Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

Marc B. Leeds

Teaching Project Part V Final Reflection Paper APLNG 808: Focus on Instruction Dr. Sharon Childs August 04, 2011

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper TEACHING PROJECT - FINAL REFLECTION PAPER While I frequently took advantage of the clich that posits everything we do depends on virtually everything, as it turned out during the course of this teaching project, nothing could have proven to be more of a truism than that very popular and overly used clich. Going into this project, I felt slightly fortunate, having spent immeasurable hours teaching ESL for five years at Yonsei University in South Korea, as well as having experience in linguistics working for the Korean Ministry of Communications for several years. This experience occurred in the early

seventies, a time when ESL courses were few and far between, in a place we may as well now refer to as Kansas. At that time, ESL candidates gained their experience on-the-job, by observing other ESL instructors a few times, before being proverbially thrown to the wolves. Some instructors did well, some definitely didnt. One thread was common though, students interests were not a serious consideration. Hence, my first realization during this project; it stands to reason that theories, philosophies, methodologies, as well as values, beliefs, and expectations have significantly changed and advanced by leaps and bounds since that early time. As I prepared my lesson plan, there were many preconceived notions and concepts I knew I had to eradicate, engrained by past experience. I would be outside my comfort zone for the first time since I had taught my first lesson in Korea. This classroom would consist of Hispanics, not Koreans. I suppose that wouldnt make a monumental difference to most L2 instructors, however, I had always taken pleasure in understanding what students were saying when they spoke to each other in Korean believing I couldnt understand them, either during a time of academic confusion, or just for the sake of passing around a joke in their L1. There was one thing that I knew for certain; there would be humor injected into all of my lessons somewhere, since as an L2 student of Korean, I never forgot the enjoyment I acknowledged from it. No, this lesson wouldnt be taught

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper as rote memorization, it would be communicated from a reasoning teaching standpoint. This clearly meant I needed to better understand how to teach this specific group of students in this particular academy, at this given time. The Observation While several hours of observation is hardly what I would term adequate, it served as one of many elements in the overall framework I was endeavoring to construct, a framework I would be able to utilize in order to better teach my group of L2 students. I was interested in their behavior, not just collectively as a group, but as individuals. I knew from experience that these students would respond well to anyone that inspires motivation. During our time together, I made extensive notes on their vocations as well as their individual likes and dislikes. I would use this valuable information when creating activities for the lesson plan. Given my years of experience, it still felt as though I was learning to crawl, starting my career completely over again. The lessons covered by the language instructor followed a cookie-cutter textbook approach, with little deviation from the academys required curriculum. The reading of a story, followed by a brief

discussion, followed by various activities to introduce and integrate new vocabulary was the norm. While I mulled over several key concepts during observation, I was primarily interested to see how the instructor would handle corrections. With strong Spanish accents, each of the students was corrected by the instructor occasionally, but I found that intelligibility was a primary focus, not English native-like pronunciation. Another aspect of this opportunity to observe was my surprise at the minimal amount of consideration placed on both classroom size and necessary equipment. It appeared as though nobody was prepared for a classroom environment. The overhead projector didnt operate, and the

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper classroom was disproportionately undersized forcing all of the students and instructor to sit uncomfortably close together. I was used to larger classrooms where multiple seating configurations were creatable. This room left two options; little and none. The whiteboard dry

erase markers were dried-up and too much time was burned while the instructor looked for writing utensils. Lesson Planning I received an unpleasant surprise on my night of observation; what I considered to be a sort of good-news bad-news scenario. My lesson plan would be scheduled to be taught in just two more days from the date of observation. It would be scheduled for one-hour in length out of an available two-hour lesson. Additionally, I would have to use the story and vocabulary from their textbook, not one of my own creations. While this served as an unpleasant surprise, I decided to make the best of it by creating exercises and worksheets that would stimulate their appetite for learning. I was careful to create exercises which paralleled the specific linguistic content prescribed by the course textbooks required reading vocabulary. While the focus of these tasks was topical in nature, I followed up by blending in some grammar commonly used to create sentences with as well as additional vocabulary. I took several liberties while designing exercises, incorporating motivational themes that I had deduced during observation. As an example, all of the students were anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes late for the class session I observed. Since my lesson plan covered the subject of rules about time, I created activities where each student had to create sentences and discuss whether or not it was polite to be late for different types of events. One example was whether or not it was impolite to not be on time for a birthday party at McDonalds; while in another example students had to respond as to whether or not it was acceptable to not be

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper

on time for an English language class. Of course all of the students caught the gist of the context, taking turns laughing while creating useful examples. The curriculum includes a CD in each students textbook, so while my hope was that they would listen to the CD and come to class prepared; I was disappointed in this regard. I reprinted the story in a much larger easier-to-read font format, just in case, and it came in handy several times. Teaching During my instruction of this lesson plan, I kept two important elements in mind; goals, and lesson objectives. Since this was a one-time event for me, I had very specific objectives in mind. They needed to come away knowing some rules about time, and they needed to be able to identify words with prefixes meaning not. I felt that if I could just maintain focus on those two criteria, and the students seized the context, the lesson would be a success. I began by writing an overview of the lesson objectives on the right side of the whiteboard where every student could read it, followed by a brief overview of the lesson objectives and instructional activities to ensue. At this time, I also asked a few questions and provided a few answers regarding the importance of being on time. Next, during the presentation stage of the lesson, I presented the language form and meanings while quickly reading the story from the lesson. I passed the story around and let each student take turns reading from it, while covering generalized questions on the meanings, as well as what I expected them to do during the engagement phase when they work in pairs to ask and answer questions about being on time.

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper

Once the engagement phase began, the students were broken off into pairs, and they worked together to ask each other questions and answer each others questions. I simply stood back and insured that momentum was maintained, and that they were kept on track. Sometimes it appears as though we need to take our eyes off of the ball in order to properly see it. I referred back to my lesson plan frequently, just to insure I was still on course. As the lesson proceeded, I found myself hoping I had kept to my intended purpose. The nice thing about having a written lesson plan is the manner in which it provides a solid foundation for what follows. I was so used to flying blind in Korea that this newly learned process was like a breath of fresh air. Now, if I could just follow my lesson plan, things would fall into place. The class appeared to understand and articulate rules without much difficulty, and once I showed them how to build their vocabulary by listening to how someone asks them a question, they shook their heads as though a light bulb had come on. I incorporated many examples for prefixes that mean not. Each student needed to find words from the reading which began with these prefixes. That worked exactly as planned. As a class, we digressed slightly as the students discussed cultural expectations as they apply to what is and is not appropriate behavior in Mexico and America. I kept one of my own goals in mind during this time; one of granting them as much opportunity as possible to converse with each other, and collectively as a group. I made sure to ask each of the students a few questions, since I believe it is more interesting to partner with someone from a culture that differs from their own. Before I knew it, we were out of time. I fielded a few more questions to evaluate and reinforce what we had covered in the lesson regarding being on time. In order to provide for expansion, each of the students was asked to write two sentences about advice they would give to

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper

someone that is disorganized and someone that is late to a job interview. They were instructed to bring this assignment to the primary instructor the following week. It appears as though the class enjoyed the lesson. A few days after teaching the class, I received a call from the primary instructor, telling me me how much the students enjoyed their lesson, and hoped I would come back again sometime in the near future. I learned an important lesson here as well. It is the process not the L2 audience you teach to that makes the real difference. I was just as comfortable and had just as much fun teaching ESL to Hispanics, as I had enjoyed during the times I taught ESL to Koreans. I found I simply didnt have the time to stop and ponder that aspect of this project while teaching the overall lesson. Stimulated Recall As an introspective method, this was the first time that I had ever been granted an opportunity to look at myself in the mirror and relive that which my students had experienced. I was immediately aware of several mistakes I had made while teaching this reading lesson. Ironically, I was determined not to make either of them before I ever set foot into the classroom. One of my first observations was that of my failure to provide an adequate amount of time for students to respond to questions before providing them with the expected answers. It reminded me of my own Korean class lessons. Often times I knew an answer to a question, I could see it in front of me, but for the life of me, couldnt articulate it. Then, just as I remembered what it was supposed to be, the instructor would blurt out the answer, robbing me of the opportunity to articulate it. I felt somewhat cheated of the prospect to provide my input. Going forward, I would have to be extremely cognizant of this shortcoming.

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper My next observation was more painful. Not because Im losing the hair on the back of my

head, but because I entered that classroom vowing not to turn my back on the class while speaking. Its difficult enough for students to understand an instructor while he directly faces them, let alone attempt to understand one speaking while turned around. This was an experience I had dealt with many times as a student. Again, once I stepped in front of the class, I totally forgot this cardinal rule. The time allocated for students to ask each other questions, was time extremely well spent. This was especially true when they asked each other what time they had arrived to class, knowing they had all been late for one reason or another. It was also extremely gratifying to see them inject humor into their answers and then laugh as a class group. I was surprised at how well they did once they were primed with information from their activities and worked in pairs of two to fill out their examples. Another area in need of improvement was one which continues to surface as I prepare lesson plans. I tend to introduce too much vocabulary, and too much new information. This comes from a fear of running out of material before running out of time. Additionally, in the old days, I would have two or three different criteria to teach from, should their interest happen to wane. Lastly, in retrospect, it would have made better sense to spend a little more time breaking down the pronunciation of words in order to illustrate how they are built. I take this process for granted as a native speaker. Yet when I speak Korean and study new vocabulary, I break words down to look at both the syllables and the necessary rhythm in pronouncing them. Conclusion

Part V: Teaching Project Final Reflection Paper I came into this teaching project with unsuitably learned teaching traditions, outdated practices and philosophies, and a mind set in need of updating. This teaching project was a culmination of knowledge and proficiencies that I will take with me into every class I teach moving forward. I know that it sounds trite, but from an instructors perspective, I feel completely invigorated. I now have a knowledge-based toolbox filled with theories, methodologies, and best practices to exploit in the creation and implementation of lesson plans which effectively produce results. Certainly not every one of them will fit in to every classroom, and many will undoubtedly prove to be a challenge in their implementation or execution, but the peace of mind in knowing they are there if and when I need them is definitely invaluable.