Diagnostic Class

On September 30th, 2015 we had the first experience leading a class in the Teaching Practicum I course, it was the Diagnostic Class.

This was not a regular lesson, in that day we had the chance to get to know the kids who would be visiting us for the rest of the course, and who would become our students. As in every other course, we had to diagnose our students to know what they already knew and the things they needed to learn. In order to achieve this, each group created a series of activities aimed to find out how well students mastered a specific topic.

I have to admit that I was feeling nervous, not only because it was the first time we were going to direct a class in front of our students, but also because we were being observed by our classmates and teacher. However, when the time to start the class began, there was no more room for nervousness. As group number one we were the first ones to develop our activities, and after all, I felt very comfortable performing in front of the students. As the evening went by, all of the groups developed their activities. Then, at 4:30 pm, when kids were gone, it was time to conclude what we had observed during our Diagnostic Class.

Together, we conclude that our students were not true beginners, most of them had a basic knowledge about the topics we presented, such as animals, colors, classroom objects, etc. Because of this, we decided that we were going to use a syllabus that would result challenging but fair for them. After taking this decision, we were given the dates in which we were required to teach, and the topics to develop. Once the Diagnostic Class was over, it was time to start preparing for the real experience. An experience I will share with you in the following entries of this blog.