It's been a while since I blogged about my classes. Since my last blog post, and after some feedback from Tom, I really started to take note of "what was happening in the class" vs. "what I thought was happening." I taught a class today - and even as I was teaching, I felt like I began to see and hear signs that would confirm "feelings" I had - or observations I made. So here is something I'm hoping will set me on a new road of "constructive blogging" with evidence - it'll be like CSI - but with (hopefully) less blood (and no Horatio... boo!)
As I was doing my lesson plan and going through each step of the 'front matter' I realised how many things I take for granted when I teach. After the class, I realised I had 'successfully' predicted a few things, which I was proud of. Then I realised that predicting them didn't mean I was able to stop them from happening. I probably can't STOP them from happening - but being more prepared about how to deal with them when they happen is something I want to work on.
So to begin - I'd like to talk about my TIMING...a serious issue!
My goal was to teach my 10 minute preview (with the greeting included) and then move onto the next stages of the lesson. My class ran for just over 45 minutes - and I didn't finish the preview... I KNOW that I struggle with time - I noted it in my lesson plan - but still - I didn't take active steps to address it in the class. I gave students a direction of "2 minutes" to ask each other a greeting question but, I only moved to a new stage at 6m02s (and this wasn't even moving onto the warm up!)
During the class, I felt we were moving in the direction of dialogicality (ooh - is that a word??) I thought the students were talking to each other, asking questions, giving ideas. I felt so good about it - I kept it going.
When I watched the video, I realised that I was a little hasty in my assessment. The students were talking and did ask questions, but I tended to "step in" a lot - sometimes to drive questions - sometimes to answer questions posed by students myself, rather than letting other students answer. At 13m39s - 15m34s, I'm encouraged that they all took an interest in "Abbey" - but I shouldn't have stepped in - they could (and probably would) have been able to describe her themselves.
I also noticed that I really do go on tangents... Maybe I like the sound of my own voice... It's scary to think that I "need" to include something to give a 'stamp of authority' in a monologic way... that I don't think students can self-aquire knowledge (ask John to show you that diagram in the PowerPoint...he knows the one!!!) If you look at 10m28s - 11m22s, Ara is answering a question - but I basically 'high-jack' it and start talking about myself (sigh...) and Ara is left to listen to me. If you continue to listen for about a minute after - Ara does have more to add - after I ask her - I have to wonder whether she would have added that before I stepped in...
What I learned - I really need to stop talking...I've said it before in a blog post - it's clearly a hard habit to break (and we won't go into teacher echo...that in itself is still shocking...)
We had some issues arise in the pair work - as predicted. First, 'choosing' and 'manoeuvring' into pairs (1m50s - 2m45s).
Then - there were a few instances of silence in the pair work (thinking of examples.) If you watch Ara and Andy's dialogue (from 3m29s - the pair on the left), Ara asks the question, but Andy doesn't answer. I tried helping Andy by rephrasing and giving examples (MICs which I had thought of during the lesson plan). He still took some time, but gave his answer at 4m11s. In an attempt to encourage details, I suggested that Ara ask him follow up questions, which she does! Andy tried asking some follow up questions later on for his turn (although he couldn't think of any 6m35s.) Yunice also has some periods of silence (4m04s ~). I used the same technique to try and help her, and Julie joined me in trying to give her some ideas (4m55s - 5m30s.)
I noticed that there was a lot of silence at times - especially when I'm 'booming away' with one group - the others get distracted and listen to me...
What I learned - Silence may be difficult for me at times, but I do think I took positive steps to (a) let students think for a while, and (b) give some help (rephrasing, giving examples.) I also need to be more aware of keeping my voice at a level that isn't too overpowering during pair work. Also - I could have spaced out the pairs a little better so they weren't on top of each other.
I began the warm up at 16m47s! I did think that my "schema activation" plan worked well! Using pictures containing examples of some of the target vocabulary is something I have mentioned before - it worked then, and it worked today, too! 17m30s - 22m57s shows some good dialogue - however in hindsight, I probably should've stopped it a little sooner - and I definitely didn't need to go on another tangent at the 23minute mark. I also noticed a bit of a value judgement I made about Yunice's "vomit" sounds...which I tried to cover up...
Some small things I wanted to note:
I really liked the way the children interacted with each other - Ara asked a question based on Yunice's story - and it was directed at Yunice (22m20s) Yunice used sound effects to create meaning for the others - that reminded me of negotiating meaning in the Interaction Hypothesis. Julie shared stories from her family, and Andy gave his opinions on my expression in a photo. I think this was probably the most "dialogic" part of the class - and I loved it! I did, however, still creep into the conversations at times.
The last points I'll make before I wrap up are about the vocabulary section.
Something I think worked well was: when we got to the vocabulary, I remembered Andy used the word roller coaster in the pictures activity, so instead of explaining that, I asked him to explain it to the class (28m04s) He did a great job, and I think from his expression and enthusiasm he felt good about doing it.
We had some difficulty explaining the word 'vivid.' I tried using different MIC techniques to help them understand - but they kept thinking the word meant 'transparent' - probably because I used the word 'clear'. I should probably have brought in a picture / realia (maybe a tablet with good quality display, and something else to show what vivid colours means.)
We didn't have time for the last activity - matching words to the pictures and using the word to describe the picture / or something that was happening in the picture. This would have given me the evidence to assess one of my enabling objectives, so it's a shame I didn't get there.
All in all, I think there were some positives - and good ones, too. There were also quite a number of examples of bad habits I've formed... Things I know about - things I've realised over the years, and things I identified in the lesson planning process. I can admit that the hardest part is always making the small, active, and consistent steps to change for the better. Knowing is not enough.
Watch this space for my 'kicking the habit' action plan...
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