Week 5 reflections

I didn't get a chance to post last week. Sorry about my tardiness. Here are my reflections.

Last week was a little overwhelming for me. It has been over 10 years since the last time I wrote a paper. When I was in school I always hated writing papers. I was never good at putting my thoughts down on paper. I was surprised once I started to write this paper, it wasn't so hard after all. I like analyzing data and putting my findings on paper. Overall I am very happy with my discourse analysis. I will talk more about my findings in my next posting.

My week was was overshadowed by this research paper and tests. By the end of the week I realized that I was stressed out for nothing. Partially the reason why it took so long for me to add this posting.

In terms of my teaching, my storytelling time and circle time went great. That class is divided into 2 parts: reading a story book and learning about the theme of the week. To discuss the theme which was transportation by air I chose to sing a song. It was a simple song that had movements to go with it. The kids loved it and responded very well to the activity.

I'm trying to limit how much talking I'm doing in the classroom and by adding these simple activities the children spend more time practicing their English. I was very satisfied with my teaching by the end of the week.

My goal for this week is to include more pair work activity for them to practice the target language. 

Week 3 Reflections & Module 1 Topic

Well this week was a short one. I only worked 2 days and Tuesday we celebrated Chuseok at school by having an all day festival. I did manage to try out the game I mentioned in last weeks post again. I simplified it to go with the words we were learning in our story book. As professor Randolph had mentioned to me last week I need to find ways to make input more comprehensible. I think I did well with this....I think

Let me explain, the story book  repeated the following four words constantly; walking, running, hopping and skipping. In the first part we reviewed this vocabulary quickly because my students already know the meaning of these words but I need to make sure that they could all do the movements. Next, I made them form a circle and also decided to review our numbers by incorporating the 3,6,9 game. Every time a student fell on the number 3, 6 or nine they had to choose one of the 4 words and say it out loud. Then all the students had to skip, run, jump or hop in place. We practice our numbers until we got to 20. We repeated the process until every student had a chance to choose a word. The warm up lesson was very successful and the students really enjoyed themselves. I will definitely try it again next week but this time I would like to include more speaking on behalf of my students. I'm thinking instead of practicing numbers I will  use sentences we learned in our language classes. Then I can tie in all of our lessons together. The students will get to actually use their sentences in a new context.

Since I've been teaching in Korea I have never really sat down and planned out my lessons and I can now see how useful this process can be. My lessons are becoming more interesting for my students.

In terms of the module 1 paper I was considering discussing the three following classroom interaction categories:

-Corrective feedback: As I watched my teaching video, I noticed that many times I just let the student make mistakes without correcting them. As a teacher I don't want to discourage them from speaking but I also don't want them to continuously make the same mistakes.

-Turn taking: I always try my best to make sure that every student has a chance to speak. In my video when i ask the children what kind of bugs do they like I forgot to ask my student SJ for his answer. I'm lucky he is not a shy student and he said to me "teacher not me."

-Scaffolding: I know that as a teacher I will always help my students when they don't know the answer. In my video I've noticed that my favorite tactic for this is to start saying the word in hopes that they can complete it.

  

Week 2 reflections

http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b355/Storytelling/documents/TeachingStorytelling2007.pdf

This week I decided to try 2 new ways of interacting during my storytelling time.(talking less and including an activity)

 I wanted to make sure that I spent less time talking during class time by including an activity where the students communicated more than I did. I really want my students to interact more with me and the other students. From looking at my video, I can say that I get an A+ for using repetition as a way of interacting with my students but by the end of story time I've realized, I use it way too much.

To do this, I had to do a little research to find new ways of teaching storytelling. I went on the internet and found the following article. The link is posted above. After reading the article I had a whole new outlook about teaching storytelling. I used to think of it as just a simple activity that passed time (a filler) but I realize now that there are many benefits to storytelling.

I read over this article and I had a preference for the game called Rakan-san. Before I played this game I had to adjust the game to the story we were reading. Our story involved animals, so, what I asked the children to do was each time they had to freeze into a statue they had to choose a different animal.They each took turns and they had to guess what type of animal their classmates had changed into. They really enjoyed participating in this game.

Overall it was a success, the students spoke more than I did. We need a little more practice but that's like anything new that you try. Practice makes perfect!

I was really proud of myself because working in an academy sometimes tasks get boring and redundant. I'm really excited with this new challenge of improving my teaching. I definitely felt better after teaching story time this week.

I will film myself again next week so I can see the result of my hard work.   

My reflections

Here are my answers to the questions posed by Richard & Lockhart. 

1.What did you set out to teach?
I set out to review the story book and discuss modes of transportation.

2. Were you able to accomplish your goals?
Yes, I was.

3. What teaching materials did you use? How effective were they?
I used the whiteboard for drawing and writing and the storybook .

4. What techniques did you use?
I used the classroom interactions of repetition, comprehension check, asking and answering questions 
and assistance


5. What grouping arrangements did you use?
None we did everything together.

6. Was your lesson teacher dominated?
Maybe a little but I did get the students involved in all aspects of the lesson.

7. What kind of teacher student interaction occurred?
I asked the students questions and they answered me.

8. Did anything amusing or unusual occur?
We all had a good laugh at my drawings.

9. Did you have any problems with the lesson?
No.

10. Did you do anything differently than usual?
Not really.

11. What kinds of decision did you employ?
I followed my lesson plan.

12. Did you depart from your lesson plan? If so why?
No, I didn't.

13. What was the main accomplishment of the lesson?
The students reviewed the story and forms of transportation.

14. Which parts of the lesson were most successful?
The students being able to answer my questions without hesitation. 

15. Which parts of the lesson were the least successful?
When they all speak at the same time.  16. Would you teach the lesson differently if you taught it again?
No, I think it was really successful.

17. Was your philosophy of teaching reflected in the lesson?
Yes, teaching while having fun.

18. Did you discover anything new about your teaching?
I talk a lot.

19. What changes do you think you should make in your teaching?
Talk less. Try to incorporate more games and activities.


Questions about the students

1. Did you teach all your students today?
Yes, I did.

2. Did students contribute actively to the lesson?
Yes.

3. How did you respond to different student needs?
I only have seven students therefore it makes it easier to respond to all their needs on an individual basis.

4. Were students challenged by the lesson?
I think they were. I asked them many questions.

5. What do you think students really learned from the lesson?
They learned the vocabulary words related to transportation.

6. What did they like most about the lesson?
At the end they got a worksheet and a coloring page which they love.

7. What didn't they respond well to?
Nothing really.

Questions to ask yourself as a language teacher?

1. What is the source of my ideas about language teaching?
A lot of my ideas come from the teachers I had growing up. I`ve also picked up many new ideas from some of my coworkers.

2. Where am I in my professional development?
I`m still at the beginning stages. 

3. How am I developing as a language teacher?
Im developing by taking this course and always being open to criticism and new ideas.


4. What are my strengths as a language teacher?
I`m fun and passionate about teaching. Im good at making students feel comfortable and willing to speak.

5. What are my limitations at present?
My teaching knowledge is very limited.My vocabulary needs some improvement.

6. Are there any contradictions in my teaching?
I always want them to communicate more but many times I`m the one doing all the talking.

7. How can I improve my language teaching?
By trying new ideas and keeping up-to-date with the new trends in teaching. 

8. How am I helping my students?
I try to make them understand that even if you make mistakes, I won`t judge. Just try to speak.

9. What satisfaction does language teaching give me?I get so much satisfaction when I see and hear my students interacting with the new vocabulary that we have learnt. My biggest satisfaction is when a student starts to read. I know I have changed his life forever. I love it!!

Teaching video-Circle time and stoytelling

Alright everyone, after spending this week trying to figure out all of this technology, I think I've finally got it.

I teach 6 year old children at an academy near Hongdae. I only have 7 students in my classroom. Each week we have a theme and a new book for our storytelling time. This week the story we were reading was entitled Ten Cats Have Hats and the theme was transportation by land.

I consider myself very lucky to have a small class size. I really enjoy the more intimate learning setting compared to public schools. Another part of my teaching that I find awesome is the freedom to choose my books and activities for this class.
  

I'm new to the blogging world. In this first ever post I just want to mention how excited I am about this new adventure we have all embarked on together. It's been a bit over ten years since I've stepped into a classroom as a student. I'm a little nervous and overwhelmed but I know if I take it one step at a time I will succeed. I'm looking forward to working with such fantastic and interesting teachers.