1 00:00:01,139 --> 00:00:06,139 How can collaboration between teachers and language assistants be improved? 2 00:00:06,139 --> 00:00:18,949 I think the most important thing is to keep the lines of communication open with the teachers. 3 00:00:18,949 --> 00:00:26,949 And by this way, I feel that the expectations are well known, the goals. 4 00:00:26,949 --> 00:00:31,949 And I think also by organizing maybe like weekly or biweekly meetings, 5 00:00:31,949 --> 00:00:37,950 Different things can be talked about in a sense with how classes are progressing. 6 00:00:37,950 --> 00:00:45,950 L.A.'s language assistants can be given feedback depending on how they're doing in class. 7 00:00:45,950 --> 00:00:51,950 And I mean different things with lesson planning, defining goals, objectives. 8 00:00:51,950 --> 00:01:02,950 and I think that by doing these things, like I said, the expectations are clearer with the roles in the classroom 9 00:01:02,950 --> 00:01:11,950 and both the professors and language assistants can work together to improve and be more efficient in the classroom. 10 00:01:11,950 --> 00:01:17,950 Well, the collaboration between teachers and students is fundamental because if you, 11 00:01:17,950 --> 00:01:21,890 I mean, obviously you need to have a really good relationship with the teachers that you're working with, 12 00:01:21,969 --> 00:01:26,069 and so I think that first and foremost, communication and collaboration. 13 00:01:26,530 --> 00:01:33,469 And so I think a way that it could be improved would be through meetings, maybe twice a month, once a month, 14 00:01:33,750 --> 00:01:39,230 I think just to get on a solid ground and maybe get on the same page with your teachers. 15 00:01:39,629 --> 00:01:41,310 I think that's the best way that it could improve. 16 00:01:41,310 --> 00:01:48,810 this is I think one of the most important topics to think about as as an 17 00:01:48,810 --> 00:01:53,650 incoming language assistant it's difficult and I think it's different for 18 00:01:53,650 --> 00:01:57,609 each teacher because I think at each school it's a very different situation 19 00:01:57,609 --> 00:02:04,349 but so speaking from my experience I think that the main the biggest thing 20 00:02:04,349 --> 00:02:10,530 that caused any sort of miscommunication or any sort of disagreement between a 21 00:02:10,530 --> 00:02:15,330 teacher and I was a mismatch of expectations and I think that it's 22 00:02:15,330 --> 00:02:20,189 really important from the beginning from the very very beginning of the year to 23 00:02:20,189 --> 00:02:26,849 sit down with each of your teachers have a conversation about what exactly he or 24 00:02:26,849 --> 00:02:31,409 she expects from you and what you expect to be doing in the classroom what you're 25 00:02:31,409 --> 00:02:35,430 comfortable with doing what you're not comfortable with doing and if there are 26 00:02:35,430 --> 00:02:39,629 more involved classes or maybe some teachers that you have more classes with 27 00:02:39,629 --> 00:02:45,810 it's I think a good idea to set up some meeting times during the week just to 28 00:02:45,810 --> 00:02:50,389 catch up and make sure that you're on the same page about everything that 29 00:02:50,389 --> 00:02:56,009 you're teaching because I think that yeah once in a while a teacher will ask 30 00:02:56,009 --> 00:03:00,150 me to do something in class on the spot in front of students that I wasn't 31 00:03:00,150 --> 00:03:05,610 expecting and I think if we had had a conversation about that beforehand that 32 00:03:05,610 --> 00:03:09,509 situation would not have come up in class so I think the communication from 33 00:03:09,509 --> 00:03:18,830 the very beginning and being very clear about expectations is the most important thing. 34 00:03:18,830 --> 00:03:31,030 How can you help other language assistants to enhance their performance while at school? 35 00:03:31,030 --> 00:03:35,169 I think what I touched upon earlier about sharing information about students, because 36 00:03:35,169 --> 00:03:40,949 at the end of the day, these are teenagers, and they're very similar to the teenagers 37 00:03:40,949 --> 00:03:45,770 in the U.S. They don't like going to school. They don't like tests. They just want to have 38 00:03:45,770 --> 00:03:51,229 of fun. So if students get a test back and they're in a really awful mood, what we would 39 00:03:51,229 --> 00:03:57,770 do at my institute, we would share that information and say, fourth A is in a really awful mood. 40 00:03:57,770 --> 00:04:04,770 You may need to get a little bit more excited to help them pull them out of that funk. On 41 00:04:04,770 --> 00:04:10,270 the contrary, if students are riled up, they're really, really excited, you may have to tell 42 00:04:10,270 --> 00:04:15,009 other students like, okay, you need to change your presentation a little bit. You need to 43 00:04:15,009 --> 00:04:19,410 change your mood so that maybe you can bring them down and calm them down so you don't 44 00:04:19,410 --> 00:04:24,069 go into the room and rile them up even more. 45 00:04:24,069 --> 00:04:28,009 And I think that was the biggest way that we would, I would help other assistants and 46 00:04:28,009 --> 00:04:32,449 other assistants would help me help the students learn. 47 00:04:32,449 --> 00:04:37,310 So one of the biggest things that I would say about being a language assistant is that 48 00:04:37,310 --> 00:04:44,689 it's a program where you'll have a really nice opportunity to improve your soft skills. 49 00:04:44,689 --> 00:04:48,829 So if you're coming directly from college, you've studied a degree, you have a major, 50 00:04:48,829 --> 00:04:54,029 a double major, maybe you've done research or an internship, or maybe you're a professional 51 00:04:54,029 --> 00:04:59,209 who's been working for a couple of years specializing in how to do something and how to do that 52 00:04:59,209 --> 00:05:00,329 well. 53 00:05:00,329 --> 00:05:08,129 Being a language assistant teaches you soft skills, flexibility, collaboration, time management, 54 00:05:08,129 --> 00:05:15,069 education, things that you may not be learning immediately in your college curriculum or 55 00:05:15,069 --> 00:05:21,189 whatever it is, but are required to do an effective job in your high schools because 56 00:05:21,189 --> 00:05:25,970 you never know what you're going to be asked to do on a day-to-day basis. 57 00:05:25,970 --> 00:05:34,310 And establishing the ability to be a responsible and consistent professional and really be 58 00:05:34,310 --> 00:05:39,189 able to collaborate with whatever is thrown your way is kind of the best thing that I 59 00:05:39,189 --> 00:05:41,990 can recommend to improving your performance. 60 00:05:41,990 --> 00:05:47,930 The information about learning the material given in class, that can come later and can 61 00:05:47,930 --> 00:05:53,970 come kind of on the fly and you'll just take it as you're given it. 62 00:05:53,970 --> 00:06:01,310 But to work on the soft skills I think is one thing that will really serve you well. 63 00:06:01,310 --> 00:06:05,470 I think it's a really awesome opportunity to be able to have other language assistants 64 00:06:05,470 --> 00:06:10,029 at the school that you're teaching in. 65 00:06:10,029 --> 00:06:14,670 One of the reasons for that is because of the collaboration that can occur between you 66 00:06:14,670 --> 00:06:17,329 and the other teachers. 67 00:06:17,329 --> 00:06:23,750 For example, in my school, there are three other language assistants, and two of them 68 00:06:23,750 --> 00:06:27,970 have been there at the school for one year before me. 69 00:06:27,970 --> 00:06:34,629 So just from day one, from talking to them, they gave me so much information that was 70 00:06:34,629 --> 00:06:40,410 helpful for me in dealing with the system in place in the school because it's so different 71 00:06:40,410 --> 00:06:42,550 from the U.S. 72 00:06:42,550 --> 00:06:46,889 So it was very helpful for me to be able to collaborate with them and learn from them 73 00:06:46,889 --> 00:06:48,110 from the very beginning. 74 00:06:48,110 --> 00:06:54,350 And then I think throughout the entire school year, we got pretty close, our group of language 75 00:06:54,350 --> 00:07:01,810 assistance and we hung out during Recreo every day and we would talk about our students, 76 00:07:01,810 --> 00:07:08,009 talk about difficulties we were having in class and basically we were able to slowly 77 00:07:08,009 --> 00:07:14,670 learn that we were able to share materials, share worksheets, websites, presentations, 78 00:07:14,670 --> 00:07:19,709 all of those things and it was very helpful for all of us to learn from each other what 79 00:07:19,709 --> 00:07:26,209 What techniques we were using in class to help get the kids to stay quiet, to pay attention, 80 00:07:26,209 --> 00:07:31,949 all of those things were extremely helpful to talk to the other language assistants in 81 00:07:31,949 --> 00:07:33,470 my school about that. 82 00:07:33,470 --> 00:07:38,689 And I think it's a really cool opportunity to have those people there to be able to collaborate 83 00:07:38,689 --> 00:07:44,589 with and commiserate with when things aren't going well necessarily and be able to lift 84 00:07:44,589 --> 00:07:52,629 each other up when you need it. 85 00:07:52,629 --> 00:07:57,129 What are the most relevant resources you have found in your school? 86 00:07:57,129 --> 00:08:06,560 What resources did you miss? 87 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:12,019 In my school, it's been the people who have been the most valuable resource to me throughout 88 00:08:12,019 --> 00:08:13,019 the year. 89 00:08:13,019 --> 00:08:19,399 This goes from the secretario of the school, who I don't give any classes with, but who 90 00:08:19,399 --> 00:08:24,860 has been there for 20 years and just a valuable resource to answer questions about how things 91 00:08:24,860 --> 00:08:31,220 work and the education system in La Comunidad de Madrid, and then the teachers that I work 92 00:08:31,220 --> 00:08:36,559 with on a day-to-day basis have been really valuable resources. 93 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:42,720 In terms of technical information, giving the global classrooms curriculum, I've relied 94 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:49,159 a lot on the information we were given in our Fulbright orientation, and then the printed 95 00:08:49,159 --> 00:08:53,559 publications of kind of the handbook for how to go about teaching that program in an effective 96 00:08:53,559 --> 00:09:01,000 way. Things that I may have missed is a kind of a better access to technology that goes kind of 97 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:09,340 school by school. That was something that limited me this year. Other things that you may miss as a 98 00:09:09,340 --> 00:09:16,019 teacher are certain supplies that may not just be right on hand. I'm thinking here about arts and 99 00:09:16,019 --> 00:09:20,720 craft supplies. If you want to do something a little bit more creative, you might want to speak 100 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:25,120 with someone about that a couple weeks in advance to make sure you have what you need 101 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:33,080 to do your activity or your project well. 102 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:39,200 How would you describe your relationship with students, teachers, coordinators, families, 103 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:47,759 the school board, and other language assistants? 104 00:09:47,759 --> 00:09:50,139 This job is a really collaborative job. 105 00:09:50,139 --> 00:09:56,200 So every day I'm working with my teachers to plan the lessons, to reflect on the lessons, 106 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,200 to talk about which students are doing well and what has to be improved. 107 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,620 So you have to become really close with your teachers because they're your colleagues. 108 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:07,919 So my teachers are my co-workers and my friends. 109 00:10:07,919 --> 00:10:11,399 It's nice because you can talk about lessons over coffee during your breaks. 110 00:10:11,399 --> 00:10:14,639 So it's a very relaxed, very friendly environment. 111 00:10:14,639 --> 00:10:17,960 The other teaching assistants at your school as well are a really important part of the 112 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:22,220 community and you become really close with them and it's one of the best parts of the 113 00:10:22,220 --> 00:10:25,620 experience getting to talk to those teachers as well. 114 00:10:25,620 --> 00:10:26,620 The students are fantastic. 115 00:10:26,620 --> 00:10:28,879 They're really eager to learn and they're fun.