Sònia Reig 

This is the end of the Practicum V and therefore of the degree, which has been a journey full of learnings and discoveries, and full of hope and growth. Reached this point, it is time to reflect about this very last teaching experience. This final step contributes enormously on this growing as a teacher, having the opportunity to conduct a co-teaching implementation. The co-teaching was a challenge, it was the first time that I had the opportunity to co-create a Teaching Unit with others teachers, and I wanted to take advantage of it. Because of that, I joined the co-teaching, attracted by the idea and the great opportunity that it would be to increase my knowledge, living an incredible experience. All this initial thoughts and expectations were more than accomplished, and I cannot be more grateful for the opportunity given.

 

This enriching experience would not have been possible without my peers. The four of us created a team, helping and supporting each other. Everybody’s participation was essential in order to come up with a nice TU. Our main objective was to link our topics in order to create an engaging teaching unit, that motivates children to learn English. Which was achieved, children showed lot of interest towards the TU, and usually when they saw me around the school asked about Rose Mary or if she had sent us an e-mail.

Going back to the way we worked, I am sure that working alone this result would have been possible, four brains have better ideas than only one. Co-teaching requires lot of time in order to make decisions about what is going to be done and how; in our case, due to time and distance, the meetings were done by phone calls and Skypes, which were really useful not only for the common parts of the TU but also for the specific ones of each school. We had the support of the others, even that some sessions were different for each school, we more or less knew what the others were doing and therefore it was possible to help each other and give ideas about the specific sessions, feeling with this more secure.  

As we experienced it requires a lot of work and time to create the best materials for the activities, including also language supports. In this case, working together meant that the creation of materials for the common sessions was shared, and therefore was less time-consuming. But, create good materials requires lot of time, even that it is a really time-consuming task it is completely worth it and essential in order to provide the best learning opportunities for our pupils. Moreover, when teaching a language it is crucial to prepare a lot of language support to help children to achieve the objectives, as I could see during the implementation with the example of the glossary, without it, the task would have been more difficult for them.

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All in all, I am glad to have had this incredible opportunity to experience a different way of teaching as is the co-teaching, even that it would have been even more enriching to visit each other at the school. This experience has helped me gaining confidence not only when teaching but also with my ideas and thoughts.

Even though I am happy with the results achieved I am aware that lots of things could have been better and have to be improved regarding to my part, such as the adaptation to the level and make the explanations clearer, because I think that sometimes some children had difficulties to follow the lesson.

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In this learning process, the UAB seminars had an important role. Seminars provide a great amount of useful tools and resources that can be used in the lessons in different ways. So, not only we had the tools but also a wide range of different possibilities of use. But, all this knowledge would not have been possible without our teacher, who was essential during the whole process. I have learnt a lot from her, not only from her resources and strategies, but also from her engagement and enthusiasm towards teaching, and her involvement in our TU. UAB seminars were a space for sharing, and therefore, learning from each other. They were essential in order to solve questions about our TU, and change things to improve it. Moreover, during this last practicum some UAB seminars were dedicated to some meeting, also attended by the peers of the English mention. One was focused on giving strategies, presenting different projects carried by teachers, which were very interesting. Another one was dedicated to explain the different possibilities that we have now that we finish the degree. It was called "And now what?".  A question that I have tried to answer many times.

 

Now that I am finishing the degree, what can I do? What I want to do? These questions come to my mind several times, but I do not have any certain answer. I see the future full of doubts, I do not know if apply for job or continue studying. But, what I am sure about, is that my learning process is not over, that I have a lot more to learn and improve. I really need to gain experience and confidence, and to do so it is essential to continue receiving training and education. Learning is a lifelong process and I have clear that I will continue learning and receiving formation in order to provide the best learning opportunities and experiences to my future students.