Q1.
On Monday, I arrived at work and was greeted by students
who were even more energized than normal. Apparently all public schools
in Seoul had been cancelled for the following day in anticipation of a
hurricane. Since the students were already eager to discuss the storm, I
decided on a warm-up activity that would give them the opportunity to do just
that. Initially, I allowed students to give their thoughts about the
hurricane. I then introduced a question to be asked and answered by
students. "What are you going to do tomorrow?"
Q2.
I
believe that I was able to accomplish my goal, despite challenges of time and class
management. My students were eager to express themselves and at times I
it was daunting to keep the students focused, understand the points they were
trying to express and allow each student to be heard in the discussion with
equal time.
Q4
I
attempted to incorporate the classroom interaction techniques of asking and
answering questions and error correction. Personalization
was an element of the exercise as students were asked to discuss their own
feelings of a real life event, as well as discuss their own plans. In addition, my activity included giving opinions
and TSST.
Q12
I had planned
on giving students one minute to write a one sentence answer to the question.
I had to allow more time because the students were unable to formulate
their thoughts using English in such a short amount of time.
Q14
The part
of my lesson that was most successful was in the students’ eagerness to use
their English as a means to verbal communicate their feelings.
Q15
The
least successful part of my lesson was my time management issue. I did
not properly consider the challenge of the students in answering the question
using their limited English.
Questions
about the students
Q2
My
students were great contributors to the lesson.
Q6
They
most enjoyed being able to share their personal fears about the possible
effects of the hurricane.
Q7
They
did not completely understand the need to be specific in their answers. A
common answer was, "I'm going to stay home." I then had to push
for elaboration by asking them what specific activities they were going to do
at home.
Reflections of my teaching performance:
I am
aware that I am an animated person, but I was surprised as just how much I
express myself through facial and body movements. In, regards to my tendency for movement, I realized that the shirt I'd worn that day had been a bad choice. The loose fitting blouse did not cover one of my bra straps. (Talk about embarrassing.)
I also noticed that I have the poor habit of saying, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." It is very rapid speech used when more than one student is impatiently seeking my attention.
It was uncomfortable to
see myself teaching, but I allowed a co-worker named Lucy to view the
recording. Lucy thought that the lesson was
successful and that my methods of expression were a valued aspect of my
teaching style. I guess she is used to seeing me in action and has
already observed and accepted this aspect of my teaching, while I was seeing something strange and new, but not entirely bad.
On a positive note, I do feel that my modes of expression reflect interest in student responses which allows for greater student-teacher interaction and hopefully a less teacher dominated class.
