B. Reading Articles

1- Observation Stage


In my first day of observation at school, I discovered that it was not an easy task. Therefore, in order to improve my observation stage I found a guide for observing classes.
Here is the text in Spanish:

1. Uso del tiempo y del espacio.
A. Tiempo: A los momentos de Apertura, Desarrollo y Cierre, analizarlos teniendo en cuenta, entre otros, los siguientes interrogantes:
¿Cómo se realiza la entrada al contenido que se está tratando o que se comienza a desarrollar? ¿Se lo problematiza? A partir de qué tipo de recursos? o ¿se trata de entradas formales?. ¿Se observan pistas acerca de "rutinas'' que permiten inferir ciertos rituales en relación al uso del tiempo? ¿Cómo se trabajan las consignas de actividades en relación a los momentos o segmentos? ¿Qué tipo de relaciones establece el docente entre procesos de análisis de contenidos y de integraciones progresivas? ¿Cuál es el tiempo "real" de clase en relación al previsto curricularmente? ¿Se producen interrupciones a la secuencia, extrañas a la tarea? ¿Qué ocurre con las estrategias de los estudiantes en relación a las diferencias del sentido escolar del tiempo? (Tiempo de evaluar, tiempo de trabajo grupal, tiempo de exposición, etc.) ¿Qué tipo de respuesta se observa en el docente? ¿Se observan complicidades? ¿No sabe qué hacer?
B. Espacio: Observación y reconocimiento de algunas pistas acerca del uso del espacio en función de la relación educativa y la organización de las interacciones.
¿El docente se ubica en un único lugar durante la clase ¿Representa eso algo en función del vínculo que se establece con los alumnos? ¿Cómo interviene en relación al uso del espacio para coordinar las interacciones?
2. El conocimiento del aula.
- Los contenidos de la enseñanza: conceptuales, procedimentales, actitudinales.
¿Muestra relaciones entre conceptos, principios, enfoques propios de la disciplina ¿Plantea preguntas potentes para generar la construcción de conocimientos? Explicita enfoque y eje de unidades o clases?
- Las formas de presentación de los contenidos.
¿Cómo realiza la transposición didáctica ¿Se producen conocimientos erróneos, a partir de las formas didácticas de presentación? ¿Se producen pérdidas relevantes o simplificaciones de contenidos? ¿Cómo trabaja los contenidos incluidos en recursos textuales (guías o bibliografía seleccionada) audiovisuales? ¿Son recursos que posibilitan disparar buenas comprensiones?
- La relación entre conocimiento cotidiano (ideas y representaciones) y conocimiento científico.
¿Qué hace el docente frente a las participaciones espontáneas de los alumnos, sea a través de la. formulación ce preguntas o el desarrollo de ideas? ¿Rechaza el conocimiento cotidiano? No interviene, lo deja pasar, lo trabaja para promover aprendizajes significativos! ¿Qué tipo de apoyos presta para esa tarea?
- la relación entre el contenido y el método de enseñanza
Se relacionan de alguna manera las formas de producción de conocimientos en la disciplina (indagación) con la forma de enseñanza? (Uso de método de resolución de problema en matemática, por ejemplo.)

3. Organización y coordinación de las interacciones.
¿Qué significa para el docente "promover la participación del alumno", el "alumno activo", el alumno que "construye conocimientos"? ¿Qué tipo de intervenciones de los alumnos son valoradas y cuáles no? ¿Qué hace frente a interpretaciones distintas de las ideas que trabaja? ¿Negocia significados? ¿Qué hace frente a respuestas incorrectas? ¿Analiza con el alumno el origen de los errores? ¿Los deja pasar? ¿Contrapone a ellos la respuesta correcta, sin análisis? ¿Promueve la intervención de otros alumnos frente a ese tipo de situaciones? ¿Son homogéneas las tareas para todo el grupo? ¿Reconoce diferentes maneras de abordar las ideas? ¿Promueve reflexiones acerca de las formas de razonamiento de los alumnos? ¿Promueve la elaboración de buenas analogías?
¿Organiza grupos en función de algún criterio? ¿Cuál? ¿Lo explicita? ¿Permite la formación de grupos en forma espontánea? ¿Reconoce a toda la clase? ¿Trabaja sólo con algunos alumnos? ¿Cómo regula la convivencia en el aula? ¿Realiza contrato explícito, o implícito ¿Castiga problemas de comportamiento con sanciones académicas? ¿Puede escuchar a los alumnos, en el sentido de interpretar necesidades, demandas? ¿Qué hace con ellas? Responde abandonando la tarea? ¿Plantea algún contrato específico? ¿Maneja el silencio cuando es necesario?

Reflections:
After reading this text I felt more confident at the moment of being part of the class, I did not want to be a piece of furniture in the classroom just watching what was going on, I wanted to be part of it. Keeping in mind the ideas presented in the text I realized how I could do my observation more properly and following some parameters.
http://members.tripod.com/~Osvaldo_Carnero/observation.html



2- Team Teaching

During this stage I tried to do my best in order to accomplish the objective of this process, I tried to look for an article which could help me to improve this stage. That is why I read the following:

Team Teaching

Also known as co-teaching or collaborative teaching, team teaching is an instructional strategy used across subject areas primarily in middle grades in a variety of methods. Teams are typically composed of between two and four teachers working collaboratively to plan thematic units and lesson plans in order to provide a more supportive environment for students.
History of team teaching
In a 1963, William M. Alexander — known as the “father of the American middle school” — was scheduled to discuss the structure of the junior high school at a conference at Cornell University. However, after re-thinking the needs of adolescents at this age, he proposed the middle school concept where a team of three to five teachers would be assigned to 75 to 150 pupils organized either on a single-grade or multi-grade basis.1 This recommendation of junior high school reform is where the idea of team teaching developed. Team teaching is now used in all grade levels and across disciplines. When done correctly, this approach has been shown to create bonding opportunities for students and to engage teachers in collaborative, interdisciplinary planning.
Team teaching requires that the faculty is organized so that teachers share a group of students, a common planning time to develop curriculum and instruction in multiple content areas, the same schedule, and that the teachers are in the same physical area of the school.2
Benefits of team teaching
The need for team teaching is based on the premise that middle school is a transitional period between the traditional elementary structure, where students have one teacher all day, and the high school setting, where students have multiple classes and teachers on a daily basis. Because students coming from a traditional elementary structure are accustomed to having a small group of peers and one teacher, they sometimes become overwhelmed when they have to change classes and have more than one teacher. Research suggests that students who do not feel connected to peers and their teachers often have a higher rate of academic failure.3 “The formation of interdisciplinary teams has been proposed as one way of reducing student alienation and increasing students’ sense of membership… Teams provide students with a greater sense of identity, belonging, and support.”
Ideally, teams should consist of 120 or fewer students with a student to teacher ratio of 25:1.5 The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development suggests that the size of teams should be as small as possible depending on the content knowledge and strengths of the teachers.6
Middle grades team teaching models
According to John Wallace (2007), the two-teacher team model is usually done with sixth graders, “as a sound transition from a single teacher, self-contained classroom in the elementary school to the four- or five-teacher team commonly found in seventh and eighth grade.”7 In this model of team teaching, the teachers are usually certified in two content areas or are certified in elementary education and teach two subjects. Because there are fewer children in this model, there are more opportunities for flexibility and combining subject areas into one lesson.
The four-teacher team is “the most commonly used and most logical composition, with one teacher specialist in each of the four core areas.”8 In this model, educators teach in the content area in which they are certified, and they plan interdisciplinary units. This model of team teaching is generally used in the middle school after sixth grade.
Importance of planning time in team teaching
Thomas Erb and Chris Stevenson (1999) contend that teams need collaborative planning times in their schedules. Research conducted through The Project on High Performance Learning Communities suggests that team teachers should have the opportunity to meet four to five times per week for at least 45 minutes. Furthermore, the results of this research study show a correlation between frequent common planning time and interaction with school support staff like counselors, specialists and administrators. Common planning time among team teachers also improved teachers’ rates of coordination of student assignments, assessments, and feedback, and teachers engaged in this type of planning had more contact with parents. Additionally, research suggests that teachers who actively participated in this frequent collaborative planning time exhibited positive attitudes towards the profession of teaching.9
Ideal student/teacher ratio in team teaching
The Project on High Performance Learning Communities recommends that the maximum number of students should be limited to 120 or fewer per team. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest a negative correlation between parent contact and involvement, contact with other resource staff, coordination of student assignments, assessments, and feedback, coordination of curriculum, and the quality of teaming when the number of students on a team is increased. Thus, researchers use this data when recommending that the optimal number of students to be included on one interdisciplinary team is fewer than 120.10
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4754

Reflections:
This article gave a clearer vision of what I should be doing at this point, not only being the guide teacher’s pet, I had to be a support, proving and suggesting ideas for the class and demonstrating her that I really wanted to be part of her class.








3- Teaching Practice
This is the last stage of the process, but it is the one that lasted the most. In this case, I was reading a book called “How to teach English” by Jeremy Harmer. It is a powerful text that gives you some ideas of how organize the classroom, how to plan your activities effectively among other critical issues that take part in the class.