My first experimental teaching (10/7)
I had my first experimental teaching on 7th, Oct. To be honest, I was really anxious and nervous; couldn't sleep well the night before. When I told Yu-Ming that I was going to teach and she asked me if she could come for the first time, I hesitated and suggested her to come in the future. I was afraid that I could not control myself and mess the whole class if she's watching me teaching. However, due to Alice's encouragement, I changed my mind and invited her to come to my first experimental teaching. That's right, I have to train myself to teach as if no one's observing in my class at any time because that's just how it works in the interview. Besides, I'd like to hear the advice from my peer besides my mentor. I still remember last time, when we were discussing about the order maintain in computer classroom, you reminded me that we should always have Plan B in mind and never forget the "flexibility" when teaching. Did you expect what's going to happen on that day? :P Yes, there was something wrong with my powerpoint, I didn't count the time of pause when making those powerpoint. It cause a chaos: when I was interacting with students and trying to elicit their answers from guessing the interpretation of gestures, the answers appeared "automatically"! Gee~~I was totally in a panic at that time and jumped into my Plan B. I ran through the rest of those pictures quicky and moved the second activity. Fortunately, students seemed to be really interested in activity "greeting gestures around the world". They responded and enjoyed the discussion. I don't think I perform very well on that day, just as Yu-ming said, she could tell I was annoyed with my powerpoint. To be honest, I was "pissed off"~:P I will make good use of the powerpoint next time and also make "writing on blackboard" more "student-friendly". Besides, I'd better think of some assignments for them after extension activities in case students don't pay attention in class. Though I was still nervous and found myself sweating a lot after class, I enjoyed interaction with students. I'll try harder and make better preparation next time and thanks for your encouragement and advice, Alice~ :)
posted by Hedy @ 6:08 AM
1 Comments:
Dear Hedy,
Although we have exchanged our thoughts about your first experimential teaching face to face, I still want to leave some written marks here for you. First of all, congratulations on your performances. As a newbie, you actually did a pretty good job. It is natural to feel nervous. I always get cold feet when I need to do something I am not very farmiliar with, espeically in occasions when I have to face a lot of people. Since there is no way to escape it, I have long formed a habit of making full preparation. I believe that as long as I am well-equipped, I don't have to worry too much.
Except the unexpected blunder caused by PowerPoint and the occasional mis-spellings, you looked composed, cheerful and confident. I could tell that you were annoyed by the slides, but most of the time, you didn't show your nervousness in front of the students. You controlled the situation better than you thought. Probably you've already know this, but remember that we teachers need to be very certain about what we would do. If we show hesitation or lack of confidence, we would lose students pretty soon.
I enjoyed your English too. Your language is good enough to conduct a class in English, so there won't be any problem in this aspect. It's just that as a visual leaner, I expected to have "something" to see either during or after class. (Sitting with students in class gave me a chance to put myself in their shoes directly. I especially sympathized with the visual learners in the class). That was why I suggested that you prepare a handout of the important points of what you taught them in the period. That would help them to be focused too.
In general, you have done a great job. The best proof was from students' response and feedback. I have to thank you too. Watching you teach also got me to reflect on my teaching. I think I can learn more from you when you do more teaching in November. I hope you would enjoy the process and gain more confidence and experiences. Trust me: you'll be more than just fine. You'll be great!
Alice
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