L's micro-teaching

Just some notes on Miss L's class.

Level: Sec 1 N(A)
Topic: Earthquakes
Strategy: Powerpoint, video clip and related worksheet, writes keywords on whiteboard and mindmapping

I think she tried the constructivist method by trying to pique our prior knowledge of what earthquakes were and put it simply through her nephew's conception of earthquakes. Something about the earth shaking. As we are dealing with the younger kids, it is a good idea to keep it simple.

Several points were brought up. What happens when we are supposed to do groupwork and a student (qris) is being ostracised cos 1) he's a loner, 2) the class knows that he is smart and prefers to work alone. Initially if we foresee problems in larger groups, we scale it down to pairwork. And if this still doesn't work? Miss L asked him for the answer and he gave a perfect answer, reinforcing the pointthat he is smart and doesn't need a partner to drown him. Will the rest of the class feel inferior if this was not addressed properly? And how do we address it properly?

Miss L was prompt in settling kids down when there were disruptions... but her main method was to settle everything after class, so as not to disrupt her teaching. But this might be perceived as merely brushing everything aside. I felt that Miss L could have pinpointed the root of the problem instead of 'procastinating'. However, I also realised that probably 1) she was unsure over who had started the problems, 2) she din wanna waste time addressing these somewhat 'trivial' issues. So, do we as teachers actually spend time clarifying what had happened at the expense of the rest of the class? Cos by brushing it aside, it created a feeling that the teacher couldn't care more about the students and was only focused on the lesson proper. This resulted in "smelly pineapple" being 'accused' of being the culprit... when it was actually wesley whohad started the commotion.

Another point: What do we do if we have a foreigner in our class who doesn't understand english that well? How much time can we afford to give he kid private tuition after school? And do we really have the expertise to translate geographical terms into other languages?? Or can we even communicate properly with them in the first place?

During my 4-weeks stint, I encountered a Sec 1 N(A/T) class which I had to relief. I was thrown some English worksheets for them. So I handed them out after giving them the instructions. There was this girl who struck me. I wondered if she had autism.... cos she hadn't moved at all since I passed out the worksheets!! And she din move at all even though I was talking to her!! And in the end, her classmate told me that she doesn't understand English! My my... I peered at her nametag. She was a Thai! Hmm... though I had jsut returned from Chiangrai YEP, I still couldn't communicate with her too effectively lah! But I tried to explain to her what she was supposed to do to the best of my ability. And in the meantime... the whole class was just going bizarre!! And I learnt that you cun afford to focus on them at the expense of the whole class... even though you are just relieving not teaching!

I asked my CT how she would handle the situation. She said to come early every morning to coach her, and to be consistent in it. Ok, feasible idea. But will it really work with just 15 minutes every morning?! And what if you have more than 1 such student in your class... since we are becoming so much more global now?? Hmmm....

Aiyah, anyway, I think Miss L did a good job in handling the students' behaviour and din let anything blow out of proportion. And she is attentive to students' behaviour and picks on the quiet students to involve them. Good job. =)