Assignment for June 22nd

First semester evaluation

What is your evaluation of the first English IV semester? Do you consider that you have progressed or that you're stuck? What do you think about the activities we've had so far? Do you recommend other activities we could do in class? Have you been a good student? What can you do so as not to lose contact with the language during winter vacation? What factors have favored/ affected your learning?

Waiting for your posts. Best regards, Marcela.

Assignment for June 15th

Thesis

Are you already working on your thesis? What is your topic? Does it meet your needs and expectations? Does it reflect your interests? Is your thesis being written in English or in Spanish? What is the purpose of a thesis work? Is it better to work alone or in group? What are the difficulties of working on a thesis? How much of your time should be devoted to it?

Let me tell you that my thesis was written in English, I had to work with four other people, and it was on American literature. It took us one year and it was fairly easy to compile the info, but it was hard to put it together on paper, given that we were five. I would have preferred to have worked on Phonology or Linguistics, but Mr. Sandoval was the only teacher left available that semester, and I didn't want to wait a whole year to find available teachers to work with. Needless to say that American literature was not my cup of tea, so I didn't feel like I was giving the best of myself. The experience was OK, but next time I have to write a thesis, I will do it alone and on a linguistic topic. I'm looking forward to taking that second chance.

Waiting for your posts. Best regards, Marcela.

Assignment for June 8th

Children or adults?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of teaching children? What are the advantages and disadvantages of teaching teenagers/adults? Speak from different points of view, say, behavior, learning, time, expectations, and the like. Base your answers on what you have learned in Methodology and Linguistics. In this way, you may discover the kind of people you would like to work with in the future. Waiting for your posts. Best regards from your teacher, Marcela.

Assignment for June 1st

Teaching English

Thanks for posting. Don't stop doing it, since it's a fantastic way to exchange opinions, ideas and stimulate the use of English out of the classroom.

Let's go down to business. Most of you are already teaching. Please, mention the most difficult aspects of the teaching activity. Mind you that by aspects we mean linguistic, behavioral, environmental, or any other aspect that you consider should be changed in order to get the best from your students. What can we do to change these aspects? Read your classmates' posts and suggest them solutions or speak from your own experience or intuition. Best regards from your teacher, Marcela.

Assignment for May 25th

Oral presentations

What was the best oral presentation you saw during the first cycle? Give your arguments and consider all the elements evaluated in the peer evaluation rubric. Waiting for your posts. Best regards from your teacher, Marcela.

Assignment for May 18th

The best teachers

Good teachers make all the difference. According to research by academic-testing expert William Sanders and others, the effectiveness of the individual classroom teacher is the single biggest factor affecting students' academic growth.

In one study, for example, Sanders found that students who had been taught by three ineffective teachers in a row scored below the 50th percentile in mathematics by the end of the third year. By contrast, those with three highly effective teachers scored above the 80th percentile. Teachers' effect on academic growth dwarfed other factors, such as class size, that have been given so much attention.

In California, too few students have access to qualified teachers, especially in schools serving children of color and children from low-income families. The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning reports that in schools with the highest percentages of minority children, more than 20 percent of teachers are underqualified, compared with 5 percent of teachers in schools serving a low percentage of minorities. Perhaps not coincidentally, in the lowest-performing schools, as ranked by the Academic Performance Index, 1 in 5 teachers is not fully credentialed, compared to 1 in 20 in the highest- ranking schools.

Stanford University economist Eric Hanushek found that having good teachers five years in a row could eliminate the average achievement gap between poor students and their higher-income peers. Clearly, if we want to give all children a chance to succeed, we need to invest in the quality of our teachers. We need to give teachers good preparation before they enter the classroom as well as continued support and opportunities to develop their skills after they begin teaching.

Comedian Bill Cosby knows the importance of teachers, and, in fact, attributes his own phenomenal success to a teacher. As a sixth-grade student in Philadelphia, he was inspired by his teacher, Mary Forchic, to follow his dreams of becoming an entertainer. Recognizing his natural storytelling abilities she suggested to him that he "become either a lawyer or an actor, because you lie so well." Forchic remained one of Cosby's lifelong friends.
Cosby has devoted a great deal of his time to ensuring that all children have the opportunity to benefit from teachers like Forchic. An example of his efforts to promote effective teachers for all children will be seen today. Partnering with Stanford's School of Education, Cosby is "celebrating teachers" in a benefit performance on the Stanford campus, with proceeds going to teacher fellowships. Cosby's performance will be followed by a fund-raising dinner hosted by another teacher advocate, TV journalist Tom Brokaw, and preceded by a conference honoring a group of extraordinary Bay Area educators. The goals of the events are to call attention to the importance of investing in teachers and to honor teachers for their commitment and hard work.
We could all follow Cosby's lead and express our gratitude for the enormous contributions that dedicated teachers make to our children's lives and to our community. So many teachers in the Bay Area are at school early and stay late, correct papers and plan instruction evenings and weekends -- working hard to meet the educational needs of students, some of whom struggle to make progress despite the stress of living in poverty, lack of proficiency in English and many other challenges. Teachers buy materials with money from their own pockets and volunteer their Saturdays and vacation time to attend workshops to develop their own skills. They don't do all this for the money, I assure you. They do it because they care about the education of our children. As another school year comes to a close, it is an appropriate time to thank the effective and dedicated teachers in our schools.

Taken from The San Francisco Chronicle

Waiting for your posts giving your opinions about this article and also contrasting with the Chilean educational reality according to your own experience. Best regards from your teacher, Marcela.