Community Language Program Teachers College, Columbia University

A&HL 6302: Self-reflection (1) Teacher: Joey Hsu

Class: Intermediate Conversational English

Date of Teaching: 2/17/2017

A mini lesson on pronunciation (minimal pair) was found necessary to supplement the

unit home sweet home because the majority of students had a hard time correctly pronouncing

the short vowel /I/ and the long vowel /i/ in words. The previous class addressed this minimal

pair a little, but the practice was found insufficient. Therefore, it gave a reason to devote this 45-

minute class time to the lesson on this topic to strengthen students understanding and learning.

I was motivated and encouraged to implement instructional technology into classrooms

by the other course that I am also taking this semester (C&T 4199: Activating Curriculum and

Teaching with Instructional Technology). I was very glad that I took the initiative to employ the

technology tool, Poll Everywhere, in todays class, even though it did not seem to work out well.

It was mainly due to my mistake that I assumed students nowadays have smartphones to access

technology. Despite the negative experience with the use of technology today, I viewed such

experience as a positive one because it taught me a lesson that technology needs to be carefully

used when implemented into classrooms, just like what happened today in class, and also that

when teachers attempt to foster engaging and informative learning by incorporating technology

into classrooms, do they turn out penalizing or "excluding" students who are uncomfortable with

or who do not have access to technology? Although this issue has already been widely brought

up out there in a great number of textbooks, this first-hand experience left a rather lively imprint

on me.