Disaster

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Today was a bit of a disaster.

I tried a new lesson on two grade 3 classes only to have it fall apart each time. I had one class in the morning with the other in the afternoon, so I had some time to tweak it in between. Unfortunately, it didn’t work in its original state or in its tweaked state.

The idea for the lesson was taken from the textbook. On alternating weeks my grade 3 co-teachers ask me to teach sections from the textbook called ‘Tune In’ and ‘Let’s Communicate’. This was a ‘Let’s Communicate’ week. However, the exercise in the ‘Let’s Communicate’ section this week was too difficult to deliver as described. I know from experience that the exercises are often too ambitious for my grade 3 classes. This means I have to adapt the lesson, which is no bad thing as it allows me to make the lesson I want. In this case I used the key vocabulary from the textbook and turned the exercise into a quiz to start the lesson. The rest of the lesson was built on this foundation. I found an interview exercise which complemented the vocabulary, key expressions and theme from the textbook and used that. To my eternal, crushing disappointment both parts of the lesson were unsuccessful. Is there anything as soul destroying as a lesson you have spent time carefully planning and creating falling apart? When it happens it feels awful.

Where did it all go wrong today?

There are a number of contributing factors. Sometimes the grade 3 students are just too wild, too disinterested, and too talkative. I feel like I will never understand why one activity grabs their attention and another does not. Classroom management is only an issue when the activity doesn’t interest them. This problem is compounded by one of my two grade 3 co-teachers not being particularly strong with classroom management. The other grade 3 co-teacher is a new teacher to the school and so far is proving just as ineffective at classroom management. For my part I am not an authoritative person – I don’t shout or yell or give rows. Most of the time though the students are generally happy to follow the lesson I have planned for them. Not today.

In the first class I put the students into teams of six for the quiz activity that started the lesson. I usually find that team activities galvanize the students’ attention. This did not happen today. They were restless and talkative. For the second class I tried making them work in pairs but the result was the same.

Honestly, I don’t know what the problem was today. The activities were of a kind that have worked in the past. The subject matter is of interest to them. The target language was not too complex. My dilemma now is whether or not to completely overhaul the lesson for the grade 3 classes tomorrow. Friday consists of four grade 3 classes back to back so there is no time to change a lesson in between classes if it is not working. To make matters worse I found out today that I have an open class tomorrow. I definitely don’t want a repeat of today’s lesson for my open class. Furthermore, I have also arranged to record one of the classes tomorrow for TESOL this Saturday. The temptation is to fall back on a tried and tested team game for the open class but it feels like cheating. I should not have to do this. As I finish writing this blog post I am undecided.

I think, on reflection, I need to develop stronger classroom management skills. This decision might actually represent a conflict of values. We have been reading about values in terms of personal identity and how it is fluid, negotiated and socially constructed. I don’t want to be an authoritative person but if it means increasing the effectiveness of delivering lessons then it is an area I will need to work on and a personal compromise I will need to accept.