My teaching training: a semi serial reflection on the experience

My teaching training in Diaconia went very fast: one month, twice a week teaching Orientation English to Social Worker students. Total teaching hours: 20.
The group was very nice: talented, polite, ready for working in group and to use their English in all the situation that we faced during our path. It was indeed heterogeneous group: some of them just graduated from high school, some of them didn´t finish it. Some of them (even belong to religious group that doesn´t have easy access to TV or internet) could speak English rather well, others they had difficulties to follow what I was saying...It was a challenge. I took it 100 %. 

The tutor was huge help: for the first time since I started my teaching carrier I have got advises on how to improve my teaching...and it felt so good!
The tutor role is not simple and it requires a huge dose of patience and open mind: give to the teacher student an entire course is not easy especially if the student teacher doesn´t have so much experience.
My tutor was one of the special one: we could cooperate withouth problem and he gave me time after each lesson, giving me a feedback. 

The Orientation English is a mandatory course for those students that are studying to become Social workers and also work for the Parish.
My lessons were focused in theme such as: Finnish Welfare System, Family life, Adoption and Foreigner clients. We went through also practical things : dealing at the phone with no Finnish speaker, be able to make a conversation with the client in order to help him/her to face the difficulties in life. I found the group ready to face different situation and I provide my self the material based on the themes from the book and instruction given by the tutor. 

In 20 hours wasn´t possible to cover all the book themes so part of the studies, the students did on their own time. I decide to approach in really practical way: problem solving, role activities, support of technologies for the theoretical part  I also promote quite much the collaborative learning: working in a group and as a group it´s a basic thing for a social worker and the best way for learning. I was also careful about the timing and give enough time for the discussion where it seemed to involve students 100 % but in the meanwhile had always ready extra activities in case that discussion wouldn´t start. 

I tried to cover all the learning styles: I used platform like Prezi and Popplet to support the visualist and the kinestetic learners. My tutor said that my strenghts are my social skills: how immediately I made the contact with the students and build their trust. My weakness? my English pronunciation.......I would like also improve the area of assessment and the observation of the group. I felt (even though I observed them for 30 hours) that I would need to observe other thing in order to get my core plan ready...well I guess I have to trust my memory. Lucky for me I eat fish twice a week ;) 

The difficult part for me was to evaluate their final test and give them a fair assessment: my tutor mentioned couple times that we were working in a University so the level of their English has to be proper for the studies curriculum. For the test please  look here: Test for Social Workers

The experience itself was great and exhausting and that´s why I wasn´t able to write anything until now. I need to breathe especially when at the evening I had long trips to go to work, a 3 years old to take care and housework to do it. A huge help came from my parents that spent 2 months in here without knowing English or Finnish, in the dark and cold December and January....to help me enjoying fully this experience. I would never thank them enough. 

Teaching training journal_ own identity

Yesterday was my last lesson of my teaching training and we worked on identities.
I built up several activities.

Learning outcomes: understand why we act in a specific way, moderate judgements about others, describes our complexe identites in simple ways, anti racisms.

Activites: all of them were in plenum or in a pair. Discussion and debate about identities.

Activites in detail from here: Foreigner clients

Feedback from the students: all of them enjoyed the lesson and the contents. Some of them they would used  the book more.

iVet saving the world - Individual task

1.   The main points of my workplace's sustainable development program
I am working in Community Colleges and I am working in so many of those that I decided to keep as an example my previous employer: Mc Donald´s. The Community Colleges they don´t have a specific strategy as far as I know. Mc Donald´s instead they have really specific sustainable program and they involve the workers from the very first working day.
These the main points:
In packing:  minimizing weight, maximamizing use of recycles materials, preference for renewable raw materials from third-party certified sources, minimizing the amount of harmful chemicals used in production, reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions,maximizing end-of-life options such as recycling or composting.
Recycled paper: they use it in tray liners, napkins, bags, sandwich containers and other restaurant materials such as shipping containers. All the packing is anyway made approximately 80% of the  from renewable (paper or wood-fiber) materials, and nearly 30% of consumer packaging is made from recycled materials. 
In food: in Mc Donalds we were using for instance palm oil in some products straight and in some other just small quatity. The oil plan plantation increased a lot especially in some areas that were left without any forests. The use of this oil and the conseguences plantation helped to restablish the eco system in some areas. 
They cooperate with WWF(World Wildlife Fund): every year Mc Donalds gets an analysis from WWF in order to know in what area they should improve the sustainable development. In every region/state is different results so they are working according to their areas results. Example: in Europe they might work in sustainable coffee and America on different issue. 
Here you are a picture that summerize the main points that I didn´t mention but it´s part of 2012 sustaunability highlights: 
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/mcd/sustainability/sustainability_highlights/_jcr_content/genericpagecontent/everything_0/file.res/2012_Global_Sustainability_Highlights_Infographic.pdf%2c%2c%2c


2. How does it affect employees' day to day life or does it?
Yes it does. Every evening for example workers have to save the oil in a big cointainers. They were using for recycling. Also the fact that every worker is trained to cooperate for recycling as much as possible is also very effective. Of course as a company they are focused in increase effecienty and dicrease the wasting. Achiving those goals it reduces the costs and also make them in the eyes of the workers and custumers a trust brand. In different countries they use different strategies but with the same goal. In my personal experience here in Finland I can say that in matter of saving energy for instance they were regulating the kitchen equipement perfome to improve the use of energy. Also they were adjusting the ventilation system according to the number of the custumers helped to save energy. As a worker there for instance this system make me confortable with the temperature in every situation. 
 
3. What are the challenges in sustainable development in my field of work?
As I language teacher/ history teacher I think it´s to show the students in practical way what means sustainable development. Beside the recycling of paper and turn off all the electronic equipments what else I could show them? Now that I am doing my teaching training I am using more and more the computer and less copies. Yes it helps in one way but what about in the other?  I think what I miss also is practical example for instance in issues such as: understading completely the word sustainable development and be able to explain as good as possible, shating the complexity of the actions to make a better world; in more practical ways how to be able to build a human capacity for implementing a new education in sustainable development. 

4. How could I teach the principles of sustainable development in my own subject? 
 As an history teacher I could teach the concept of sustainable development during the past years and help the students to recognize the changing. As a language teacher I could help the students to recongnize what is behind a message and analyze it.  I would like them to think about the deep meaning of sustainable develpment, to take part to the local community activities where stakeholders can also partecipate and say their opionion about  s.d.


References: 

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSqIzZpfCqs&list=PL308D62066232AFA0&index=1&
• feature=plpp_video 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvQKAXQbcko&feature=BFa&list=PL308D62066232AFA0&lf=plpp_video 
• http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/mcd/sustainability/sustainability_highlights/_jcr_content/genericpagecontent/everything_0/file.res/2012_Global_Sustainability_Highlights_Infographic.pdf%2c%2c%2c 
•  http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/sustainability.html
• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001524/152453eo.pdf 

 

Teaching Journal_ Domestic Violence part 2

http://www.hopeinspiredministries.org/

 Introduction: Efforts to combat domestic violence can sometimes be hinderedby myths about domestic violence. These myths develop inpartbecause it can be difficul to understand why one person would hurt another, particulary in the context on an intimate relationship. Understanding these myths and the realities of domestic violence it´s importan to learn how to address them and think a proper strategy to help the victims.
Learning outcomes:
- recognize signs of batterers and victims
- Learn about different myths related to domestic violence
- Build a proper strategy and give priorities inside the people involved (if there are also children)

Activity:
- Prezi presentation about Domestic Violence, recalling what they did yesterday with Popplet.
See the presentation in here: Domestic Violence presentation
- Power and Control Wheel and Equality wheel: during yesterday and the group activity of today (based on prezi).
Equality wheel and Power and Control Wheel
A video from youtube about domestic violence: video on Domestic Violence
Group work on task 1 and 2 (see prezi) and discuss in plenum.
At the end a short debate about priorities if also children are involve.

Teaching Journal_ domestic violence and Popplet

Learning outcomes:
- getting to know and categorized the different types of domestic violence.
-  to identify the various kind of abusive behaviours that perpetretor uses in order to gain power and control over the victim.
-to understand that a single act could be defined as abuse

Activities:
Popplet and plenum discussion
Popplets are visible in here: Domestic Violence and Power and Control Wheel

In here the discussion questions:

•What is the relationship between physical and sexual abuse and the other tactics identified in the Power and Control Wheel?

•What is the relationship between each of the tactics described in the Power and Control Wheel?

•Under what circumstances might a husband calling his wife a derogatory (=loukkava) name constitute domestic violence?

   

Edusci Day part 2

The edusci day was really intresting and surprising fun. Unfortunately I wasn´t able to attend to the debate session but I joined the group later in the afternoon.
Blair (out tutor) came out with the wheel of assessment: we supposed to complete some tasks in certain period of time (30´) and in the meanwhile rotating in order to work with the most people as possible.
We had different tasks: lesson plan, comment, personal study plan and blended lesson arrangments.
He pointed out quite practical thing:sometimes we can be in situation where we need to come up with an effective lesson. Even in 30´! Well I was surprised about myself cause I could came out with something in so short time. I have done something similar with vocabulary exercise and I know that for the students sound scary but at the end of the day they are proud of themself how they managed.
I could apply the same tecnique for instance with Social Worker students: they have a certain period of time to do a task or exercise. I should organize the logistic and figure out the proper way to do it.
At the end of the day we spoke again about the CSCL and Balir wanted us to think who is behind the elearning enviroment, who put some kind of information and why the put in certain way.
We ended up with a quite debate: it´s unbelivable how missunderstandings can be when we don´t speak our mother tongue.

Vs 1 - Voc 2

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