Korean Job Discussion Forums

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Anyone in here done one yet?

I just went to one with one of my teachers at another middle school. They prepared 3 weeks for that lesson...3 weeks! I think it's great to share your classroom with other teachers, but since people from the education department comes they practically rehearse it like a show. It was a great lesson no doubt, but it lacks genuine feeling.

My teacher is stressing becuase these are a big deal for school reputation.

I would love to have a thread going about ideas and experiences with demo classes. My teacher wants to do a class about poems which seems a little too difficult for 1 demo class. That topic might be more effective over the course of several classes. If you have any ideas to share that would be great!

[kkrumrei]

I teach at a middle school in Yongin, and I've done three demo classes now. This is my second year at the school.

I think demo classes could be valuable for us foreign english teachers, but the system (at least in Yongin) is a little backwards. Last year I had no idea what I was doing when I planned my first open class. At the time, also, I was going to 22 different classrooms every week, all with little to no AV equipment. Just me, my worksheets, some chalk, a blackboard, and a song and dance to edutain the kiddies.

So, last year, I had to do one demo class per semester. I had to make a 10 page booklet of comments and research and bs about what I was doing and why, and it had to have powerpoint, and videos, all the bells and whistles that only a few of the school's classrooms could support (sure every classroom has a widescreen tv - most of them look like they lived through a nuclear war, then were eaten and digested by a mad cow before finding a corner in my school to decompose in). Then, they had me rehearse it with the same class two or three times before the actual open class, until the students and I were really sick of it. Of course, it went off well, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Ditto, second semester. It was great to get feedback on those lessons, but they were so different than what I was able to do in a normal week that the feedback was of little use.

This year, I have a nice new classroom, and I think I've really improved as a teacher. I don't need to plan special bells and whistles, because each week, most of my classes are like that. I could probably show new teachers some interesting ideas, and I'd really benefit from the criticism and advice of my fellow teachers. But this year I only have to do one demo (it's over now), and it was only for the teachers at my school. I'm still scratching my head over that one.

I get that the school board wants to check how its money is being spent. That's fair. But it seems like they want the schools to put on these majestic flawless productions, without concern for how things really are week to week. It also means, if teachers use their demo classes to simply show what they normally do each week, they look dull and boring, regardless of whether the students were learning or not.

That's my 22 won.
KK

[nomad-ish]