Records of Teaching Practice

  Classroom Management In my latest observed lessons, I focused on classroom management, during which I identified different common issues present over a few different lessons. It was important to see the issues presented, how the teacher responded to them, and the final results of the situation. This is why I dedicated multiple hours in different grades and classrooms to this section to see a variety of behaviour problems, which ones are more common, and which ones are classroom or age-specific, as well as the way that the teachers dealt with them.  One of the main problems I've witnessed in most of the classes, especially the younger ones, was the students giving verbal answers in Polish rather than English. As well as asking and answering other questions in that language. I think that the reason why this happens is because the students know that the teacher understands what they say. It is much easier for them to communicate in Polish rather than English as it is their moth...

Instructions   Today I want to talk about the part of my observation during which I focused mainly on instructions and how they were being given by the teachers and understood by the students. This was a very insightful section for me as the manner of the instruction can be very important in teaching especially in a different language as, as a teacher, it is necessary to be understood by the students. Therefore, if the instructions are unclear or hard to understand the students will be lost and they will be unable to proceed with any activities, and in turn will struggle with language learning, which is the main job of the teacher.  To begin with, it is important to observe the lesson from the very beginning as a lot of the instructions occur at the start of the lesson before the activities are given out and new language is introduced. One of the first things I noticed was that the teacher doesn't necessarily take attendance of the class in an outright manner, as the classes a...

Teaching Materials In the next part of my observations, I focused on the teaching materials used during the classes and how effective they proved to be in the teaching and learning process. This was an interesting part of the observation because it allowed me to see the different variations of materials used during the lessons, whether the use of different tools relied on different class levels or if it was just a teacher's choice, and how receptive the students were to different materials.  To start with, the main and most important material is the course book as that is where all of the general topics and the flow of the course comes from. It forms a base foundation and a timeline for teaching and it works as a guideline for both teachers and students. It is also often favoured by parents who want to see the physical progress in their children's work and the best way to do it is through visual production in these course books. For some parents, this is the only way that they ...

  Classroom Routines In the next hours of my observation, I focus on different classroom routines which occur throughout the lessons.  So to start with, before the lesson begins, the students are expected to wait outside of the classroom until the teacher arrives, who will then call their class into the room. In the interim, the students are allowed to play and hang out in the main hall area under the supervision of one of the teachers. When it comes to in-between lessons, the students can relax in the classroom (as well as the hall) before returning to the lessons. There is no bell, so time management is organized by the teacher, this is especially useful when there are two lessons in a row and some activities require a little bit more time.  When beginning a lesson, different teachers have different ways of gaining the students’ attention, this depends on different aspects such as a personal choice, the size of the class and the age of the students. The different attent...

Classroom Environment Examples of seating arrangements in different classrooms: Classroom arrangements: After visiting my school for the first time, I decided that the first topic of my observations would focus on the classroom environment the layout of the rooms and how the students interact with it throughout their lessons. First, I started with the seating arrangements which are generally similar from class to class, most often being laid out in rows facing the front of the classroom, with a space somewhere in the room for more active activities and group work. It appears that seating charts and arrangements are made by the homeroom teachers but are generally very flexible throughout the lessons. During one of the older classes that I had observed, the tables and chairs were moved off to the side as the students worked on a competitive group activity based on idioms where the group members had to work together to memorise and recite the different sentences at the board before return...