I HATE watching myself and listening to my voice. Makes me cringe.
Anyhow, here's the self-reflection for my MT from class this past Saturday. I know Tom told us to not include the Preview but it felt awkward not setting up the context, and I wanted/needed to introduce the words: death penalty, in favor of, against. I thought the preview stage would only last for about a minute but actually went on for three minutes. As you can see, the topic was death penalty, and the reading was about a person's view of the death penalty. The reading activities were supposed to be like the following: read for gist, scan for vocab, read for details. Unfortunately, due to time, I couldn't get to the detailed comprehension section.
After watching my previous video, I've realized that I talk more than I intend to. People in my class can probably tell that I on the quiet side and that I don't mind talking. So, I've always thought the amount of my T-talk wouldn't be a problem. However, in the previous clip, I seem to talk a lot more than I need to. So, I've tried to be more conscientious of my T-talk time.
I think the positive aspects of my teaching style are that I use simple instructions and easy words. Also, I think that my T-talk time has decreased in comparison to the previous video. Also, I think I was fairly successful in creating a comfortable atmosphere for the students. Also, I used the WB as planned, in order to write the new vocabulary and expressions introduced. Other MIC techniques that I think I used quite successfully are pointing to text/WB and gesturing (underlining). The students were given opportunities to talk to each other and to the class/ teacher. I probably could've given the students more opportunities to talk amongst each other. I don't think I had much problem with my T-talk. I don't think I spoke spoke two or more sentences before giving students a chance to speak. I might be incorrect here. Perhaps I subconsciously ignored the excessive utterances produced by me. Actually, I did speak a bit when giving instructions, but is it possible not to?
A big fault I found from watching this MT video: too much evaluative t-talk. too much. I was unable to find any instances of communicative t-talk. I've tried to limit the amount of 'good' and 'very good' in my lessons, and it is evident in this video, but I still do it. Now, I need to work on producing communicative t-talk. It's hard to be communicative in these types of lesson though. Help me, Heidi! In the vocabulary part, where Paul gave an incorrect answer, I could've asked "Does everyone agree with Paul?" or something of that sort. While I'm on the subject of the vocabulary activity done in class, I think it was designed/ executed poorly. I could've just had the students share and compare answers with another pair, and then have me go over the words they were still confused on. It would've been more efficient. Another part I need to improve on is doing comprehension checks. I need to make sure the students understand the instructions by doing comprehension checks.
Great job on your MT, Ella! I think your teaching has improved even more throughout this course, as demonstrated in the MTs and other teaching examples.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, I think we've all realized how effective/necessary setting up a preview is, and in this case, it may have been necessary in order to complete the later activities. For the sake of the MT, perhaps you could have just quickly explained that you would have done a preview to elicit those vocabulary words, then moved into your lesson so that the later material could have also been included. However, I don't think that our teachers are so worried that we cover all of the material during the MT. Tom must realize that it could not happen in ten minutes. I think he just wants to see effective use of CI and MIC techniques, TDBU lesson planning and execution, etc., and you demonstrated all of that fairly well.
As you said, one way that you are effective at making input comprehensible is by using simple sentences that you deliver clearly. Your gestures and WB use seemed useful too.
One thing that I both felt during the lesson and while watching the video was that some of the terms and materials used were a little advanced. I realize that you may have wanted to just move quickly for the sake of the MT, but I would be surprised if intermediate students were able to come up with words like 'electric chair' and 'execution' so easily, although perhaps certain adult learners, as yours were, would have. Perhaps asking questions and chunking to elicit certain of the vocabulary would be useful in a real class setting. As it was a MT with 'great' students, I couldn't tell if you have included that possibility in your LP or not. You also mentioned needing to do more comprehension checks, and that may be a good place to do one to ensure that the whole class was following the content, although previews were not the focus of the class anyway, as you also said. One part where I felt a bit confused, and I think a student may have as well, was the slide that showed the donkey and the elephant holding placards. One was holding a sign that indicated he was in favour of the death penalty, however he was also ironically holding a 'pro-life' sign. Unless your students have a good idea of what the terms 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' mean, that dichotomy could have confused their understanding of the terms 'ín favour of' and 'against'. That kind of situation is even confusing for native speakers sometimes!
Anyway, I've just realized that most of this comment is about the preview, so I'm going to add a new one for the rest, alright? Good work though. Oh! I think your teaching voice is fine. I hate my teaching voice when I hear it recorded too. It sounds so strangely high to me.
This stage of your lesson plan was well done. All I can offer is suggestions to try tweaking a few things to see how it could vary or work for you. I might bring attention to a couple points just to clarify if you were aware of them and just trying to fit the lesson into the MT, or if these might have been sticking points for your students as well.
ReplyDeleteFor example, you asked your students to read the article quickly (~30 seconds) and answer the two questions. I feel that may not have been enough time for Intermediate students to get the gist, let alone grasp specific details, but realize you were probably speeding the time up because you were actually teaching native speakers in an MT. However, I actually found the first question about the reading somewhat ambiguous in reference to how the author felt in the article. It was actually not easy to ascertain exactly what you were looking for in response. In addition, we then had a little less than 20 seconds to discuss our answers with our classmates. Again, I assume this is because you were speeding up the lesson in order to complete everything in your LP during the MT.
During the discussion time, you were pacing at the front of the classroom. Could it be useful to walk beside your students' desks, to gain a better indication of how your students were dealing with the material as they discussed it? Do you generally tend to stay in the front of the classroom while your students are conversing?
As you mentioned, you spoke more while giving instructions, but I think that is normal and the amount of your speaking was reasonable, not excessive. (It was definitely less than I did!) One way you can decrease TTT further is by cutting out unnecessary words or phrases. For example, at 6:58, you said 'Okay, now do the second exercise. Match words on the left to definitions on the right.' That's already pretty concise, but I bet you could even cut it down to 'Now, match words on the left to definitions on the right' while still keeping your input comprehensible as you showed the students the part of the paper to which you were referring. Your having the questions prepared and letting students read them aloud further decreased TTT and increased STT, which was good. Your WB use also allowed you to use gestures, rather than words, to elicit responses.
Regarding evaluative T-talk, here are some ideas. One thing I've noticed Andrew B. does well is just saying 'hmm' after a student answers, then moving on or questioning the student. After the Swain reading, instead of using evaluative feedback, I've been trying to move on to a follow-up question or new topics when the student has the correct answer, which is a natural sign that I understand. If they have an incorrect answer, I may repeat what they said questioningly, with stress on the incorrect parts, or I may just pause and give them a quizzical expression, so they realize I didn't 'understand' and that they need to retry. You could have done that with Paul, letting him have time to look at the material again, if needed, or asked the class if they agreed or what they thought, as you mentioned in your comments above.
You also asked how to increase communicative dialogue. One way to do this, although it takes some time, is to follow-up your students' answers with another question. For example, if Paul said 'He was against the death penalty, but he changed his mind', you could have asked 'How would you have felt?/How do you feel about the death penalty?/Do you agree with his view? Why?' eliciting a simple sentence or two in response. Or you could simply have asked him 'How do you know (he felt that way)?' and he could have shared the part of the article that gave him that answer. Also, pausing after a student answers could give them the feeling that they need to say more, and they often will, especially if you accompany that pause with a gesture or waiting expression.
ReplyDeleteSomething else you did well was waiting quietly while the students were working on an activity, such as underlining the five vocabulary words, and not interrupting their process. Also, at 7:45, you modeled the proper response well for Tracie, and you cued Andrew to ask the complete question of Paul at 8:03. Your response to Paul at 8:10 actually was alright, although you didn't think so. At least you said, 'try again', and not 'no' or 'wrong'. Actually, I appreciated how you pointed out that the vocabulary word was a noun and should match the definition that was a noun. I don't know if an Intermediate would have picked it up that easily but, as Bill has told us, sometimes it is important to make students aware of syntax.
I thought your lesson was well-planned, although you said you didn't like the vocabulary activity. How did you feel about TDBU? I think it had a good basic framework, and that you could have shifted smoothly to student production later on. MTs are a bit rushed, aren't they? One last idea, to make it more communicative and relate it to students more, ask them what they thought of the reading or issue. Did they like it? Do they agree or disagree? What was thought-provoking? or some other question. I am sure you would have had them discussing that issue later, among others, but it may be helpful to find out if students even like the reading.
This is probably way too much feedback, as your lesson was terrific. The above is not even feedback so much as thoughts to consider as ideas, rather than replacements. Keep up the awesome work, Ella!
I'm exhausted...
ReplyDeleteTom, I'm exhausted as well, but thank you SO MUCH Heidi for your extremely helpful input! I need to work on all of those aspects that you mentioned. I never know how much time to give the students to finish an activity. I guess 30 seconds was a bit too short for the skimming. I have a hard time making the beginning stages of a lesson more communicative. Actually, I was planning on asking the students about their opinions after this stage. But I guess I could've asked them during the presentation stage as well. I know that I was staying towards the front of the classroom for this MT. I don't THINK I do that in a real classroom. It's been a while since I've taught a group class so I can't quite recall it exactly. I think I walked around the class when the students worked in pairs/groups (when I taught at a university here). Thanks for your comments on evaluative T-talk. I do SO MUCH of it. I need to try to make it communicative. I don't think I do a lot of evaluative T-talk when I am teaching my conversation English classes/lessons. Those lessons are a lot more communicative by design and function. However I know that I need to work on making my T-talk more communicative because I will need it when I'll be teaching a variety of classes and students in the future. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your continuous support and for the compliments. Being such a novice in this field makes me question myself a lot and I always think I'm doing everything wrong. Actually, I think you gave me more compliments than I deserved for this MT.