When I scheduled this practicum, I expected something, but I received something else. I originally thought that I would be considered a dominate part in the classroom--and that dominance would be expressed by teaching lessons couple times per month--and that seemed to be my desire at the beginning. Nonetheless, in my original expectations, all students seemed perfect and share similar academic success. In reality, that's was not the case. With the advice of a colleague of mine, I developed a survey for the purpose of an assignment that I had to do for the practicum. Little did I know that what I would find in these surveys would change not only my expectations, but my desires as well for what I want to gain from this experience. For someone who is excited about teaching, what I found in my surveys became more exciting. You, my reader, may wonder about my findings. The teacher- student relationship had been studied for years by many scholars in the field of Applied Linguistics. What was interesting for me was the student-TA relationship. Many of the students' responses to me differed from their responses to their actual instructor, my mentor. Prior to have them fill the survey, I told the students that I (not the main instructor) will be using their responses to teach them better. All of the questions were open-ended questions. Responses ranged from couple of words to sentences to long paragraphs. Here are some of the students' responses:
"Because of my characteristic and since I'm not confident at my English, it is a little bit difficult to present my opinion or give the answer before the teacher makes me do this"
"I hope that teacher thinks me to try hard for everything time and do the best, even though I can not present it well"
In regard to what the student hope to learn from this course and what goals they have for the course: "I think my writing is good enough. I just want to finish this course with A..[but]I need to read more and write more to become a better writer."
"preparing for the TOEFL was the best method of learning English I think"
"long papers is my concern (like 6-7 pages)"
In regard to the purpose of taking ESL015, "I'm required to this course, otherwise I won't be taking it now"
In regard to his/her writing skills (10: highest, 1:lowest), the student rated himself/herself "4" which was one of the lowest scores even though he have been here for three years.
In regard to what they may help me teach them better:"more passion on each students"
Concerning how they imagine themselves in 20 years from now "I would be in a happy family with good job"
These statements motivated me to be more attentive to each student in the class--what do they do & what do they say. I found many of the responses I received interesting--and some were shocking. But, at the end of the day, I know more about these students than before - and that itself is rewarding especially when I do my own teaching in this class as I may pull some of their previous experiences into the lesson. For example, I found out that many of my students have been in the US for a long time, 3-4 year; some of their responses were odd to comprehend; many have grammatical issues in their writing; and, finally, most of them share one main concern in studying English--which is their speaking skill.
I am glad to have an excellent mentor and students to work with =)
"Because of my characteristic and since I'm not confident at my English, it is a little bit difficult to present my opinion or give the answer before the teacher makes me do this"
"I hope that teacher thinks me to try hard for everything time and do the best, even though I can not present it well"
In regard to what the student hope to learn from this course and what goals they have for the course: "I think my writing is good enough. I just want to finish this course with A..[but]I need to read more and write more to become a better writer."
"preparing for the TOEFL was the best method of learning English I think"
"long papers is my concern (like 6-7 pages)"
In regard to the purpose of taking ESL015, "I'm required to this course, otherwise I won't be taking it now"
In regard to his/her writing skills (10: highest, 1:lowest), the student rated himself/herself "4" which was one of the lowest scores even though he have been here for three years.
In regard to what they may help me teach them better:"more passion on each students"
Concerning how they imagine themselves in 20 years from now "I would be in a happy family with good job"
These statements motivated me to be more attentive to each student in the class--what do they do & what do they say. I found many of the responses I received interesting--and some were shocking. But, at the end of the day, I know more about these students than before - and that itself is rewarding especially when I do my own teaching in this class as I may pull some of their previous experiences into the lesson. For example, I found out that many of my students have been in the US for a long time, 3-4 year; some of their responses were odd to comprehend; many have grammatical issues in their writing; and, finally, most of them share one main concern in studying English--which is their speaking skill.
I am glad to have an excellent mentor and students to work with =)