Intervention plan

My intervention point:

During this experience as an observer in the pedagogical intervention we are applying in our school, there are different aspects that should be taken into account in order to help the participants, in this case teachers, and also the instructor to improve the development of the sessions. After analyzing the journal entries, a common situation is presented in the four classes. From the first class it is seen that even this project benefits the school and the participants in their professional development, the different duties of the school are an obstacle for the correct development of the class. This is an extract from the first class in which some sight of the problem start appearing: “Some of them were absolutely concentrated on the activity, however due to the fact that during the session computers are required to enter to a virtual platform, some others were sending mails or completing duties from the school. This is an understandable situation because this project is not mandatory in the school; they decided to take this course because they have the desire to reinforce their abilities in the foreign language. The bell rang, some teachers were needed by the coordinator and they had to leave the classroom for a while. The instructor started to feel frustrated because that type of constraints” (journal entry 1). 

More evidence of this problem was found in the journals in which those school responsibilities affect the students’ progress since the beginning of the classes, “The rest of the participants arrived late due to the different duties they had in the school. (Journal entry 1). This situation is not only affecting the students’ performance in the course. Additionally the instructor started to feel demotivated due to the intermittence in the students’ participation in the class, to start with, we were very concerned about the amount of teachers presented on the class, and there were only two participants, on time. The rest were having breakfast and doing thing from the school (journal entry 3)

Besides that constrain, students and teachers are trying to overcome that difficulty by supporting each other and with the desire of ending that course with the most wonderful results, “I think that even the teachers felt frustrated because of the different interruptions that we have during the class, he decided to continue and to reinforce the content when all the participants were completed”. (journal entry 1 )

Taking into account this problematic situation that is been perceived during the professional development course, I would come up with the following course of action in order to overcome this difficulty. First of all, it is important to listen the participants’ voices in order to identify their perceptions about this situation. From my experience as a teacher from the school like them, it is easy to know that there are lots of responsibilities and also the amount of hours that avoid a full concentration in the course. Also due to the fact that this course is taking place at break time, the only hour most of them have to relax, it tends to be an extra time investment. From the dialogue or interview, with the participants causes and possible solutions can be extracted.

Secondly, an idea taken from one of the journals could be a possible option to overcome the difficulty, “We are planning for next sessions to give a more personalized feedback in order to help those teachers who have not assisted to all the classes to overcome difficulties and to clarify doubts”. (Journal entry 4). After identifying the teachers difficulties or obstacles to assist to the class, the solution of a personalized class in one of their free hours in order to help them to catch up with the topics of the class. This could be an interesting solution for them because the fact of being in a specific place, with the teacher without the interruption of students or any other distractor, they could clarify different aspects form the class. During this time students can ask questions, about vocabulary, grammar structures, and also the instructor can help them to finish the in class activities without any pressure.

Finally, in the development of this course, Edmodo has been used as a virtual portfolio, in order to have evidence from the students in class performance. Another important use for this technological tool can be as a mediator for communication. Through different post, instructor informs in advance about the topics, vocabulary, and also date of the class, to help them to be punctual in the classroom. Informal talks will be a also a good strategy to remind the participants about the class. Even the coordinators and principal are aware of the development of the project in the school; it can be useful to remind them the importance of this plan in order to reach the school goals for the future. In that sense, we can rely on the relevance of the concentration of the teachers during those hours. For that reason we require them not to interrupt teachers during this time with school matters.

This is an amazing project that helps teachers to get away from school affairs, and to give time for them to develop their own professional strengths. I hope the idea of a more personalized feedback during their free hours; can help them and the teacher not to lose their motivation in this beautiful project.