Learning Tasks

Course Learning Tasks

The learning tasks in this course are designed primarily to help you develop as a teacher. As such, they focus on your development rather than an evaluation of your abilities. 

Your total grade for this course is out of 1,000 points. Point and percentage breakdowns for each assignment are below.

Your Learning Story (100 points; 10% of Final Grade)

As a starting point for your development, you will begin the semester by reflecting on your past experiences as a learner, focusing on how those experiences have shaped you as a learner/teacher, in a narrative format. In other words, tell me your autobiography as a learner. Make sure to also include a discussion of how you currently view yourself as a teacher and what your goals for the semester are. In other words, tell me (1) where you have been as a learner, (2) where you are now as a teacher, and (3) where you want to be at the end of the internship. Assessed as Satisfactory (S)/Unsatisfactory (U).  

Developing Your Course (60 points; 6% of Final Grade)

During Weeks 2 and 3 of the semester, you and your co-teacher will work together to develop your 4-week workshop class. As part of this development process, you will complete and submit (1) a pre-assessment task that gauges your students’ knowledge of the content you will be teaching and (2) a first day lesson plan that is designed to orient students to the topic of your workshop. Assessed as D/ND (done/not done).

Practice Teach (100 points; 10% of Final Grade)

Before you begin teaching, you will do a Practice Teach (25 minutes) online for your classmates and me. During this time, you will receive feedback on your lesson, your materials, your tasks, and your teaching. While this can be an incredibly face-threatening activity, the goal of this is for you to receive invaluable feedback that will help you get ready for teaching. You should get your lesson plan for the practice teach approved with me by at least two days ahead of time so that your experience is fruitful. Assessed as D/ND (done/not done).

Tiny Talks (160 points; 16% of Final Grade)

After each teaching session, you and your co-teacher will de-brief by engaging in a “tiny talk”. A “tiny talk” is an unobtrusive safe space for you to externalize your thoughts and feelings on your teaching through dialogue with your partner. As the talker, you will describe what happened in the lesson and express what you are feeling about how it went and why, talking through what happened and expressing what you could have, or should have done differently. As the listener, you will ask questions, provide feedback, and encourage your partner. You will provide me with a recording of the session within the following two days so that I may provide feedback, including specific suggestions, and ask questions. Assessed as D/ND (done/not done).

Teach your Course (160 points; 16% of Final Grade)

Together with a co-teacher, you will design and teach a workshop-style English class for Visiting Scholars here at UF. You will design this course according to the goals and objectives of the scholars as well as the teaching context. You will then work together with me and your co-teacher to design instructional materials and tasks to engage the students and assess their learning. Throughout the semester, you will be required to create materials and tasks to be developed during meetings with me and your co-teacher that you will then implement in your course. Assessed as D/ND (done/not done). 

Dialogic Video protocol & Plan of action (150 points; 15% of Final Grade)

During your first week of teaching, you will record one of your teaching sessions. Within the following week, you and I will watch your teaching session together and discuss and reflect on the lesson. We will then, on the basis of our observation and discussion, set up a Plan of Action for you to address focal points of teaching, growth points, that you will need to work on the rest of the semester.  We will be particularly concerned with how you respond to student engagement and interaction with you and your teaching activities, and how that shapes what you do/did. Assessed as D/ND (done/not done).

Workshop 1 Reflection (50 points; 5% of Final Grade)

After teaching your workshop for the first time, you and your partner will write a brief reflection on the experience, focusing on (1) what worked well, (2) what left room for improvement, and (3) what changes or adjustments you will make for the next time. Assessed as Satisfactory (S)/Unsatisfactory (U).

The Internship: A Look Back (100 points; 10% of Final Grade)

For this assignment, I want you to look back on your teaching experience in the internship and discuss how it has changed and influenced your teaching practice going forward. Using your “Your Learning Story”, tiny talks, dialogic video protocol and plan of action, experience teaching, interactions with students, and interactions with your teaching colleagues and me, you will write up a 7-10 page narrative of your development as a teacher. You will identify specific areas of development and trace that development over the semester as well as areas for future development. Assessed according to rubric.

lesson plans (120 points; 12% of Final Grade)

As part of the undergraduate TESL Program, you are required to submit three formal lesson plans from the Internship at the end of the semester as the final exit exam for the program. Assessed as Satisfactory (S)/Unsatisfactory (U).

grading scale

This course follows the UF Grading Policy. Click here for more information.