Instituto de Profesorado

“Sedes Sapientiae”

Profesorado de Inglés

Práctica Docente II

Profesoras
Carolina Clerici y Ana María Hernández

Bitácora de Ludmila Odriozola

Año lectivo 2018

Introduction
This portfolio is divided in four main parts, which are Education Today’s essay,
Teaching with Educational Applications report, Non-formal Education report and
Helper Practice report. Here, are going to be included the different experiences and
the most important moments during the year in Practica Docente II.
This time, we had a deeper contact into the classroom than the previous year, which
was a challenge for us because we had to develop different tasks and roles at the
schools, such as performing the role of helper or designing activities in order to revise
topics through educational applications with a cooperating teacher. And also, I will
introduce how was my experience in the non-formal practice organizing the picnic
taking into account what we had learnt about multiple intelligences.
It could say that this year, I had the opportunity to revisit nowadays’ schools from a
teacher’s point of view. And that allowed me connect practice and theory.
Education today
Teachers as Machines

Teaching has always been a profession with advantages and disadvantages.

Traditionally, teaching was a combination of information-supply, custodial child care
and classifier of students academically. The fundamental model for schools was an
education factory in which teachers were told what, when and how to teach. They
were required to educate every student in exactly the same way and were not
responsible when many students failed to learn. They taught using the same methods
as past generations, and any derivation was discouraged by education authorities.
However, teachers of today are encouraged to apply new methods understanding that
essence of education is to maintain a good relationship between knowledge, care and
motivation having good relationships with students and parents. (Lanier, 1997)
Nowadays’ teachers have the responsibility that students learn and want to learn.
Teachers understand that an important part of their difficult roles, is to get to know
each student as an individual in order to comprehend his or her needs, interest, skills,
learning style and social or cultural environment as also (Sharma, 2017) says. In those
changing roles of the teacher of 21st century, he or she should have friendly
relationships with his or her students, parents and other teachers for a successful
future. And also, he or she is aware that can make a difference in the students’ life. It is
complicated to achieve because today’s students are completely different, and many
of them do not have enough adults in their lives who care about them, so it hinders
the connection between teacher and student. If parents are missing, students will not
be encouraged out of the school by them. For that reason, nowadays, the role of the
teacher includes a new kind of preparation spreading out of the curriculum. That
initiative is based in the four pillars of the education which Delors (1994) presents:
“learning to know”, “learning to do”, “learning to live together” and “learning to be”.
According to the first pillar, “learning to know” the teachers must emerge the desire to
learn within students. The second one, “learning to do”, teachers must present
different situations for their students, so they can deal with them using different skills.
In the pillar, “learning to live together”, teachers emphasize in a collective way creating
different types of activities. And in the last one, which is “learning to be”, the student
will develop his or her own personality with the accompaniment of the teacher.
Although, for a teacher is important to have a good relationship with his or her
students, other goal of education is to assure that students learn and do not give up
schools, which is one of the problems that the school has. Therefore, we, as future
teachers, should start to question about the old education model, which has been
presented since ancient times and we are still following. I think that we need to work
with other teachers into the same classroom, with a teacher who coordinates the class
generally and other who helps students with difficulties in an individual form. This
process would avoid those students have to attend to private lessons out of schools.
Also, is important that teachers stay in contact with an adult reference from each
student. As Meirieu (2007) says, there is not learning without desire. Desire does not
come by itself; teachers must make desire emerges. They can achieve this originating
comfortable situation through activities, games, use of tools or to present a new topic
talking about current news. To teach something to students, teachers do not give them
the answers. Students have to find problems and to solve them using different
resources, being guided by teachers. Nowadays, children receive a lot of information in
few minutes but in a superficial way. They are curious but they do not like waiting and
want all now. However, they have to understand that learning is a process, they mold
it a little bit more every day with teachers´ help.
Teaching role has many god and bad things. One of them, is how a teacher can be
an important person in the students’ lives, (Nicastro, 2006). Because when they do not
receive family support, they look for teachers, who during the school hours help them.
Although, they should not go beyond their education roles.
To sum up, teachers are like machines with multiple uses and they should be more
valued by society. The educational system should take into account the suggestions of
the new generations of teachers. It is a difficult profession especially when you have to
solve a complicated situation with parents or students. But it is gratifying in moments
in which a student recognizes that you are important in his or her life or that you woke
up the desire to learn inside him. So, they are machines which teach, awaken wishes
and learn together with their students how to be good machines every day.
Teaching with Educational Apps
Report on observation and teaching with Educational Apps

School: Instituto Secundario Fernando Elgue D-221

Course: 1st
Period of observation: June 11th till September 10th
Timetables: Mondays (10.30 a.m.-11.50 a.m.) and Fridays (8.10 a.m.-8.50 a.m.)
Student teacher: Ludmila Odriozola

Class profile:
The class had 23 students between 11 and 12 years old. During the observation period,
I noticed that they respected rules such as: stopping each time a school authority
enters the classroom and one of the students was asked to erase the blackboard at the
beginning of the class. They were talkative but respectful and participating in oral and
written activities. The classroom was divided into three rows with four banks each one,
there was a large board and rules of coexistence expressed in posters made by the
students. The purpose of this observation period was to be in contact with a real
classroom and to use educational applications to polish aspects that are fundamental
in the language: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This project was divided into
two central moments. The first moment was to enter the classroom and introduce
myself, and then begin to observe the classes offering my help if the cooperating
teacher needed it. At first, I felt like a foreigner, not because I came from outside, but
because inside of me I had doubts about what was done daily there and I had the need
to reflect on everything that was happening, that is to say, to look for something new
and deep meanings interpreting the obvious (Anijovich, 2009). That previous
observation was extremely important, because before planning and designing each of
the three activities, it was necessary to consider what kind of group of students I had in
the classroom, the school context, the resources that it had, issues that were
occurring, methods that the teacher had to give the class, internet connection, etc.
This clearly reflects what Nicastro (2006) proposes: "It is not about freezing facts,
phenomena, practices in a here and now, it is about to understand that observed
situations are never complete and always changing”.
Vocabulary activity:
Ur (2009) mentions techniques for vocabulary-testing as multiple-choice, matching,
odd one out, writing sentences, dictation, dictation-translation etc. But I used other
proposal to review vocabulary as first interaction with students. Undoubtedly, the first
activity was the one I designed with the most nervousness, because I did not know
how the students would react. In that activity, we had to work on vocabulary using
Plickers. They had to answer 10 questions. Students were divided in groups and
student teacher gave a QR card for each team. Each group had a leader, who was in
charge of holding the card and reveals their chosen answer. The questions were shown
through the projector. Students had a short period of time to discuss and choose an
answer. Then, the leader of each group showed the card to me (holding the mobile
phone with the Plickers application open scans the QR code). Once all the teams had
answered, the results were shared.
Grammar activity:
The main challenge when a teacher teaches grammar, it is to analyze the context in
which she or he is going to teach this because it is necessary to apply the difficulty
according the age of her or his students (Ur, 2009). So, to practice a bit of grammar I
used Kahoot! Students were divided into three or four groups as usual. It consisted of
10 questions which they had to answer through their mobile phones. Those must have
internet to access the game site. The different questions were shown through the
projector with a limit of 60 seconds. An advantage offered by the application was that
it showed who was winning.
Pronunciation activity:
Teachers should decide when to include pronunciation teaching in the lessons. It is a
difficult task for them. There are different ways for teaching pronunciation, but
teachers prefer to teach grammar or vocabulary opportunistically, so they stop and
spend some minutes to explain some pronunciation depending on the activity that
students are involved. So, the last educational application that I used was Quizalize,
here, I focused on the pronunciation of the vocabulary about diseases and symptoms
that they had previously learned. That activity consisted on forming groups and answer
the questions through their mobile phones. As Kahoot! they had to access the
application's website and write a code that I gave them, and so, they were ready to
play. In that game I had the possibility of upload audio files (Ur, 2009).
General balance of educational applications:
I can proudly say that the students enjoyed doing the three activities proposed, and
the objectives were completed and exceeded the expectations. The application they
liked most was Kahoot! because of the application's colorful format, ease of use and,
above all, showing what group was winning after each question, awakening a
competitive spirit in the students. I can say that I felt comfortable in front of the
classroom all times, the students received me and told me goodbye in a very good
way. At all times, they were very respectful to me and the cooperating teacher. Each of
the three activities was carried out with concentration, enthusiasm, fun, discussion
when they were debating the possible answers, joy and theoretical foundations of the
given topics. I could see that the mobile phone or the technology can be used as a tool
to improve teaching and awaken interest in children to learn (Meirieu, 2007), to be
interested in making them think through games, and to see English as a subject where
innovation is.

My reflections on the experience

About my reflections on practicing with educational applications, I can say I felt

comfortable every moment that I had to be in front of the students explaining the
different activities. The first day I went to Racing, nervous and insecurity invaded me,
but when I started to interact with students, those feelings disappeared. In my opinion
this experience was relevant, due to we had the opportunity to see how a real class is,
and the ways teachers explain the different topics and try to innovate every class. And
other important thing is that we could observe how an English class is in the different
levels.
Another important thing that I really want to highlight, is the importance of motivation
into the classroom. I noticed that students felt an “fresh air” every time I brought
activities using TICs. In which they showed us that they knew English through games. I
really enjoyed this experience because sometimes it is said that nowadays’ students
are not motivated and they do not have the desire of learning, but I proofed that it is
not true! (Meirieu, 2007)
Helper practice
Report on Helper practice

School: Pbro. José María Colombo

Course: 3rd 2nd
Period of observation: October 16th till November 8th
Timetables: Tuesdays (11.10 a.m.-11.50 a.m.) and Thursdays (7.30 a.m.-8.50 a.m.)
Student teacher: Ludmila Odriozola
Cooperating Teacher: Mariela Alfieri

Class profile:
The class had fifteen students. They are talkative and respectful with the Cooperating
Teacher and me. During the observation period, I noticed that they respected rules
such as: stopping each time a school authority enters the classroom.
First contact with students:
During this period of observations and helper practice, I could see how the students
performed in English. At first, doubts invaded me because I had never entered the
classrooms of that school, and I did not know how it was going to be with male
students. I also had doubts about the methods that the teacher used in order to teach
them a foreign language.
I realized that sometimes the teacher did not give meaning to the different topics, and
that deep learning approach was very difficult to achieve. Doing the opposite of what
Cool (1997) sets, who says that when we talk about giving meaning, we talk about a
process that must mobilize us at the cognitive level, while if we achieve a deep focus
for the students, we will have a strong interaction with the content and new ideas will
emerge.
Teacher’s methods:
As the days passed, I noticed that the teacher did not use a variety in her teaching
methods. And the students are accustomed to carry out written activities in a
systematic way, which became boring, because there were not many oral
interventions in the whole class.
Helper in action:
Fortunately, I had a lot of interaction with the students, who were respectful with me
every moment. I walked around the classroom asking them if they needed help with
the exercises. In some cases, I met students who had not even understood the topic or
the activity. I tried to explain them by putting this topic in context and so, they
understood it very well. This situation reminded me of something else that Cool (1997)
explains, which is that the students must know the purposes that guide an activity and
participate actively understanding what they are doing.
Conclusion:
To sum up this wonderful experience, I would like to say that the first thing that came
to my mind at the end of the observations in this school was the importance and
responsibility of the teacher. Because, as Ausubel (1996) says, the most important
learning that can occur in the classroom is the significant one. In order for this to be
propitiated correctly, it is necessary: significant material, adequate prior ideas and
disposition on the part of the student.
I think the comparison that I could make between this school and Racing was very
profitable. Therefore, from both experiences I take very nice and interesting things to
review in the future. I believe that there are both good and bad things to learn in order
to shape our future teaching.

My reflections on being a helper

In my opinion, doing the helper practice was a challenge, because we were constantly
interacting and participating together with the students. I think our presence in the
classroom brought them a fresh air and gained from learning. I think these are useful
for us in terms of experience, because we finished this year with a clear idea of what a
real classroom is like and how the contents of English are really given.
Also, I think we reinforce the idea of working as a team together with the teachers.
Being a helper helps you see from the outside but also from inside about what the
students like or not. Since we can perceive a lot of aspects that the teacher does not,
due to she or he is giving the class and doing their respective tasks.
Non-formal education
Report on non-formal education: students’ picnic day

The experience in non-formal education took place in the picnic’s day. This was
organized by My English School, who asked us to participate in that by preparing
activities for their little students. Our course was divided into four groups with one or
two helpers from first year each, and we had to prepare two games in English.
That day was a sunny day. The picnic took place in Cochiva where we had a huge space
to develop our activities. I worked with a classmate, Bianca Leissa, and two helper
students from first year, Jorge and Anahi. The first game was called “Music Master”, in
which students were divided in two groups. The rules of the games were that children
had to listen a song, and try to guess the name of the song or who was singing. The
group, which scores points guessing, won.
The other game was called “WordBrain”, in this game Bianca and I worked with the
intrapersonal intelligence, so children had to work individually. The objective of the
game was to form words in English with cards with letters, they could be propositions,
pronouns, numbers, names, parts of the house/body, etc. Behind the letter, there was
a number, which meant the amount of points that you could obtain if you used this
letter to form the words. Children had five minutes to form the different words, and
then we scored the points. We gave a lolly pop for the winner of the games, and
sweets for the rest of participants.
On the other hand, this experience had a special condiment on being outdoors. This
particularity allowed us to stay relax and enjoy the games with children. They were
participating and competitive in a friendly way. I think that this kind of “education”
provides us more interaction with students and more time to develop the game. In
order to carry out the games, we got into the theory about the multiple intelligences of
Howard Gardner (Armstrong, 1987). In musical intelligence, students have the ability
to perceive and express musical forms. On the other hand, we have intrapersonal
intelligence, there is present the knowledge of oneself and the ability to adapt one's
own ways of acting from that knowledge.
Thanks to this experience we were able to put into practice the different multiple
intelligences, which are very difficult to implement in the classroom. On top of that, it
was a beautiful day to share with other people.
Conclusion
When I did my conclusion last year, I wrote I would like to have more interaction into
the classroom, and this year we did it. In my opinion I think that all the activities and
experiences that we did during these mouths were challenges, that we could pass. The
experience I liked most was doing the Educational Applications Course in Instituto
Secundario Fernando Elgue, because, as I said before, I did primary school there, and it
was nice to come back and see my teachers of primary level again. Another good thing
was that I had to work with a Cooperating Teacher, who I had already know, Pamela
Finiello. Those things allowed me to feel very comfortable from the first moment.
But I was insecure because I thought that it was going to be difficult working with
secondary students. During the observation period I noticed that they were in a point
in which they were like secondary students but at the same time they acted as primary
ones. It really called my attention.
Another aspect I enjoyed was that Pamela tried to use a variety of methods every
class. She proposed written activities and oral ones because the most of the students
did not want to speak in English. So, that kind of activities encouraged them to speak.
About teaching with TICs, I can say that, it was awesome how students got involved
the three classes they could play.
Also, they were interested in which educational applications functioned and how I
could manage the different questionnaire from my computer. However, we had
technical problems but fortunately, we solved them and played. I noticed I really
enjoyed this experience because I did not want to stop going to Racing.
Undoubtedly, this year was different from last, because we had participation into the
schools and prepare material in order to use with the students. This time, we could
practice and theory easier than last year.
What I found most challenging was to design the different activities that we had to
bring to the classroom. Because we did not know what things students liked and at the
same time, we wanted that everything was perfect.
One of my projects for next year, is trying to speak more in the classes and express
myself. I think that I have a lot of things and opinions to share with my classmates.
Another purpose that I have is to learn to design interesting and innovating classes in
order to do my practices successfully.
In Practica Docente III, what I would like to continue writing reports, I think that I have
improved on that. Also, I would like to have more non-formal experiences like picnic’s day. I
hope that the next year is better than this.
References
Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4 ed.). Harlow: Longman.
ta

Meirieu, P. (2007). Es responsabilidad del educador provocar el deseo de aprender.

[Entrevista]. Cuadernos de Pedagogía, 373, 42-47.
Nicastro, S. (2006). Revisitar la mirada sobre la escuela. Exploraciones acerca de lo ya sabido.
Buenos Aires: Homo Sapiens.
Ur, P. (2009). A course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory (17 imp.). Cambridge:
ma

Cambridge University Press.

Anijovich, R. (2009). TRANSITAR LA FORMACIÓN PEDAGÓGICA: Dispositivos y estratégias.
Buenos Aires: PAIDÓS.

Armstrong, T. (1987). Las inteligencias múltiples en el aula. Manantial.

Cesar, C. (1997). El constructivismo en el aula. Barcelona: Grao.

Delors, J. (1996). Los cuatro pilares de la educación. Learning the Treasure Within: Report of
the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century.

Hanesian, A. N. (1996). Psicología educativa. Un punto de vista cognitivo. Mexico: Trillas.

Lanier, J. T. (1 de July de 1997). Redefining the Role of the Teacher: It's a Multifaceted
Profession. Edutopia. Obtenido de https://www.edutopia.org/redefining-role-teacher

Sharma, A. (January de 2017). Changing roles of teachers. International Education & Research
Journal, 3, 63-64. Obtenido de
http://ierj.in/journal/index.php/ierj/article/viewFile/655/625
 Activity Plan – Picnic

School: My English School

Venue: Cochiva
Students: Leissa Bianca Julieta, Odriozola Ludmila
Helpers:
Date and time: September 11, 2:00-4:30 pm

Aims of the activities

Ss should be able to:
● Use English as much as possible
● Respect their classmates turns
● Play in groups and individually
● Respect the other’s point of view
● Have fun

Activity 1: “Music Master” (Musical Intelligence)

Group activity. Ss divided themselves into two or three groups. STs reproduce a short
part of a song. One of the children has a “maraca” on the hand to shake it when they
guess the song or the singer. They have two minutes to guess and choose and an
answer. If they answer correctly the singer or the song, they win one point, but if they
continue singing the song where it stops, they win two points. Also, the Ss will have the
opportunity to ask three questions about the song or the singer and three times
opportunities to answer correctly. The group with scores more points will win.

Resources:
● 2 “maracas”
● A pen drive or a mobile phone with songs
● A music player
● A sand clock or mobile phone to control time
● ST’s paper with the answers

Activity 2: “Wordbrain” (Interpersonal Intelligence).

It is an individual activity. Each Ss have eight cards with letters. The letters may have
one, two or three points, which are write in the back of the cards. They have three
minutes to form a word. Ss do not need to use all the cards, but the more that they
use, more points they win. After Ss have formed the word, they must explain what the
meaning of it is with their own words or actions. The Ss who scored more point is the
one that wins.

Resources:
● Cards with letters
● A sand clock or mobile phone to control time
● ST’s paper with some possible words