Reflection time...
The Primary Teacher Confirmation Scale
Confirmation Scale (PTCS), which I developed and
Introduction
In this short article I present a recipe for teachers
tried out during my practicum.
who value affect in their classrooms. It shares the How I created and used my Primary Teachers
outcomes of a study (1) , which was part of an action Confirmation Scale
research project integrated into a two-semester
practicum, as part of my pre-service master’s
degree
in
primary
English
education
in
Universidade Nova, Lisbon.
I have come up with a set of stages for you to
follow, so you can create your own PTCS and use
it in your own primary English classrooms:
First, I came up with and listed statements of
Why is affect important in our classrooms?
what I thought was confirming behavior to use
Teachers of English should be aware of how they in my own PTCS e.g. “A minha professora de
make children feel, how children’s perceptions may inglês dá-me oportunidade para falar”.
differ to their own and strive to ensure there is a
respectful and encouraging environment in their
classrooms. Children need to feel they are learning
in an environment where they can experiment and
make mistakes to learn. Attention to affect and
developing children’s self-esteem in the language
classroom is known to provide “a supportive
atmosphere in which we can better encourage
learners to work hard to reach their learning
potential” (2) .
communicate to students they are valuable,
individuals” (3) .
If
teachers
communicate they care about their learners, it
a
teacher should have.
Then
I compared the children’s selected
qualities to my statements and adjusted my
statements to include those I had not taken into
consideration e.g.
“A minha professora de
inglês é divertida”.
an example is at the end of the article.
Confirmation is “The process by which teachers
creates
asked them to write down the qualities a good
My PTCS was now ready to give the children –
What is Confirmation?
significant
Next, I gave the children a take-home task and
more
positive
and
affective
environment and supports learning. If teacher
confirmation means the child feels heard and
Children
disrespected and
feel
therefore
may
beginning of the school year, but only after I
had spent a couple of weeks with them, as they
need to have experienced me as a teacher
first. As you can see, the PTCS is in
Portuguese and the children have to indicate
whether they think a statement is true or false.
exact I took in the completed PTCS and reflected on
unheard, their opinions. This involved making a ´To do
develop list` for myself to help me make certain
respected, disconfirmation means the
opposite.
I gave my PTCS to the children at the
and changes to my behavior. In my case, the
towards English. In order to measure affect and children’s responses showed that I didn’t know
negative
attitudes
towards
the
teacher
monitor emotions in your class, you may use
the Primary Teacher
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