Train wreak: World cup reading comp

When a class is going well, you know.

Students are engaged in their work, they are on-task, they are responsive to your questions...

The Y3 board game design class worked extremely well - it worked great for a number of reasons:

• students found it meaningful, they could play the game they made!
• it was approximately the right level for the class - challenging for some, but gave enough room for creativity in the high ability ones.
• it was well scaffolded

...and things were as smooth as clockwork.

But Y4 today was another story. I had the vague sense last night that it wouldn't be a great lesson, but at least not the complete train wreak which it turned out to be.

Obviously, things in the classroom can fall apart when:

• Students don't understand or find it too difficult
• Students are bored or think it is too easy
• Students are not interested in a topic
• You cannot manage a classroom
• Technology fails and students are just waiting with nothing to do

...and I think I had all these issues today.

The problems started right away from the third minute. A Powerpoint wouldn't load. I was trying to hold the discussion together whilst praying that the PPT would start. As it dragged on, some of the boys got bored and started poking each other and tattertailing. I tried to ignore them and prayed that the PPT would load - big mistake, it didn't and things got out of hand. I had to shout. Luckily, my class teacher intervened and took the troubling students outside.

Threatening to take away lunchtime etc only stems the tide... and increases the bad atmosphere. In retrospect, I should have stopped the lesson right there, admitted my faults for not being prepared instead of trying to carry on, and ditched the Powerpoint.

Without activating background information, the rest of the class never improved. The reading task was pitched at a level too high anyway, and with only a quarter of the students showing vague interest, I should have ditched the whole exercise instead of trying to ram it down their throats.

In the end, the problem lay with poor planning - choosing a poor topic, didn't generate student interest, and the inexperience of being able to salvage the lesson on the spot.

Learning to live and learn together. I get it.

Ways to control a shared reading discussions

Being able to balance student participation and teacher talk is a fine art of communication during reading discussions. How do you prevent students from all shouting all at once, and yet you want them to give their opinions?

-If asking for an answer to a question, explain beforehand that they need to explain WHY or HOW they found the answer. This will stop students from shouting out answers without thinking. (Thanks to the class teacher for suggesting this).

-If a discussion gets out of hand, say "We are too noisy" - get all the students to settle down before continuing the discussion. Stay in control.

-Avoid rhetorical or extremely easy questioning. Students become unsure if you are asking for an answer or not.

-Instead of saying "Who agrees with _____", say "If you agree with ______, raise your hand."

-If a student doesn't give the answer you are looking for.

Paperclips idea - To encourage even participation, give each student a set number of paperclips. To encourage fair participation, each student MUST use up their paperclips by the end of the class. If they've run out of paperclips, they cannot answer more questions.

Other suggestions?

Tips for being observed

Teaching observations are perhaps the most stressful part of a new teacher in training. Here is a guide to acing your teaching practice. Don't make the same mistakes I made today in my TP (like the photocopier not working).

Lesson planning:

-If you're "borrowing" a class, communicate with your class teacher in advance what you're going to teach, as he/she may be able to provide good ideas or resources.-Make sure you are VERY thorough with your lesson plan. Proofread and spell-check it.

-Follow the framework required (e.g. if task-based learning is required, make sure you have all the components - pre-task/while-task/post-task. Even if you are not going to cover all the parts in that session, include it so that your tutor can see you know where the lesson will be heading.

-Consider your class abilities. If you are teaching an easy well-behaved class, use the opportunity to try something new and interesting. It is your chance to show off your teaching skills. Conversely, a tough class will be your chance to demonstrate your classroom management skills.

-Send in your lesson plan a couple of days in advance (or whenever it is required).

-Print a spare copy of your lesson plan just in case.

-Have all your materials prepared well in advance. You never know if the photocopier will break down the morning before your class.

Whilst teaching:

-Make sure the technology works. Test it beforehand. You really don't want a technical failure to ruin your lesson.

-Try to memorize what you're going to teach, avoid glancing too much at your lesson plan or reading out loud from it.

Other tips:

-Dress smartly.

-Arrive early if possible to show your observer to your class.

-Introduce him/her to your students when you enter.

An experiment with making tea

Technology works best if it is intuitive and unintrusive.

Today's lesson on making tea was an excellent example. A simple flash site on how to make tea integrated extremely well with the activity. I printed out the cards for each group, and they had to put it in order and fill it in by hand. Then having it on the interactive whiteboard and letting students drag them in the right order was simple, clear and a great point for discussion. The entire class was focused.

My biggest mistake was running out of time and trying to make another cup of tea for the class teacher whilst letting another student put the answers in the right order. I even forgot to say well done to the student for getting it right, so absorbed was I in making the tea.

If time had allowed, I should have let students do a hands on experiment to figure out the right order. Discovery learning is great too.

Art instructions / A system for tidying up

Today's mega art / instructions session wasn't too bad. The pack of activity cards "50 things to draw and paint" was a great resource.

Everyone had something to do, and the finished collage of their drawings looked great.

At the start

Need to focus more on giving clear instructions for an activity

- Set clear goals (e.g. We are going to put together a collage for display)

- Give clear instructions, write them out on the board, especially for EAL students.

Cleaning up

One sink, 22 students.

After an art activity, a good clean up system is needed when there are paint brushes, ink, paper and glue everywhere.

-What could be a more efficient way of tidying up?

-What about students who have already tidied up? How to keep them occupied?

Wrapping up

I forgot to ask 2 crucial questions, probably for any activity

- What had they learned from the activity

- How they could improve it if they did it again

Great short stories / novellas for teaching Year 5/6 (Key stage 2)

Here is a list of my personal favourites and the sorts of writing techniques you can teach in literacy lessons.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl

A lesser known Roald Dahl tale I use as a basis for writing a 4-part story. It's rather lengthy, but good for advanced readers to tackle at home. The 4-part story focuses on:

- character description

- story-in-a-story narrative techniques

- monologues

- narrative twists

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The original text is really tough, but there is an simplified version at eslreading of the beginning I use for teaching how to use "show, not tell" to introduce a character.

Fat Lawrence by Dick King Smith

A silly tale about a super-obese cat who tries to lose weight.

- Narrative voice (using interjections and asides)

- Colloquial language

- Writing in the conditional tense

The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

This book is a hilarious postmodern retelling of many "classic" fairytales.

- use of irony

- fairytale conventions, fractured fairytales

- effect of different graphics, letter styles

How to write a English tutoring lesson plan

If you work at a tutoring center or teach small groups of students English, you will know how difficult it is sometimes to come up with ideas to get through each session. Let me share some of my lesson planning tips:

Here is my formula for teaching writing to upper primary and lower secondary students.

1. Establish your genre and what your aim is

You need to know what students need to learn.

2. Find a good topic.

The topic has to be interesting and hopefully relevant to student's lives. Hopefully it's also a topic which is discussable and possibly controversial. The news is a great place to start. "Teachers adding students as friends on Facebook" or "Hong Kong tutor kings".

3. Find source reading material

This will usually come from books, websites, emails or your brain. Videos are also a great way to hook your students and give them background information on the topic. Simplify the text if necessary, but it should contain some challenging new vocabulary. Highlight those.

4. Construct some reading comprehension questions

If you are lazy, simply do it as you go in a pop quiz style format. But it helps to prepare a list of questions beforehand.

5. Find a language focus

Ideally it will be linked to text genre.

It could be grammar - using adjectives, passive voice, imperatives or structure etc. If the class is 2 hours, I like to try and make my language focus a game to refocus them after the break.

6. Homework prep / wrap up

Have some planning (e.g. storyboard / story map / vocab recap) for homework so weaker students are clear on their homework task.

7. Final game

Wind down with a game of DODO or Pass the Hamburger and end the class on a high note. I sometimes give extra points / rewards if the word is related to the day's topic.