Publication Date
Summer 9-1-2013
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
First Advisor
Susan Barduhn
Abstract
In this professional paper, I examined the kinds of processes I experienced for English language acquisition (ELA) in practice. This journey is about my transition from a generalist to a TESOL specialist. One of my most successful lessons was not in English, but a science lesson to students who were majority users of English as a second or third language. It was about the use of reflective and refractive telescopes. My approaches were very student centered and project based. They worked in groups, chose which type of telescope to make, kept journals with notes, drawings and key vocabulary, made inferences, and presented the results to the class. They also created their own assessments about what they knew, wanted to learn and had learned. The members of the group depended upon each other for English Language support because they were at different levels. Members of each group submitted for use in the class complete tests or sample questions, including gap fills, vocabulary matching, drawings for labeling and essays. The students relied on each other, using various tangible resources, as well as the teacher. This lesson resounds with me until this day. I have analyzed what makes lessons like these successful. I believe meaningful language and comprehension can be found in reflective processes and by encouraging these and future students to think about their learning and keeping a record of it is a key contribution. The results of my investigations are a testimony that reflection in action works.
Disciplines
Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods | Teacher Education and Professional Development
Recommended Citation
Black, Mazie E., "Reflective Teaching Practices: Looking Beneath the Surface and Emergent Cyclical Experiential Learning Processes and Outcomes" (2013). MA TESOL Collection. 696.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/ipp_collection/696
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons
Comments
The journey continues and l continue to grow.
“Pedagogy must be oriented not to the yesterday, but to the tomorrow of the child’s development. Only then can it call to life in the process of education those processes of development which now lie in the zone of proximal development” (Vygotsky, 1993, pp. 251-252).