i don't think i had formal training on how to teach and be a good teacher - i simply didn't learn those in the classroom as i was never an education department student. but i can tell that teaching is fun - eventhough sometimes i find it very challenging, not only about the lessons i deliver, but also about the students i work my classes with.
today started with Yellowcard new single, "Here I Am Alive". i always love listening to their music as it always pumps my spirit. i was actually in a hasty state-of-mind, because i had loads of teaching schedule : 3 classes in a row! so i just hoped that everything went well.
my first class was Science class of the 2nd grade of High School. this is one of the classes where i seem to teach ALL THE TIME - and it sucks, because the ideal thing is having every class taught in random frequency by same teacher. before coming into the class, i was thinking, "was it ME teaching in that class the previous meeting?" i was unsure, but also a little bit certain. when i entered the classroom D, i panicked a little - looking into the class agenda. there, it was written clearly, in my handwriting, that i WAS in this classroom before, been teaching them, like, for FOUR times in a row!!! what the heck! for real, it was one truly awkward moment to be in the same class over and over again within a short period of time! i just thought, how boring it would be for them to have me teach them ONCE damn, again?! oh, be real!
i cleared my throat, and started talking to them that even i myself wondered why i was in their classroomSO often. looking at my 15 students, i sensed that somehow it was okay for them to have me once again.well, it was sincere. so, i put myself together, and then the idea came to me like never before : do a peer teaching for today. when the students chose Grammar Focus to be delivered first, i took the chance of letting them come forward in turns to solve 10 numbers of questions, as well as letting each other to help each other.
i explained to them, that it was , actually, not so pleasant to always hear my voice as i was delivering the lesson. by all means, i wanted them to do their task as much as on their own and get help from their classmates. everyone seemed excited. so, right after the lesson, i grabbed a black marker, and handed it to one of the students: a boy with the curls on his short hair. he said he didn't know how to do number 1. i encouraged him, and promised that everyone in the classroom actually would help him . he agreed and went to the whiteboard.
he did it - solving the problem - while i was sitting on the back of the class and monitoring, and other students were chattering formulas and words to help him.
then i asked him to hand the marker to another person - anyone he wished. and so on until all those 10 questions were solved by each of the different students.
apparently, i drew a fun fact about the students of this class: they were all brand new to my perspective. a student, whom i often call "Maybe Boy" because he likes to say "maybe", walked around the class - mimicking me as a teacher in respectfully funny way. another student, who wears glasses and seems unsignificant to his other friends in the class, actually has the finest gut and handwriting on the board! even, one student, who appears to be a naughty boy, was actually calm and respectful when he was on his duty of solving question in front of the class. it was ashtonishingly amazing!
as for the girls, they were the ones who spoke in loud voices of excitement of doing the peer teaching. the girls were mostly very good in doing the task and very good "helpers" in learning English. seeing them in brand new point of view and having them enjoy the session, i felt relieved and proud of them. even, the ambience was cool, light and much more relaxing that before. there were also smiles on their faces and laughters on their voices when they were out for break time.
it was important for me - because while i had to reach the goal of today's lesson, i also had to make the atmosphere of the class fun and at ease, as well as to ignore the fact that i had such a very tight schedule that it might just kill me!
in fact, i felt good having my second class of 1st graders of High School - ended up hand-shaking in one-a-kind of a cool way with the students, and my third class of 3rd graders of Junior High - ended up with a student named Mario, who happened to make fun of my repetitive word, "good", over and over again in funny way, too.
at the end of the day, i was simply satisfied and was looking forward to doing the fun peer teaching, ever again!
picture: private document
No comments:
Post a Comment