Jacks starts the class by greeting the student and introducing the TESL students that are observing. Introducing the TESL students is good because the ESL students might be wary if they see names they have never seen before. At the same time this might make the students nervous and less likely to participate as well. Jacks goes over what they have learned so far which is great for students who might have missed the last class and adds a bit of review. Jack is very clear and loud which is great, he is very easy to understand. I like how he uses screen share to show were he is in the textbook. He involves the student by getting them to brainstorm transitions letting them answer in the chat. I think this is wonderful it gets the students involved with the lesson. It allows students to participate, and with chat it gives a more open opportunity to participate. He then continues by explaining why they do transitions in North American style of writing and uses a traffic signs analogy to give another way of explaining transitions. I really liked this I think its always a neat idea to explain something more than one way because it helps a student who might not understand the initial explanation. This is something that I really want to keep in mind for my own lessons.
Jack then moves on to the textbook using examples. He asks closed ended questions with just a clear yes or no answer. This makes it easy for the teacher to check that his students are following along and understanding. Shows the difference of a paragraph without transitions and how awkward that is. I found that to be a great way to show the students the need for transitions and how they can increase clarity in an essay. They then look at a paragraph with transitions where he reads out loud and students follow along which allows students to pick out transition words. I find reading out loud makes finding things like grammar or structure issue easier so its great that he uses the teniques of reading out loud. Now that they have a grip on transitions, he then explains challenges that they might face like idiomatic expressions and explains transitions that they might not understand. He will often ask if everyone understands but does not give them a chance to ask questions. This I do not agree with especially with class being online, because it can take a while to type especially for ESL Learners. Throughout the lesson I found that he often did this which probably leads students to be frustrated because they may have questions but since he has moved on they may feel embarrassed or like they now can’t ask that question anymore. Seeing it from Jacks side though I understand that the lesson needs to continue as they only have class for a certain amount of time. So perhaps suggesting that if students have a question then to write it in shared notes. This way its anonymous and if he continues students can take their time to type but also, he can see when questions do come up. He uses hands to get his point across which is great giving the students a visual example. One thing that he does that I really like is that he uses 1 or 2 for yes and no. I think that this a great way to get students to immediately answer and its very easy for them to understand.
As the class continues, I do find students are getting a bit more warmed up and there are more participating. He continues the lesson by explain why one transitions word works over another. This is important and now that the students seem to have a good idea of transitions this is a great next step. Another thing that I think is a great tool is speaking the instructions but also typing them in the chat. This way the students have two different types of deliveries of instruction. This way if they are not strong in listening, they might find it easier to read. He asks the student why they chose their specific transition words which I like because it helps the professor get into the mind of the student and see if they are understanding the content. That is one thing that I really enjoy about Jack’s teaching style is that he does a lot of checking in with students to make sure they are comprehending. When he corrects students on their choices, he explains why they are wrong which is good because it gives meaning to the correction. This also helps any other students who had the same answer. He finishes off the lesson by asking a question that pertains to paragraphing and their culture. I also think that asking students about what they do in their culture and where the difference might be is a great idea. Shows that the teacher is trying to connect with students and understand where they are coming from. He ends up talking about his own cultural experience. He leaves them with another example of a paragraph to look at on their own. Overall, there are things that I agree with Jack’s teaching style and that I do not but there are a few tools that I want to use in the future.
