This document summarizes information about the context of a professional practicum taking place at Colegio Maria Inmaculada school in Concepción, Chile. It describes characteristics of the school including its educational approach, vision, and available resources. It then provides details about the specific classroom, including the layout, students, and teacher routines. Finally, it analyzes which contextual factors and student characteristics will most impact lesson planning, such as the school's values-based approach, available technology, and understanding student interests and needs.

1. Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción
MDD 1: “Standard 1”
Professional Practicum
Dannae Del Campo Méndez
08/09/2014

2. Standard I: Contextualization of teaching
Standard: The trainee teacher gathers information about the institutional -
organizational context of the classroom, the features of the group of students and its
diversity, and uses it to plan and develop a contextualized teaching.
Task 1
Select and describe the characteristics of the institution and the class that you
consider relevant to contextualize the planning of the unit that will be developed.
General features of the school:
My professional practicum is taking place in Colegio Maria Inmaculada. This is a state
subsidized school and it is located at Cruz 250 in the city of Concepción. The school has
a number of 1465 students. The school is a co-educational schooling from kinder garden
to 4rd grade of elementary education and is single-sex schooling from 4rd grade of
elementary education to 4rd grade of high school. Each level has three courses (A, B
and C) and the number of students varies from 30 to 40 students per class.
The school has a Proyecto Educativo Integrado (PEI) and it has an emphasis in the
overall development, the academic excellence and on principles and values provided by
Christian humanism and the Catholic Church. One of the important characteristics that
have a relation in the teaching process is the school curriculum. In this curriculum it can
be noticed that the institution has a Christian-humanist approach which is centered on
the person. This is an active, participative and open pedagogical style. This curriculum
mixes faith and culture, theory and practice to carry out an overall development.
Regarding the vision of the school, it is focused on the education of young people
trough a Christian-humanist education. This gives a great importance to the gospel.
Moreover, its mission is to educate people with competences, abilities and aptitudes
which will allow them to be a contribution to their future work and also in church. To
accomplish this school mission and vision it is necessary to that the professionals posses
a strong value formation inside the Catholic Church.
It also has a Proyecto de Acción Curricular which promotes a coherence to realize with
what it has been established in the PEI. This document is helpful because for the

3. teaching action, since it is a proposal for educational work. It states the role of the
teacher (as a facilitator in the process of teaching so students can develop their selves as
“persons of integrity”). It must be respected the diversity of students and their different
learning styles. This involves carrying out active and collaborative methodologies,
centered on students, using the constructivist approach designed to creative a
meaningful learning.
This also implies the way of assessing, taking into consideration the different
methodologies to be adopt such as various types of assessments (oral presentations,
tests, written reports, etc), providing spaces for self-assessment and peer-assessment,
and also providing different evaluative instances (diagnostic, process and product). The
institution based its education on values, such as solidarity, empathy and honesty. These
are part of the OFT and teachers of this school should promote them in order to form
integral persons. It is also important to note that this Proyecto de Acción Curricular
requires teachers to support the students who present greater difficulties to learn, so the
unit plans must include these supportive spaces. (For example, to include people that
have more knowledge in the subject matter in order to help the students that present
more difficulties to learn).
Regarding the infrastructure, the institution counts with some resources that are
definitely helpful when planning my units, such as four computer rooms or labs (with
twenty computers each) with internet access, a library and audio-visual resources in the
classrooms (data show, notebook and radio). This will allow me, for example, to make
use of didactic material, such as videos and power point presentations for my classes.
Description of the classroom:
The students of first “C” of secondary high school are placed distributing the chairs and
tables in pairs all of them looking to the whiteboard and the teacher. However, the third
row has individual seats. The teacher affirms that this is the place for students with
distraction problems or the people who is not properly concentrated. It is also important
to mention that the students located in the firsts seats in front of the whiteboard are the
ones with NEE (Necesidades Educativas Especiales). The first student has a serious
visual problem and the other one has atrophied her right hand and one of her legs.

4. Regarding the routines carrying out by the teachers in the process of teaching-learning,
is the one of praying every morning at 8 am. Every day after their break they have to
make a row outside the classroom so they can be quiet before starting the class.
The classroom has 54m2 for 45 students, the illumination is good and the environment
outside the classroom does not make difficult to make the class.
In relation with the teaching process the students learn through the observation of
images in PPT’s which makes it easier for them to acquire what they have to learn.
Finally, the environment inside the classroom is respectful between students and also
between students and the teacher. Students can express their opinion with freedom and
they try to answer everything in the best possible way.
The sources for collecting the information were the PEI, interviews with the teacher and
interview with the head of UTP. It also was observed the reality of the school to
determine aspects of infrastructure, organization and dynamics of the classroom.
Task 2
Select and describe the characteristics of the students of your class (individually
and as a group), that constitute relevant factors for the classroom planifications
that enable a quality learning.
The characteristics that constitute relevant factors for the classroom lesson plans are the
following:
The classroom is formed by 45 students, all women and they are fourteen and fifteen
years old. All students profess the catholic religion because it’s a requirement to apply
this school.
Regarding the NEE, just two of the forty-five students present health problems. The first
of them has a serious problem of sight. Therefore, teachers need to create special
material for her. They have to write the material with a letter number twenty-two in
Microsoft word, in this way they facilitate the work of the student. The second of them
has atrophied her right hand and leg. This issue makes difficult to write, so teachers also
create special material for her. They have to create sheets with a lot of space so it is
easier for writing. Teachers also allow the student to record the classes.

5. Having observed these two weeks of classes taught by my service teacher I realize that
my class is very diverse in terms of interests but they are very similar in terms of their
leaning styles because most of them are visual learners (since I interviewed some of
them and they told me that it was easier for them to understand when the teacher used
the data).
The first grade “C” Secondary high school presents 11 students who score 6,0 or higher
during the first semester. These students are the ones who participate and work very
well during the class. Also, there are 12 students who score between 5,0 and 5,9. Even
though they are not excellent students they like working on hand-on tasks (such as
worksheets) and they try to get better by asking questions and doing the activities the
teacher proposes. My class also presents 13 students who score between 4,0 and 4,9 and
I realized that they are very talkative but that they are really into music. Finally, there
are 7 people who score between 3.6 and 3.9. These are the people that do not do the
exercises and the ones who talk and do not pay attention when the teacher explains
something. I will take into account their interests to prove if I can make them interested
to learn English and, hopefully, they will be able to participate more and improve the
language.
In the case of students with special needs (NEE), I will provide the material they need
so they can practice and exercise in the same way of the rest of their classmates. I will
also pay more attention to them, and I will provide them with my PPT’s and extra
information because it is hard for them to copy from the board, one because of her sight
problem and the other one because it is hard for her to write fast.
Regarding their previous knowledge I could see what they have been covering during
the semester and their achievements in the class book. I could not see the diagnostics
tests of my students but according to the teacher they do not have the same level of
English. This happens because most of them come from other schools because they
receive a lot of student from 1st year of high school (Primero Medio). Nevertheless,
what I have observed during these two weeks is that most of them can understand what
the teacher is explaining in English, however, they rarely communicate in the language
so I cannot say with certainty their level so far. It is important for me to foster their
communicative skills in my lessons so they can improve it.

6. Moreover, my students are very into English music and television. Therefore, it would
be very motivating for them to introduce a new topic or present new vocabulary through
songs or short videos. In this way, the students would participate more actively during
classes.
Regarding the interaction styles, I could observe that students are divided in very strong
groups of friends during breaks. However, inside the classroom they are respectful and
they help each other. They also give opinions and ask questions to the teacher if is
necessary, which means they are not scared of talk in front the rest of the class.
Regarding the relation between students and the teacher, it is develop with respect
which generates an environment of closeness between the teacher and students.
Taking into consideration what I have stated before, I must mention that this
information is very valuable because it has been helpful at the moment of planning my
classes for the first unit that I have to cover. I tried to consider my students interests and
necessities to create a motivating environment inside the classroom so they are willing
to participate actively during classes. In terms of their interests, I created lesson plans
which include videos and songs. I have created functional tasks so the topic will be
motivating for them. Moreover, and taking into an account that most of my students are
visual learners I created colorful PPT’s with a lot of images and I constantly use the
projector to make the students participant of what is the process of teaching and
learning.
In this way, I will develop a motivating process of learning so they can develop what is
their weakest part and providing them with significant tasks so they can acquire the
knowledge in the best possible way.
Task 3
Analyze the information collected in order to determine which factors from the
context and the students will impact primarily in a design for a quality education
for the students of the course.
I consider as a relevant factor for quality education the following:
- Firstly, to know the learning resources which the establishment posses. In this
case, laptops, data, projector, radio which are present in every classroom. These

7. items can achieve to motivate students to participate during classes and
contribute to the process of teaching- learning.
- Secondly, it is important to have in mind the PEI of the school. This is because
teachers must follow the school lineament, in this case a valoric-religious
school. I consider this relevant because teachers must follow the mission and
vision of the school during their classes. In this way they will be educating
integral young people, with a valoric education through the Christian and
humanist view.
- Thirdly, I consider relevant to obtain a quality education to know the students’
NEE inside a class. This is relevant because the teacher must have in mind these
factors to design materials and activities that will be used during the class. In
this way the teacher will facilitate the work for the students with special
necessities. Moreover, this gives an opportunity to students to internalize what it
has been learned during the classes.
- Fourthly, I consider important to know students’ interests. When you interview
the students and you get to know them, you can know what kind of activities
they like to do. In this way, they can concentrate in a better way and they get
motivated to participate during the class more easily. They can also internalize
better what they have learned and also develop their abilities.
Regarding the possibilities in this context for getting a quality education, we can
find the necessary learning resources to use them, in order to develop the
process of teaching and learning. We can also count with a good infrastructure.
Moreover, the environment inside the class is based on respect which makes
easier the relation between the teacher and students.
Task 4
Reflect about the possibility to count with an adequate knowledge of the students in
the context or your practice center.
Taking into account my experience, the sources from where I gathered information
about my students are the following:

8. - I obtained the information from several resources such as, teachers, students,
UTP which allowed me to obtain different points of view of the class.
- Making informal interviews with students allowed me to know their interests
and preferences such as, how they prefer to work (individually, in pairs, in
groups), what they like to see in their English classes and how they consider
they learn the best.
- The class book that counts with students’ personal information, annotations and
marks. This information is reliable because it comes from the parents (in the
case of their personal information) and the teachers. In this way, I have a track
of the students’ learning so far and I can put special attention on the students that
have more difficulties in the language so that they can hopefully improve their
English.
Regarding the information that I do not know very well about my students are the
following:
- The information about the students with NEE is not updated because the class is
formed by students who come from different schools and the register of the NEE
is not ready yet. Therefore, there is information which I do not possess such as,
the students who have depression. This is a limiting at the moment of working
with them because I only have the notion of two of them with NEE (which are
the most important ones).
Even though I do not possess some crucial information about my students right know. I
am sure that during the following weeks I will get it since I will become more aware
and I will observe the way they learn or respond to some activities while I am teaching
them.