Is Teaching and Learning a 50-50 Process?

Some of the latest theories about education refer mostly to the learning process and not to the

teaching-learning process. The focus of teaching is the learner, so the process should be

student-centered. This position seems to diminish somehow the importance of teaching, but on

the contrary, it makes teachers aware of what it really means to be a teacher. According to

Webster’s dictionary teaching is “the act, practice, or profession of a teacher” and a teacher is

“one whose occupation is to instruct”. On the other hand learning is “to gain knowledge or

understanding of or skill in by study, instruction or experience.” By definition both terms seem to

be closely related and balanced. There is no learning without teaching and no teaching without

learning. It looks like a 50-50 process. However, when it comes to practice, is it really 50-50?

Education implies many variables, but in a classroom situation, I have always considered

education as a shared responsibility between the teacher and the student. If a teacher does not

instruct in other words does not use the necessary tools (methods, techniques, strategies,

assessment and feedback), does not pay attention to individual needs, does not motivate

students, students won’t learn. In contrast, if a learner is not motivated to learn and cannot

discover and develop his/her own way for learning, there won’t be the appropriate conditions to

learn effectively. Someone once told me: a teacher cannot teach a student who doesn’t want to

learn and a student cannot learn from a teacher who doesn’t teach. Looking at learning from this

perspective it really seems to be an equally shared responsibility as long as the learner remains

as the focus of the process. Then, what must happen in the classroom that helps or hinders the

learning process.

In order to analyze what was present or absent this week during my teaching experience, I need

to consider the learner’s language proficiency and some group characteristics that I observe the

previous week. The group is small; it ranges from three to seven students. For a language class,

this size is appropriate for it benefits students’ opportunities for participation and interaction. Their

proficiency level is low-intermediate in most cases, though there are two students who may be at

a high-intermediate level. They are rarely on time; some of them may come an hour or even an

hour of a half late. The environment in the classroom is usually relaxed and they seem to get

along pretty well. With this information in mind I planned this week lessons. First of all, the

Comentario [AR1]: I’m interested in reading about what you think. I think of teaching and learning as a tension bridge. The need to balance each other out, but it may not be 50-50. There is a give and take in education. Sometimes one side is heavier and needs more attention, shifting the weight and compensating for it, but always maintaining its balance.

Comentario [AR2]: I would even go as far to say learning-centered.

Comentario [AR3]: Hmmm. Do you mean without teaching or without a teacher? I think that this makes a difference in your argument.

Comentario [AR4]: I find it curious that you say it’s an equally shared responsibility, but then comment that the learner needs to stay focused. There’s an interesting assumption here that you might want to explore.

teaching team decided on a function and a grammar point which was description using

comparatives and superlatives for the first ECRIF lesson, and discussing about the environment

using conditional sentences for the second. Then, I decided on the topic for my first ECRIF

lesson: describing endangered animals. The main objective was: SWBAT use adjectives to

compare 3 characteristics of at least 3 different endangered animals from Costa Rica in a role

play. Moreover, I chose the use of I wish to talk about how people would like things to be different

concerning the environment. This second lesson’s objective was: SWBAT: use I wish in order to

discuss about the most common environmental problems in San Carlos in pairs. I tried to

contextualize both topics with issues from the students’ surroundings. Following the ECRIF

template to plan the activities was not difficult thanks to the examples and demonstrations

provided.

Thus, the first experience arrived. I had several puzzles at that moment: one if students would

show up, if they would engage in my activities and if they would reach the objective. I didn´t feel

nervous though I was very anxious about the activities’ sequencing. Once I started the class I felt

comfortable working with the group, they like to participate a lot and I guess they liked the topic

since they were very engaged on the activities and eager to learn more things about it. I truly

believe the objective was achieved for students were able to describe the animals by giving

descriptions and comparing their characteristics when they had to go on a tour to the rain forest;

nevertheless, there were several things that could have been better. One of the main points is

that I need to improve is actually to avoid teacher talk. The activities were not teacher-centered in

the plan, but when I developed them they were. I need to be more patient and give students

some time to think and organize what they want to say, I got the feeling that I became very pushy

and asked too many questions in trying to guide them towards the expected answer, so I ended

up speaking more than they did. Another point is the sequence of the plan. I was so anxious in

following the right sequence of activities that my own notes got me distracted from some

activities. I felt that hindered the flow of the activities. In spite of these two main flaws, I felt

satisfied with the result of my first encounter putting with the ECRIF in action.

During my second lesson the feelings at the beginning were kind of similar. Are they going to

attend classes today? How many students will I have? If I have only one, how will I handle the

activities? Being used to plan and work with large classes makes this situation a big issue not

Comentario [AR5]: I love to see the measurability in this SWBAT and that it is meaningful for our students.

Comentario [AR6]: Ileana, I am reading about this experience and wondering what the students said or did to show that they were interested, engaged and eager?

Comentario [AR7]: Emotions are such an important informant of learning. In your case, feeling anxious lead to distraction and potentially hindering the flow. It’s a chain reaction, which can shift our whole perspective.

only for me but for my teaching team. The fact of having students arriving so late made very

anxious because I had to tell them what we are studying very quickly so they could involve in the

activities. I got the feeling that I was going two steps forward and then one backwards in relation

to my planning. In general, I felt more comfortable in terms of the sequence of activities, I didn´t

have my notes with me so I would rely more on what I remembered about the way I organized

the activities. This time the topic was hard for the participants. I took for granted they knew the

simple past taking into account they are intermediate students, but I was wrong. I felt very bad

when I started explaining the use of I wish + simple past and they didn’t remember the verbs I

was using in the past or the negative form. At that moment I thought Oh my God what am I going

to do! I needed to make reference to the simple past rules in the simplest way to take them back

to the target structure. That situation made me fall behind my pacing and I had to modify the last

two activities. Then, in trying to cover the whole planning I started reading some sentences and

guiding the students, so once again I did a lot of the talking. At the end, I could complete the

ECRIF stages but I felt that I didn’t reach the objective fully.

These two experiences were brief in time but extensive in reflection. I learned new things

remembered some others and had the opportunity to reflect in what teaching and learning is all

about. Having the opportunity to look at myself through the eyes of my teaching team and the

trainer made me realized of the aspects I need to pay attention to in order to improve my

teaching and enhance my students learning. Now I need to develop strategies to maximize

students speaking time in class, to step back and let them process the information to allow

learning take place instead of forcing them to come up with an answer by overwhelming them

with questions and examples, to use CCQs that will provide more precise information of their

understanding. Finally, I need more presence in my class.

Comentario [AR8]: Wow. This is hard, Ileana, because they should have this information at this level, but they tend to lose information quickly. Thanks for staying with them and guiding them. Sometimes it takes a lot of talking and energy to get the students caught up.

Comentario [AR9]: These are concrete action plans for the future. After seeing your class the other night, I can say that I’ve you implement them. Congrats on following through!

DESCRIPTION

On Tuesday during my remembering stage I asked students to look at some pictures of endangered animals from this area on the screen. I showed them two pictures at the same time so that students can compare them. They had to compare a coati to a tapir, a howler monkey to an opossum and a green turtle to a peccary which are some of the endangered species in this region. I planned the activity to be done in pairs so students can exchange ideas about these animals’ characteristics. However that night I had only three students. Then, I made a wrong decision; I asked them direct questions about the animals and control the whole activity by asking one by one to give an example. I though at that moment that students were not ready to produce the sentences by themselves. At the end the activity became a Teacher-Student activity instead of a Student-Student one. The students did the task accurately and were very creative in their answers, but I did most of the talking.

INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION Changing the activity on the last minute from a pair work to a whole class activity didn’t allow students to participate more. I agree that this limits and can potentially hinder the students’ learning.

To create as many opportunities as possible for students to use the target language and to interact with their peers Ileana, this sounds like a plan action. Here you need to zoom out and think about what group vs. pair dynamics do for learning. For example: Pair activities encourage and expose the students to more talk time since there are fewer people in the conversation, while group activities limit talk time due to turn taking and large populations.

I will be more careful in maximizing the students speaking time providing more S-S activities. Ok.

Students responses to this specific task helped me realized that they were ready for a less control practice.

It is important as a teacher to trust more in his/her students’ language abilities and to be able to identify when they are ready to produce more freely.

I will ask students randomly to give some examples of the task, before they actually work with it to assess how they can do it.

It helped students to use animals they are familiar with because it was easier for them to come up with some of their characteristics

It is important to try to contextualize the language teaching whenever possible to facilitate learning

I will try to establish connections and relations to my students’ everyday life when possible.

Having less students than the expected hindered students learning cause it changes the class dynamics

Planning a lesson not only means to design a series of activities to teach, it means to be ready and know what to do in situations like low attendance that benefit

I will make a list of what ifs to analyze different classroom situations and think about possible ways to figure them out.

Comentario [AR10]: Thanks for all the detail that you put into this moment. It helps me to recreate the situation in my mind. One question I have is about what the students were doing and saying that might have triggered you to start to talk? Was it just the fact that you had an odd number that threw you off?

students

DESCRIPTION

On Thursday, I decided to use the picture of a genie for the fluency activity. Students had to ask for three wishes, one related to their personal life and two related to their community’s environmental issues. They needed to ask the genie in the picture for the three wishes using the correct structure I wish + simple past. When they saw the Genie, they laughed because the immediately recognized the character. I immediately made reference to Aladdin and the Genie from the magic lamp, and the wishes people normally ask for. Due to time constrains, they could not do the activity in pairs as planned but individually. Even though they did it one by one, I felt very excited to listen to them asking for their wishes because that was the evidence I needed to make sure they understood the use of I wish correctly. Some of them still made mistakes using the correct past tense form in affirmative and negative statements, but the concept was clear. It means they understood the meaning of I wish in spite of the fact that they didn’t show full command of the past tense. The effort was worthy!

INTERPRETATION GENERALIZATION PLAN ACTION Showing a picture of a well-known character, Aladdin’s Genie, helped students to reinforce the meaning of I wish

Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words. It is important to use pictures that help students clarify a concept in a very simple way.

Visual aids are usually helpful, I will try to use more pictures in my classes to convey meaning.

Asking students to add a personal wish and not only making reference to the environment showed students internalization of the concept

Contextualizing the teaching process may lead to a more meaningful learning

I will encourage students to use personal examples and experiences when the topic allows so.

The fact that students could not do the activity in pairs minimizes their speaking time. And can hinder their output levels and practice.

Students need to have more peer interaction so that they can have more opportunities to produce the target language

I will plan more group or pair activities to provide students with more opportunities to interact among themselves.

The students didn’t show full command of the past tense that hindered their accuracy while using I wish.

It is important to know the students previous language knowledge no matter their linguistic proficiency level

I will make sure the structure to be taught will be appropriate for the students’ level.

Dear Ileana,

I like the question that you pose in your title. It makes me think of the struggles that happen in the

classroom and the reactions and responses we take and what it does to and for learning. I think teaching

Comentario [AR11]: What did they say? What does that tell you about where they are in ECRIF with the grammar point?

and learning are like a ying and yang, flowing into and out of each other in order to find the perfect

balance. I think that it is traditional education that has separated them into separate categories because

it’s easier to control and explain this phenomenon when they are two entities.

You also highlight the importance of emotions in the classroom. You mention how your anxiousness

manifested in the classroom and could have possibly led to a disruption in the sequencing of activities. It

reminds me of the power of emotions, those of the teacher and the learner, and how it can change the

course of learning for better or worse. I also admired your action plans because they showed your

commitment to reflection and putting learning first in your classroom.

In regards to your DAPAs, you are able to pin point specific learning moments that are important to you

and that you want to explore in more depth, however, I noticed that it lacked what the student

specifically said or did. These descriptions are what help to decipher where learning is taking place or

not. In your next assignment, please include more student description in the paragraph. The charts were

excellent!

Ileana, you have met the requirement for this assignment. Enjoy your weekend in Kioro!

Pura vida,

Amanda