Rinse, Repeat, and Rinse Some More…

 In teaching, experience reigns supreme – a lesson that I had to learn the hard way during my last week of teaching practice. It was evident that I had a lot to learn from my mentors and my peers, and it clearly showed as soon as I began to finally take charge of my very own classroom.

As Best I Can… (Teaching Procedures)

        Before the actual day of the demonstration teaching, Teacher Aom, Teacher Jin, and I had come to an agreement that I would spend my final week in Ban Mhaekeng teaching some of their classrooms. Besides having the opportunity to take charge in the classroom, I needed to put my teaching plan into practice, just to make sure everything’s prim and proper on the final day of demonstration teaching. Well, let’s just say that it was a good thing that I had agreed to practice because, man, was I horrible…

        My teaching procedures were pretty straightforward; it goes something like this: introductions, motivational activity, presentation/discussion of the lesson, review, and assessment. My reasoning behind this format was if the actual teaching is predicated on the teaching plan, then I might as well just follow what I wrote to save myself the trouble. Call me lazy, but I think the best way to go about teaching is to make the instruction as straightforward as possible.

Look at Me, I’m the Manager Now! (Time and Classroom Management)

        Aside from teaching itself, the biggest challenge in the classroom is time. Truth be told, 50 minutes is nowhere near enough time to get from point A to point B, much less get there halfway! Not only do learning activities have to be fun and engaging, but they also needed to be quick.

        Starting the class off, introductions. It is important that the teacher greets their students at the start of the class, both as a way to signal that the class is about to begin, but to also check on the students, if they are ready to do so (I allotted around 5 minutes of the class for this one).

        Straight after the preliminaries, comes the introductory activity, the pass-the-box game I mentioned in my teaching plan blog, which I limited to 10-15 minutes just so it doesn’t eat up the class period. Again, this was just a way for me to check on my students and hopefully grab their attention for the lesson ahead.

        Now we get to the meat of the teaching plan, class proper. Arguably, the most important part of the instruction, I decided to reserve as much as 15 - 20 minutes of the class period to this part alone. From my own experience as a student, this is the part of the class where students tend to drift away from the classroom. So during this period, I made it a point to keep including my students with the instruction as much as possible. Granted that participation/straightforward questioning won’t do, I decided to keep things simple with managing the classroom – reading aloud. Not only does it keep the learners on their toes, but it also helps me, the teacher, maintain their attention for just a while longer.

        To top things off, the instruction ends with a short review and an assessment, which takes around 15 – 20 minutes. While admittedly, my choice of assessment isn’t necessarily time-friendly, what it makes up for is its ability to keep the class in line. This was another strategy of mine to keep the class in line for as much as possible. By having them work in groups, they would be much easier to manage because rather than having to address learners individually, I could simply work with their work.

 

Murphy’s Law: If It Can, It Will

        Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time. It’s a given that in any classroom there will be problems, whether it be a corrupted file or a broken gadget, we must always be prepared for the worst when we enter the classroom.

        Though to be clear, I was pretty lucky during my time in Ban Mhaekeng. Apart from occasional troubleshooting, I didn’t really encounter many problems in the classroom. Honestly, the biggest problem that I had with my time as a teacher was finding which prop I should use for my activities. I suppose that it's also helpful if you’re a chronic overthinker, but I do think that I was just somewhat lucky with my classrooms.

        Outside of teaching itself, my stay in Ban Mhaekeng was also quite uneventful, so much so that the only way you’ll ever encounter a problem is if you go make one yourself, and even then, it’s never guaranteed to happen. That’s how straightforward teaching was in that school, and to much of my delight.

        Nevertheless, it’s still important to be on your toes when we’re teaching. The last thing we want is to lose our composure when we’re in front of our students. Think ahead, prepare for what’s to come, and always be on the lookout for when things do go wrong.