My first class observation was a grammar class with Ms. Ramos. I really enjoyed her presentation, so I wanted to see how she might teach a different subject. Today, I observed her speech class. I was not disappointed.
A lot of chatter was going on in class as she arrived and booted up the computer. It wasn't noise to her. She verbalized her delight in the fact that there was a lot of free conversation going on among them. She didn't ask for silence during roll call, but just called out their names and noted responses among the chatter. Her walking from the computer to the board was enough cue for the chatter to cease.
Ms. Ramos began with a completely student-centered review of body parts. She utilized the entire whiteboard with her illustrations, labeling each part as students responded to her questions and clues. Rather than immediately spelling difficult entries, she asked for the spelling when the body part answer was given. She also prodded for distinctions between parts (hip/pelvis), and noted other uses for words (trunk of the body, which holds organs, and traveling trunk, which holds our things).
Corrections were made politely and indirectly, such as when "spine" was pronounced "spin." With this, she asked the student, "How do we spell that?" His spelling caused a self-correction, which he made without even being asked. When one table was being a bit too unresponsive initially, she mentioned being able to hear the front table well, but that she needed to be able to hear more from the back table. From that, and due to the many student-centered activities, there was high to complete involvement of all students for the remainder of the class.
Transition was made from body parts to a dialogue that pairs had created the previous day. Time was given for pairs to practice for the upcoming dialogue presentation. The students took the roles of doctor and patient. A trouble word was discussed before the practice began, so that everyone would be able spell and pronounce it (I think). "Prescription" was the word, and Ms. Ramos involved them in identifying the prefix, root, and suffix. They got the word right, but the doctors in the dialogue practiced "real world" over prescribing of drugs! Ha! (I worked in a pharmacy before coming to CIES.)
A teacher's assistant helped during the practice time at one table, while Ms. Ramos helped at the other. Following the presentations, corrections were made in a way that I am going to note for future use: "Can I make a little suggestion?" and other kind phrases were used, totally avoiding pointing out some of the quite humorous mistakes, such as a patient saying "I have a big pain in my neck." (I get those, too, but find healing by changing who I hang around with!)
A final transition was made into another activity that enabled students to practice asking for and giving information. The subject was interesting - "Wonders of the World," and the game was and engaging competition. Everyone had a small facts paragraph about one of the Wonders, and everyone, including the TA and me, went around asking guided questions and answers (scaffolding). The answers were placed in a grid, and whoever filled in the most facts about the Wonders was the winner. Everyone was walking around (kinesthetic learning) and having a good time trying to win (intrinsic motivation).
The class closed with a preview of the the form a quiz would take during the next class (helping lower the affective filter and make evaluation fair). Ms. Ramos also shared that the topic after the quiz would be "Timed Speaking," giving the rationale that this skill will help with the TOEFL.
If you can, observe one of Ms. Ramos' classes. It was certainly a benefit to me!
No comments:
Post a Comment