My first assessed observation
Please find the lesson plan here: Lesson Plan for 1st Observed Lesson-27tjmcy
Lead up to the lesson
After arranging the observation time and date I spent a lot of time trying to make a decision. Should I give that the lesson which was due to be taught that day according to the curriculum or should I “massage” the system and pull out one of my tried and tested, always a winner, never failed yet lessons. I had to weigh up the idea of getting off to a good start or to teach the lesson due to be at that critical next step for the learners according to the course designers.
It was an simple decision ultimately. I knew that I needed to teach the class which would best represent my everyday lesson. I felt that this would give me the greatest opportunity for reflection and aid what I do day in day out.
There were issues which needed consideration.
- It was an elementary class with a noticeable range of ability.
- The atmosphere in the class had been strained due to a dominant group which shared a first language yet ignored my repeated requests not to do so.
The target language in the course book Outcomes was the question form “How long + present perfect” in the positive form. The context the course book built the lesson around was pets. I instinctively felt that this was not the most natural fit for this subject and so I decided to investigate the most common uses on a corpus recommended by my tutor Nancy. The top four uses involving the above were have + been, have + had, have + worked and have + lived. Taking this into account I decided to create and structure a new lesson with these four forms as the basis. The theme was “friends” as I knew that students could provide a picture of a friend from their phone to bring to the lesson. The photos would create context for the question and answer regarding a real situation that could be used. I also designed an activity giving personal details of each student in the class so that questions could be created. i.e. Carlos is an engineer.
Post observation
I have now had the observation. I have subsequently watched the recording and enjoyed it greatly. There were many positives that I hadn’t imagined . The students were very focused, my elicitation helped guide students and encouraged them to make learning connections by themselves, my gestures also helped to enhance vocalised instructions, the personalisation of the activity appeared to inspire the learners.
Three key issues
These are the issues I have decided to focus on:-
1 Distractions and missed opportunities
An issue which i wish to focus on is prioritising in class. As i was concept-checking the boarded sentences with the students with regards to which were finished and unfinished a student mispronounced the word “were”. I would say that explaining grammar points are one of the most crucial times for students to concentrate and comprehend. I ignored this and went off topic and spent time eliciting different sounds on the phonemic chart until we found the one that matched. The students had to retain the knowledge mid-activity and then return to it post mini-pronunciation activity. It would have been better to focus on that which i deemed more important and which can be left for a more opportune time. This type of action happened several times, getting distracted also meant that i missed opportunities, for example, after we board the sentence “Paul works at the University”, rather than ask my students to create the How Long sentence I was again distracted by a different topic and missed an opportunity. So i should take greater care in staying on topic and prioritising that which i deem most important to the students and the lesson, and focusing on the other issues at a more suitable moment.
2 Instructions
One of the main aims of the lesson was to give clear and comprehensible instructions, to board – giving greater clarity and help to the students that have more limited language in the class. However, I relied purely on spoken instructions and gestures. I failed to board ANY instructions perhaps as I as a touch stressed due to the lesson being observed and being focused on the end goal of showing the observer “production” of the lesson target.
I have been writing about whether L1 has validity in the classroom and now understand that visual learners at lower levels need not only the language being taught in the class but also the language needed for functioning in class. As students become more familiar with this it helps them to progress more quickly and rely less on their mother tongue. There are several occasions where i did not board the instructions. Students appears to follow my vocal instructions yet boarded instructions would have provided visual help.
and most importantly
3 Time
If the students were following my instructions then I certainly wasn’t following my lesson plan. On many occasions i asked students to complete an exercise or activity and barely gave them the chance to do so. I hurried them, did not keep to my timing of the lesson and did not keep to the time limits I gave for the task. In effect the students had no time to digest the information and no time to consider and translate. I was busy disturbing, closely monitoring and asking questions. This could have been due to time constraints or simply observation nerves. When I was learning Spanish I needed time to think, comprehend, translate and syntactically reorganise the language. I ignored the student’s needs. In the future I need to hold back, to sit down, to do nothing other than allow the students time. I need to not be in control of every elements and give the students the opportunity to learn in what ever way they need to.
