Visiting Lishan High School

This time we went visiting Taipei Lishan High School at Nahu, the school in which I will learn as a practice teacher for the next half of 2008. This visit focused itself more than that of Long Men on subject matter teaching. Therefore, we could do one more class observation.

The styles of the two teachers I observed were different from each other. The first teacher spoke in a rather steady tone. However, she didn’t seem to catch every attention from the students in the beginning. But after she played the video form BBC, the class was all quiet and watched it with full attention. I wonder what if she played it in the beginning of the class. Would that help to calm the students and have them center in the class? The radio talk activity was very interesting and appealing to them. I don’t seem to have a slightest chance to hold a walkie-talkie ever. Students nowadays are so lucky that they can receive dedicate education like this.
The second teacher’s speech speed was fast and lively. I found she was good at using on-the-spot material. The lesson was about body language. She raised the text book and handouts, telling her students that the class began. By thus, she got their attention right away. Aside from her lively voice, she used group discussion to keep the lesson exciting. However, her pacing was really fast and therefore was able to cover more activities. Maybe it is my age that my attention seemed unable to hold that well after four or five activities. By the way, her oral English was sooooo impressive.

The visit to Long Men

The teacher was scolding students as we were entering the classroom. A few students stood in their seats for not bringing their workbooks with them to school. One student was particularly admonished for his attitude. In a stern tone, the teacher stated clearly her stand, even imitated the student’s attitude and let him understand what was wrong about it.
What interested me was not the scene, but how she dealt with it. Since I began to teach, I have wanted to see on the spot how a teacher admonishes her students when she has to. I always think in teaching career, instead of teaching subject contents, guiding and counseling students are the most difficult part. When admonishing them, her voice was stern and confident, which connoted an aggressive, persuasive, and authoritative air. Besides the stern and confident voice, in this observation, I noticed she did one thing at one time, which, I think, is the primary code whenever we guide or teach students. This ”do one thing at one time” thing might be cliche for some people but not for me. Because I am subject to nervousness. People act differently when they are nervous. I speak whatever pops out of my head when nervousness strikes me. That can send students to “the never-reach-a-clue-land.” Maybe confidence which I am attempting to build all the time can help remove it. Confident…confident…a confident lion…(hypnotizing myself…)
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It was quite a pity that we didn’t have observations on all of the English teachers. In the classroom of 8 grader 8, except teacher-directing correction of assignment and a vocabulary test, we did not see much about formal teaching activities while the other classroom seemed to have one. It seemed that we could learn a lot from Ben, too, who was so active and enthusiastic. Teachers there were so energetic and responsible. I think they are great models for me to learn from.
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Oh, I forgot to post my lesson plan.

Here is my lesson plan that I was supposed to attach to Reflection on lesson plan.
Requires some kind of refinement.

Reflection on lesson plan

4 kinds of lesson plans, from the very detailed to the very general, were shown in the 3rd time we attended the class. I was kind of overwhelmed by the very detailed one since it included so much information when I had to read it in a short time. Its designer must have imagined some possible situations during the teaching process. I think that is good and helpful training for a new teacher. Yet typing those all-inclusive things all out feels quite tiring. I would try to take some notes or memos instead. Whether to practice them or not, I would leave it to the on-the-spot classroom atmosphere.
In the class, Miss Chiu brought up the question ”what is the principle of making a lesson plan?” Its answer may be related to teacher’s own belief. If the teacher believes student-center is helpful for learning, he will try to organize the activities that focus on students. Aside from teacher’s belief, reflection of lesson plan on the teaching goal, correspondence of each activity with the teaching goal, the flow of the teaching plan, involvement of the learners’ need and so on are crucial, too…Right, in other words, the aims as said in the handouts
(http://teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodogy/planning2.shtml).

Reflection on ICT

The information communication technology(ICT) does enable teachers do once-and-for-all teaching preparation. It can catch attention from students because it can perform in many ways that a teacher alone can hardly do. It creates easily environment for students to share things with others naturally by inviting them to a virtual world in which real communication are always taking place. This sounds quite ideal for any language classroom.
ICT has many strengths, but it has something that has to deal with care. The two below are what comes to me for the time being, the presentation skills and classroom management. Class with ICT still has to be presented nicely. Teacher must let students comprehend the goal and objectives of engaging them in some ICT. Teacher can share some anecdotes, of his own or from somewhere, about using the ICT to wet their appetites. Enthusiasm, of course, is important as well. In fact, it will be wasting time if I go on saying something about its importance.
Classroom management in computer class seems never easy for teacher. Teacher can hardly know what students are doing when hidden behind monitors. Some may say that if they are well informed of the goals and objectives, motivated by either teacher’s enthusiasm or anecdotes, they are theoretically teacher’s good babies doing what is told. Yeah, they theoretically are if we do not take individual difference into account. Perhaps, in Teaching Neverland, small group classroom might help solve the problem.