A good lesson

Teachers juggle many roles - educator, entertainer, administrator, counselor, disciplinarian, leader etc. Often, students only like teachers to take on the role of the entertainer however, because above all, they like fun. NIE taught teachers to be creative in class and entertain them with party tricks before the real teaching starts, though most teachers like the Stressed Teacher knows that good results only comes from serious practices in content knowledge and not through innovative quackery.

So what do I have to do when I was asked to do revision for the kids, and get observed for it at the same time? I should come up with sample questions, teach them examination techniques, and how to tackle questions correctly, and at the same time not fail my observation assessment by making it a dull and insipid exercise.

So. First, the contents. Come up with questions for them to practice. Plan organisation of class, time for each part for the lesson. Thought of the idea of getting them to do peer marking so that someone can look through their paper, if not myself, after each section.

Next, the entertainment.

• Music played when they are supposed to read the passage quickly to tackle the coming questions. I chose Kreislers' delightful little gems, nice and chirpy and moderately paced too (they were all clamouring for Jay Chou though).
• Nice pictures to adorn the powerpoint slides - 2 of the stories were about soccer, so seeing Beckham trying a curler gets them excited.
• The promise of entertainment after the whole ordeal - showing them those funny videoclips circulating around will do the trick here.

In the end, I think the lesson was ok la; my co-operating teacher will do the post-observation conference with me only on Monday, and I'll see how I can make things even better then.