competency 4

Maestro investigador (Click on link!)- Research work as part of the Psychology of Education course. It was intended to involve me in the initial stage of the action research process. This exercise develops the ability to solve problems and critical thinking.

Investigación Literaria: Documento 1, Documento 2 (Click on link!) - The following research is based on the topic Family and its diversity. It is extremely important that children know and respect the diversity of families that are in society, this is the first step to respect for their peers and all the people with whom they come to have interaction. What better way to educate about such an important and delicate concept than through literature? Through reading, children achieve a better understanding and integration. The research consists of presenting ten literary works related to the aforementioned topic, these present several situations that occur in families, explain the importance of the family in the life of a child and emphasize the importance of each family member. Therefore, the purpose is to inform through reading about family types and let them know that there is diversity beyond family types, there is diversity within family situations, such as separation, illness, economic status and race.

Propuesta de Investigación (Click on link!)- Reasearch proposal for an investigation on language acquisition. This type of project is essential for educators of other languages since it facilitates the process of education and acquisition.

Language Research

My students asked me: “What are the most spoken languages in the world?”, after reading I Hate English by Ellen Levine. I answered that the top spoken languages are: 1. Chinese, 2. English, and 3.Spanish. They asked for an explanation and I provided it, of course, my answers were based on my research from 2015. After the weekend, one of the students told me that he researched the top spoken languages in the world and said that in actuality, English was in third place, this obligated me to research once again, and so I did. He was right! The next day I congratulated them for researching, for questioning everything, this is an important part of their development and it should be recognized, even if it’s just a simple question born out of curiosity. These kinds questions are the beginning of educational investigation and the first step of becoming a leader.

Countries Research: Group Project

During the semester we have learned about various countries. Now we will apply all of our knowledge while writing and creating art. We will write about the six countries we learned about: China, Mexico, United States, Italy, France and Spain. We will compose PARAGRAPHS and create cardboard three- dimensional representations inspired on the traditions and customs of those countries.

• The students will research information in the library. They will search about their assigned country and focus on the topic they chose by brainstorming (As part of the pre-writing process of a paragraph).
• They must take notes and summarize.

Show and Tell:

• Students and motivated and permitted to search for information about a specific subject and bring it to class to present to their classmates. They can bring printed information or an object and present information about it.

Action Research

Hyperactive student with attention deficit (ADHD):

To assess this student the teacher must research about her condition and meet with the Special Education teacher. Afterwards, the teacher must prepare a collection of strategies and plans to help the student.

Study Program: A study program was created to address the academic needs of the student (Word order, class topic reviews, tenses, vocabulary enhancement).

Due to the hyperactivity, the student moves a lot, and hardly sits at times, to address this, the following strategies were integrated.

Stress release ball (We began on Thursday, October 11th, on Wednesday, October 17, I will not give it to her to see her behavior, on Thursday, October 18, she will have it back).

This strategy has worked marvelously, and she recognizes that it is for her to focus and not to play.

Attention breaks : The teacher will incorporate attentions breaks in the classroom. A bell will ring and a song will play, they must all dance or song (depending on the instructions provided) for the duration of the song ( one minute or less). It will sound randomly every two days or everyday. (depending on the group’s needs.)

STUDY CASES

Loud group

When I have a loud group I use diverse strategies to manage the class. To do so, I must research about the best strategies, I must compare the amount of students, learning styles, and more, to have a better impact.

Some of the strategies used are the following:

• Older groups reading or teaching the younger groups. (Peer intervention)
• Students are permitted to sit on the floor while watching videos or presentations. This enhances their focus.
• Students work as teams.
• 1 2 3 all eyes on me- When the students get too noisy the teacher begins saying 1, 2, 3 all.. “ and the students say “on YOU”.The students have to get conditioned to this, the teacher began by saying, 1, 2,3 all “eyes on ME” whenever they were too noisy, and would explain that they had to listen to each other and respect turns.

(This happens a lot when a lot of the students want to participate, get too excited about something or when they begin talking to each other.)

• Peer collaboration- Strategy used at my job as an English instructor at Niños de Nueva Esperanza Inc. in Toa Baja, an educational after school program.

This strategy is created so that those students that participate too often may give a chance to those who are shy or have a low proficiency level, by helping them. During class the students acquire points for participating, doing their work, helping others, working on oral, writing, and listening skills and for good behavior. If they help others participate they get double the points (participating and helping). During the semester I will emphasize the importance of helping others though dive collaborative works and games.