Teaching Practicum Journals

Journal Entry – Week 1

I started this week a little bit insecure because I am new to all the students and there
is not a strong rapport between the students and me. Initially, I introduced myself and they
thought that I was the cooperating teacher’s son. When they heard that I was the student
teacher most of them were surprised because I looked so young. Anyway, I started my first
class with a strong determination so that they know that I am in charge know and that they
should respect. The grade in which I am teaching is seventh grade, there are not many
students in both groups, but the discipline was kind of difficult to control.
During this week, students were about to finish the third academic term. I decided to
finish this term by continuing with the topic that the cooperating teacher was covering.
Thus, my lesson plan focused on modal verbs (should and shouldn’t) with a central theme
which was environment. The participation was not enough as I was expecting, but they
work and complete all the activities I have planned, like group work, listening, reading,
homework, and other classroom activities.
As the week passed by, I felt more comfortable with the things and explanations I
did the way I did them. Initially, I thought students were not going to pay attention to me
but that did not happen fortunately. Although I have some experience in teaching before my
practicum, I have never worked with students from secondary school. It was a challenge,
but I did my best to face it and come up with activities that caught their attention. I did not
cover all the activities with one group because of the time so I left those activities for the
next week.

Journal Entry – Week 2

During this week, I started with the fourth and last academic term. The students are
going to work with a main theme which is international cultures. The topic I worked with
them was comparatives and superlatives. They seemed very interested about knowing
different cultures from around the world. This week they learned about the Egyptian and
the Chinese facts and information that allowed them to get to know a little bit about
countries different from their own.
The development of the classes was good, I covered the topic I could not cover last
week with one of the groups and I was observed for the first time. I felt anxious during the
observation, but at the end of the lesson I felt relieved as I did what I was supposed to do.
There were no complications and the students behaved very well fortunately. Obviously at
the end of the class I had some remarks and recommendations made by the practicum
supervisor.
During one of the classes of this week one girl said out loud that the classes were
interesting and fun. That made me happy because that is my purpose, teaching my lessons
in a way that can caught students’ attention and that they feel comfortable to learn and
enjoy the classes. Although, sometimes that seems impossible to me because I do not know
what to do, I ran out of ideas and it gets complicated to prepare a class with its activities.

Journal Entry – Week 3

During this week I did not have to many things to do. Students most of the days od
the week did not had classes because of some external and internal school situations. The
only day I had class was on Thursday, one hour at six in the morning. What I did was a
reinforcement of the topic.
The class development was good, anything out of context happened.

Journal Entry – Week 4

This week was a bit heavier in terms of productivity because I started with the
interventions for the innovative plan and I had to prepare myself and be more focused on
one the groups during this intervention. I needed everything to be done in this group
because I am a bit short on time and sometimes I do not have enough of it to complete all
the activities in the groups, but this time I finished what I had planned for this class.
With the other group the classes were done, there were not complications or
incidents that affected the development of the classes on one the groups. Although, in the
group in which I am doing the innovative plan at the end of the week during one of the
classes something happened.
This incident occurred at end of the class and two students were involved.
Apparently, one boy started bothering another girl and this girl was not very comfortable
with what he was doing to her and she got aggressive towards this boy. She grabbed a pen
as a weapon and tried to stab him. The cooperating teacher reacted immediately and
stopped the fight and this situation, the girl was scolded by the teacher and as the school
day was finishing the bell to finish the class rang. They both got way with this situation and
could not give the final instructions for the next class.
As a student teacher I did not know how to react and what to tell this girl, since I
started teaching in this group, she is one of the most difficult students. The teacher’s scold
was harsh, but the girl seemed to not car about what she was saying. Apparently, she is
from a very poor background and it is called as “ñera” because of her attitude and her
vocabulary used with her classmates.

Journal Entry N° 5 – Week 5

During this week there were no difficult incidents that require of my attention. The
students’ attitude was “normal” as usual, they talk, sometimes the got distracted, but they
work, completed all the activities that I prepared. I thought that it was going to be difficult
to work with them an art and craft I had prepared, but it was not. And I think it might be
due to the lack of the students that missed that day. Usually, in the grade I did this activity
there are 20 students but that day only 14 students came to class.
One think that I found difficult in one of the groups is that they talk too much.
Sometimes I just do not even care and keep explaining. I used some techniques to make
them stop time at least during the explanations, but that just worked for a couple of
minutes. It seemed that they do not care to learn. And if a student does not care about
studying anymore, it is difficult for me to make them care about it.