Reflection 9 – I feel like I am slowly moulting!

April 28, 2014

This second MT was quite interesting.  After I finished, I still felt the same as my first MT.  I felt that it went horribly wrong and that it did not go the way I wanted it to go.  My intention for this lesson was talk go through an article that they would eventually use for a debate.  For two of my reading classes, we’re trying to introduce debate into our reading program so it’s still a working idea.  I knew this MT was going to be challenging because I had to combine my original teaching style, with the assignment.  An article like this is supposed to be a little challenging to my students, but it’s a level that my students would be able to comprehend when planned more carefully. 

Before watching the video, I realized the first thing that I should have done was to have the students read aloud, not silent reading; rotating students after reading one sentence.  I never do silent reading, and I don’t know why I did that.  My front page was written for rotational read aloud, and I would fix their pronunciation, but my lesson plan had it differently.  I didn’t give the students enough time so they felt it was too hard.  I should have however, told them that they would pre-read this article several times before coming to class so they would’ve been familiar with it.  In any case, I feel reading it together aloud, would’ve helped them understand the story more. 

It was difficult teaching this class as if it was my real class and finding the motivation without a preview.  I was concentrating too much on the format of my lesson plan and the format of the Harmer format (p. 291).  Therefore there was no real interacting going on.  There was T-S interaction and T-S-S-T interaction, but but I felt I was just mostly telling them what to do like they were just following orders.  There was no real personalizing and interacting with the students.  I feel I could’ve created more motivation and interaction if I asked discussion or personalizing questions during the comprehension check phase, where we took up our answers to the sheet.  I had students ask each other what the answers to the next question were, but before I did that, we could’ve created a conversation about the questions.  Originally, I was saving the discussion question to the end.  Again, I was thinking too much on how to do the TD, TDBU, BU method. 

For the lead in, I tried to ask them if they can find the URL so they could be able to find it on the internet if they want.  However, after watching the video, I could have asked them if they use the internet, if they use it to do homework, and basically personalize with them a little more.  Even if it was a question or two. 

I asked the students what the subheadings were, but I could have asked them to quickly scan the article for a minute and then I could have asked them what the subheadings were by TSST interaction.  After, I could have asked them to tell their partners what they thought each subheading was going to be about.  This, I believe, would have been top-down.  After reading, I could have changed the questions, and one of them could have been how their answers changed.  When the students were discussing in their groups, I could have interacted with the students more instead of just walking around quietly. 

One thing I should have done was to write the answers to the questions beforehand.  I thought I would have been able to handle the answers fine, but I forgot on the spot. 

Compared to the first MT, I felt I was more relaxed, but I still had the jitters and I was able to concentrate on a little more, but my plan didn’t work out the way I planned.  I felt I had more communicative feedback than evaluative compared to before, I still feel that it was not enough feedback.  The students are at a point where they need to start thinking more about this topic and speak more in English.  I felt I was just trying to follow my plan too much. 

I feel I am improving but there is a conflict between my original style and what I am learning and it’s definitely a good conflict.  I am learning a lot by watching others too.  I am concentrating too much on the teaching formalities, rather than personalizing with the students.  However, I know that my classroom atmosphere is totally different.  The constant question I have is how I can successfully and efficiently teach a lesson.  I feel like this is just the beginning of my moulting stage!  I hope I change for the better!