#demo lesson

After having gone through the entire on-boarding process, I feel safe enough to be some source of information towards anyone interested in the online ESL company. I’ve seen that some people take a month (or more) to complete the process, but, at least for me, it took a week. I suppose a week and a half from the start of putting in an application, but a week from the initial interview to getting…

I’ve been thinking about the lesson I demonstrated at my Interac seminar, recently. After teaching for almost 4 months now, looking back, there are a few things I would change.

(See the original post here)

Elementary warm-up task:

The main thing that stands out to me is the language I used was waaaay too complicated. My third-graders are pretty high levelled but they don’t know English to the degree that I used during my demo lesson.

For an example, if I were to re-script the first paragraph, I would change it to:

Good morning class! How are you? Great! I’m good! Remember the Animal Action Chant? Excellent! Stand up, please. Stand up.

I didn’t mention this in my original post but almost everything I said I accompanied with a gesture. So for “good morning” you could wave, “great” you could do a thumbs up, “stand up” you could motion upwards repeatedly, etc. Gestures really help young children understand what you’re saying and if you utilise them well in your demo lesson, Interac will be very impressed.

Other than this, genki genki genki! Songs and chants are your friends.

Junior high directions activity:

I haven’t taught at junior high level so I’m not quite sure if the language level I used is appropriate, but there was one thing I didn’t clarify last time.

Alright class, now before we start the activity, let’s go through the vocabulary one more time. Left. L-e-f-t. Turn left.

For the l-e-f-t bit, I’m not actually spelling the word out to them. I’m saying it like leeeffftttt; pronouncing it slowly so they can catch every sound. Looking back, I don’t think this is very necessary. I think it would have been better to just say the word and then cup your hand to your ear as if listening to the students repeating it. Then give an example of it in a sentence (or two).

I also would probably have the students repeating each line of the dialogue (student A and student B) as you say them, to get it drilled into their minds.

I have a demo lesson tomorrow, but there won't be any students present and I'm not sure what to expect.

Have you ever done a demo lesson for just administrators, no students?  

What was it like?  

The day started with jumbled nerves, a quaking hand, and a nervous leg a seemingly informal interview in a warm office adorned with certificates and a crucifix prior to the lesson.  I dislike the "Tell me stuff" attitude because I feel like it lulls me into a false sense of security and because I'm never exactly sure what to talk about.  I tried to talk up my experiences; I have a lot related to what he wants to do (publications and after-school programs for example).  Still don't know exactly what the position is (leave-replacement or more permanent).

Then the lesson: 

My demo lesson on opposites went fairly well with Kindergarten Catholic school students today.  Fairly being the operative word here.

Two boys sat in the back of the room, constantly hitting each other and knocking papers, pencils, and bodies to the floor.  I could not understand half of the students' names, either because they were really long or because five-year-olds still don't speak clearly. Couldn't get all the kids quiet for directions after the half-way point.

And then: "Ms., ___ had an accident!"

And there it was: Shit-smeared sweatpants. 

And a five-year-old covering his face.

OH! The joys of Kindergarteners...

I felt so bad for the little boy who pooped his pants today.  I probably should be more phased by this, but I surprisingly was not.  The principal and the teacher took care of the little boy as soon as I went over to him to assess the situation.  Needless to say, this made the lesson quite interesting...and the class a bit distracted.  Oh well, at least I got an interesting teacher story out of it.  As my aunt put it when I shared my tale with her: "That's Kindergarten.  You never know what's going to happen, that's with anybody.  That's the beauty of teaching in a way: You never know."

Because I'm a reflective practitioner: 

Strengths

manipulatives (matching opposite pairs using cards with images and words)

praise/positive reinforcement (Fun Fact: This practice comes so naturally to me at this point that I was surprised when the principal mentioned it in our post-lesson chat. :) )

good lesson/well-planned

engaging and kinesthetic song

Needs

nerves--My nerves kept me from using my instinct a couple of times throughout the lesson, especially regarding classroom management. 

better modeling

complicated worksheet

too many activities

timing (eh, that's not really a need because everything varies)

Lesson Lessons:

Get yourself ready the way you want and are comfortable, even if it takes a little while.  (My adjustment to the room arrangement took me a while and unnecessarily overwhelmed me.)

Ask the teacher about attention/listening and other routines.

Always trust your inner teacher instincts, even if it means rearranging the lesson or nixing parts of it.  

Flexibility is more important than adherence.

Decided to write my demo lesson on antonyms for Kindergarten. 

We will be dancing, singing, doing hand motions, matching cards, and writing words. I just hope it's not too much.  Or too easy.

Today, my 6th graders came to my junior high for open school. Each group would sit in a different class (e.g. English, Music, etc). I was looking forward to seeing all of them together. I had about five students from each elementary school in my English class.

I imagined that they would all be exciting and happy to see me too. But when we started our demo lesson, the class was so quiet and lifeless.

"Good afternoon!" ..... "Good afternoon!" ..... "GOOD AFTERNOON!" ... good aft.... I thought seeing me would make them feel more comfortable and relaxed. They acted like they never saw me before and didn't know who I was. They were still very nervous and shy.

The lesson seemed to just drag on. Part of it was I wanted the lesson to be fun, where my JTE wanted it to be more academic. During the gesture (charades) game, I got few of the kids to laugh. But not as much as I expected them to. Usually, they would eat that up and ask for more!