13th Journal Entry

As the reading says, the very first day of the school can be a nightmare for many students, specially if they are coming from different towns, schools, countries, etc


They might feel akward in a new place, and here is exactly where the teacher has to take care of her/his classroom community


Help the new student to adapt to a new classroom may be a difficult taks but not an impossible one


This year was my first year on the school I'm currently working at, however, I consider myself as an easy-going person, so I was able to get along ok with my co-workers, but I noticed it was not that easy for a third grade student who came from Cartago. The first days she used to cry, saying that she didn't want to be there and that she missed all her friends from Cartago a lot. I tried to talk to her as much as I could, so, during recess, she used to sit and eat with me, so I introduced some students to her and I tried to find if the had some similar preferences so they could talk by themselves. Now, I hardly see her, because she is playing all the recess with her new friends. 


It is hard at the beginning, but it is also a matter of attitude, if you are able to help and be helped your first day of school wont be as difficult as you think it will be!

12th Journal Entry

Classroom management is one of the most important thing the teacher has to have control of since the first day of school.


Classroom management requires rules that need to be set and agreed with the students since the first moment we have contact with them


Sometimes is not that easy to handle with a class of 25 students, specially if they are 7 years old and don't care about anything but to play and play


I had to be a first grade teacher for two weeks, and it was a real challenge for me, because you have to negotiate with your students in order to get them work fast and do what you want them to do


I dont like being mean to them, but sometimes being too nice to them will lead a messy classroom and you will loose all kind of control because they think you are not going to get mad at them never so they can go around and play with no restrction at all


By setting the rules and having the control of the class since the first day, we will get the classroom management that we are looking for!

11th Journal entry

There are many ways to assessing the students, however, I don't think that an assessment will meassure or tell the knowledge of each student in an appropriate way


On the other hand, we have the alternative assessments, which depends on using performance tasks that let students demonstrate what they can actually do with language.


Some of their features are: 

·         Assessment is based on authentic tasks that demonstrate learners' ability to accomplish communication goals.

·         Instructor and learners focus on communication, not on right and wrong answers.

·         Learners help to set the criteria for successful completion of communication tasks.

·         Learners have opportunities to assess themselves and their peers.

10th Journal entry

When people are motivated, they always want to learn more, they obviously care more about what is being taught and they pay attention carefully to the instructions that are being given by the professor


Motivation is a tool that will help us to take our students to the level that we want them to reach. 


If they are unmotivated, the classes are going to be bored, and they are not going to learn in the way that we want them to do so.


Teachers are responsible to motivate the students and make the class dynamic so they can learn easily


As the reading says, by applying the motivational techniques the students will show some differences from the students that do not show any interest from the class and their learning experience has not been that effective, these are:


• Good learners are able to identify the best strategy for a specific task; poor learners have difficulty choosing the best  strategy for a specific task


• Good learners are flexible in their approach and adopt a different strategy if the first one doesn't work; poor learners have a limited variety of strategies in their repertoires and stay with the first strategy they have chosen even when it doesn't work


• Good learners have confidence in their learning ability; poor learners lack confidence in their learning ability


• Good learners expect to succeed, fulfill their expectation, and become more motivated; poor learners: expect to do poorly, fulfill their expectation, and lose motivation

9th Journal Entry

The Syllabus is a paramount tool that helps the teachers a lot because it is known as an outline that contains a summary of topics to be covered in a course and it’s set up by an exam board or prepared by the professor.


It also has a Description of Course Requirements and what is going to be evaluated as well, so the students know what to expect and what is going to be asked to do during the class period


Some of the advantages that are mentioned on the reading are:

• apply principles of course design  
• develop effective means of presenting instructional information 
• assess students' learning using various formats 
• develop strategies for addressing common classroom concerns 
• reflect upon your goals and values as a teacher 
• analyze and suggest ways of improving specific instructional situations