This is my reflection for the final ICC micro teaching assignment. The lesson included the preview and presentation stage. The micro teaching included only the middle to end of the presentation stage.
Essentially the vocabulary was quickly presented, along with the target dialogue. Then the culture section where students were picking gifts from Santa and repeating the dialogue was done. This was followed by a brief, yet somewhat awkward discussion.
For your convenience the Prezi File has been embedded into this blog. If you would like to access the Prezi file on the Prezi website here is the link:
Here is the video of the micro teaching:
The video:
This video is just over 10 minutes long. It starts just after the oohs and awes when the students saw me put on Santa's hat. I was hoping for this effect and it was well received. Students around the world recognize Santa paraphernalia.
In the first minute the vocabulary is presented. The Prezi was not used in the interest of saving setup time. However the vocabulary was easy enough for the students. The difficult words including gadget and naughty were focused on more. The silent 'd' in gadget was pointed out. The awkward spelling of naughty was also pointed out. Some of the other words could have been better defined. Although it was thought their meanings would be obvious if the students had the chance to see the Prezi, which unfortunately this time, they did not.
Next, the dialogue was practiced. The characters were named A and B. On second thought the characters should have been named Santa and <Name> to add some more personalization.
Then, the gift bag was passed around and students had repeated exposure to both parts of the dialogue. Also, they each read their role at least once. They also had exposure to the gifts which included popular toys and gadgets from around the world. One student got the naughty card twice, this was amusing to the rest of the class. Many of the toys elicited laughter from the students as they were culturally or age inappropriate. The gadgets elicited jealous oohs and awes, this was another eagerly anticipated event.
After the gift bag was passed around, a discussion ensued. The students said the names of their toys once again as I collected them remaining toys were quickly introduced. The students were asked about strange toys and toys they wanted. The discussion became a little awkward. These students were not so willing to talk about toys. I probably should have asked them what they really wanted for Christmas.
Overall I think the lesson went alright, however, it would have been nice to run out of time before the discussion. This could have been avoided if the Prezi was used to better introduce vocabulary or if I only had 9 minutes instead of 10.
The Reflection:
I set out to teach the presentation stage of my lesson plan. I accomplished this quite efficiently. With students who were well behaved and knowledgeable, this was quite an easy task to do. I used the whiteboard and some realia. The realia was very effective as the students enjoyed the Christmas gift bag and especially the Santa hat. It definitely helped to set a festive atmosphere. Also the flashcards were quite nice looking and this kept the students interested in their content.
The lesson was not teacher dominated at all, for about a 6 minute period, I hardly spoke. It was a challenge to develop a presentation stage where this was the case. Passing the gift bag around to prompt the students to use the dialogue and introduce the toys was a successful idea. There was a lot more student to student interaction than student to teacher interaction and I see this as a definite positive.
Several moments were amusing. One student received the naughty card twice in a row, this was funny for the rest of us. Some other students laughed at the gifts they received or were envious of gifts other students received. My only problem was that they didn't seem to appreciate all of the gifts. I don't think they were all age, sex or culturally appropriate. However this was a cultural goal to get them used to thinking of such situations.
I departed from my lesson plan when I decided to skip the Prezi introduction of vocabulary. I did this in the interest of saving time to set up the lesson. I regret doing this because I was left with some awkward time at the end of my lesson. I was hoping to have a meaningful discussion, however the students were not interested in discussing toys. I failed to make things interesting. I should have focused on asking why they like PS4 or Xbox One or Galaxy Note 3. They seemed particularly interested in the gadgets. If I was to micro teach this lesson again I would focus the discussion more on the unusual moments in the class and the students feelings.
I taught all the students in the class. Since they all spoken individually I had an opportunity to listen to their reading skills and ensure they could use the dialogue in a meaningful way. They also had the chance to experience giving and receiving gifts, which is a nice thing. This means they had a chance to contribute their previous knowledge and experience to the class in a meaningful way. I really wish I had the chance to ask them all what they wanted. They will get the chance to do this in the practice and presentation stages next weekend. I think the students were challenged to think about gifts that might be popular for other individuals, especially children in other countries. I think they liked learning about this and realizing that many of the popular gifts were universally popular. They did not respond well to having to admit they are naughty for asking Santa for money. Money is a favored gift by many, however I didn't want to put them on the spot by making them lie. I figured since everyone wants money, it would be a safe way of having students say that they are naughty without causing shame or embarrassment.
The source of my ideas were the numerous Black Friday advertisements which offer great deals on Christmas gifts and the material driven nature of Christmas shopping in the West. I think if I can work on making the presentation stages for all of my lessons as interactive as this, things will be more interesting for my students. Presentation stages are often seen as boring input time for students. At least they had an opportunity to do something that isn't so common in the classroom or expected when they see flash cards. By handing them the cards as gifts, I hope it gave them an enduring sense of ownership of the material. The ribbons were also a nice touch. It gave them somewhat of a feeling of actually having received such a gift. I am glad I was able to attempt to give them an experience instead of just showing pictures and naming the gifts. Many ideas involving flashcards are so overused, I often wonder if the students even enjoy the activities. The Christmas bows attached to the cards were also a nice touch.
I do wish I could add even more culture specific content to my lessons in the future. Santa and Christmas are already familiar with the students; however, Christmas culture in other countries is not. Certainly the popular gifts were unfamiliar with most of the students. I mean do you know what a Shimmer n Sparkle Cra-Z-Loom is? If the answer is yes, I'm astonished. I would have liked to do more to decorate the classroom and even have the students decorate their classroom. I don't know how much Christmas decorations they put up in their houses. Although, after living here for several years, I know most shops and private homes do not decorate to the same extent as they do in the West, certainly not around my school.
I hope I did my best to spread some Christmas cheer and I hope it was a satisfactory presentation stage for the learners, I felt happy with doing something a little more creative and originally than usual. I know my regular students appreciate when things break away from the mold. At the very least, it makes things more memorable.
This video is just over 10 minutes long. It starts just after the oohs and awes when the students saw me put on Santa's hat. I was hoping for this effect and it was well received. Students around the world recognize Santa paraphernalia.
In the first minute the vocabulary is presented. The Prezi was not used in the interest of saving setup time. However the vocabulary was easy enough for the students. The difficult words including gadget and naughty were focused on more. The silent 'd' in gadget was pointed out. The awkward spelling of naughty was also pointed out. Some of the other words could have been better defined. Although it was thought their meanings would be obvious if the students had the chance to see the Prezi, which unfortunately this time, they did not.
Next, the dialogue was practiced. The characters were named A and B. On second thought the characters should have been named Santa and <Name> to add some more personalization.
Then, the gift bag was passed around and students had repeated exposure to both parts of the dialogue. Also, they each read their role at least once. They also had exposure to the gifts which included popular toys and gadgets from around the world. One student got the naughty card twice, this was amusing to the rest of the class. Many of the toys elicited laughter from the students as they were culturally or age inappropriate. The gadgets elicited jealous oohs and awes, this was another eagerly anticipated event.
After the gift bag was passed around, a discussion ensued. The students said the names of their toys once again as I collected them remaining toys were quickly introduced. The students were asked about strange toys and toys they wanted. The discussion became a little awkward. These students were not so willing to talk about toys. I probably should have asked them what they really wanted for Christmas.
Overall I think the lesson went alright, however, it would have been nice to run out of time before the discussion. This could have been avoided if the Prezi was used to better introduce vocabulary or if I only had 9 minutes instead of 10.
The Reflection:
I set out to teach the presentation stage of my lesson plan. I accomplished this quite efficiently. With students who were well behaved and knowledgeable, this was quite an easy task to do. I used the whiteboard and some realia. The realia was very effective as the students enjoyed the Christmas gift bag and especially the Santa hat. It definitely helped to set a festive atmosphere. Also the flashcards were quite nice looking and this kept the students interested in their content.
The lesson was not teacher dominated at all, for about a 6 minute period, I hardly spoke. It was a challenge to develop a presentation stage where this was the case. Passing the gift bag around to prompt the students to use the dialogue and introduce the toys was a successful idea. There was a lot more student to student interaction than student to teacher interaction and I see this as a definite positive.
Several moments were amusing. One student received the naughty card twice in a row, this was funny for the rest of us. Some other students laughed at the gifts they received or were envious of gifts other students received. My only problem was that they didn't seem to appreciate all of the gifts. I don't think they were all age, sex or culturally appropriate. However this was a cultural goal to get them used to thinking of such situations.
I departed from my lesson plan when I decided to skip the Prezi introduction of vocabulary. I did this in the interest of saving time to set up the lesson. I regret doing this because I was left with some awkward time at the end of my lesson. I was hoping to have a meaningful discussion, however the students were not interested in discussing toys. I failed to make things interesting. I should have focused on asking why they like PS4 or Xbox One or Galaxy Note 3. They seemed particularly interested in the gadgets. If I was to micro teach this lesson again I would focus the discussion more on the unusual moments in the class and the students feelings.
I taught all the students in the class. Since they all spoken individually I had an opportunity to listen to their reading skills and ensure they could use the dialogue in a meaningful way. They also had the chance to experience giving and receiving gifts, which is a nice thing. This means they had a chance to contribute their previous knowledge and experience to the class in a meaningful way. I really wish I had the chance to ask them all what they wanted. They will get the chance to do this in the practice and presentation stages next weekend. I think the students were challenged to think about gifts that might be popular for other individuals, especially children in other countries. I think they liked learning about this and realizing that many of the popular gifts were universally popular. They did not respond well to having to admit they are naughty for asking Santa for money. Money is a favored gift by many, however I didn't want to put them on the spot by making them lie. I figured since everyone wants money, it would be a safe way of having students say that they are naughty without causing shame or embarrassment.
The source of my ideas were the numerous Black Friday advertisements which offer great deals on Christmas gifts and the material driven nature of Christmas shopping in the West. I think if I can work on making the presentation stages for all of my lessons as interactive as this, things will be more interesting for my students. Presentation stages are often seen as boring input time for students. At least they had an opportunity to do something that isn't so common in the classroom or expected when they see flash cards. By handing them the cards as gifts, I hope it gave them an enduring sense of ownership of the material. The ribbons were also a nice touch. It gave them somewhat of a feeling of actually having received such a gift. I am glad I was able to attempt to give them an experience instead of just showing pictures and naming the gifts. Many ideas involving flashcards are so overused, I often wonder if the students even enjoy the activities. The Christmas bows attached to the cards were also a nice touch.
I do wish I could add even more culture specific content to my lessons in the future. Santa and Christmas are already familiar with the students; however, Christmas culture in other countries is not. Certainly the popular gifts were unfamiliar with most of the students. I mean do you know what a Shimmer n Sparkle Cra-Z-Loom is? If the answer is yes, I'm astonished. I would have liked to do more to decorate the classroom and even have the students decorate their classroom. I don't know how much Christmas decorations they put up in their houses. Although, after living here for several years, I know most shops and private homes do not decorate to the same extent as they do in the West, certainly not around my school.
I hope I did my best to spread some Christmas cheer and I hope it was a satisfactory presentation stage for the learners, I felt happy with doing something a little more creative and originally than usual. I know my regular students appreciate when things break away from the mold. At the very least, it makes things more memorable.
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