My experience working with teenagers.
Before start, I want to thanks to my tutors: Cristian Torres and Alejandra Canales, for the patience, for create a good environment and make us part of their groups, and for the help and advices given during this experience, thanks for all teachers.
We have presented in the previous entries information about adolescents and the different stages in their development, moving on from childhood to adulthood, taking in consideration their physical cognitive, psychosocial and emotional changes, and how them affect adolescents in their life, and in their academic aspects as students. In this blog entry I will share my personal experience in the teaching practice with teenagers in the Teenagers program from Universidad Don Bosco, and presenting evidence checking if the information that we have presented in previous entries could be proved by my own experience in the teaching practice with adolescents.
In the practice with teenagers I have worked with two different groups, one from level eight and the last one was from level 5, and while working with them I have noticed some important aspects that matches with some topics and information that I have studied in the teaching practice class at the beginning of the course. First, I noticed in some of the classes when the tutor teacher asked them something about previous topics that was not really important, they did not remember it, what explain us the synaptic pruning, which means that students, specially teenagers, loose connection with the topics that they do not use enough, and the information is eliminated because is unused. At that moment I realized how important is to make the classes meaningful for students, provided them information in a way that they might keep and think that will be useful for them in the future. By my own experience as a student I was sure that the students will have this same problem, because when I was studying English I forgot some things that I did not use in my classes, but now that I am working as a teacher I am trying to make my classes in a way that students might keep with them most of the information that I present, and I will continue trying to improve myself in that way. I noticed as well while practicing with adolescents that they requires a sense of safety and belonging to a group, and it was really important at the moment of the class, because of the environment that teachers created for them they might feel comfortable with their classmates, and with teacher as well. That is what I would like to do in my future as a teacher, create an environment in which students would like to be, to study, and to learn. In conclusion, teenagers students match with some characteristics that I have studied before go to practice with them, of course not all the students are similar, but most of the students were like I have studied in the teaching practicum first weeks.
In the previous paragraph I said that I have worked with two different groups in this teaching practice, and I have participate in some classes, teaching some stages or a complete lesson from 1 hour or more, and I want to share how was this experience for me. I had five participations by this time, I have delivered different stages, and skills as well. I really like this experience, every single time that I was participating with the delivering of a lesson I felt comfortable with myself, with students, and most of the time with the topics. I am pretty sure that I felt comfortable with the complete group thanks to my tutors, because they created the environment to make us part of their groups, and I really appreciate it. However, I did my part as well to be part of the group, and students were always nice with me and my classmate, it just depends on how you treat teens, they will be nice with you if you are nice with them. Students were always participating, they were enthusiastic when we were presenting new topics, and if they knew something about them they were sharing what they knew, and trying to help each other's. Both groups were good, I would like to continue working with them. Teachers were good as well, they were always trying to help us in the way that they could, giving us advices, and information that they thought that might help us, there are several things that I would like to take from them, but not in the same way in which they do it, but adapt them to me. I would like to be enthusiastic and be full of energy as Cristian Torres, and creative and easy going as Alejandra Canales, I will try to do it in my own way, but as I said at the beginning of this entry I am glad for the opportunity of have worked with them.
I have had 5 participations in the practice, and I have had different feelings during all this time. Before teaching my lessons the first time I was nervous, not because I was not prepared, but because of the students, I did not know what expect of them, but while I was delivering the class I was confident, and I wanted to continue more and more. The second, third, and next class I was not nervous at all for the class, or the stage that I had to deliver, but in one of the lessons that I taught I was giving the wrong information to students, but it was not because I did not know about the topic, I just get confused about it at the moment, but because of that experience then I took special time to study the topic that I was supposed to teach, because sometimes we think that we know all about the language, and that is not true, we need to learn lot of things as well, prepare correctly our classes, and do not provide wrong information to students. When I started this practice I was nervous before a class, when the time was passing I started to be confident, and at the end I felt good with myself and with the job that I was doing, I felt happy because I knew that I had done my best at that moment of the class, and my students were achieved the objective of my classes, and they were enthusiastic while learning, they wanted to participate in all my activities, and answering questions about the topics, I really enjoyed those moments.
As all things in life we have positive and negative aspects of all what we do, in this case, I am going to present what I think was good, and what was not too good since my point of view about the teaching practice with adolescents. The most positive thing about this experience for me is the opportunity to work in a real environment with real teenagers, the School of Languages UDB gives a good opportunity for us to grow up as professionals, working in an environment in which we might feel what the real work is, and know about what happens in the real life of a teacher, the advantages and disadvantages of work with teens, and the obstacles that teachers have to face with. I cannot find something negative about this experience, the only thing that I would like to be better was the instructions for tutor teachers, because there were somethings that they did not have a clear idea of what they had to do, but that was the only thing. I have lot of positive things that this experience has given to me, I would like to have more and more practice and continue with this program. Unfortunately there is not more time for me, but I am glad that I have had this opportunity for practice, and because of all the knowledge and experience that I have acquired during the program. I will be waiting anxious to work with adults, and have a similar experience as with teens. Work with teenagers is one of the best things that I have done. Thanks to the School of Languages UDB, thanks to my teacher Yanira Peña for the opportunity, for the experience, and for the knowledge acquired, and thanks to you for reading this post. I want to conclude this blog entry by introducing a famous phrase by Phill Collings: "In learning you will teach, in teaching you will learn" and that is exactly what I did: learning while teaching, learning while practicing.
