week 10

Conclusion

First of all, I think I have luck or success as I came to METU and studied here and I had my internship in the very successful schools like METU College and Ataturk Anatolian High School. I have learned lots of things here related to my prospective career and after three moths I will start my lovely job hopefully. When I start to teach I will use all of my knowledge which I have get in our department and I am sure I will successfully manage it. For example, I will definitely integrate the technology into my teachings which will make more motivated, enjoyable and stress free environment. Moreover, I will have student centered teaching style that is I will pay more attention to students’ opinions; for example, which classroom rules will they want and then we all together make that kind of decisions.

If I talk about my own career and professional development I will try to read as many articles, books, and activities as I can and also, I will try to attend conferences. Besides, I have an aim studying master after I will have worked 2-3 years that is after I get experiences on my career. Also, during my working life I will try to have more collaborative works with my colleagues and students in order to have enthusiasm to teaching and learning. I love and have always loved being a teacher and I dedicated myself to learning and teaching English, and I am sure I will be successful.

To sum up, I have get and learned many useful things and I am certain that I will implement those things during my career and also the knowledge and ideas that I have got here will help me to have both career and professional development. 

week 9

Second teaching reflection: 

I was relaxed during my second teaching in spite of preparing it in a very short time (one day before). Also, my second teaching consisted of several activities because my mentor teacher had wanted it like that. The aim of the lesson was to rehearse students’ previous knowledge by making them to do several tasks. Moreover, my second teaching’s strength points were as my mentor teacher mentioned that I asked to students some instruction checking questions after I gave instruction. I had forgotten it in my first teaching. Also, my second lesson a bit like a task-based lesson but it was only activity lesson actually. Besides, the weakness points were tone of my voice as usual. I cannot do anything about it but whenever I talk about it to my family members they said to me “It is okay, we like your voice and it is not low for us”. I think, now I cannot do anything but time will show that is my teaching career in a real classrooms will show if it is a problem or not and then I will take an action according to it. Also, my mentor teacher said that objectives were not explained. I thought, as all of my activities and all of their main aim was to repeat or rehearse students’ previous knowledge, I wrote a one objective for all of them. The last thing as a weakness was the time. The lesson took more time than I thought because of the last activity which was a bit long and I had not thought about it beforehand. However, generally my mentor teacher does not see it as a problem. To sum up, this teaching was an experience for me to improve my teaching and I am happy with it. 

Overall evaluation of my teaching experience so far:

Thank God I did not choose to go to other schools than METU College. I had very nice and useful experiences there which will definitely help me during my prospective teachings. I have learned many things from my mentor teacher such as asking instruction checking questions, how to use the school’s book or change that book’s activities, how to manage class while doing different activities and so on. Moreover, thanks to the students I did not have many classroom management problems or other problems during the teachings. They were respectful to me and most of them were really good at English language and they were very helpful during my teachings. For example, they answered whenever I asked questions and they were willing to do any kind of works. Besides, as students were used to do group works I usually prepared group works and they really worked. Also, the most advantage side of my teachings was to knowing students’ names I think. During the first weeks I learned students’ names by writing them on my notebook and then I always called them with their names.

All in all, I am very happy with my internship in METU College and I learned lots of useful things. Of course, there were problems or weaknesses during my teaching but we are learning many things from our mistakes. For example, I had had a time problem in my second teaching but during my final teaching I could manage the time very well. In short, I can say I was in the professional environment and it was very useful and enjoyable experiences for me. 

week 8

Observation

Again, it was an exam day and I waited until it finished. The, the first hour it was just similar to every Monday’s first lessons, that is, homework check. The following hours the teacher asked about 23^rd April. After students gave some information about that day, the teacher wrote ‘23^rd April National Sovereignty and Children’s Day’. Then she wrote the plan on the board:   

                                                                                        -listen to a song

                                                                                        -read your stanza

                                                                                        -draw a picture of your stanza

                                                                                        -give your drawing to Ms. Tekin

                                                                                        -wait for your peers                                                

She made students listen to Michael Jackson’s song about children and then she distributed that song’s stanzas to the students. It was a pair work. Students supposed to read their stanzas and draw picture related to theirs stanzas. Students drew very colorful and creative pictures. Then, the teacher collected them and took photos. After that she said that she will make a short clip for that song and then they will watch it all together. I really liked that creative activity and also students like them. Also, we all enjoyed. I will prepare those kinds of activities when I become a teacher as they are so engaging.  

week 7

Teacher’s wait time and student motivation

During the speaking activity my mentor teacher listened to students patiently and usually commented on them positively. I liked that patience and positive comments as they increased students’ motivation. I mean, in class that day were so many students who wanted to talk about their and their parents’ duties. Moreover, the teacher first gave examples from her own life; for example, I and my husband have to cook. Then, she asked students’ or their parents’ duties that they have or have not to do. When students made mistakes the teacher corrected them in this way:

S: I make my bed.                                                                

T: You have to make your bed.

I liked it as that error correction technique does not discourage students but it makes them be more motivated. Another error correction technique that the teacher used was using fingers. The teacher used her fingers when students made mistakes, that is, when they skipped one or two words while talking.

I liked it as well. We have always seen that strategy in our ELT courses but I had not thought that the teachers use it in reality but it is being used and really works.

The last thing I want to mention is the teacher made students to play hangman and by playing it students found that day’s topic:
                                            

Then, the teacher made Mind Map with the students. I will definitely use this strategy if I teach younger learner as it is very enjoyable for them and very meaningful.