Kaki Spronz

Reflections: Micro-Teaching I
Overall, I learned a great deal from this Micro-Teaching assignment. I am very glad that I was
able to experiment in the classroom as a student before I enter the classroom as a teacher. I came away
from this assignment with several things: (1) that I need to work on contextualizing subject matter
instead of teaching it just to be teaching it, (2) that I still support my teaching principles and seemed
to have stuck to them (for the most part) fairly well during this assignment, and (3) that I do have good
rapport with students.
After watching myself teach, and meeting with Dr. Sardegna, I realized that one area that I need
to make significant improvements on is that of contextualization of subject material. In the lesson, I pre-
taught a grammar point (present progressive) then proceeded to a listening activity (which contained
much use of the grammar point), but did show how the grammar point related to the listening activity in
anyway. Looking back, this would probably have made the students believe that the previous grammar
point was fairly unimportant, seeing as in the corresponding script they were given, only some of the fill
in the blank answers dealt with the present progressive, and that the use of the grammar point in the
activity was never addressed.
In retrospect, I should have designed the lesson in a way to give the students the opportunity to
learn on their own. In this particular lesson, that could have been achieved by first preparing the
students for what they were going to hear, (i.e.: this is a dialogue between two girls who are talking
about what they would like to do for the day) then by allowing the students to listen to the audio
recording for meaning instead of for random blanks with no correlation. We could have listened to the
recording once, then again with the script (having empty blanks for information only). After it was
listened to twice (maybe even a third time), I would have the students read through the script and have
them underline/circle all of the verbs they see, telling them that if they see something that looks like a
verb that they know, just in a different form, to write what they believe is the infinitive above it. My goal
Kaki Spronz

for this is that the students would underline/circle the conjugations of estar, and then see haciendo or
estudiando and think to themselves, Hmm, these look like the verbs hacer and estudiar. We would
then go through the phrases that included these verbs and talk about how they are used (i.e.- qu
ests haciendo ahora? What do you think this sentence means? Ahora- that shows us they are talking
about right now. Ests means you are, good, and haciendo looks like which verb? Hacer- very good!
So.if hacer means to do, if we put this whole thing together we get what are you do right now, so
how would we actually say something like that? What are you doing right now- good!). In this way the
students come to the understanding of the grammar on their own, and are able to contextualize the
material by its use in an actual conversation. After going through this once, we would have done it with
the other examples in the script, and then I would have taught them the formation of the tense.
In teaching this way, two things occur, (1) students learn how to figure things out on their own.
Granted, in the above example, I as the teacher am there to help guide them, but repeated use of this
instruction helps the students to begin to see how to figure out things they dont understand on their
own, and will allow them to use this strategy outside of the class. Secondly, it contextualizes the
information by showing them actual examples of how the grammar point is used in a normal
conversation.
This whole idea can (and should) be applied to other lessons as well. Whether it is teaching
grammar, vocabulary, culture, or anything else, the learners need to be contextualizing the material so
they see its use and start to view the Spanish language as something they can use, not just an abstract
concept with rules and exceptions that they believe they will never understand. In this way the students
will begin to acquire language and will be able to internalize what they are learning.
Even though I see room for improvement on contextualization, I believe that I followed my
teaching philosophy fairly well. The only area in which I felt inconsistent was that of empowering
students to learn outside of the classroom.
Kaki Spronz

The students were actively involved in the lesson and I believe a positive environment was
created. The students responded well when I monitored the partner work and talked with them
individually, and they were not afraid to ask questions. After watching the lesson, I believe that I was
encouraging to students, and that the students who did not understand the material seemed to feel
better after I talked with them. As for the use of authentic materials, although I (a non-native speaker)
wrote the script and recorded other non-native speakers using the script, I believe it still was culturally
appropriate for the fact that it included such idiomatic expressions such as soy yo, pues and the use of
jaja. As for planning and organization, I believe the lesson was both. Although I would have changed
the approach to learning to present progressive, the lesson did have a plan and was not thrown together
at the last minute. On many of the peer feedbacks, I received prepared and organized as adjectives to
describe the teacher.
Lastly, I would like to address the peer feedback forms. Each form was very encouraging. Most
of the feedback stated that I was on level with volume, pace, and language, and that the teaching skills
and lesson design were appropriate for my teaching context. Many of the forms stated that I used an
appropriate amount of Spanish and English, and I would say that I agree with this. One other
encouragement was that every feedback report I received stated that if the reporter was a student in
the class, they would feel engaged. With this, many of the reports also said that they would feel
encouraged and challenged. This is very positive for me, because I want my students to be engaged, not
bored and inattentive in my class. I also received several notes that stated that I provided good
encouragement to the students. This is also nice to hear, because I want my students to know that I
believe in them, and that I am there to help as they progress in learning Spanish (this also supports one
of my teaching principles). When I was a student, the teachers that I learned the most from (and who
were also my favorite), were the teachers that I knew believed in me, and were also the ones who
invested in my learning. It is my goal to someday do this for my students.
Kaki Spronz

In sum, Micro-Teaching was a very beneficial and growing experience. I learned more about how
I currently teach, how I want to teach, and how to bridge the gap between the two.