Experiencing Teaching from Cindy

After reading Stephen Brookfield, I have a clear mind of the three stages of experiencing teaching--scanning, appraisal  and action.

I have been teaching ESL for more than 12 years. Because I am not majoring in education, so during the beginning years of teaching, I have to learn Educational Psychology, Educational Law,etc.
I used to teach both undergraduate students and graduate students, even some middle school students.

Looking back to those years, I have learned a lot. First, I think that scanning is important. "Scanning is the initial sweep or experiential trawl we undertake to diagnose the big picture". I do need to know what the students want, what the English level they are, or why they would like to study English,etc.

During the appraisal phase, I need to know their specific need. For example, some students are bad in grammar, others are not good at speaking, etc.
During the action phase, I have to choose the proper teaching materials for them. For teenagers, I will have to find some interesting stories, or articles with more pictures, or journals related with their daily life,etc.

During all these years teaching experience, I find I must choose the proper teaching material to the right student and apply different teaching style to students with various characters. When I taught those undergraduate students, I may explain the material in a detailed way and asked them to do some assignments; while I taught those graduate students, I may ask them to prepare the course in advance, and asked them to explain the key points to me instead. also, I asked them to write some journals and do some projects.

When I came to Canada I have to do these three phases again,because the requirements ,assessment and teaching materials are quite different with those of China. I have to study those carefully before I decide I choose which way and what materials to deliver.

I love teaching. Staying with students, I can find many fun , stay young and also learn from my students.

My journal for Instructional Strategy

PIDP 3250 Instructional Strategies ---Course Journal Assignment 1

OBJECTIVE:

Teaching in class is an art. Effective teaching and learning needs joint effort from both teachers and students. Recently, students’ engagement has been regarded as an indicator of successful classroom instruction. What is students’ engagement? According to the Wikipedia, student engagement occurs when “students make a psychology investment learning.” Then how to stimulate students to devote themselves to the class is a key problem worth studying. If teachers are good at applying those positive instructional strategies in class, the teaching process can be smoother and consequently the performance of students can be improved greatly. Based on the textbook, good strategy can promote students’ motivation and active learning, which are two key factors for students’ engagement. To enrich the class, teachers may use various approaches to make teaching interesting and meaningful.

REFLECTIVE：

After reading the first four chapters, I realized that there is much work to be done to improve my teaching. I have been teaching ESL for more than ten years. When I looked back to those years, I found that the most difficult part in my class is how to attract students’ attention to my class. Examining it closer, I think there are several factors for my problem. First, I haven’t changed much of my teaching style during the past few years. When I was in China, my main role in class is “Lecturer”, which means I just delivered the materials in front of the class and students were busy taking notes. Sometimes, the whole class was very quiet; while sometimes, the class was really noisy. One of the disadvantages of teaching in traditional way is that the teachers are really tired by teaching and lecturing continuously; meanwhile, the students feel so boring all the time that they are easily distracted or fall asleep. When I taught those undergraduates, the attendance rate was good; however, they couldn’t concentrate long enough for the whole class; When I taught graduates several years later, most students who attended to my class can focus their attention on my teaching; unfortunately, the attendance rate was not satisfactory. To be frank, I tried to change my way of teaching to some extent. One is to ask my students to explain the part of the textbook by themselves. I found when one of the students taught on the platform, his/her classmates may pay more attention to what he/she was talking about. Generally speaking, it was a good practice for both my students and me. The negative side is that it is a little time-consuming, because I have to highlight the key parts once more.

INTERPRETIVE:

To be qualified instructors, we should try our best to strengthen students’ engagement by using various ways. First, create a positive environment—class community in class. Only when students feel emotionally safe can they actively take part in class activity. Good atmosphere and classroom community are good to maintain enthusiastic and productive students. Once the students have a sense of belonging, they would like to share, to assist, to discuss, even to debate with classmates freely, which could successfully attract students to their work. Second, set optimal level of challenge for students. Only when students feel intellectually safe can they learn willingly. Too difficult tasks can only frustrate them and those too easy one may make them bored. Therefore, the initial easy tasks can be followed by some tough ones. On one hand, students may feel fun by overcoming obstacles step by step; on the other hand, students may help each other in their own community. Third, timely assessment and feedback are necessary. Students need feedback from their teacher for further improvement. From my own experience, a student may study harder when he/she gets more attention from teachers. As a result, talking with students and giving some positive suggestions and feedback on study now and then may encourage them to focus on study more. Of course, there are many other helpful ways to stimulate students’ motivation and make learning less boring, which need teachers to practice and study further.

DECISIVE：

I have learned much more by reading the first four chapters. After reflecting, I will do more research on instructional strategies. First, I value the thought of creating classroom community. Apart from the academic teaching, I will devote myself to setting up a positive class atmosphere for students feeling safe. Once they feel comfortable and believe their teacher, I think that these students may invest more energy and attention into class. I can also establish class-community outside class by using modern technologies. I may use social media (such as blog, Facebook, twitter, wechat, etc) to let students share, discuss, and learn after class. Second, I may use multiple ways to deliver my teaching. For example, I may propose more open questions for students to do critical thinking instead of telling them the answer directly. In addition, “the memory parts” in text book impresses me a lot. I know I can help students enlarge the amount of vocabularies in my ESL class by using comparison and contrast. For example, I may ask my student to contrast the following words as “contract, contact compact, and connect”; or compare “ferry and fair”; “burrow and burro”, etc. Third, feedback and assessment are essential parts of teaching and learning. From the book, I learned various forms of assessment, such as summative, formative and educative assessment. I also realized how important the timely feedback is. Objective & efficient feedback can let student know how well they are doing and how they can do better. For example, if a student comes to class early, I can talk with him/her on class performance and the space for improvement.

In short, to be a qualified teacher and to make students focus on learning for a comparatively long time, I have to explore more colorful strategies constantly to meet the needs of students with different ages. 

Reference

Taylor，L &Parsons, J.(2011) Improving Student Engagement Current Issues in Education, Volume 14, Number 1   Retrieved Sep 13^th, from http://eddev.niagaracollege.ca/content/Portals/35/NiagaraCollege/pdf/teachinginternationalstudents/Improving%20Stuent%20Engagement.pdf

Elizabeth F.Barkely (2009) Student Engagement Techniques: A handbook for College Faculty

Adam Fletcher  Defining Student Engagement: A literature review  Retrieved Sep 13^th ,from http://www.soundout.org/student-engagement-AF.pdf

Tristan de Frondeville (April, 13, 2014)  Ten steps to Better Student Engagement  Retrieved Sep 15^th from: http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-teaching-strategies

Are there any questions?

This topic in PIDP forum 3250 impressed me most, apart from Power Teaching. 
Nearly all the teachers have said that in our class and almost all the students have heard this one. 

Asking a question is not a difficult one, but how to ask a question which can introduce more questions is a skill that teachers should learn. 

By reading this thread, I learned that the proper time for answering the question and some techniques for answering the questions. 

Only when can propose new questions can we tell them understand what we have taught clearly. Just saying " yes, I am clear" is not enough.
I think that both the students and the teachers should grasp the skill of asking questions.
For one thing, good questions from teacher can improve teaching. As a teacher, I tried to ask some open question instead of asking those questions with just "yes, or no". I need them to say more about the questions.

To be frank, I used to asked "are there any questions? are you clear? " Generally ,they say:"yes" . We do need them to push our student to explore further, and this is the responsibility of teachers.
For another thing, students should learn how to do critical thinking and how to ask effective questions to pursue their further study. Not only are answers  important to students but also questions are equally meaningful to students.

I gradually understand the difference between "any comments" and" are there any questions"? "any comment" can stimulate students to find more or ask more.
I may use "any comment" in my following class.

Here are some tips for asking question in class

http://teachingcenter.wustl.edu/strategies/Pages/asking-questions.aspx
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/oct/24/teaching-questions-improve-pupil-learning
http://cet.usc.edu/resources/teaching_learning/docs/Asking_Better_Questions.pdf
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/three-ways-to-ask-better-questions-in-the-classroom/

I also like to quote some posts from my classmates Brenda, who offered some tips for asking questions.

I think that it would be a great idea to keep a list of essential questions (as discussed in the previous forum) that can be glanced at for guidance, especially for a newer instructor.  I think that I will write up 5-10 questions and then keep them with my lesson plan so that I have a cross reference to refer to when I get stuck. 

I know that there was  a list of EQs posted but I thought I'd write up a few that meet my needs...
Essential Question Suggestions

1. Does anyone have any comments on what we have just been learning/discussing?                      
2. What is the ‘muddiest point’ for you?
3. Is there something that we have just covered that isn’t clear to you?
4. Is there something that you would like more information or clarity on?
5. If you were teaching this subject to someone else, what do you think would be the 1-3 most important points to emphasize?
6. How do you think you can incorporate this information into your practice?
7. What was the most practical piece of information you learned today & why?
8. What was the least practical piece of information you learned today & why?    (From Brenda, PDIP3250 discussion forum)

ESL teaching materials

I have searched for ESL teaching materials and handouts constantly for the past years.
Recently, I have found some good links with many useful worksheets for my student to practice.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/

http://englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Writing-Practice.htm

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-future-perfect-tense1.html

I keep it on my blog for record.

PIDP 3250 Instructional Strategies ---Course Journal Assignment 2

OBJECTIVE:

Everyone has unique character. Some are introvert, while others are extrovert. Nowadays, we have an invisible bias against those introvert people who have few words, and have a preference for those easygoing ones to work with. In fact，no one is pure introvert or pure extrovert. According to the search, extrovert doesn’t equal to energetic and enthusiastic all the time and introvert doesn’t equal to shyness. Everyone may react differently on formal or casual occasion, showing our introversion or extroversion accordingly.

Therefore, it is wrong to arbitrarily judge one’s character. As a teacher, we should have clear mind on the advantages and the disadvantages of different characters, and them make good use of them to improve the performance of student.

REFLECTIVE:

After listening to the TED speech named The Power of Introverts, I contemplate my own and my experience at work. For one thing, looking back to those days when I was in China worked as a lecturer, I suddenly realized that I did pay more attention to those extrovert students. According to my experience, those extrovert students would like to sit in front of class, participating in class activities more. Besides, they were prone to share interesting, boring，happy or frustrating experience with me during the break. Consequently, I would like to talk more with those easygoing ones. In my opinion, I constantly believed that it is those extrovert students who helped me to set up positive atmosphere of class. Generally, those introvert students prefer to sit at the back of class, keeping silent all the time. For another thing, to be frank, I do regard myself as an extrovert and considerable person. I can easily find topics to communicate with strangers, and I try my best to avoid embarrassing others in any circumstances. I can adapt myself to the new environment quickly and to make new friends. However, occasionally I do prefer to be alone and stay in my bedroom, reading a fascinating novel, listening to classic music or just silently reading my own mind with the sound of rain outside in Vancouver. That feeling is really terrific and fabulous. I even doubt that I actually an introvert person in my inner heart.  

INTERPRETIVE:

After reflecting all my experience and examining my own behavior both in public and at home, I find the TED speech is really reasonable. First of all, I try to find the differences between shyness and introversion —“shyness has an element of apprehension, nervousness and anxiety, and while an introvert may also be shy, introversion itself is not shyness. Basically, an introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people.”

Therefore, we can clearly understand that introvert person are not the shy one. They just prefer to be alone or they put all their energy into the activities they favor. That they are not talkative regularly does not mean lacking thought. Second, I have learned many advantages of introvert by searching online. Actually, they have rich and colorful inner world, and they try to choose their words carefully and accurately before expressing their attitudes or viewpoints. Meanwhile, they may spend much time thinking before acting, which is obviously a great advantage in working. Besides, we cannot deny that introvert people can observe an issue profoundly and differently, usually from other perspectives. What’s more, introvert people tend to become passionate experts in areas they favor. Generally speaking, extrovert people cannot concentrate for a long time; therefore they prefer to learn things extensively. On the contrary, introvert people can focus on the subject they are interested in for a comparative long time, so they are going to invest more emotional and mental energy into the fields they like. Third, it is not good to label anyone with extroversion or introversion. In other words, there is no pure introvert or pure extrovert exists. “introvert” and “extrovert” are just descriptive words for you to understand others or yourself, which may facilitate you to find friends with something in common. In my opinion, “introvert” and “extrovert” are changeable when he/she faces different circumstances and topics/fields.

  

DECISIONAL:

After viewing this TED speech and searching online, I have deeper understanding of different characters. First, in my future job, I decide to pay more attention on those so-called introvert students. It is necessary for me to know that those who sit in the back of the classroom may be interested introverts and not unmotivated students. Various kinds of class activities may be designed to let introverts participate in, such as rotations. Small group discussion can be another good option for introvert students, who may feel comfortable and perform well. Besides, I may give them more time to think before answering my question. Once the introverts raise their hands to answer the questions, I do should listen to their answers-- which is quite important for encouraging them to participate in further activities. Additionally, constant praises are necessary for those introverts, who also need to be recognized. Second, I will no longer regard anyone as definite introvert or extrovert. No one is pure introvert or pure extrovert. Those extroverts need quiet space to think, to reflect, and even to recognize themselves, while introverts may warmly discuss the issues they are interested in. Both characters are good if we can coordinate them properly based on different situations.

Reference:

Carol Bainbridge (May 29,2014)  Introvert    Retrieved Sep.25^th, from http://giftedkids.about.com/od/glossary/g/introvert.htm

David Mein (March 22,2013)   There is no such a thing as an introvert  Retrieved Sep. 26^th, from

http://introvertfiles.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/theres-no-such-thing-as-an-introvert/

Tami Isaacs  (July 27,2009) Introverted Students in the Classroom: How to Bring Out Their Best  Retrieved Sep.28th, from

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/introverted-students-in-the-classroom-how-to-bring-out-their-best/

Lisa Petrilli  (March 25, 2013)  Ten things Educators Should Know About Introverted Students  Retrieved Sep. 28^th, from  http://www.lisapetrilli.com/2013/03/25/ten-things-educators-should-know-about-introverted-students/

Thanksgiving Day is a Day to give thanks!

Thanksgiving Day in Canada is coming. I like to express my deeply thanks for all the people I met in Canada in the past year.

Because of your kindly help, I can overcome so many difficulties and finally settled down in Vancouver. I have much confusion and worries when I first landed in Vancouver. I wondered whether I have made a good decision for my own and my whole family.

Because of your encourage and kind word, I felt warm in my heart and believe that Canada is the right place that I want to thrive.

Thanks again from my heart !