This has been the slogan of Barack Obama in his presidential campaign. And he has won. “Podemos” was the slogan of the Spanish National Football Team… and they won too. These words seem to carry the sense of motivation of encouragement. They seem to carry the energy of success, the power of belief, and they make real, now more than ever, the proverb “Where there’s a Will, There’s a Way!”
Yesterday, the 5th of November 2008, we had class with group B2 at 8.15hrs in the morning. And what could have been under other circumstances a monotonous boring class turned to be a very effective and enriching session for the students, not only due to its contents in the English learning process, but more particularly, as a lesson for life. Apart of the usual call for discipline, her lively dynamism, her effective sense of humour and her charismatic smile, the lesson I have learnt is about motivation and encouragement. As I have already explained in previous posts, my tutor usually uses encouraging strategies such as thanking the students when they are willing to participate in class or the reiterated use of motivating words such as “came on!”, “very well done”, very good”, “you are brilliant today!” etc. But it was really amazing to see her walking along the class, gesticulating, moving her hands, with her face full of expression, eyes wide-open and saying “I have backache… and I want to feel perfect! I feel perfect! And you? How do you want to feel?”, after a student had answered her he wasn´t feeling very well… The students have afterwards felt full of energy and motivation to continue the rest of the class. Being a teacher is not only about teaching the contents of a curriculum. In fact, you have the choice. But it must be enormously rewarding to transmit your students energy, encouragement, motivation… this is, a philosophy of life. Yes, we can.
Today, we were back to Room 28. This room is becoming my favorite in the school. I have not seen so many so far, but I guess it must be because it is one of the few classes I have seen with high technology resources… a computer, an overhead projector, loudspeakers, a printer… It was not the classroom assigned for today, but she had prepared something special for the kids today. So she has had to ask the concierge and other teachers involved to make some changes in the classroom planning so that group my group D2 of 3rd of ESO could have this classroom available. The way my tutor has decided to start the class has called my attention and I have enjoyed it at lot. After calling roll, she has turned off the lights and, taking the chance of Barack Obama´s victory against John McCain in the US elections, she has played two video from BBC website: one with Obama´s words after his triumph,
the other with McCain words after his defeat. The objective was, not only that the students tried to understand their messages and noticed their different accents, but to bring the world and its current news to her class. An excellent warm-up, under my opinion, to approach the students and their learning process to the real everyday life… A great strategy to motivate the students, which I will try to implement once I become a teacher.
Yesterday, the 5th of November 2008, we had class with group B2 at 8.15hrs in the morning. And what could have been under other circumstances a monotonous boring class turned to be a very effective and enriching session for the students, not only due to its contents in the English learning process, but more particularly, as a lesson for life. Apart of the usual call for discipline, her lively dynamism, her effective sense of humour and her charismatic smile, the lesson I have learnt is about motivation and encouragement. As I have already explained in previous posts, my tutor usually uses encouraging strategies such as thanking the students when they are willing to participate in class or the reiterated use of motivating words such as “came on!”, “very well done”, very good”, “you are brilliant today!” etc. But it was really amazing to see her walking along the class, gesticulating, moving her hands, with her face full of expression, eyes wide-open and saying “I have backache… and I want to feel perfect! I feel perfect! And you? How do you want to feel?”, after a student had answered her he wasn´t feeling very well… The students have afterwards felt full of energy and motivation to continue the rest of the class. Being a teacher is not only about teaching the contents of a curriculum. In fact, you have the choice. But it must be enormously rewarding to transmit your students energy, encouragement, motivation… this is, a philosophy of life. Yes, we can.
Today, we were back to Room 28. This room is becoming my favorite in the school. I have not seen so many so far, but I guess it must be because it is one of the few classes I have seen with high technology resources… a computer, an overhead projector, loudspeakers, a printer… It was not the classroom assigned for today, but she had prepared something special for the kids today. So she has had to ask the concierge and other teachers involved to make some changes in the classroom planning so that group my group D2 of 3rd of ESO could have this classroom available. The way my tutor has decided to start the class has called my attention and I have enjoyed it at lot. After calling roll, she has turned off the lights and, taking the chance of Barack Obama´s victory against John McCain in the US elections, she has played two video from BBC website: one with Obama´s words after his triumph,
the other with McCain words after his defeat. The objective was, not only that the students tried to understand their messages and noticed their different accents, but to bring the world and its current news to her class. An excellent warm-up, under my opinion, to approach the students and their learning process to the real everyday life… A great strategy to motivate the students, which I will try to implement once I become a teacher. What would happen, nevertheless, if we would only use one only way to encourage the students, this only through dynamism or only through the use of ICT activities? I bet for a balanced combination.
After class, we have been speaking for a while. I was curious to know if our Establishment obliges teachers to follow any particular didactic book, about the high technology limitations in secondary schools, about the English level, the discipline and the good work dynamic of group D2… And I have particularly appreciated my tutor changing the date of an exam to their students because today has been the only Thursday I will be able to participate in this group.
Today I feel particularly satisfied. It has been my 5th Day in IES Bernat el Ferrer and I have finally felt relaxed. It seems as if I had finally adapted to this new direction my life has taken, as if the school had already started to be part of my life and as I had already started to be part of its organization chart too. Day by day, the number of teachers and students greeting me is higher, on the corridors, in the department, in the playground when I am parking my motorbike or while I am waiting outside for the doors to be unlocked. This is making me feel integrity and, subsequently, relaxed and pleased. Very content and very happy indeed.
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