In this week's blog post I will address two topics: changes in my teaching over the last few weeks and the module one paper.
Firstly, changes in my classroom discourse and interaction.
Of all the readings we have done in methodology class the most influential for me by far are:
1. Studies of Teacher-Student Interaction by Xie; and
2. Construction or Obstruction by Walsh.
I found what I read in both readings to be very practical.
I feel that my teaching is not bad but as they say there is always room for improvement.
In the following areas I have worked to improve and/or to try a different tact:
1. Turn Taking: I tend to use individual nominations (students chosen by the teacher) in the classroom often. What I have changed is I am now allowing some more invitations to reply whereby any student answers without being chosen or raising a hand. I try to not do this too often as I feel it allows dominate students to dominate too much. Also, I am changing my form of individual nominations. To be honest I often choose students one by one from left to right or right to left. This might make the students only concentrate on their question as they do not want to answer incorrectly and lose face. If I randomly choose students, but I still make sure everyone answers, students will pay more attention as they do not know their question until it is asked.
2. Questions: I am working hard to ask more CCQs in class, especially after giving a handout, to check their comprehension. This also seems to be having the affect of keeping anyone from dozing off during their long days of intense English study. I am also endeavoring to ask more higher level questions. Example: after doing some poetry writing (metaphors) individually the students had to get into pairs. They read their metaphors to their partners. I walked around the class and asked each student which one of their partners metaphors was their favourite and why. This question was not on the handout. I feel it went quite well as it showed how much attention they paid to their partner's answers and allowed everyone to receive a little praise.
One area I need to work on more is checking for confirmation. I will try to do this more in the future.
3. Turn Completion: this is one area I need to improve on. In class today rather than give time for the student to answer one question (was the statement a form of permission granted or permission denied) I gave an answer to his group while I was listening. At that moment I cringed as I realized I had completed his turn. He asked the question to the group and I answered it.
When students are in groups or pairs I find I have the tendency to complete turns rather than to wait for their answer or to ask a question that might elicit the correct answer.
Secondly, the module one paper.
While I am a little worried about following the directions properly and making a decent abstract it is not all toil and trouble.
By looking at my transcript and video in more detail I hope to identify things I should not do and find actions that are absent.
Already I have seen and worked to improve my questioning techniques such as asking more CCQs (Comprehension Checkup Questions) and asking more higher level questions.
Further study will hopefully bring more illumination and result in more positive change.
Onto the preparing the paper :)
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Teacher, Teacher - The Smartphone Fell Off the Wall
Yes, it is true.
When I videotaped my class over a week ago the smartphone was taped to the wall but it fell down.
I quickly picked it up and put it back into place with the sides and bottom both taped.
No problems after that.
I am very lucky as I have taught at a university and now a teacher training center.
As a result both me and my students speak in English during class time. For me I get to use my L1 and the students their L2. In my current job the students speak in English, their L2, all day and night at the training center from Monday to Friday.
As I analyzed my transcript (at least 15 minutes of it) I was suprised at how often I use SO to start sentences. I do have a tendency to use OK too much but I was surprised at the numerous SOs used.
Another negagtive I noticed that I did TURN COMPLETION too often when they were working in pairs. I either quickly corrected what they wrote or said, or I did not allow them time to modify their work with prompts from me. For example: "you need the possessive here. Good." Or "Do not worry, you can say commercial." I am now consciously in class during pair/group work trying to allow them time to fix errors I see or hear. I suspect my interruptions and my direct error correction were obstructive towards having the students correct themselves. My activities that day tended to have many referential questions (no known answers). The students had to answer questions their partners made using the "What would you do if...?" structure. With the pair activity it was "student-initiated intercation" but only with their peers. I did not give them the opportunity to evaluate my responses.
My turn taking was clearly individual nomination as I picked Lilly to model the activity with me. I am a little reluctant to invitations to reply as I am worried that dominant students will always answer. I wnat everyone to participate and contribute.
While the students were talking in their pairs I engaged in lots of corrective feedback on both content and meaning. Example: "this one can have two different prepositions - in and at. Both are correct. But I would say that native speakers use "at". What do you do at home on the weekend is better."
I think I would have done less direct corrective feedback if I had chained questions for them and given some wait-time instead of rushing to make changes.
One technical thing I need to work is the mic.
When speaking to the class all my teacher talk was audible and the student responses were as well.
But when they were in pairs I was not able to pick-up what I said at times and I rarely could hear their words on the recording. Maybe practice will rectify that problem.
Next time the smartphone will not fall off the wall.
When I videotaped my class over a week ago the smartphone was taped to the wall but it fell down.
I quickly picked it up and put it back into place with the sides and bottom both taped.
No problems after that.
I am very lucky as I have taught at a university and now a teacher training center.
As a result both me and my students speak in English during class time. For me I get to use my L1 and the students their L2. In my current job the students speak in English, their L2, all day and night at the training center from Monday to Friday.
As I analyzed my transcript (at least 15 minutes of it) I was suprised at how often I use SO to start sentences. I do have a tendency to use OK too much but I was surprised at the numerous SOs used.
Another negagtive I noticed that I did TURN COMPLETION too often when they were working in pairs. I either quickly corrected what they wrote or said, or I did not allow them time to modify their work with prompts from me. For example: "you need the possessive here. Good." Or "Do not worry, you can say commercial." I am now consciously in class during pair/group work trying to allow them time to fix errors I see or hear. I suspect my interruptions and my direct error correction were obstructive towards having the students correct themselves. My activities that day tended to have many referential questions (no known answers). The students had to answer questions their partners made using the "What would you do if...?" structure. With the pair activity it was "student-initiated intercation" but only with their peers. I did not give them the opportunity to evaluate my responses.
My turn taking was clearly individual nomination as I picked Lilly to model the activity with me. I am a little reluctant to invitations to reply as I am worried that dominant students will always answer. I wnat everyone to participate and contribute.
While the students were talking in their pairs I engaged in lots of corrective feedback on both content and meaning. Example: "this one can have two different prepositions - in and at. Both are correct. But I would say that native speakers use "at". What do you do at home on the weekend is better."
I think I would have done less direct corrective feedback if I had chained questions for them and given some wait-time instead of rushing to make changes.
One technical thing I need to work is the mic.
When speaking to the class all my teacher talk was audible and the student responses were as well.
But when they were in pairs I was not able to pick-up what I said at times and I rarely could hear their words on the recording. Maybe practice will rectify that problem.
Next time the smartphone will not fall off the wall.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Warm-Up Activity Part II
#STGmethreflectionweek2kevan
This is a reflection on my warm-up activity that I wrote about in the first reflection.
I did the activity Writing Relay with one class of English Teachers for Writing Methodology, my homeroom :)
They are very high level so I just read through the directions with them (they were on a handout I made). I did one very quick example on the whiteboard for them.
Things I liked about the warm-up:
-my directions were simple and took little time.
-after reading Xie's paper for the Methodology class I decided to give them more time to find the errors in their own and the other team's whiteboard writing. In the past I would find 40-70% of the errors. This time I gave them around 5-10 seconds to think and the students found almost all the errors (75% or more). Some students even had suggestions for better language in some of the written sentences.
Things I want to improve:
- the energy level was OK but it has been better in the past. It was a very slow relay during the writing on the board time. However, as mentioned above the slower pace did help the students find more errors and they were able to correct them while writing and also while checking the other team's completed story.
-try to have each student write twice on the board as there was my sentence plus four others (four students per group) so the stories were short. Might have been funnier or more interesting if they were longer.
Anyways, I like forward to trying this activity with the other class of English Teachers next week. Never too late to make changes :)
This is a reflection on my warm-up activity that I wrote about in the first reflection.
I did the activity Writing Relay with one class of English Teachers for Writing Methodology, my homeroom :)
They are very high level so I just read through the directions with them (they were on a handout I made). I did one very quick example on the whiteboard for them.
Things I liked about the warm-up:
-my directions were simple and took little time.
-after reading Xie's paper for the Methodology class I decided to give them more time to find the errors in their own and the other team's whiteboard writing. In the past I would find 40-70% of the errors. This time I gave them around 5-10 seconds to think and the students found almost all the errors (75% or more). Some students even had suggestions for better language in some of the written sentences.
Things I want to improve:
- the energy level was OK but it has been better in the past. It was a very slow relay during the writing on the board time. However, as mentioned above the slower pace did help the students find more errors and they were able to correct them while writing and also while checking the other team's completed story.
-try to have each student write twice on the board as there was my sentence plus four others (four students per group) so the stories were short. Might have been funnier or more interesting if they were longer.
Anyways, I like forward to trying this activity with the other class of English Teachers next week. Never too late to make changes :)
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Warm-Up Activity Part I
#STGmethreflectionweek1kevan
My warm-up activity will be an activity a former co-worker and I made called WRITING RELAY.
It is a group based activity with lots of movement.
I will use this activity with the two classes of English Teachers for the Writing Methodology course.
For this warm-up I will put the students into two groups.
To start the activity I will write a sentence onto the whiteboard.
Thereafter when I yell start one member of each group will come to the front and write another sentence (their own) below my sentence. The goal is to make a story using my first sentence.
The board marker is used as a relay baton and passed among the group members.
We will go through each group member once. You can also have each member write two or more sentences per person depending on time.
Other group members may help their fellow group members writing at the board by giving advice (spelling, grammar, etc.) but they may only leave their seats when they have the baton.
I give points based on order of finish: 1st - 50; 2nd - 30; 3rd - 10. Points are also given for a logical story: 20 per group.
Lastly, we will read all the stories on the whiteboard from beginning to end. The goal here is to find errors. Each mistake is -1 points. If another group finds the error they will receive +1 for every error they identify.
This activity involves ERROR CORRECTION for everyone including me.
Especially there will be peer correction. In addition the teacher, me, will do some correction but only if no other student or group identifies it. Often students will also engage in self-correction while at the whiteboard.
Writing Relay also involves ASSISTANCE. Mainly it is students asking each other for help.
My hopes for this warm-up activity are to have the students be active.
I also hope that the lesson will show them a way to work on error correction and group support. I personally feel that caring and sharing (helping each other) is a very effective method for students and citizens in society to reach their goals of self improvement. All great change in society might have a person or idea as the spark but only by working with others is that change realized. In my class room I try to push student cooperation.
The problems that could occur: students are not active and they put little effort into the activity. Therefore the lesson will bomb. Students also fail to support each other in one or more groups. Lastly, students do not find most errors and I become the default error corrector. This would be too teacher-centered for me.
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