On teaching

Kids write lines. Teachers gotta reflect too.

I took over an English class today and while it didn’t go quite well, I’m glad my kids had some fun.

Lesson no. 1: Save lesson materials in multiple locations. Thumbdrive (most unreliable, by the way because some computers simply do not detect it but still allow you to eject it safely. wtf.), email account(s), sharing folders of your organisation’s LAN, laptop, hard disk… and wherever you can think of. This isn’t a recommendation. It’s a MUST. You never know when you’ll encounter techincal glitches. It happens. Often.

Well, it has always been my policy to do so but somehow, I didn’t deem it important for today’s lesson. I blame it on my macbook which refused to connect to the school’s wireless network (Yes, there IS a wireless network in a primary school. For who, for what? I’ve no idea but as usual, I don’t question good things. hee.). That has no relation whatsoever to my failure to deliver the specially-crafted lesson to the class but that’s naturally the first line of defense mechanism that most people have – Blame it on someone or something else, other than yourself.

Maybe I was feeling jittery and restless before I can’t access Twitter, Facebook or my email accounts while all other Windows users were able to surf the net effortlessly while I tried (without much success of course) to renew, and renew…. and renew my IP address. Argh.

Anyway, back to the point. Which was…?

Ok, lesson no. 2: Prepare (200+100) %. In addition to basic 100% preparation for a lesson (what do you want to cover; how to make your lessons interesting; how to engage your kids in self-learning after school; preparing a script of what you want to say and how you want to say – trust me, it’s much more than what you think is necessary;), do the above stated in lesson no. 1 (another 100% – that’s effortful k?), and prepare to deliver your lesson without the computer (that would mean your lesson will be less interesting than it should have been; another 100%).

And mind you, all that just for an hour lesson. Imagine having to plan 20 lessons per week. There goes my life. Do not envy teachers who end school at 1.30pm. While it’s officially 6 hours of work per day, lesson preparation (not including marking and additional duties) probably take up the rest of the day…

Oh well, I shall not be too pessimistic at this point in time. Probably I’m just being too anal about how my lessons shall be like. Maybe 2 years down the road, I’ll just heck care and do away with lesson planning – ok, not all, just the script writing part perhaps. Maybe… I should just stop being a perfectionist and making sure that I’m infallible.

Lesson no. 3 (Contributed by Dr Schirmer and Dr Penney): What you’ve planned for one lesson is usually more than enough to cover 2-3 lessons; too idealistic time management, in other words. If you can’t finish a lesson, fret not. Continue what’s left the next lesson. Don’t ‘eat’ into other teachers’ lessons. That’s a no-no because the class will be scolded by the next teacher for returning to class late.

Lesson no. 4: Pray for better luck. Seriously. Not, I’m not actually. First, I don’t pray. Second, I don’t really believe in luck. Ok, there isn’t a lesson no. 4….

because I’ve to reach school before 7.15am tomorrow.