Kayla CO #3

Date/Time: September 21, 2016/9:00 am - 9:55 am
Topic/Skill: Grammar/Group 1B/Adjectives
Teacher Presentation: Vicky Golen


OMG, Ms. Vicky gave me life at 9 am!  She forgot I was coming, but she was so energetic and seemed ready for the day, she made me smile and be a little more alive.  She first started the lesson of with correcting a sentence a student had just said in class. Then she moved onto their "Beautiful Mistake Log" and had them write the incorrect sentences and then correct them.  All of the sentences came from the students' while they were speaking (sometime before class) or their writing.  The good thing about the log that there are different ways to correct the sentences, so there's not just one right answer.  Once her and the class went over the sentences, she moved onto adjectives.  Last lesson she focused on adjectives that described something (I forgot), but this lesson focused on adjectives for touch and feel: shiny, fuzzy, prickly, lumpy, bumpy, soft, wrinkly, hard, and rough.  Vicky went through each adjective and explained it as best she could with things found in the classroom or a body feature.  After all the adjectives were described, she gave a brown paper bag, with an object inside, to a student.  Their objective was to describe the object using the adjectives just learned without looking at the object, and see if the class could guess the object.  For the first activity she had them do an in-class worksheet from the textbook.  They all went over it.  The second activity was the "What Does It Remind You Of".  I actually participated in this one.  Students had to ask other people in the class their most beautiful, cheap, boring, and other adjectives object.  This was a good way to integrate speaking into the lesson.  If students were finished early, they had to rewrite their "Favorite Possession" paragraph using the new adjectives they learned if they applied.  She then wished the class a great rest of the day (even though she'll see them again) and dismissed them.


Classroom Management:


Ms. Vicky managed the class very well.  However, she could not control this one student, but you could tell he was the class clown/"problem" child.  He was cooperative, but only on his own terms.  At the beginning of class it was funny then it progressed into her asking him, "Why are you fighting with me right now?" by the end of class.  She was able to keep her composure and energetic self though.  Other than that one student, she managed the class pretty well and the students respected her. 


Materials:

The materials used for this lesson was paper, pen/pencil, markers, whiteboard, computer, projector, and objects for the brown paper bag activity.


Student Participation:

If I had to rate the the students' participation on a scale from 1-10, I'd rate it a 9.9.  They all wanted to answer the questions (mostly).  There were a few times where there was noncooperation, but mostly the students followed the lesson smoothly.  All of the students participated in the partner activities and even asked a few questions.

Feedback Provided:

Ms. Vicky provided feedback on the students' speech by correcting the major mistakes.  She would take the time out to correct a sentence, and then move on to the lesson.  Throughout the lesson she gave great compliments!  She also suggested a good book to teaching grammar: Keys to Teaching Grammar to English Language Learners by Keith Fosle.  I will definitely have to check it out.

Lesson(s) on teaching you learned:

I noticed (again) that it is really important to be mindful of the pace and tone of your voice.  It is important to keep a positive, encouraging, and uplifting tone while not speaking too fast or too slow.  Students need time to process words and actually comprehend them.  Although this was a level one class, I was not expecting much comprehension and participation.  However, they were able to take instruction as well as critique.  It wasn't as difficult as I had expected it to be.  Also, it is good to always keep a smile; it makes your students feel more energetic, especially in the morning.  This was definitely a great lesson, and I enjoyed it.