VI- WHEN THINGS GO WRONG IN CLASS

Many problems associated with in-class group work can be prevented with careful preparation, specific instructions, and appropriate facilitation. Consult teaching tips sheet “Implementing Group Work in the Classroom” for important guidelines and suggestions on these issues. However, when your students do not respond as you had hoped they would, here are some ways to respond.

The class went out of control.

 It was one day when I was explaining the new topic of color. Some children asked me about the colors, but they spoke too loud and in the same time that I couldn’t understand what they said. To control that moment I realized that I had to use one activity in order to involve them, and I changed the dynamic.

An activity took too long.

 I remember that day; I started to talk about family members. So I did a dynamic called the hot potatoes because it was one of the most favorites for the children. It was planning for around 15 minutes, but it took me more than 25 minutes as many children were participating and asking much about the names of the member. At the end, I gave them a homework assignment to finish at home.   

An activity did not work.

It is difficult to control or to have the idea that every activity is going to have a good result. I would like to share with you that in one occasion I was doing an activity with the students, and I decided to create groups of five. So they created the groups with some of their friends even though they met each other’s, but they started to do a big disorder, it was awful to see everybody in that position. I changed the dynamic.

An activity was too difficult.

The children were so intelligent that they caught easily the activities, but in that occasion they could not understand the activity. The activity was to draw their families, so they did not have the idea what a family member are?

Did you follow any tips presented of chapter 8? Do you think could have worked for you?

Yes, I found and included some tips that has the chapter panning your work, and it was very useful for me to face some problems by using some of the tips, for example, when some activities did not have the result that I expected. I evaluated what it was wrong in order to have a good result for the next one.(Natalia Muñoz)

It is commonly for every teacher to use a specific guide lines for some different reasons, for example, it makes life much easier for the teacher in classroom, it saves time, and so on. But what happen when it does not work.

You had extra time.

 Most of the time, I planned my lesson plan to control the time in which included the different activities in order to develop the class in a good way.

An internal disturbance:

The environment in classroom is very important for understanding the class. One day I explained the topic of different transportations, suddenly two children were fighting one toy. It was difficult for me because I was alone in the classroom because the principal teacher was sick; I took the toy. I talked with them about that, and I explained that the action was bad.

 There was an external disturbance.

One day, I was doing some activity suddenly I heard a strange sound out of the room and it was difficult for me to explain the class; it was a show of dancing for a specific event. I tried to talk with the teacher about it, and he understood the problem. Finally I could give the class to teach.

Did you follow any tips presented of chapter 8? Do you think could have worked for you?

 Yes, I follow some important information because I know that children are usually full of enthusiasm and energy, and the language lessons will be full of variety and changes of activity. 

These tools helped me a lot because I could know what I need for my lesson every classes, and could notice how to balance my lesson, for doing or obtaining a good result at the end of the class. Also, it allowed me to use more of my energy and enthusiasm to enjoy what I am doing. (Gabriela Gonzalez)

During all my practitioner’s classes only one day the class went out of control because some of them did not like the activity that I had prepared. Therefore, I started to work with them in other things, and they became quiet again.

I had prepare a very interesting activity by the time I realized that it would take so much time, so the children started to become anxious and boring. They were hungry; that is why, we make the activity into two parts.

Finally, an activity was a little bit difficult for the little kids, so all of them started to ask many question. At the end of the class, I was very tired, but the activity was already finished. 

I tried to follow some of the tips that the book presents, but some of them do not work at all because some activities were a little bit difficult for them. However, I consider that they will work if we adjust the activities according to the age, level and the interest of the students. Once we move from boring or maybe common activities, our students will learn more that they do. One thing that helped me a lot was the activity based on learning new vocabulary because I use not only pictures but also things related to their first language.

 There was an external disturbance.

I really suffered with the external disturbance because the school was small place and the classrooms were one next to the other, so I could hear everything that was happening in the next room. What I did was to talk with the teacher and we got in agreement to have a specific time to give the class for each teacher and to take turns. So, when I was giving classes, the next classroom was having a break and so on.

The class went out of control.

I remember just one time when I almost lost the control of the class because I made a game, and two students were fighting for being the first one when participating. I stopped the music and told them that if they were going to fight, I was going to leave the classroom; for them to realized that what they were doing was wrong, I adapted a serious mood position and showed myself disappointed by what they were doing. That was the first and last time the class almost went out of control. (Antonio Siciliano)

An activity took too long.

One day, I brought a cut and paste activity. I remember that they were excited because they almost never do activities like those; I brought a three-page cut and place pictures activity and I gave them it. It took one hour, but it was planned to be 20 minutes. What I did is to leave them homework for the next class and told them to finished coloring, cutting and paste at home.

An activity did not work.

Once, I tried to make them read in English, but I realized that not all the students can work or understand in the same way. What I did is to change the instruction of the game; I decided to read myself and asked them to pay attention to me in order to they answer the questions that I was going to asked them and in that way I caught their attention and help them to develop their understanding skill.

An activity was too difficult.

I discovered that for they reading was too difficult. Every time I pretended to make them read, at the beginning they were no able to read, but by practicing I could help them to improve a little bit their reading skill. Even though for them it is difficult to read well, I teach them to never give up, and if they do not know how to pronounce a word or its meaning, to ask for information.

Which of this situations did you face in your teaching practicum? Describe what happened and how you dealt with it.

Well, I used one tip when mi class was out of control, and made a calming activity: reading a book for them. Also, when an activity took too long, I decided to tell them to do it as a homework and then I moved into another activity. Of course, they worked in my teaching context, and I think they work excellent.

Did you follow any tips presented of chapter 8? Do you think could have worked for you?

Well, first I followed some tips in which I could use to create my lessons planning, and I included when and how to use group of work because is one way to make the organization of my children as easy as possible.

The importance of the time to indicate how much time I think each activity will take

And always have more activities than I think I will need. (Blanca Bolaños)

(Elmer Rodriguez)

An internal disturbance:

The situation that happened to me was that the class went out of control. 

I prepared a beautiful activity for the kids because I wanted to do something different for them. I prepared a day before my class, and I decided to teach them the parts of the body. I bought a poster with the parts of the body, and I downloaded a song. I started to teach them how to say the parts. Everything was good in that moment; then, the teacher sad me that she has to go out. So I was alone with the kids at the moment that I put the song they started to sing and dance. All of them were happy; however, I don´t Know what happened that in one moment the kids were out of control, they felt to the flow, they started to scream. I sad behave and they didn´t listen me, suddenly a girl was crying because another girl hit her.

I didn´t know what to do. I started to say in a good way that they had to behave well. And I sad to the girl that hit the other that she has to apologize fortunaly she did. Then, the teacher came back to the classroom, and I said to her what had happened.
Yes, I think that it could work because that I can use these techniques for continuing the class. For example, with the girls fighting, I took them outside, and I talked with them.

There was an external disturbance: it was because of the school was too small, so the classrooms were much closed to the playground.  Sometimes I was trying to give the class and there was an external disturbance from the other students.

What I did to solve this was close the door and speak lauder; I also tried to catch the pupil’s attention as much as I could because in that way they did not pay attention to the external disturbance.

An activity took too long:  Once I made with my pupils an activity where they had to paint some figures, and it was too difficult that they finish.

I helped the pupils to complete the activity, and they could finish more quickly.

I had extra time: Once the teacher left me with the pupils for 3 hours because she had to attend some activities. So it was pretty difficult to take care of the pupils and to try that they did not get bored.

Basically, I gave the pupils the class, and then, I made some activities but entertainment ones. Through the activities I made with them I tried to teach them some words.

Yes, I did; for example, when I had extra time in my class. I used like ¨emergency activities¨, and I did it in the way that chapter number eight mentions. It means that I made the activity according to what I had been teaching before.  That definitely worked for me because it was also useful for the pupils had like a review, and they also had a good moment.

Also, when one of the activities I made with them took too long I not only helped them to finish but also I left them that activity as homework. As clearly the chapter eight says, and it worked very well.

And activity took too long: when I was teach about the furniture of the house, then I did an activity for made a review that activity was, I drew in some pages the different parts of the house, and I made groups of five and I give them some pieces of paper with the name of the furniture, and they had to put the name in the correct place, but the student had some problems and I didn’t have much time, so I used one step that is in chapter 8, I said to my classmates that we are going to finish that activity the next class

Did you follow any tips presented of chapter 8? Do you think could have worked for you?

Yes, I followed some tips and it helped me a lot in my classes, for example to ask did the pupils learn what I wanted them to learn?, this can be difficult question to answer since learning takes place over a period of time, but a good time to task the question is after a whole period of time.