Today was a bit of a frustrating day. It never ceases to amaze me how no matter how hard you plan and prepare for a lesson, one factor can throw it all out the window. That one factor? The students.
For my first years at my base school I write a new lesson plan every week and a half or so. I see them all on a rotation, and because there are so many of them I don't get to see them every week like I see the first years at my visit school. Before I walk into a classroom with my new lesson plan, I always feel a little apprehensive. Luckily I'm good at hiding my sickening nerves when it comes to public speaking, so the kids have never really picked up on how anxious I get sometimes. Normally, the first lesson I give goes really well, and I come out of the classroom afterwards feeling like I'm walking on air - maybe I am a good teacher! Maybe I did reach those kids! Maybe they will pass their exams with flying colours! Then I give the exact same lesson to another first year class, in the exact same way, with the exact same material. And it crashes and burns.
From what I can surmise, the following are factors which affect the level of participation amongst my students:
1) Is it before lunchtime? (If so then forget it, they don't care about anything other than getting to 12:40 and ripping open their lunchbox to appease their voracious adolescent appetite.)
2) Are they mostly boys? (If they are then you'll get more participation. But probably dumber answers as they try to show off to their friends.)
3) Are they mostly girls? (Then they're probably too shy to speak.)
4) Is this the last lesson of the day? (If so then expect snoozers.)
5) Have they just had PE? (Then expect nothing. The spirit ain't willing and the flesh is weak.)
6) Is it dark and raining outside? (In that case they're going to be depressed as well as inattentive. Perfect.)
Individual students can vary based on many factors. Exhausting club activities, being sat near their boyfriend / girlfriend, wanting to be part of the 'in' crowd... It's a teenage minefield.
What I'm getting at is that yesterday I delivered a spectacular lesson where I transformed the classroom into a restaurant, and with the help of a few minor props I had students become waiters and take food orders from their classmates. They were competing with each other for merit stamps and basically being perfect students. Today it was all I could do to get my students to pick up a pen. Why?! I put so much work in, and they gave me nothing!
The more time I spend in the classroom, the more I realise that teaching is about improvisation. Obviously you need to put in a hell of a lot of work before you even set foot in the room, but ultimately you have to make choices about when to change your lesson plan and focus on something else. If the students aren't responding then you just have to abandon an idea sometimes and push on with something else. It can be infuriating, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. What I can't get the hang of is shaking that miserable post-lesson feeling of being an absolute failure when my students have made no effort and retained nothing.. I hope that will come with time too, though I guess that emotional separation may be what separates real teachers from try-hard JETs such as myself.
For my first years at my base school I write a new lesson plan every week and a half or so. I see them all on a rotation, and because there are so many of them I don't get to see them every week like I see the first years at my visit school. Before I walk into a classroom with my new lesson plan, I always feel a little apprehensive. Luckily I'm good at hiding my sickening nerves when it comes to public speaking, so the kids have never really picked up on how anxious I get sometimes. Normally, the first lesson I give goes really well, and I come out of the classroom afterwards feeling like I'm walking on air - maybe I am a good teacher! Maybe I did reach those kids! Maybe they will pass their exams with flying colours! Then I give the exact same lesson to another first year class, in the exact same way, with the exact same material. And it crashes and burns.
From what I can surmise, the following are factors which affect the level of participation amongst my students:
1) Is it before lunchtime? (If so then forget it, they don't care about anything other than getting to 12:40 and ripping open their lunchbox to appease their voracious adolescent appetite.)
2) Are they mostly boys? (If they are then you'll get more participation. But probably dumber answers as they try to show off to their friends.)
3) Are they mostly girls? (Then they're probably too shy to speak.)
4) Is this the last lesson of the day? (If so then expect snoozers.)
5) Have they just had PE? (Then expect nothing. The spirit ain't willing and the flesh is weak.)
6) Is it dark and raining outside? (In that case they're going to be depressed as well as inattentive. Perfect.)
Individual students can vary based on many factors. Exhausting club activities, being sat near their boyfriend / girlfriend, wanting to be part of the 'in' crowd... It's a teenage minefield.
What I'm getting at is that yesterday I delivered a spectacular lesson where I transformed the classroom into a restaurant, and with the help of a few minor props I had students become waiters and take food orders from their classmates. They were competing with each other for merit stamps and basically being perfect students. Today it was all I could do to get my students to pick up a pen. Why?! I put so much work in, and they gave me nothing!
The more time I spend in the classroom, the more I realise that teaching is about improvisation. Obviously you need to put in a hell of a lot of work before you even set foot in the room, but ultimately you have to make choices about when to change your lesson plan and focus on something else. If the students aren't responding then you just have to abandon an idea sometimes and push on with something else. It can be infuriating, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. What I can't get the hang of is shaking that miserable post-lesson feeling of being an absolute failure when my students have made no effort and retained nothing.. I hope that will come with time too, though I guess that emotional separation may be what separates real teachers from try-hard JETs such as myself.
