TESL 0110: Unit 4 - Final Thoughts and a Lesson Plan
It is June 5th and I am in the final days of the Grammar Fundamentals course. I shared my thoughts and feelings in our wrap up discussion on the course discussion board and felt that it would be appropriate to share here as well.
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I was enrolled in the Grammar Fundamentals course last fall (November) and when it was cancelled due to lack of enrollment, I was so relieved! There was so much going on and I had 6 workshops at work to prepare for in late October and I was so tired. Frankly, it was also the course that I was dreading the most! I will certainly say that it has been a challenge, but as I have worked to pace myself, I find that once again I'm very grateful for the TESL world and the generous and positive responses I get when I ask for help. Not once has someone negatively criticized my efforts or said I should just give up (except maybe me)! Even as I go through the course, I wonder regularly if there is a reason that I have to struggle to synthesize my ideas to the extent that I feel I do. I would like to think it is building resilience and that's one of the workshops I taught last fall in a series on employability skills! Sometimes it takes me a while to catch on that experiencing things like this makes has the opportunity to make me a better teacher, and at these times it remains a good reminder that learning is work, and is not for the faint of heart! You, the other learners in this course, and Galina have been generous with me and I hope that I can take that same spirit and be generous to the learners in my classes as I continue to move forward.
For this class specifically - when I get to a point where I'm teaching grammar, I am going to need help and I am going to have to learn and then teach - I know this. But I have more knowledge now than I did before, and I have more of the vocabulary that I need to have that next intelligent (or at last moderately so) conversation. If, nothing else, this course comes with a side of humility in the process, which is good quality in a teacher, so I hope to leverage that.
So what did I learn about grammar teaching? That there are a variety of approaches and methods that should be considered, but above all keep the learner and their goals in mind. This is perhaps not new, but contextualized for this course, it's different in my mind.
I find I am a little nervous about submitting my assignment. I feel like I have taxed all my contacts to the max and do not want to reach out for feedback. I think the lesson is solid, but has weak points and since it is on a grammar subject I did not know existed previous to my research for the assignment, it is a bit risky. But, on the bright side... what could go wrong? I mean really - almost every lesson needs to be adjusted as you teach and once you've done it once, you will know what does and does not work, if you have over or underestimated the class ability or the value of your activities. I have built in some flex ideas for consideration that can be implemented either during, or for a second lesson, and I think there is a natural scaffolding of development to get to the final task. It is almost time to throw caution to the wind and see what happens!
Turns out that is a big part of learning and teaching.
And, if you are interested, the task-based lesson plan I developed is on the blog under My Lesson Plans, and the Grammar Journal that still needs work (but is a good start) is under My Resources.
Good teaching (and learning to all of us!)
Dana
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I was enrolled in the Grammar Fundamentals course last fall (November) and when it was cancelled due to lack of enrollment, I was so relieved! There was so much going on and I had 6 workshops at work to prepare for in late October and I was so tired. Frankly, it was also the course that I was dreading the most! I will certainly say that it has been a challenge, but as I have worked to pace myself, I find that once again I'm very grateful for the TESL world and the generous and positive responses I get when I ask for help. Not once has someone negatively criticized my efforts or said I should just give up (except maybe me)! Even as I go through the course, I wonder regularly if there is a reason that I have to struggle to synthesize my ideas to the extent that I feel I do. I would like to think it is building resilience and that's one of the workshops I taught last fall in a series on employability skills! Sometimes it takes me a while to catch on that experiencing things like this makes has the opportunity to make me a better teacher, and at these times it remains a good reminder that learning is work, and is not for the faint of heart! You, the other learners in this course, and Galina have been generous with me and I hope that I can take that same spirit and be generous to the learners in my classes as I continue to move forward.
For this class specifically - when I get to a point where I'm teaching grammar, I am going to need help and I am going to have to learn and then teach - I know this. But I have more knowledge now than I did before, and I have more of the vocabulary that I need to have that next intelligent (or at last moderately so) conversation. If, nothing else, this course comes with a side of humility in the process, which is good quality in a teacher, so I hope to leverage that.
So what did I learn about grammar teaching? That there are a variety of approaches and methods that should be considered, but above all keep the learner and their goals in mind. This is perhaps not new, but contextualized for this course, it's different in my mind.
I find I am a little nervous about submitting my assignment. I feel like I have taxed all my contacts to the max and do not want to reach out for feedback. I think the lesson is solid, but has weak points and since it is on a grammar subject I did not know existed previous to my research for the assignment, it is a bit risky. But, on the bright side... what could go wrong? I mean really - almost every lesson needs to be adjusted as you teach and once you've done it once, you will know what does and does not work, if you have over or underestimated the class ability or the value of your activities. I have built in some flex ideas for consideration that can be implemented either during, or for a second lesson, and I think there is a natural scaffolding of development to get to the final task. It is almost time to throw caution to the wind and see what happens!
Turns out that is a big part of learning and teaching.
And, if you are interested, the task-based lesson plan I developed is on the blog under My Lesson Plans, and the Grammar Journal that still needs work (but is a good start) is under My Resources.
Good teaching (and learning to all of us!)
Dana
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