REFLECTION : WEEK 2, TUTORIAL TASK

How does it affect me as a pre-service teacher?

At first the task seems distant to me as I do not even know how to begin. After watching Jeremy Short’s video several times, I realized that I was able to see the connection of what he talk about on the video and the principle of material development. As a pre-service teacher this is an eye opener for me on how to design an effective material that can function efficiently in a classroom and actually be able provided support for the students understanding of a paticular lesson. A teacher must consider the principle of material development while choosing or designing a material for his/her classroom. The teacher must ask themselves ‘will the material achieve impact?’, ‘will it be able to facilitate learning’ and ‘will the students be interested to learn from it?. As a pre-service teacher, I realized that these are among the questions that I have to consider when I want to integrate or develop a material in the future.

How does it affect my current level of knowledge?

This week I also realized that there are so many tools that can be used to teach, a tool will forever remain a tool and will never become a language learning materials unless it is being utilize in a proper way to facilitate language learning. There are variety of tools, media and objects that can be used to teach. It is up to the teacher to integrated it into the classroom and make sure that it is corelated with the teaching purposes. I also learned that there are criteria that need to be taken into consideration in creating learning materials. In creating learning material we have to see from different point of views. We have to see it from not only the students’ point of view but also the teachers’ point of views. The materials must be able to grasp the students’ attention and interest to learn. On the other hand, it is also important for the teacher to believe and comfortable with the materials that they are using in the classroom. The teacher must first be sure that the material is suitable for the classroom and he/she must be able to operate with materials well.

How can I use that knowledge to improve myself?

From this week lesson, I learned the importance of a teacher being innovative and creative in implementing new methods of teaching to the classroom. It is very important for teachers to be able to engage students and encourage them to participate during the teaching and learning process. The knowledge that I gain also make me want to explore more on interesting materials and method of teaching and also create my own materials.