Class #1
I was very nervous about my first practicum teaching experience, but in the end, it turned out great. Jim gave us a lot of structure and material for our first lesson, which was good. That way my teaching partner and I could focus more on the teaching and less on finding materials. I am hoping that he gives us a bit more control later in the semester. We started with editing, which I feel like for ESL students would be hard to do. You have to know your grammar to be able to find a mistake, and it is something that I even struggle with sometimes. One thing that I did initially was to make a script for the lesson. In practice, Chloe noted that it seemed like I was very impersonal in a way when going by the script, so I did try and go off-script during the lesson. I think I will still use some sort of script but something more like notes than an actual word for word script. We had a great response to our practice, and the students participated in giving answers. It was such a great feeling to see students understanding the content. We started the class with introductions of ourselves, which were very basic. I thought about doing more, but I was afraid of running out of time, so I kept it simple. We needed a bit more of that basic interaction with the students. I would like to do a bit more of getting to know each other in the future. We could have done a bit more to engaging with the students, although for this class we did get a decent amount of engagement. I felt like Chloe and I was doing a lot of teacher talk, which is the opposite of what I want. So that is something to keep in mind for our next lesson. We did have some questions at the end, which I think is a good idea because it does make them think afterward what do they believe the point of the lesson was.
Class #2
The second class was a lot different than the first class, with the main difference being silence. Never have I experienced such an agonizing thing. We would ask a question or for an answer, and we would get nothing back. From having such a great first class to going to this is was a bit of a letdown. We couldn’t tell if the students were even there half the time, which made it confusing and frustrating. We weren’t sure if we should move on or wait for someone to answer. I didn’t want to call people out to speak because I didn’t know them yet. I also wasn’t sure what the best course of action was. I always hated when teachers called on me in my education, so I would like to avoid it if I can. I think this will be where I have to push past my feelings and do what is best for the student. I could see where this problem is something where teaching online would be vastly different than teaching in a classroom. You would be able to see if the students are paying attention and to see their body language for those that might know the answer. It would just be a lot easier to read the class in person. I found this is where the use of 1 and 2 came in handy because it seemed to be the only thing students would respond to. I got this idea from observing another professor, and it did work great with both classes. Overall I think that the silence threw me off making me not feel as confident as I did the second time. I enjoy having the two classes to teach, and I think it is good practice at making sure that your lesson plan is easily adaptable for a different group that might not be as strong. I think that Chloe and I will have to think of some strategies to engage and encourage participation for our next double teaching sessions.
