Monday, November 24, 2008
24 Nov 08: Today I gave my demonstration class to students from the 10th of Esc. Sup. Adolfina Irrizary de Puig. WOW, what an experience.
For my 1st group, Mrs Carrasquillo, wanted me to present the parts of a PLOT as they refer to a Short Story. The students were a bit loud and somewhat lacking of discipline. They believed that just because I was there they could get away with whatever they wanted. I stood up and waited until they became quiet. Mrs Carrasquillo, asked her students to please quiet down so I could present my class... I introduced myself and gave them a bit of my background. At the begining they started with the excuse of not knowing a lot of English, so I went ahead and asked them a couple of questions and I explained to them that we, puertoricans, are lucky because we grow up in a bilingual environment.. "Believe it or not". I went ahead and as I presented the material, I translated into Spanish so no one would stay behind. It worked, because I then turned the class into an interactive one. I got them to cooperate, answer questions and even ask questions. I noticed that this group was still hesitant towards me, but that is understandable... A person that they are not use to showed up to teach them a class...
For my 2nd group, which according to Mrs Carrasquillo was her academically difficult group, it started basically the same way as the 1st group. I waited until all students sat down and were ready to pay attention. I introduced myself as a Univ. of Puerto Rico student as I did with the previous class. I opened my class asking, How many of them could speak English? Two students advised me that they understood without a problem. One student came with the excuse that he did not know English, so it would be difficult for him to understand the class. I went ahead and asked him if he goes to the movie theaters and he responded that he did. I asked him if he could understand what was being spoken while he watched the movie and if he attempted to figure out what was being said based on what he heard with what was happening. He responded that yes, he would understand what the actors were saying based on what was happening. At this point in time I told him... "you are bilingual, either you believe it or not". I asked him if he knew what the word parking meant and he knew. I also asked him about the words Doctor, Hospital, Jeep and Toyota. He responded that those words are in Spanish and I told him that yes those words are from Spanish but the only difference was the pronounciation between English and Spanish. From this point on, the student did not disrupt the class. Actually, he was one of the students that was participating the most and did not have a problem understanding me. This 2nd group was a lot more outgoing than the first one. I told them that in this type of classroom setting, I prefer an interactive class vice a conference type class. After everything was set and done, Mrs Carrasquillo stated my class was a success. She could not believe how outgoing her students were in the 2nd group.
For my 1st group, Mrs Carrasquillo, wanted me to present the parts of a PLOT as they refer to a Short Story. The students were a bit loud and somewhat lacking of discipline. They believed that just because I was there they could get away with whatever they wanted. I stood up and waited until they became quiet. Mrs Carrasquillo, asked her students to please quiet down so I could present my class... I introduced myself and gave them a bit of my background. At the begining they started with the excuse of not knowing a lot of English, so I went ahead and asked them a couple of questions and I explained to them that we, puertoricans, are lucky because we grow up in a bilingual environment.. "Believe it or not". I went ahead and as I presented the material, I translated into Spanish so no one would stay behind. It worked, because I then turned the class into an interactive one. I got them to cooperate, answer questions and even ask questions. I noticed that this group was still hesitant towards me, but that is understandable... A person that they are not use to showed up to teach them a class...
For my 2nd group, which according to Mrs Carrasquillo was her academically difficult group, it started basically the same way as the 1st group. I waited until all students sat down and were ready to pay attention. I introduced myself as a Univ. of Puerto Rico student as I did with the previous class. I opened my class asking, How many of them could speak English? Two students advised me that they understood without a problem. One student came with the excuse that he did not know English, so it would be difficult for him to understand the class. I went ahead and asked him if he goes to the movie theaters and he responded that he did. I asked him if he could understand what was being spoken while he watched the movie and if he attempted to figure out what was being said based on what he heard with what was happening. He responded that yes, he would understand what the actors were saying based on what was happening. At this point in time I told him... "you are bilingual, either you believe it or not". I asked him if he knew what the word parking meant and he knew. I also asked him about the words Doctor, Hospital, Jeep and Toyota. He responded that those words are in Spanish and I told him that yes those words are from Spanish but the only difference was the pronounciation between English and Spanish. From this point on, the student did not disrupt the class. Actually, he was one of the students that was participating the most and did not have a problem understanding me. This 2nd group was a lot more outgoing than the first one. I told them that in this type of classroom setting, I prefer an interactive class vice a conference type class. After everything was set and done, Mrs Carrasquillo stated my class was a success. She could not believe how outgoing her students were in the 2nd group.
Monday, November 17, 2008
17 Nov 08: Today we talked about the new changes Prof. Pacheco has made to our course blogger (http://teed3018.wetpaint.com/).
I also discussed with Prof the setting I will be working with. She stated that it takes a lot of planing but that it is do-able.
I also discussed with Prof the setting I will be working with. She stated that it takes a lot of planing but that it is do-able.
Friday, November 14, 2008
12 Nov 08: I went to Esc. Sup. Adolfina Irrizary de Puig and I finished all computers. I had to re-format 2 computers and install some software. Mrs. Carrasquillo was extremely grateful. I told her that the honor was mine, because she allowed me to set up her classroom and ensure that her students had a working computer laboratory to use for her English class.
For my demonstration class, Mrs. Carrasquillo wants me to present a new skill set: Poetry. She wants me to go over the basic elements of a Poem, give her students the definition of each element and an example.
I advised her that it would be fine. I explained to her that since none of the computers are networked and they do not have internet access that I would have to improvise a bit to get everybody involved.
I advised her for this to work, I will have to come in early on the 24 of November and install certian applications to each computer and have the students have the experience to lauch, execute and install software onto the computers. Then they will follow me through a Power Point presentation while using Open Document software...
For my demonstration class, Mrs. Carrasquillo wants me to present a new skill set: Poetry. She wants me to go over the basic elements of a Poem, give her students the definition of each element and an example.
I advised her that it would be fine. I explained to her that since none of the computers are networked and they do not have internet access that I would have to improvise a bit to get everybody involved.
I advised her for this to work, I will have to come in early on the 24 of November and install certian applications to each computer and have the students have the experience to lauch, execute and install software onto the computers. Then they will follow me through a Power Point presentation while using Open Document software...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
05 Nov 08: Today I went to Escuela Superior Adolfina Irrizary de Puig. Mrs Carrasquillo had forgotten that I was going to show up on this date to install as many computers as possible for her students to have access to them. Lucky for me there were not many students because the transportation providers or school bus drivers were on strike and the number of students present was less than 5 per room.
To give you a good idea of what I was dealing with... There were 25 computers, 1 server and 24 workstations, delivered to Mrs Carrasquillo class room approximately 2 years ago. The people who delivered the computers just put the computers inside the room and left. When I showed up there were still 20 computers inside the box with only a few of them fully out of their box and working correctly. I went ahead and positioned every computer in their respective desk and attached the monitor, mouse, keyboard and plugged the monitor and CPU to their respective UPS. I was able to identify 2 computers that have bad video cards and was unable to fix them. I also had to re-format 4 computers. I left the class room at 3:00 pm and all of the computers were up and running with the exception of the 2 with bad video. They are not networked because the contractor that was supposed to connect them as a network did not perform their task because the computers were not on top of the desks and out of the boxes.
After my day of work, Mrs Carrasquillo told me that she will call the contractor and let them know that the computers are now on top of the desks and ready to be networked.
To give you a good idea of what I was dealing with... There were 25 computers, 1 server and 24 workstations, delivered to Mrs Carrasquillo class room approximately 2 years ago. The people who delivered the computers just put the computers inside the room and left. When I showed up there were still 20 computers inside the box with only a few of them fully out of their box and working correctly. I went ahead and positioned every computer in their respective desk and attached the monitor, mouse, keyboard and plugged the monitor and CPU to their respective UPS. I was able to identify 2 computers that have bad video cards and was unable to fix them. I also had to re-format 4 computers. I left the class room at 3:00 pm and all of the computers were up and running with the exception of the 2 with bad video. They are not networked because the contractor that was supposed to connect them as a network did not perform their task because the computers were not on top of the desks and out of the boxes.
After my day of work, Mrs Carrasquillo told me that she will call the contractor and let them know that the computers are now on top of the desks and ready to be networked.
Monday, November 3, 2008
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