Written Assignment 4 - Lessons from the Classroom

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I confirm that this submission is all my own work.

Signed: ________________________ (Trainee) Date:______________

Reserved for the Assessment criteria

tutor
can note your own teaching strengths and weaknesses in different situations in light of
feedback from learners, teachers and teacher educators (Section A)
can identify which ELT areas of knowledge and skills you need further development in (Section
B and Section D)
can describe in a specific way how you might develop your ELT knowledge and skills beyond this
course (sections B, C and D)
can use written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task (all sections)
Taken from Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines for Course Tutors and Assessors

Re-submission
First Submission Pass
Due date:
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Signed: ______________________ (Tutor) Date: ________________ Double Mark:

___________________

Second Submission Pass on Resubmission Fail

Tutors comments:

Signed: ___________________ (Tutor) Date: ________________ Double Mark:

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Referencing and Plagiarism
Your assignments need to be written in clear, accurate and academic English with
appropriate in text referencing. You should use mainly indirect quotes, meaning that
you paraphrased the text. If specific quotes are used, they should be referenced using
author(s)’ surname(s), year of publication and page numbers quoted, e.g. (Richards
2001:98). Page numbers are not required if indirect quotes are used. e.g. Richards
(2001).
The bibliography should be presented in alphabetical order of author’s surname. Year
of publication, city and publisher should be included. This should be presented after
the assignment and before the appendices, and should only include publications
referred to in the text itself.
Referencing should follow a recognised format throughout the assignment. Here are
examples of references according to the APA Publication Manual, (6th ed., 2009); for
more information see www.apastyle.org.
Single author book: Richards, J.C. (2001). Curriculum development in language
teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
Section of edited book: Messick, S. (1989). Validity. In R. Linn (Ed.), Educational
measurement (pp. 13–103). New York: Macmillan.
Journal article: Chapelle, C. (1999). Validity in language assessment. Annual Review of
Applied Linguistics 19, 254–272. Edited book: Graves, K. (Ed.) (1996). Teachers as
course developers. Cambridge: CUP
Electronic source: British Educational Research Association. (1992). Ethical guidelines.
Retrieved 22 May, 2016, from: http://www.bera.ac.uk/guidelines.html
Please note that plagiarism includes:
• copying another’s language or ideas as if they were your own
• unauthorised collusion
• quoting directly without making it clear by standard referencing and the use of
quotation marks and/or layout (indented paragraphs, for example) that you are doing
so
• using text downloaded from the internet without referencing the source
conventionally
• closely paraphrasing a text
• submitting work which has been undertaken wholly or in part by someone else.
Written Assignment 4 - Lessons from the Classroom
* Any submission totalling more than 1,100 words of your own work is an
automatic resubmission.
* Please write in continuous prose throughout.

Word Limit: 750 to 1000 words

This assignment is intended to assess your ability to identify the strengths and areas for
improvement in your own teaching and to draw implications for your development as a
teacher from observing others. Refer to your teaching practice, feedback from tutors
and peers, your own lesson evaluations, observations of peers and experienced
teachers carried out on the CELTA course.
Simply type your reflections and action plans in continuous prose into the boxes below

Section A – Your Teaching Strengths

Identify at least three areas of teaching which you have improved on during the
course and state how you have achieved this progress. You should include specific
examples from lessons you have taught and feedback comments from trainers, other
trainees and your teaching practice students.

What do you feel are (or will be) the strengths of your own teaching?
Refer to feedback from your tutors, peers and students.

For example, giving instructions and task setting (delete this text)
Strength 1

Examples I know this is a strength because in TPs 4 and 6… I saw that students
from your were able to... (delete this text)
teaching
Why this is Clear and concise instructions are important because… xyz (delete this
a strength text)
and why it
is
important

Strength 2

Examples
from your
teaching
 Why this is
a strength
and why it
is
important

Strength 3

Examples
from your
teaching
Why this is
a strength
and why it
is
important

Section B – Areas of Continued Development

Identify at least three areas of teaching you need to work on and make suggestions on
how to improve on these after the course. Give examples from your teaching and
include comments from trainers, other trainees and your teaching practice students to
justify your suggestions.

What do you feel are the areas for improvement at the moment and how do you
think they can be overcome? Refer to feedback from your tutors, peers and
students.

For example, language grading (delete this text)

Area 1

Examples In TP 3, my tutor commented… I saw the students... (delete this text)

from your
teaching
Why this is It is important to grade language appropriately for the learner group
an area for and learning context because this allows learners to… xyz… while a
developmen failure to grade language can result in… abc (delete this text)
t and how
can
developing
benefit the
learners?
 I will continue to develop in this area by reading… /observing... /
Specific ways practising… / etc. (delete this text)
you can
develop this
area

Area 2

Examples
from your
teaching
Why this is
an area for
developmen
t and how
can
developing
benefit the
learners?

Specific ways
you can
develop this
area

Area 3

Examples
from your
teaching
Why this is
an area for
developmen
t and how
can
developing
benefit the
learners?

Specific ways
you can
develop this
area
Section C –Peer Observations and Application
to your own Teaching
Identify particular strengths and skills you have observed, commenting on both your
peers and experienced teachers. You should include specific examples of skills and
techniques you would like to use in the future, and say how you will incorporate them
into your own teaching.

What strengths have you noticed in your peers’ teaching that you would like to
emulate? What things do you remember from the observations of your trainers or
other experienced teachers that you would like to incorporate into your own
teaching? Refer to specific peers and lessons.

Teacher 1 For example, Gui was highly effective at drilling the TL in class (delete
and strength this text)
Specific Gui’s successful drilling was due to… xyz… for example in TP 5 he…
techniques abc… which benefitted the learners because… def. (delete this text)
employed
Why you I would like to incorporate the above techniques because… xyz
would like to (delete this text)
incorporate
this into
your
teaching

Teacher 2
and strength
Specific
techniques
employed
Why you
would like to
incorporate
this into
your
teaching

Tutor or
Experienced
Teacher
strength
 Specific
techniques
employed
Why you
would like to
incorporate
this into
your
teaching

Section D – Post-CELTA Professional

Development Action Plan
Say how you intend to increase your knowledge of ELT after the course. State which
sources you intend to use to find out information about new methods and approaches.
You should also say how you intend to develop your teaching skills in the future

For example, I would like to develop my knowledge of

Area for phonology… because it is important to…. in order to successfully…
development 1 (delete this text)
and why

In order to develop in this area, I will read [specific

How you will book/article/journal ]/ join [specific teaching association] /
develop this subscribe to [specific blog/journal], etc.
area

Area for
development 2
and why

How you will

develop this
area

Area for
development 3
and why
How you will
develop this
area
 Assignment 4 Checklist
Part a) Strengths Done?
Clear examples of strengths
Why these strengths are important
Refer to feedback from tutors, peers and students

Part b) Weaknesses Done?

Clear examples of weaknesses
Why these weaknesses need to be overcome
Specific action points to overcome weaknesses
Refer to feedback from tutors, peers and students

Part c) Observations of other teachers Done?

Comments on specific techniques used by 2 of your peers
Comments on your observation of experienced teachers

Part d) Plan for professional development Done?

Clear examples of what you want to achieve and how you’ll
develop your skills and ELT knowledge after the course

Potential Pitfalls

- Not giving clear enough examples of strengths / areas for development

- Not showing awareness of why strengths are important / weaknesses need to

be overcome

- Not referring to feedback from tutors, peers and students

- Not providing clear action points for improving your areas for development

- Not referring to specific techniques used by 2 of your peers and also techniques
used by experienced teachers you observed

- Not providing a clear action plan for your development after the course.

Ways to shine

- Provide a clear and balanced summary of your teaching and progress on the
course

- Show a clear understanding of why your own strengths and those observed in
others are important for successful teaching
- Show a clear understanding of why weaknesses need to be overcome and
provide a clear action plan to achieve this

- Provide a clear action plan for your future development beyond the course
(you could divide this into long and short term goals and action plans)
1. Your teaching strengths
Identify at least three areas of teaching which you have improved on
during the course and state how you have achieved this progress. You
should include specific examples from lessons you have taught and
feedback comments from trainers, other trainees and your teaching
practice students.

2. Areas for improvement

Identify at least three areas of teaching you need to work on and
make suggestions on how to improve on these after the course. Give
examples from your teaching and include comments from trainers,
other trainees and your teaching practice students to justify your
suggestions.

3. Observations of other trainees and experienced teachers

Identify particular strengths and skills you have observed,
commenting on both your peers and experienced teachers. You
should include specific examples of skills and techniques you would
like to use in the future, and say how you will incorporate them into
your own teaching.

4. Further development after the course

Say how you intend to increase your knowledge of ELT after the
course. State which sources you intend to use to find out information
about new methods and approaches. You should also say how you
intend to develop your teaching skills in the future.