Every Friday, I teach two English classes, and serve as a co-teacher at an English club class.
This week, I am covering classroom rules, of which I have four: 1) Speak in English (loudly and confidently!) 2) Show Respect (no cat-fights) 3) Listen While Others Speak (part of showing respect) 4) Stay Awake (don't sleep!)
ONE METHOD VS. MULTIPLE METHODS OF TEACHING
The redundancy of the parenthetical statements is a natural byproduct of my effort to word and explain things in as many different ways as possible. This effort goes against the advice of other ETAs who say stick to one way of wording greetings and instructions in class. Don't confuse students. Establish a routine.
So far, things are going well. Students seem to understand what I am saying in front of the class. If I perceive that this approach is not working, then I will pause and re-consider taking the advice. I definitely see the merit in the advice, but I am going against it because, once again, I am extrapolating from personal experience - one that has taught me that I learn best when ideas are explained to me using different wordings/phrasings/imagery, and shown me using different teaching techniques.
EXTRAPOLATIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, & EXPECTATIONS
My assumption is clearly that my students operate the same way. My hope is that they will latch on to at least one explanation if they fail to access another.
Though I have never been a thespian, I take pains to act out each classroom rule I am asking my students to abide by. When this doesn't work, I enlist the translation services of my co-teachers, who are often just sitting/standing ready to provide me with assistance in the back of the room.
The following is a photo story of the rest of my day.
TESTING MY STUDENTS' MEMORY
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| Students randomly chosen to write out the four Classroom Rules. Each one represents a row in the class, from which they can receive assistance. |
INTRODUCING A UNIT ON U.S. GEOGRAPHY THROUGH SONG
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| Today, I began teaching my students the names of the 50 U.S. states, introducing them to the "50 Nifty United States" song, and assigning each one a state (for individual rewards), as well as a region (for group work/competition/rewards). |
I am so excited to start this! My vision is for this to be a semester-long unit, tacked on at the end of each class to help diversify my lessons' content, provide them with fun U.S. trivia, and have an excuse to end class with my students singing on their way out the door and down the hall. They were very excited to adopt a U.S. state, and were quick to ask each other and my co-teacher how to pronounce their state names.
COVERING 5 OUT OF THE 50 STATES
Today, we covered the first five of the 50 states. Like in the classroom rules activity, I picked students to go up to the board and write out the first five states in alphabetical order: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California!
Their teams/U.S. regions could help them out only by singing the song. Of course they didn't follow this direction. Apparently, some had smartly written down the five states and were dispensing cheat sheets to their student rep. Other reps were quite open about peeking at their competitors' answers on the board.
STUDENTS CHEATING IN FRONT OF ME
Me: No cheating! No, that's cheating. Yes, it is! Uh-uh. Okay, give it to me. Just try your best! You can do it!
SNACKING BETWEEN TEACHING
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| Today, Sookhee gave me these Binch chocolate crackers - my favorite! |
I'm pretty sure I've become a part of my co-teacher's dieting plan. She will be eating some delicious snack one moment, and then the next she will be sliding half the portion over to me. So sweet! Some days, she even gives me an accompanying drink (coffee, juice, shake, tea, etc.).
I'm spoiled at home, and I'm spoiled at work.
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| The project she assigned our class today asked students to give me suggestions on where to go to experience the beauty of Busan. It is a mix of first- and second-graders, who are interested in combining English and art in class projects. I was impressed by the quality of their work, given they only have two hours dedicated to this class every other week. |
Plus, it doesn't hurt that my co-teacher is an extremely sweet lady!
STUDENT JOURNALISTS MEASURING THE LENGTH OF MY HAIR
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| This is a student with said ruler. |
The students gasped at the sight of the length of my hair, and quickly called on others to produce a ruler.
After this group of student journalists left, another group came in asking me to dress up the next day for a photo shoot. Apparently, they will also be producing something on teachers' fashion styles.
Well, teacher dress up it is! This should be very interesting. Let's see how the Blue Wave represents me in the coming days.
I fell off your blog for awhile due to a very full life. It was delightful to read this post. I think explaining things more than one way is good. I use this with my kids, and I think I used it with my German students, but I can't really remember. Regardless, if it works, do it. That's my teaching motto.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I know you never back down from living out your very full life, so I understood when you put up your status on Facebook. I'm glad you're still blogging and taking the time to read others' blogs though! I have continued to do what works only because it's so difficult to stop myself from thinking up and acting out multiple ways of explaining things! I appreciate the confirmation you've given me in "if it works, do it." I think I got this :)
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