Teaching practice - Conducted lessons (2)
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| source: own presentation |
The second post will cover three lessons, as they were thematically connected and were conducted one after the other (during two visits - on Thursday and Friday, 7th and 8th of April). This time, I asked for a challenge and after discussing it with my mentor teacher, I’ve decided to prepare lessons about adverbs of frequency. This time, I felt really unsure about the amount of knowledge students will acquire. I spent lots of time trying to choose the most fitting words for them and explaining these terms in the most understandable way.
What were the lessons about?
The topic of these lessons was introducing adverbs of frequency. Lesson aims included:
What I planned?
I planned a few stages of the lessons for Thursday:
What were the lessons about?
The topic of these lessons was introducing adverbs of frequency. Lesson aims included:
- introduction of new vocabulary: adverbs of frequency (never, rarely, sometimes, often, usually, always)
- revision of the vocabulary: everyday activities (read a book, watch TV, do homework, listen to music, call a friend, go to school, play with friends)
- introduction and practice of sentences with adverbs of frequency
- forming sentences about other people
- practicing sentence structure with adverbs of frequency
- asking and answering How often … ? questions
- answering How are you? question
- taking part in classroom survey
What I planned?
I planned a few stages of the lessons for Thursday:
- warm-up - drilling with How are you? question
- revision of the vocabulary - presenting the words, choral and individual repetition, reacting to pictures, finding missing pictures, matching words to pictures, charades
- introduction of the topic - introducing adverbs of frequency, writing an example sentence on the board with the adverbs in the middle, saying them out loud, answering How often … ? question with given words
- conducting a class survey - answering the question: How often do you go to the cinema? by sticking post-in cards in correct rubric, counting the answers
- practice of adverbs of frequency - putting words in correct order (sentence structure), drilling with given activities from the slides
- group work - dividing into groups and filling-in the worksheets based on conversations with groupmates
For Friday, I planned:
- warm-up - reacting to the instructions
- revision of the content from the previous day - elicitation of the vocabulary, categorizing adverbs of frequency
- concluding the group work - forming sentences about colleagues based on the example on the board
- writing a note on the notebook - writing an example sentence and two sentences about a colleague based on the worksheet, checking for potential errors
During this lessons, I used:
What worked and why?
The first thing that worked almost as I expected it to, was the class survey. I expected it to get messy with students coming to the board and sticking their post-in cards. I asked them to get one row after another and most of them followed the order. I made sure the question was relevant to them and each of them was able to answer it. Then, I asked three pupils to count the votes to engage them further into the activity. I believe it worked because of those reasons, as well as it was presented visibly on the board. The answers were very versatile and there wasn’t one clear winner, so counting made more sense and felt relevant.
The other thing that worked was the activation of previous knowledge. I was prepared for most of the students to not understand the concept. I also knew the pupils that may get it or even know it from extra classes or other sources. I wanted to start from those ones and utilize their knowledge to facilitate others with the understanding. I asked one of them to explain the concept to others, at the same time making sure he did get it. For at least four more people (based on my observations), adverbs of frequency become more understandable then.
The thing that I’m really proud of is engaging the students into the lesson. There were moments when they were visibly bored or lost. Then, I tried to ask questions they were able to answer. I also decided to let them form groups on their own. For the sake of their engagement and enthusiasm I’ve decided it’s better to give them the opportunity to work with their friends.
What didn’t work and why?
One big mistake I made was first making examples of sentences in the 1st person, and then jumping over to the 3rd person. To make it consistent, I tried continuing with the 3rd person on Friday, as they were talking about other people. It caused confusion and I wasn’t even sure if I should correct each of them. This lack of consistency also made me realize how much input they got during those two hours and how challenging it was for them to acquire it.
The other thing was asking students to form sentences about their group mates and not noticing who already spoke. Then I found it really hard to remember everyone that already spoke and get those shy students to admit they didn’t.
What could have been done better?
There is always room for improvement when it comes to group work. Though the students were engaged and happy to work together, there were some difficulties with understanding the instructions. I tried making it short and simple, so there were no difficult words causing confusion. I forgot to make sure it was clear. Then, while wandering around the classroom I had to explain it all over again to each group. It definitely took a lot of time to get pupils to listen and stop talking with each other. The next day, most of them had the worksheets so we could conclude the group work by forming sentences by chosen groupmates.
- materials prepared by me - a presentation with pictures and sentences to present, a game to practice vocabulary (https://wordwall.net/resource/31073340), a game to practice word order (https://wordwall.net/resource/31074991), worksheets for group work
- classroom furnishing - the computer, interactive whiteboard, whiteboard and chalk, post-in notes
What worked and why?
The first thing that worked almost as I expected it to, was the class survey. I expected it to get messy with students coming to the board and sticking their post-in cards. I asked them to get one row after another and most of them followed the order. I made sure the question was relevant to them and each of them was able to answer it. Then, I asked three pupils to count the votes to engage them further into the activity. I believe it worked because of those reasons, as well as it was presented visibly on the board. The answers were very versatile and there wasn’t one clear winner, so counting made more sense and felt relevant.
The other thing that worked was the activation of previous knowledge. I was prepared for most of the students to not understand the concept. I also knew the pupils that may get it or even know it from extra classes or other sources. I wanted to start from those ones and utilize their knowledge to facilitate others with the understanding. I asked one of them to explain the concept to others, at the same time making sure he did get it. For at least four more people (based on my observations), adverbs of frequency become more understandable then.
The thing that I’m really proud of is engaging the students into the lesson. There were moments when they were visibly bored or lost. Then, I tried to ask questions they were able to answer. I also decided to let them form groups on their own. For the sake of their engagement and enthusiasm I’ve decided it’s better to give them the opportunity to work with their friends.
What didn’t work and why?
One big mistake I made was first making examples of sentences in the 1st person, and then jumping over to the 3rd person. To make it consistent, I tried continuing with the 3rd person on Friday, as they were talking about other people. It caused confusion and I wasn’t even sure if I should correct each of them. This lack of consistency also made me realize how much input they got during those two hours and how challenging it was for them to acquire it.
The other thing was asking students to form sentences about their group mates and not noticing who already spoke. Then I found it really hard to remember everyone that already spoke and get those shy students to admit they didn’t.
What could have been done better?
There is always room for improvement when it comes to group work. Though the students were engaged and happy to work together, there were some difficulties with understanding the instructions. I tried making it short and simple, so there were no difficult words causing confusion. I forgot to make sure it was clear. Then, while wandering around the classroom I had to explain it all over again to each group. It definitely took a lot of time to get pupils to listen and stop talking with each other. The next day, most of them had the worksheets so we could conclude the group work by forming sentences by chosen groupmates.
Below is the worksheet for group work:
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