Student Practice Reflection - Day 6 (Teaching Materials)

     February 10th was the 6th day of my observations at the Trilingual School of Warsaw. I reflected on the topic of teaching materials, but I also had thoughts related to other aspects of the lessons. I observed two English classes with two different groups - both from grade 4 but at different English language skill levels. Both lessons were about figures of speech, but they were conducted in very different ways. The more advanced group did 9 different figures of speech, which I personally found to be too much for just one session. Even as an adult I felt overwhelmed. I think dividing the figures into two separate lessons and doing more practice exercises could've been useful for the students, who were probably overloaded with new information. The less advanced group had less concepts introduced and spent more time on each. Though I understand that teachers need to include a lot of knowledge in short amounts of time, I feel like the way the lesson was conducted with the 2nd group should've been the way it was for everyone. It was definitely an interesting experience observing these lessons and I wonder, if I others agree or disagree with my observations. 

Teaching Materials

    This time I reflected on the topic of teaching materials in the classroom. I was a little worried, because I knew this topic was approaching and I noticed that my mentor doesn't use too many materials in his lessons. They usually involve a presentation, which the teacher prepares, and a lot of discussion, but additional resources are usually minimal. Luckily, during these English lessons about figures of speech more materials were used than usual. The school bought copies of compilation poetry books for each student and the lessons began with students reading passages they selected out loud. Later the teacher did a presentation on different figures of speech. The presentation was prepared by him and didn't follow any other specific materials, such as coursebooks, which I noticed this teacher (or possibly even the entire school) doesn't use at all in any of his classes. After the presentation, everyone went back to the poetry books and looked for the concepts that were introduced to during the presentation. The teacher would pick a poem, someone would read it out loud and everyone would analyze it, while trying to relate the concepts previously taught to these pieces of art. I really enjoyed observing what teaching materials the teacher uses and how they affect the lesson. Not using coursebooks has been a surprise to me since day one of my internship, but I've learned to really love this method. While such resources can provide structure, not using them allows much more control and creativity from the side of the teacher. The lessons feel more free and allow more conversation. It feels like both the teacher and the students are the ones creating the lesson and dictating what happens, not a book. The presentations, which appear in almost all lessons, are a great substitute for books. They explain new concepts, while being more interactive. Also, using additional materials, such as poetry books, only happens when necessary, which I appreciate. It doesn't feel like there is an overload of materials, which could get lost, forgotten, or unused. Everything is thoroughly thought out. Sometimes less is more and it's about the effectiveness and correct selection of materials. I loved seeing how a non-coursebook classroom can work and I am convinced that it does now. 

    In conclusion, the observations today allowed me to see different perspectives of similar topics and concepts. I feel like I'm becoming a more conscious and mindful observer. As my observations are coming to an end I think I've learned a lot and I'm ready to begin implementing my thoughts into my own lessons.