Reflections on
my professional growth
As I was reflecting on the lessons learned during this whole year at GLC, I realised I had multiple points of view to consider, as a member of the GLC community, as a teacher of ESL in 7th grade and as an extracurricular ESL teacher, as the ESL coordinator and as a member of the Support Centre...
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a member of the GLC community
tutor of a teacher trainee
a teacher of English
the ESL coordinator
a member of the Support Centre
an extracurricular ESL teacher
a teacher of ESL in 7th grade
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I am thinking of my professional growth from my viewpoint as a member of the GLC community.
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I think that being part of the GLC community has been easy, as I felt welcomed, valued, respected as one more member. It’s not about the activities or events, which also contribute to create closer bonds… It’s not about the space, which allows for different learning opportunities in open, green, illuminated and cosy spaces… It’s about its people and the relationships established with each of them, service members, cooks, cleaners, electricians, coach drivers and monitors, administrative members, etc. Every single person in there plays a key role in this community to ensure that the whole functioning of the school runs smoothly. We are all part of a big puzzle, if one piece is missing, you can feel it. Actually, this strong sense of community has been reinforced due to the Covid-19 situation, where all of us who had the opportunity to contribute and help, so all those members of GLC who couldn’t go back to work because of this major cause can get their salary at the end of each month, instead of being fired.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is ‘what does this welcoming tell me about the essence and values of the GLC identity?’
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I am thinking of my professional growth from the viewpoint of the ESL coordinator.
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I think that there were many expectations for me to carry out throughout the school year. Initially it was a high-demanding role, considering I also had to teach 10 hours of class. Hence, although I started the year doing class observations in every single class of MS and HS to do an initial diagnosis when it comes to ESL, my presence in the different sections (JS, MS and HS) ended up unbalanced. After that, I spent some hours doing some support in JS in specific occasions. That also gave me the opportunity to co-teach in 2nd grade giving support with the ‘Units of Study’ programme mostly.
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Then, I had to focus all my energy in MS with 3rd & 4th grade. And this has taken place in last trimester and in the virtual learning environment. One of the greatest learnings has been the way we have organised that type of support. We start every class together with the group class, and once the goals are shared and the task is explained, we use ZOOM rooms to offer a more personalised environment to follow students’ learning process closer and scaffold that learning in the best possible way, especially for those students who had more difficulties with the learning of ESL. Moreover, when the class finishes the English teacher and I connect again to talk about both those students’ processes and the general development of the class (struggles, challenges, things that worked, or not) and, then, we share possible ideas to improve those educational practices and to bear in mind for the following classes.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is ‘what actions would I need to take to be more present, even if not physically, in all the sections to become a reference in terms of ESL across sections?’
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I am thinking of my professional growth from the viewpoint of as a member of the Support Centre.
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I think I was lucky to be able to work hand in hand with this group of professionals, and of persons. They made me feel part of the team. They taught me how to deal with the many procedures to follow, and even helped with the cultural part when writing emails to families to make sure I used the Colombian Spanish language adequately so that it could easily be understood by the families in order to avoid possible misunderstandings in the communication. We also shared and learned together thanks to the many conversations we had every day about students’, class groups’ and teachers’ needs, and the possible alternative actions to take.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is ‘how the ESL coordinator role could be more integrated with the rest of the roles, to boost and economise the amount of students to attend from diverse angles according to their specific needs?'
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I am thinking of my professional growth from my viewpoint as a teacher of ESL in 7th grade.
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I think that I have learned about the AREO American standards, the ‘Units of Study’ reading programme (in particular about investigating characterization), how to apply and analyse Running Records (though I still need more practice on the actions to take after that data analysis is carried out). I have reinforced thoughts on PBL from another perspective, and that has made me reconsider the role of the English language within a project. I have also learned about more clear way to organize the classroom space, thinking about its uses, and learning purposes. I think that the way school is organized in terms of doing lessons in the mornings and arrange time meetings in the afternoons open up many possibilities for educators to work together in multiple ways. All in all, I feel I have learned tones of contents, procedures, skills and ways of doing that have definitely enriched my educational and pedagogical practice.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is ‘what could be my students’ and colleagues’ perspective on my work and on the way I have integrated in this new school environment?'
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I am thinking of my professional growth from my viewpoint as an extracurricular ESL teacher.
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I think that this after school tutoring sessions of two-hours periods, which were characterised by a face-to-face and more personalised learning environment, because the groups were reduced to a maximum of 6 students, allowed me to interact in a different way and to establish a closer bond with each student, knowing exactly what each students’ needs were, and being able to plan and prepare learning opportunities that tried to respond to those needs. I learned that creating some kind of community was also necessary to build a safe learning environment where students with different ages met. This is why I loved starting with a game every single class altogether, and then dividing them in smaller groups, pairs or individually to focus on a more personalised learning. Moreover, I remember one of my students telling me why we couldn’t do all those games with the whole class group. Obviously, we could have… Yet, the number of students in a class group and the feeling that they could be playing and not learning could be some reasons why I didn’t do it.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is 'as we moved on into the virtual classes, what drove some students, and parents, to continue attending the extracurricular tutoring sessions, or not, especially after learning that they were free?’
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I am thinking of my professional growth from my viewpoint as a teacher of English.
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I think that being a non-native teacher of English continuously challenges me to carry out actions that allow me keep my English alive and keep on learning the language. This is why activities such as attending the Toastmasters English club helps me continue improving my listening, speaking and writing skills, at the same time I learn more about communication, leadership and evaluation (giving feedback). Leading and attending the improv workshops also allows me to boost my fluency on the English language as well as to enhance my creative skills. Moreover, I also listen to the radio from different English speaking countries, in Radio Garden, and I watch films in original version.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is ‘shouldn't teachers of English count with some time within school hours where they can have time for the study of the English language to improve their English skills and keep them updated every single year as part of their professional development?'
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I am thinking of my professional growth from my viewpoint as tutor of a teacher trainee.
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I think that this was a great opportunity for me to learn more about how teaching training works in a university in Colombia (UNAD, Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia) as well as many other issues related to teaching and learning in my conversations with Daniel Guzmán, my trainee- Additionally, I learned about a research group and the different projects they are researching on.
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A question I have from this viewpoint is, although I know not every single teacher could be eligible to be a tutor, 'what if every single teacher opened their classrooms and opened their minds listening and having educational chats with their teaching trainee with a beginner's mind and growth mindset?’ Wouldn't that be a great opportunity for learning and growing?
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Miss Mar's classes
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First of all, the lessons applied to students are quite accurate as all students feel comfortable with them, participate actively, do not show to have any misunderstanding towards the topic or express confusion, learn fast and do not complain about anything. Also, her classes encouraged students to participate actively, ask questions, use their skills, etc. students seem to be interested in the class, however, they sometimes get distracted by others` comments, and cooperate in the indiscipline.
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The class has established rules that remind students how to behave during lessons therefore, they do not need to be explained about it in all lessons. Additionally, the activities are extremely interactive, engaging, interesting, and well designed. In summary, students are more than capable of using their skills while improving them through the lessons.
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So you are simply amazing you know a lot of strategies for classroom management, the only piece of advice I would like to suggest is to implement some punishments for students who interrupt the class, obviously not telling off or intimidating them.
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By Daniel Guzmán
12/06/2020