simple present tense, while slide seven
and eight implied uses of simple past. I also provided graphs and example sentences for each of
the uses. Next, we went on to the seventh and eighth slide. I, along with students did the first two
sentences, and gave the reason why we chose simple past/ simple present. In order to save time,
we went through the rest of this exercise quickly. I read the sentences for them. Meanwhile, they
filled out blanks orally.
2. Explanation of what new ideas, information, or awareness came form this artifact.
This artifact is used for listening intermediate level class. I learned several points from my
instructor`s feedback on my PowerPoint.

1) Avoid using green and red printing since some of students may have issues with green/red
color blindness. Honestly, I did not notice this matter until my instructor gave me such suggestion.
In my opinion, student-centered classroom not only means giving students more talking time, but
also means getting each student involved and be interested in the class. Hence, the teacher needs
to consider much more issues when she/ he prepares for a lesson to avoid inconvenience which
might happen in class.

2) Visual aids. As one of the eight distinct intelligences that are known as Multiple Intelligences,
visual intelligence encourages to create mental images. I used graphs and colorful fonts in my
PowerPoint. According to Jennifer Brister, Visual aids can make an abstract idea become more
concrete to the learner. They help the student to focus his thoughts and ideas on the subject, which
in turn helps them to understand and interpret the information being presented.
3. Reflection on how this will impact your approach to teaching and learning.
Personally, this class can be counted as one of my successful lessons. All students focused on the
content, and participated in activities actively. With the help of PowerPoint, I delivered this class
fluently and freely. That students did learn new knowledge through this class makes me satisfied
and pleased.
In my future teaching, I will keep using learner-centered model in my class, and give students
more time to speak. Meanwhile, I will provide more types of materials to explore students`
distinct intelligences. I found that it seems difficult for lower level learners to do listening. Thus,
in my future teaching, I would like to combine listening and speaking skills. For example, I would
play a short movie clip for my listening and speaking class. Turn off the volume for the first time,
and let students guess what they say. Then, turn off the screen and let students listen to the
dialogue only. The completed film clip can be played at the end of this class. Although there is a
long way to go, I believe I can be a better teacher.

References
Jennifer, B. (n.d.). The Effect of Visual Aids on Learning. Retrieved from eHow:
http://www.ehow.com/about_6395799_effect-visual-aids-learning.html