Friday, July 17, 2009

Episode 298: School Attachment Day 9

So my first experience of actually teaching a lesson went slightly better than anticipated. At times, it felt like I was talking to a brick wall though. I was consciously making myself slow down and use simpler words, but still, quite a few students seemed completely oblivious to me. There were a few who were almost always ready with an answer, and now I can understand the temptation for a teacher to play favourites and only call on these students. It just makes your life so much easier! I tried to get other people to speak up though, even though the boy who constantly volunteered an answer (he even raised his hand!) was pretty on the mark. Didn't show the clip from the film in the end because I was missing the cable that hooks up the audio, so I had to drag out the writing activity. Am going to mark their diary entries over the weekend. My mentor just said to give them a mark out of 10, so I'm wondering if I can get away with not correcting grammar, etc. If I do, practically all of them will have every other sentence underlined. Plus it seems a bit self-contradictory to expect a diary entry to have impeccable grammar and choice vocabulary, since it is kind of your personal expression and you should be free to write however you want. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of blogs whose writers cannot articulate themselves well in writing. Oh dear. Caught in a bit of a bind, aren't I?

No comments: