Cognitive coaching experience

English Teaching Professional Practicum UCSC 2012

Brief description

Cognitive coaching experience’s stage shows how my performance as a teacher was in a class that

was carried out on October 29th at C.E.I.A. M.A.S.S., recorded and observed not only by the guide

teacher but also by the professor who was in charge of the lectures of the subject “Professional

Practicum”, and then what the feedback about my performance was in that particular class.

Cognitive coaching experience

I did nothing special that I had not done in previous

classes but wanted to follow the same modality as I

always do to prove to myself that what I had been doing

throughout the whole semester had been within the

parameters that a teacher experienced in professional

practicum could qualify my class as "good" at least. As

usual, I arrived 15 minutes at the classroom prior to starting

the class in order to install and make sure the necessary tools (notebook, extension cord, data

show, speakers and a surprise box) worked properly, and then when the recess finished, the guide

teacher and the observer-teacher entered the room. I let students know they should feel

comfortable because the presence of the new teacher was only and exclusively for terms of

practicum assessment so they should behave as they had been doing regularly throughout the

semester.

From the very beginning to the very end, students kept

a good behavior and respected not only the presence of

the two observer-teachers but also mine. They were

very participatory and collaborated with all the things

that were requested.

On the other hand, and based on subsequent comments

that both teachers made about my performance, I think my class was developed in an exemplary

manner, considering the profile of the students from that educational institution in which it had to

be carried out. Despite the planning of the class was geared towards other purpose with different

activities, I made several changes the previous day to make it more meaningful since I had been

informed that that was going to be the last English class of the year. The class was called

"choices", focused on listening ability based on a movie where the principal character faced a new

stage of his life and, as a result, had to throw away his toys; that is why I decided to use realia by

giving them different toys and transporting them to

the time when they used to play with toys and had

to do the same as the protagonist of the film.

During the class, the focus was mainly geared

towards the discrimination of sounds and listening

comprehension and then ends up with a final activity where

they had to make use of the realia and finally reflect on the stage that they were closing at the

time and the choices they had to make within the next few days.

By means of reflection and conclusion I can say that:

Among the positive aspects of the class I can mention that there was good use of

language and time, good posture in front of students, good use of space in the classroom,

good use of strategies for understanding listening comprehension, appropriate

connection to the students and others.

Among the negative aspects of the class I can mention that I think not having considered

the participation of some students when they raised their hands to comment on

something said during the class, I attribute this to my poor listening ability even in

Spanish. Another downside may be the fact that, despite demonstrating management

and confidence regarding to content and stages of the lesson, I felt that I was not doing

well and maybe that can have any effect on my upcoming classes as a future teacher.