Lessons from the Classroom is usually the final written assignment set on a CELTA course. Some people say it's the easiest assignment to do. The goal of the assignment is to give you a chance to reflect on what you've learnt during the course and how you plan to continue developing as a teacher after you've finished.
One thing to bear in mind when you write the assignment is that it's important to be honest. You'll be asked to assess your own teaching and/or to give an account of your teaching strengths and weaknesses. If this doesn't reflect what actually happened during your teaching practice on the course, then it's likely your tutor will ask you to revise what you've written. Remember that the aim isn't to make yourself look good by claiming you're an amazing teacher, the aim is to show you're capable of reflection and of development, so don't be afraid to look at your flaws.
The wording of the assignment may be different depending on where you do your CELTA course, but there will always be a requirement to reference observations, either those you did of your peers or your observations of experienced teachers. Again, try to be honest and say what you learned from these. You don't have to be 'nice' and heap praise on your peers or your tutors. The key word with this assignment is reflection. What did you learn from observations?
One very important element of this assignment (and the area that CELTA trainees often trip up on) is the description of an action plan for future teaching. It is essential that this is specific. It's not enough to say that you want to be better at grammar. You need to say which areas of teaching grammar you want to improve on and to mention some strategies or ideas you can use in the future to do this. For this section of the assignment, vagueness is definitely a disadvantage.
You can find more helpful advice here.
In summary:
Your reflections on your teaching should be honest and specific.
You should follow the instructions the assignment rubric gives.
Your reflections on observations should show that you are a reflective observer.
Your action plan for future teaching should be specific and practical.
Dr Connor O'Donoghue hails from Ireland and he started teaching English as a foreign language in Poland in 2003 and he became a CELTA trainer in 2008. He has taught and trained in Ireland, the UK, France, Italy, Slovenia, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. Connor also holds a Masters and a PhD in Education from Trinity College in Dublin. He has previously managed large teacher training centres in Vietnam and in London before founding DC Teacher Training.
Comments