Mary_CO1

I chose to sit in on a beginning level grammar class as my first class observation. I figured it would be constructive since we had just finished our grammar portion of the certification course. It turns out that the grammar subject I chose for my lesson plan was the same for this particular class that day: modal verbs! My lesson was designed for a higher level class, but sitting in on the class made me realize that my pacing for my lesson plan might have been too ambitious. The teacher read and wrote out the agenda for the day on the board which I could tell was helpful to the students. She was also very gesticulative; no matter what she was saying she supplemented her words with descriptive gestures. This was effective for the most part, but I think I would utilize my artistic abilities and rely more on drawing to describe new vocabulary. Although the class was only 45 minutes the teacher was able to include a lecture, individual, and group aspect to the class. After explaining “can” and “could” she asked each student to make a sentence, and then had them ask each other questions about their abilities. I could tell that the concept was clicking with the students as quickly as the teacher may have anticipated, but she was able to adjust accordingly and slow the lesson down. There’s a lot more thinking on your feet than I realized in teaching!