Lori Jane and Mara introduced themselves as they will be the student teachers in Andrea’s class. It was great to see an example of student teacher introductions to help me prepare for mine on Monday.

Andrea delved into reading for the ielts.

The students are very comfortable in the learning environment and responsive and engaged.

Started off with an activity. The teacher was really good at praising students with the correct answer. I loved her style and will remember to do the same. Andrea provided clear instructions to the students. Once students provided an answer, she also asked them why so that they could show their thought process. It was a great way to have students show comprehension. This also helped students learn tips and tricks of reading for the ielts from one another.

The second activity was a reading and the instructor provided instructions verbally. In my classes, I would like to add the instructions on a slide and will go over them verbally as some students may be able to better understand directions by seeing them visually and hearing them. Everyone has their own style and I would like to try to cater to as many styles as possible.

I liked the use of the MS teams features. As each student finished the reading, they ‘raised their hand’ to let the teacher know they were done. I learned a lot about virtual teaching from observing this class.

I also noticed how motivated the students are to learn and succeed. The ielts are an important milestone for the students and the exam results will determine whether or not the students will attend the university/country of their choice. The students all want to do well and thus actively participated.

Short focussed lessons that are to the point seem to be quite effective. I am so used to long lessons that this was quite refreshing. Andrea ended off with a virtual hug and telling her students she loved them. It was a heartwarming way to end the class. I loved it!

This one of my favorite classes to observe. There was a brief introduction of student teachers to start. The teacher started with opening the discussion board with the following question – Recall one of the best learning experiences and what made it so good? (Subject/teacher/your friends). I think I will try to incorporate appreciative inquiry into each lesson – it provides students with something to be grateful for. I also noticed how the teacher had the question on a discussion board and shared it on the screen and went through the comments and “hearted” each reply. She also  asked students to elaborate on their responses and students were participating actively. This class was heavily engaged and I was picking up some great techniques from the teacher. She was extremely caring, gentle, super motivating, encouraging and used supportive language (awesome, amazing class, superstars). The teacher was high energy. I am beginning to realize how important energy levels and mood are and how easily your class can be impacted by these factors. The students then presented their portfolio projects for attending university. This was a portfolio that they could share with prospective universities they want to attend. The students were filled with hopes, aspirations, goals. It was a bit emotional for me and really highlighted why I want to teach and help others. The teacher tied the learning to the studen’ts livs and explained how their portfolios are a lifelong project. You can add, edit, evolve it. Keep building on it.

Teacher closed the activity with self evaluation – more like a reflection – through survey monkey – take a few minutes to reflect what you learned from this project, what was the most challenging part?, what did you learn about your self? What did you do differently? Rate your attitude and effort, why are you giving yourself that rating? I think survey monkey is an excellent tool to check in with students and assess learning.

The teacher offered a beautiful brief exit activity that summarized the student’s learning and what the students achieved through the activity. – autonomy, mastery, purpose, and destination. I love EXIT tickets – they’re so easy and engaging.

I learned that in MS teams you can do  attendance at the end by simply downloading the attendance list and it gives a report regarding who attended and for how long.

I had the opportunity to provide feed back and offer motivation – how cool? The students who received feedback from Lori and I were super inspired and thrilled.

Unfortunately, there were not any ESL students in attendance at this conversation club meeting. Hilda was very engaging and is excellent at building rapport with her students. Hilda started with two truths and a lie about herself and then we did the same to imitate what the students would be doing. I like this activity and have added it to my TESL arsenal. I will have to think of some better lies to make it more interesting. I think it is important to start off the conversation club with an engaging icebreaker that puts the students at ease. Once they feel comfortable, they will end up participating more. Hilda had a well structured and planned conversation club that would have fostered great conversations.

The teacher engaged the students right from the beginning and asked students to turn on their mics one at a time and introduce themselves. Each student participated actively and felt safe and comfortable in the virtual classroom setting. This is the type of virtual classroom environment I would like to strive for. Jack was extremely happy, engaging, and motivating. The teacher even recorded the lesson so students could play it again later for revision (with permission). The teacher shared materials on the screen so that students could follow along. I noticed that the students were quick to participate in the public chat. I am realizing that students are more likely to type their discussion items into the chat rather than speak on the mic. The teacher provided solid examples for students and it sounded like students were following along with him. This class and setting were completely different from the first class I observed. I appreciate how Jack knows how to engage the class and foster a participatory environment. I have picked up some ideas from him. I have witnessed how important your attitude, language, and mood are when teaching virtually. 

The teacher did not provide a warm up activity and it appeared as if the students were nervous to participate. The teacher encouraged students to participate and ask questions but students rarely took her up on that offer. The lesson was instruction focused with little participation from the students. The teacher tried her best to use real-life examples within her lesson. It was a great to see this as I made note of how real-life examples work best for students as they are more relatable. Attending this class was a great learning experience as I am sure I will be faced with a similar situation where students are reluctant to participate and engage in discussion. I thought about what the instructor could do differently to elicit responses and participation. The instructor may need to find alternative methods to cultivate engagement and participation. I also wondered why students did not participate. Perhaps, the students were not well acquainted with each other or the material.  The teacher could have done a warm-up to get students comfortable with participating at the beginning of the class. Another question that came into my mind was if the students were comfortable with online learning and virtual classrooms. For this type of class with low engagement, an exit ticket may be useful to ensure students participate as they will need to provide a response to leave the class.

This post will provide my reflection on all of Tanya’s videos that I watched. I found that the teacher used a warm and inviting voice and students felt very comfortable with her. I want to create a similar environment for my students. I noticed that Tanya focussed heavily on repetition and it seemed to work with teaching basic vocabulary. It was evident that Tanya took time to think of creative activities to keep her students engaged. The activities were well thought out with learning objectives attacked. Tanya tried to combine instruction with group activities. I liked the variety she offered. I also learned that props are a great way to engage the class and teach vocabulary in a fun way. Watching the videos also made me notice how valuable an exit ticket is. The exit ticket personalizes the vocabulary students have learned and allows them to practice what they have learned and demonstrate knowledge.