February-March Reflections

University of Puerto Rico-Humacao English Department

Date: February 1, 2013 School: Dra. Conchita Cuevas High School Cooperating Teacher: Eduardo Martínez

Daily Reflection # 13

Thank God it’s Friday! That was the reflection for today’s class. The students pronounced

this phrase with such clarity and enthusiasm, which really impressed me. This was a fun and light

way to begin the class. However, being that it was Friday and there were many students missing,

as requested by the students, I decided to change the lesson plan to do a fun activity today. What

the whole group played was charades. Emmanuelle and I prepared some notecards with names of

famous people, animals, and objects. Without speaking each student had to act out whatever his

or her card said until the rest of the class, which was the audience, guessed it. They had such a

kick out of it. It was a great activity, which everyone participated in. It worked out so well that we

played two rounds. In the first round, the teachers chose what the students would be acting out.

In the second round, the students themselves picked what to act out. It was great to see their

imaginations and creativity. Although, I had to remind them to guess what their classmates were

acting out in English!

After this experience I decided that Fridays would be activity days. That is if they

cooperate from Monday through Thursday. They are good students though. The teacher Mr.

Eduardo Martínez has been really cooperative with Emmanuelle and I. He has given us the

freedom to do whatever we like in the classroom. That to me was a little scary, but it is like a full

on experience, so in a way it is great. He tells us that more than teachers, the students need more

counseling. I am a little scared about that because I don’t feel prepared to counsel someone like a

counselor, social worker, or psychologist does. I can however teach them the importance of

responsibility since they are about to begin a new chapter and a large step into independence in

their lives, which is college. My students are great kids and I know they have the capacity and

capability to fulfill their dreams in life.




Today was the first day my cooperating teacher Mr. Eduardo Martinez supervised me in

the practice teaching. I was extremely nervous to be evaluated by him. I absolutely hate nerves

because they are me attacking myself. It’s like I was telling Emmanuelle, I am my own worst

enemy, why do I do this to myself? Anyways, when I got up in front of the students in the

classroom, the nerves went down about 80%, which is great considering it was the first time he

evaluated me. I cannot even imagine what I will feel like when my practice supervisor, Dr. Aníbal

Muñoz comes to visit one of my classes. Either way, today I was focused on the most important

thing, my students. My evaluations from Mr. Martinez were great. He said my lesson plan was

good, my objectives were written out great, I had good group control, and I gave the students my

undivided attention by passing around, checking their work, and answering their questions while

they were working in groups. I think he understands that I really want to do a good job with the

students, and that I am doing my best and learning along the way.

Today’s class was a continuation of the topic of process writing. We reviewed the process

of making a sandwich and then the students got back into their groups to work on the processes

they were assigned. Some of the processes were: how to do your makeup, how to plan a party,

how to play basketball, how to ask someone out on a date, and how to change a diaper.

Tomorrow the students will present their processes to the class. They also had to illustrate the

process, so I know they will be fun presentations.




Today was a great day. My students presented their processes and the illustrations they

made of the processes. They were given ten minutes to complete their assignments and divide

what each one of the participants of the group would be presenting. They were all very

cooperative, which made me very happy. They all received perfect scores in the assignment,

because they met the criterion. There are still a few students who need to complete the

assignment; I gave them the opportunity to because this is practice. I told them that this exercise

was for them to practice writing a process, and that they would be writing their own processes

individually. This time however, they will be writing essays. I have the outline and instructions

prepared for them.

My activity time was spent in an English meeting in the school. The teachers discussed

English Week with us, since many of the competitions will be hosted by Conchita Cuevas.

Tomorrow Emmanuelle and I will serve as judges for one of the contests. Also, we are helping in

the preparation of the spelling bee and other activities. I am very glad to be a part of these

activities because they are positive activities for the students that involve the use of English.

Seeing as the majority of the students at the Dr. Conchita Cuevas High School are very artistic, I

know they will be very interested in these activities. Some of the activities are a poetry writing

contest, and oratory contest, a themed poster contest, poetry out loud contest, and a spelling bee.

These activities take some time from regular class periods, but they are important events that

celebrate our bilingual culture.

I am having a great time at Dr. Conchita Cuevas High, I was really hesitant at first, but each

day I feel more and more connected to my students, the teachers, and the school. For this reason

I want to do my best to help them!




English Week is coming up and you can just feel the anticipation in the air as competitions

and preparations begin. Today was the school’s oratory and poetry contest. Emmanuelle and I

were able to judge the oratory contest. Unfortunately, there was only one person competing,

which made her the immediate winner, but we still had to judge her work. She did great, but

there was some room for improvement in her speech. Mostly she needed to fix some grammar

and syntax errors, and her eye contact, facial expressions and gestures were nonexistent. But the

content of her message was great. It was about the power of being bilingual.

In school today was movie day. Different teachers had different movies playing in their

classrooms. Mr. Martinez had the movie Flight, starring Denzel Washington. This was a free day

from school really. I have noticed that the students have lots of free days with so many different

activities. The school is really laid back when it comes to giving classes and meeting the standards.

It worries me a bit, because these kids just slide by grade level through grade level.

Mr. Martinez is one of those laid back teachers. He hasn’t really given an English class this

whole time. He does counsel the students a lot though, which is something they really need. I

however don’t feel qualified to be a counselor, so I feel a little apprehensive about that when I am

giving my class. I think what I will do is try to observe the other English teachers giving their

classes. They are all very passionate about their jobs, and willing to help us, so in my observation

or activity time I would love to observe one of them in action.

My days at the Conchita Cuevas have been good. I have learned a lot so far about life, and

about lesson planning. I am still having trouble identifying who my case study will be, which

makes me really nervous because the first part of the case study is due MONDAY.




Today is almost Friday. That is the reflection I gave my students today. They love these

types of reflections. Well, we are going on to the application of process writing. Today the

students and I prepared the outline for the process essay. They seemed to understand, but to

make sure I went by different sections of the classroom to ask if they didn’t have any doubts.

Today two of my students refused to present their process and drawings. (We did this first

for practice, before writing the essay.) I don’t know if I went about handling it the right way. I told

them that everyone did it and that it was their decision and their grades, and to at least turn it in

so they would get some points, but they didn’t have the assignment with them. So I continued

the class. It was my first encounter like this.

To help the school for the upcoming English Week, Emmanuelle and I put up the posters

the students created for a poster competition. The posters had a bilingual theme. It was nice to

see the artistic abilities of the school. They like all of those types of activities very much.

Emmanuelle and I also helped for the school spelling bee by making sentences for the words in

case a student asked for a sentence. Every day I become more and more accustomed to the

school environment. I like getting to know my students, the rest of the students of the school, the

teachers, and the staff. Dr. Conchita Cuevas High School is a unique and special school. What

makes it so unique and special is the people who form a community in it every day. I can definitely

see myself working in a school for the next 30 to 40 plus years.




In my class, the students and I established that Friday would be activity day, but...today

was different because the students had to work on their Process Essays. Many students were

absent today, but the ones that did go worked on their essays, got help from me and from each

other. This is the type of environment I want to create in the classroom; unfortunately many

students are absent all the time. I was recommended by my cooperating teacher to call or send

notes to parents, but he, other teachers, and even the principals have told me that many parents

don’t care. This is a big problem in Dr. Conchita Cuevas High School.

These situations really worries me, I don’t want to see my students fail. But I can’t accept

their irresponsabilities. I don’t want the students who do go to class to have to wait for those who

are absent to catch up. It is totally unfair to them. I don’t really know how to handle that

situation. The students need to learn responsibility; otherwise they will not be successful in the

class, nor in life. Responsibility is the key that most of the students need to find in order to open

the door of success, because they already have the capability to do it.

Teachers have to make hard decisions, this I am learning more and more about every

single day. I want the students to succeed, and I know they all can, if they try. “Just try it”, that’s

what I tell my students whenever they say they can’t do it, or don’t know how to do it. In my class

I hope that at least they lose that fear they have with the new language, that they believe in

themselves and their amazing talents, and that they learn the importance of responsibilities.




Mondays are always hard, for everyone. Today my students were not very cooperative. I

think I will need to do some warm up exercises or energizers for Monday classes. Only about ten

students turned in their process essays today. I was quite disappointed at them because this

assignment was originally due on Friday, and I decided to change the due date for today so that

they could use Friday to work on their essays. I helped out on some of the students’ essays on

Friday. With other students who were at a slower pace, I helped them with their brainstorming

process.

The new topic we began today was Persuasive writing. First we brainstormed what

persuasion is. They had great ideas, which they later turned into definitions. They respond well to

this activity, I like to let them know that they have enough knowledge to I had a video for the

students to watch. They enjoyed the images and its fast paced nature. I definitely have to

continue materials like this one. As the students watched the videos, they had to answer a short

worksheet. After watching the video, we discussed the first question, and because of the

interruptions, and the chaos while turning in the assignment, that’s all we were able to accomplish

in one class.

Today Emmanuelle and I got the opportunity to judge the Poetry Out Loud competition of

the school. We were extremely impressed by the students’ performances. They were absolutely

inspiring, and it was a close competition. The competition was very official with many forms to fill

out, and criterions to study before judging the competitors. The winner of the competition will

compete against students from other schools for a first place price of twenty thousand dollars.

University of Puerto Rico-Humacao

English Department

School: Dra. Conchita Cuevas High School Date: February 19-22, 2013

Cooperating Teacher: Eduardo Martínez

Weekly Reflection

Unfortunately, this week the first school fight occurred. It was just before lunch time and many

students had the period free, as usual. Emmanuelle and I were sitting in the classroom during our

activity hour. Suddenly, we heard a wave of murmurs, which quickly turned into yells and

screams. Worried, Emmanuelle and I stepped out of the classroom, which is at the third floor only

to see right below us in our line of path, a student lunge a jab at another student. My heart

started pounding, we knew we needed to act quickly. Emmanuelle ran to get the security guards,

which thankfully were already on their way. We saw the fight disperse. One of the students who

fought, flooded the halls with rage as he headed to the bathroom, against the security guard’s

orders.

Thankfully the fight was dispersed quickly. I noticed the effectiveness of the two female

security guards. They are true professionals and they really care for the safety of the students in

the school. These testosterone blinded students were not hard to control. The director had them

in the office to handle the situation. They had to be separated one inside and one outside. They

had to be separated by a teacher and staff obstacle as well. Emmanuelle and I were in the school

bathroom right at that moment, and we got stuck in the middle of their rant towards each other.

It was scary and potentially dangerous. The school ended up calling the police. It turns out one of

the students had a knife. Thanks to the keen observation of one of the school janitors, a possible

tragedy was avoided.

This was the first fight of the school year. Although the rest of the week went by

smoothly, you could feel the tension in the air because of the events that had occurred. It is sad

how one event like this can make the school feel so uncomfortable and unsafe. However, the

good in the students is always celebrated, so events like these should not overpower this.

February-March Reflections

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