So the class that was causing trouble rears its head again.
Their tutor has decided that their levels of literacy are so low that none of them have a chance of passing the reading and writing exams, so they are only being entered for speaking. Which presents me with an interesting challenge for IT- there are maybe one or two things I can do with them which are relevant to speaking, but their IT literacy is also very low, and I'm still not sure that learning more about how to use a computer would benefit them.
I'm hoping to persuade the tutor of one of the higher level groups, who are very good with computers, to make a podcast for the other class to listen to. We may also be able to use the computers to drill pronunciation. Using ICT as a resource, anyone?
In other news, I had my next 7407 observation on Wednesday. Much less hassle. It was just a shame that the observer didn't see the speaking activity I did with the class, which went down very well and got them all talking. Though in that session I did have to do my first real school-marm bit of classroom management- splitting up two students who are always arguing and calling on me to adjudicate. I told them I had had enough, that I didn't want to hear it any more and then sat them at separate tables, which I hope will solve the problem. One of the pair seems to have some affective problems anyway- I don't think this student's been in a classroom situation before, so rules like "don't talk when other people (including the teacher) are talking" are totally alien, and this is on top of the fact that I suspect they may have mild Aspergers, since comments the student makes in class sometimes smack of an inability to understand how other people feel- CF when some of the students were laughing about something in a text , and the student did not understand why they were laughing, and this wasn't anything to do with ESOL needs. Their behaviour risks being a big barrier to their learning, so I have to work to keep it in check. Of course, said student is just as unpopular with most of the rest of the class as they are with the student I had to move.
Half term, because of outside problems, promises to actually be more stressful than coming in to college to teach. But I'm applying for a couple of things which would earn money in the holidays, so at least it has a chance of being productive. Sometimes leaving your homelife at home is as difficult as leaving your work at work.
Finally, one of my Polish students said something in class that proved the theory that formal exams are not necessarily a good way to make students learn: "I took the exam and then I forgot everything, I was so tired and worried."
Friday, February 16, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Maybe I should have used fewer monkeys...
(This post is typed to the music of Jonathan Coulton, which is currently stuck in my head).
Today saw my first peer observation. I get on very well with the teacher from my department who observed me, and we both agree that in fact, observation by peers is a very good thing. I hold to the fact that a graded observation is different to the kind I had today. You're less nervous because you know that the process is entirely constructive, and that you're not being judged against set criteria in the same way. Although I know that the graded ones are intended to help you develop, the grade hangs over your head like a sword over Damocles. Of course, it would help if I had a permanent contract, to be perfectly honest- there are particular staff incentives for good observation grades which are not available to me, and frankly that makes me feel like, as a temp, I get a stick (a bad observation grade would mean my job here would be in jeopardy, so I work hard to perform well and keep in work- observed AND unobserved) where everyone else gets a carrot (staff employed by the college on permanent contracts get bonuses as part of the college pay initiative if they receive a certain number of good observation grades, and poor performance in the first instance simply means additional support and work going into their development).
Having begun to look at assessment in teacher training, I would consider that the College Observations are the summative ones, and therefore much more nervewracking than the peer observations and other 7407 obs, which are formative.
It helps that the observer knew the class I was teaching, I think, because she knew the different students and their particular issues. In fact, said observer had asked if she could come and watch me with them previously, which was why I was jammy enough to ask her if she'd do it for my 7407 assignment.
Because I knew that this was formative, I felt a lot more relaxed with someone else in the room than I normally do. That said, I did do a few things differently to how I had planned, but I felt that the changes were improvements, and ones I want to keep in mind for the future with that class- for example getting each individual student to read the text they had studied to me while the class carried out a writing exercise. It's something I could only hope to do with a class that size- there are only about 9 on the register, and today I only had 4 students, so I could give each of them more individual attention.
And now, to write my personal reflection...
Today saw my first peer observation. I get on very well with the teacher from my department who observed me, and we both agree that in fact, observation by peers is a very good thing. I hold to the fact that a graded observation is different to the kind I had today. You're less nervous because you know that the process is entirely constructive, and that you're not being judged against set criteria in the same way. Although I know that the graded ones are intended to help you develop, the grade hangs over your head like a sword over Damocles. Of course, it would help if I had a permanent contract, to be perfectly honest- there are particular staff incentives for good observation grades which are not available to me, and frankly that makes me feel like, as a temp, I get a stick (a bad observation grade would mean my job here would be in jeopardy, so I work hard to perform well and keep in work- observed AND unobserved) where everyone else gets a carrot (staff employed by the college on permanent contracts get bonuses as part of the college pay initiative if they receive a certain number of good observation grades, and poor performance in the first instance simply means additional support and work going into their development).
Having begun to look at assessment in teacher training, I would consider that the College Observations are the summative ones, and therefore much more nervewracking than the peer observations and other 7407 obs, which are formative.
It helps that the observer knew the class I was teaching, I think, because she knew the different students and their particular issues. In fact, said observer had asked if she could come and watch me with them previously, which was why I was jammy enough to ask her if she'd do it for my 7407 assignment.
Because I knew that this was formative, I felt a lot more relaxed with someone else in the room than I normally do. That said, I did do a few things differently to how I had planned, but I felt that the changes were improvements, and ones I want to keep in mind for the future with that class- for example getting each individual student to read the text they had studied to me while the class carried out a writing exercise. It's something I could only hope to do with a class that size- there are only about 9 on the register, and today I only had 4 students, so I could give each of them more individual attention.
And now, to write my personal reflection...
Friday, February 02, 2007
The Railroad method of teaching...
Sometimes, just sometimes, teaching is like being on a train where the brakes have gone. What you are about to cover with the class is a bad idea. You know it's a bad idea. You know that you're going to end up not so much monitoring as frogmarching the class through the work. And yet you can't stop yourself.
Today, it was Powerpoint. Fine for all but one of the Entry 2 class. Oddly enough, the one student who is utterly at sea with computers actually went to an IT college in their country, according to the Class Profile. I knew that asking her to try Powerpoint was probably asking for trouble. So what made me do it? Possibly the fact that it takes her long enough to type anything in Word, and that since Powerpoint demands a lot less from students in terms of sentences, it might be easier for her.
I need to work on differentiation, especially in this class. The normal E2 scheme of work is fine for most of the students, but there are 3 who are much faster than the others, and then at the other end there's At Sea.
Of course, one of the main issues with the IT classes, as I think I've said elsewhere in this PDJ, is the fact that the ESOL IT classes are not grouped separately from the basic ESOL classes. Which means that in one class you have a myriad of different levels of experience and ability. My personal feeling on the subject is that the students cannot possibly hope to truly benefit from the IT classes if they are not treated as a separate subject, and thus the students' needs and abilities diagnosed SEPARATELY from their ESOL needs. More than this, the benefits for those of us who teach IT for ESOL students would be enormous- we would be able to plan more effectively, and teach all the students things they need to learn. Perhaps we could include language studies as part of that, and these could be differentiated, but the actual IT part of the session would keep all our students challenged, and save the usual notes for cover teachers: "Nuala, Nigel and Norbert are doing this, Geoffrey, Gladys, Gomez and George are doing this, and Sophie and Simon are doing this..."
One of these days, when I'm better at the IT side of what I do, I shall write ESOL IT coursebooks. The elementary book will be entitled "Teacher! I click?". The intermediate one will be entitled "No, click there." And the advanced book will be called "Oh- you're a computer programmer."
Today, it was Powerpoint. Fine for all but one of the Entry 2 class. Oddly enough, the one student who is utterly at sea with computers actually went to an IT college in their country, according to the Class Profile. I knew that asking her to try Powerpoint was probably asking for trouble. So what made me do it? Possibly the fact that it takes her long enough to type anything in Word, and that since Powerpoint demands a lot less from students in terms of sentences, it might be easier for her.
I need to work on differentiation, especially in this class. The normal E2 scheme of work is fine for most of the students, but there are 3 who are much faster than the others, and then at the other end there's At Sea.
Of course, one of the main issues with the IT classes, as I think I've said elsewhere in this PDJ, is the fact that the ESOL IT classes are not grouped separately from the basic ESOL classes. Which means that in one class you have a myriad of different levels of experience and ability. My personal feeling on the subject is that the students cannot possibly hope to truly benefit from the IT classes if they are not treated as a separate subject, and thus the students' needs and abilities diagnosed SEPARATELY from their ESOL needs. More than this, the benefits for those of us who teach IT for ESOL students would be enormous- we would be able to plan more effectively, and teach all the students things they need to learn. Perhaps we could include language studies as part of that, and these could be differentiated, but the actual IT part of the session would keep all our students challenged, and save the usual notes for cover teachers: "Nuala, Nigel and Norbert are doing this, Geoffrey, Gladys, Gomez and George are doing this, and Sophie and Simon are doing this..."
One of these days, when I'm better at the IT side of what I do, I shall write ESOL IT coursebooks. The elementary book will be entitled "Teacher! I click?". The intermediate one will be entitled "No, click there." And the advanced book will be called "Oh- you're a computer programmer."
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Overheard from my classroom...
...after a fire alarm:
"When the fire alarm goes, you wait outside and then you come back in. You DON'T disappear off down the shops, and you DON'T do whatever it was you did."
At least in ESOL, if our students vanish during an alarm, it's because they think it's time to go home.
Instead, we get the fun of dealing with questions like this one, whilst keeping a straight face:
Student: Teacher, what means this word?
Me (from across the classroom): What word?
Student: Penetration.
In other news, I have discovered the joy of the laminator. After our training sessions on resources, I have decided that making resources I can use again is definitely the way to go, so I'm doing my best to store them in a sensible way, as well as quick-reference them for other staff. No point reinventing the wheel.
"When the fire alarm goes, you wait outside and then you come back in. You DON'T disappear off down the shops, and you DON'T do whatever it was you did."
At least in ESOL, if our students vanish during an alarm, it's because they think it's time to go home.
Instead, we get the fun of dealing with questions like this one, whilst keeping a straight face:
Student: Teacher, what means this word?
Me (from across the classroom): What word?
Student: Penetration.
In other news, I have discovered the joy of the laminator. After our training sessions on resources, I have decided that making resources I can use again is definitely the way to go, so I'm doing my best to store them in a sensible way, as well as quick-reference them for other staff. No point reinventing the wheel.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)