PSTDP in my class - Auction

          In April 28th 2012 our facilitator, Allyne and Scott, made an activity with us called Auction. And it was a real Auction - with fake money, it's true! - where we should buy sentences about the contents we ha studied till now. Some of them were true or false and if it was false we should correct them. The goal of this activity was measure if we were really knowing the subject we saw in classes and review the content.

            So I adapted this Auction for my classrooms. Take a look.

I have to improvise and create myself material for using with students. I cut small rectangles in 'wood paper' (I don't if it is this way we say 'papel madeira' in English) for making the banknotes and put them divided in covers.

I divided the classroom in small groups.

 

In the same paper I did the banknotes I wrote sentences about the content the 7th Reality was studying. 

They copied the sentences in their notebooks because they should judge them as True or False and correct that whose were wrong.

I give the 'money' to the monitor and s/he should divide it with others.

 

 

So we started the Auction!!!

 

Worried about how much they should pay...

 

Aline Marie saying "We should save money, Pedro!"

Once...

 

Twice...

Three times... SOLD! 

It was funny!

PSTDP in my students

It's amazing when you can see that something it's working better than you could imagine.

It was exactly what happened with me less than 1 hour ago when I was making my material for tomorrow and suddenly a student marked me on facebook.

These small things make you feel your efforts are significant...

PSTDP in my classroom #2 - Easter

In March 31st, our Week #7, we started our day making an activity about Culture. Next week we going to celebrate Easter and it is a suitable theme for learn how to use in classroom.

            We received small pieces of paper and should organize them for discovering how the right order of the text was. So we organize it and discover the text talked about Easter in USA. We should now read it and observe what traditions were experienced and celebrated there and our country writing these appointments in a diagram like this one: 

This activity seemed to be so effective and useful that I decided to apply it in the classroom with students from 2^nd grade – High School. I researched a similar text on the Internet and made a puzzle-text.

The students were divided in small groups

They should organize the text

They were so competitive that would like be the first one.

So they started organizing the text.

#Working hard

Working together

So while they organized and understood the text, I did the diagram on the blackboard and delimited for the time for they cloze it.

They copied from the black board

And  drawed the diagram.

Comparing answers

PSTDP in my classrooms #1 - Experts

·         Using the activity learned on this week…

This weekend in the beginning of our PSTDP class our instructors, Allyne and Scott, used an activity where they choose some volunteers. These volunteers should sit down in three chairs and in the moment they sat they will be experts in some subject. These “experts” should answer any question classmates wanted make about the content, but the difference it was that they just could speak just one word.

I’ve adapted this activity in my English Language Class in 1^st class of high school with the content they are studying: Simple Present Tense.

We used the same layout but just for check how they’ve learned the subject. I should make question about the content and answer but in Portuguese because they don’t have yet fluency enough for speaking just in English.

Photo 1:  Three experts should answer questions about Simple Present

­Photo 2: The class was divided in small groups.

Photo 3: In groups, students should discuss about possible questions.

 

Photo 4: Students make questions for experts.

#itWorked

PSTDP in my classroom - Puzzle

Puzzle

Portfolio Task #1

Philosophies/beliefs about learning/teaching. What are your expectations regarding the program? What goals would you like to reach and how do you plan to achieve these goals.

I remember first time I heard that being a teacher is for people would like to contribute with world’s change. And It was exactly because of this I’ve thought being a teacher. I choose this profession because I believe just Education could promote the personal, cultural and social improvement. “Knowledge sets free” and it’s like a mission for me, making every student passed by me could be changed, improved, transformed.

This change’s process doesn’t happen only during the class but it’s through English Language Teaching I do it. It was the main reason why I signed up in PTSD, for making each day my work a more effective instrument of change.
The PSTDP will be a way to discover new tools that appears every day and - for more updating we are - are important to find out ways to develop your personal and professional skills for not being frozen, thinking that we already know enough. It’ll be a way to develop learning from those who know more than you and share with who knows as much. However I believe that more we gain all this knowledge we will share experiences, meet new opportunities and reinvigorate the spirit.