Rou Jin: of Information and and students' needs

By now, do you really know your students? As for me, six weeks are not enough to remember the name of my students in three classes. But by now, I knew which student is an actor/actress, artist, introvert, extrovert, a singer and a bully. I knew their true colours after a few weeks teaching them. Absolutely yes, by now I know their weaknesses and strengths.

I was observed by Pn Rose twice. For my first observation, I taught the students Persuasive Speech. I inserted the Persuasive Speech under the topic “Futuristic Gadgets”. I knew that they are weak in their writing. No doubt they are fluent but they do not have the input and the skills to brainstorm the ideas. Therefore, I gave them a task where they have to come out with their own robots by using the materials (a mirror, cutlery set, trousers, coat, empty bottles and wind shades) that I gave them. For the LEP students, I gave them newspaper articles on technology which can help them in their speech. The group work was to sell the product they invented to their friends by using 10 phrases in the Persuasive List that I gave them. It turned out to be an interesting group work. Pn Rose advised me to give more feedback after their presentation.

Next observation by the mentor, I taught my beloved students about an interesting topic “Light Pollution”. Since they are quite lazy to read passages and write any essay, I indirectly forced them to write an essay ! During my set induction, I showed them pictures of light pollution and I’ve gained their attention from there. Next, I gave each group (mixed LEP and HEP students) an article and asked them to summarize the passages. Each group was given a different article for example, what is Light Pollution, The Causes, The Consequences, The Solutions and etc. They presented their points in mind maps on Mahjong papers and I pasted the papers on the board. At the end of the lesson, they need to hand in their full essay about Light Pollution. So in order to write the essay, they need to pay attention to their friends’ presentation as the points on the papers would only be in mind maps style. To my surprise, all of them submitted their work before the bell rings.

In a nut shell, I realised that as a teacher, we need to be more informative to arouse students’ interest in the lesson.  Set induction is one of the most important criteria in teaching, besides knowing your students weaknesses. I have done with my observations for both method and I hope that I’ve done my best. Good luck everyone !

Love,

Rou jin