Reflective Thinking

1. I.F.D.C. Lenguas Vivas Bariloche
Práctica Docente I
Tutora: Prof . Cecilia A. Zemborain
Alumna: Bruno Silvia
5 de Noviembre de 2018
Dimensions of Reflective Learning
When I was seventeen years old, I wanted to be a writer. I spent a lot of my free
time writing poems, I was good at writing. My language teacher supported me. She
encouraged me to write and enrol in any writing contest. All my classmates loved her
classes because the teacher not only helped me to enjoy reading and writing, but also
she helped those who struggled to pass the subject. I remember one of her lessons. We
all had to discuss about “Los Cachorros” by Mario Vargas LLosa (1969), she made us
think of the title, guessing about it. As a result, all people in the class were excited about
reading, and finding out what the story was about. My language teacher made me love
learning, with her dedication and her painstaking performance.
Nowadays, I want to be a teacher, and I want to learn to be a good one. Every
day in the classroom, we are responsible for helping our students to build the
knowledge, even though when our specific area of study is not their favourite one.
From my practice at kindergarten, I learnt how important it is to do a previous
diagnostic of the group in order to deliver lessons that best suit children’s interest.
Teaching English to little children demands a lot of extra work and it also means to
develop teaching skills, such as the capacity to prepare creative lessons, art and musical
skills, etc.
This reminds me of one of my lessons. I had selected a very nice story to
introduce the topic: “Farm Animals”, and for me to have a perfect class, I needed all the
Comentario [CZ1]: An inspiring
teacher!
Comentario [CZ2]: Why extra? It
demands work indeed. Teaching
does…
Comentario [CZ3]: Indeed!

2. material to be available that day. When I played on the video the speakers did not work
and the story seemed brighter than when I had seen it on my computer at home.
Consequently, the children got distracted, and everything became a mess. I immediately
took from my previous experience teaching children an activity, I knew they would
enjoy, made them make a circle and sing along with me. Therefore, I am aware of
having several and different strategies in mind, studied in advance, and appropriate for
the students.
To sum up, I have learnt to reflect on my practice. The different theories of
learning have opened my horizon to a wide variety of possibilities to improve my
performance in the classroom, and achieve my goals of being a good teacher. I have
learnt that a lesson plan is an essential guide for teachers. The benefits are many.
Planning allows me to classify the learning outcomes, and think about possible
contingences during the class. In addition, planning makes me think of the objectives
for each topic, the learners’ interests, and of how I can contribute to children’s learning.
Thinking outwards
I saw myself in the classroom, delivering wonderful lessons, and being aware of
children’s interests. The good thing about being a student teacher is that I am able to
learn from my mistakes and that those mistakes do not have any impact on my students
but only on me in order to avoid repeating them.
I like teaching children of an early age because I feel they enrich not only my
teaching practice but also me as a person. I strongly believe that if you want it, and try
hard you can achieve your goals. Even though I am not still twenty years old; however,
I have never given up.
Comentario [CZ4]: Decision making
is also an essential skill to develop.
Comentario [CZ5]: Congratulations
on your performance, Silvia! Your
lesson plans and the videos show you
have been able to put theory into
practice.
Before uploading this reflection to the
blog, try to expand on the missing
dimensions, such thinking outward
and thinking forward.
Best
Ceci

3. Thinking forward
Thinking forward, now I know that I have to pay special attention to my
speaking skill in order not to make grammatical mistakes. I learned in Didactics that
teachers’ expertise and an advanced level of language proficiency play a fundamental
role in the classroom. As a teacher, I have to be able to respond to the many informal
uses of language that are likely to occur in the young- learner classroom. (Enever 2011)
Recording my teaching performance has greatly helped me to recognise my strengths
and my weaknesses.