Week 13: Brown ch 9-11 and Kumar ch. 13

I always tend to get somewhat overwhelmed when discussing curriculum or even unit designs so I think that Brown’s chapters were really helpful to show me how it is a manageable task as long as I take it one step at a time. Remaining optimistic is key, so when I took the first chapter section by section it made me creating curriculum much more approachable. The comparisons between both objective and subjective needs were interesting to me because I hadn’t really noticed a difference until Brown stated that subjective needs are almost more important because they focus on the needs through the eyes of the learners. Meeting the needs of the students is ultimately our main goal and it is important to remember to accommodate their attitudes, expectations, perceived purposes, learning preferences and the specific language skills students wish to focus on.

Although we all like to hope for the best for all of our future lessons, I appreciated that Brown made sure that we also are prepared for the possible problems that could come out of curriculums. I think this is especially important in a culturally diverse setting because many respect issues can come about, altering the message that was originally intended.

It was interesting to get yet another perspective on lesson planning although Brown’s seemed to be pretty spot on with the methods I have previously learned in many of my C&I courses. I think among all the aspects that go into a lesson plan, I think that the most important concept from Chapter 10 was the idea of variety, sequencing, pacing and timing. As a teacher it is extremely important to be flexible and especially when it comes to lesson plans. Not every day will they go according to plan and it is essential to learn to go with the flow and reflect on the day afterwards so that you can improve yourself for the next time.

I thought that the list of language-teaching techniques on page 185 was really helpful because it was written proof of how many different approaches teachers can take in order to accommodate the needs of each individual learner. I personally thought the list of free techniques seemed the most fun and rewarding since they were more personable and life like because for example the “role play” activity can most always be taken directly outside of the classroom and used in day to day speech.

Kumar’s concept of M&M or macrostrategies/mismatch observational scheme was unlike anything I had heard before and I thought he had some unique ideas towards the approach of monitoring teacher acts. I feel like I can really relate the ideas he mentioned (preobservation, observation and postobservation) to my experience as a student teacher because all these steps will help me improve and get to the next level in my teaching experience. I also feel that it is extremely important to constantly be reflecting on my behaviors in the classroom setting so that I can regularly be improving and thus benefitting my students and my success.