A Little of This and A Little of That

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 :)