Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Fishead soup]

Are you a chalkboard monkey?

Do any of these activities rank as your top ten favorites?

Hangman bingo Jeopardy flyswat

Is Edutaiment one of your favorite resources?

Does lesson planning consist of hitting the print button every time you see a word find?

Do you ever write " World cup series" on the board and instruct your students to find smaller words within it. Do you employ similar time killing stategies similar to this.

Is teaching secondary to being liked and killing time.

Do you only use power point during the Open lesson.

[gregoriomills]

Every teacher goes through a stage of this! Some never get out of it, most finally figure out what the hell they are doing.

[BreakfastInBed]

Very rarely in most regular classes, sometimes after a test or as a reward. After school is a different ballgame, it's about all I do. With a combined class of 3rd-6th graders I'm just happy if I can hold their attention while we have some fun using English.

[I'm no Picasso]

I deployed my first game in eight months today. Finals are next week and tomorrow is the school anniversary -- no school. Their little brains are fried, and attention is at an all-time low. We barely made it through last week, and I'm getting too far ahead of their other English teachers in the book anyway.

It feels pretty lazy to me, and I don't get to interact with the students as much as I do when I'm giving an actual lesson where they have to give actual conversational answers about their lives. I like hearing about what's going on with them, whether it's "What did you do this weekend?" or "What are you going to do this summer?" or "Why are you so worried?" And I think, for the most part, they like giving their answers and having an opportunity to talk about themselves, even if it is in English. And they feel genuinely proud of themselves when they're able to have a proper conversation in English, even if it is just a couple of sentences.

I don't think they miss the games too much....

However, the week after finals are done, right before vacation starts, it is definitely time to "movie movie".

[rationality]

[BS.Dos.]

At one of my schools, yes. About 3 sticks an hour.

At my other though, it's strictly PPT and dazzling laser pointer acrobatics.

*edit*
Good blackboard technique is a skill in itself. Can't say I've mastered it though, but I've certainly improved. I remember in one of my first lessons I was trying to draw a squid for some reason and when I stood back to marvel at my chalkmenship, I realised I'd drawn a p e n i s. Thankfully, it was in one of my HS boys classes and not my MS girls.

[VanIslander]

to every single question of the op's the answer is 'no'

[I'm no Picasso]

[schwa]

Chalkboard devotee, yes. Re: timewasters listed above, no.

A chalkboard can be an engaging medium for instruction, used right. Key vocab writ large, occasional quick & funny drawings to make a point, scoreboard for team participation, etc.

More power to ppt enthusiasts but I figure my kids get enough exposure to screen info as it is (& tend to glaze over into passive viewer mode). Voice, chalk, & paper all strike me as warmer media & more conducive to my job description, which is promoting conversation.

Maybe its just me, but all my classes seem consistently eager to talk.

[Not a fan of whiteboards either. They get dirty & markers are always on the verge of running out.]

[bundangbabo]

I use the chalkboard - first of all - It is good for student interaction - you can get the students to stand up and draw/write on the chalkboard . I'm good at drawing and if you can draw decently on a chalkboard then that kind of seperates the men from the boys. Anyone can conjure up some crap PPT presentation - and then spend 10 minutes setting it up and another 10 minutes fiddling about with the apparatus because it has decided to play up - but lets see you draw a world map on a board with just a stick of chalk.

Fishead Soup - Once you realise the students aren't all that interested in photos of your family and your hometown then the better an English teacher you are going to be!

[AmericanExile]

Shouldn't a teacher use all available tools?

Part of teaching is motivating. Some kids avoid work. I had a class where one girl did her homework. You know that girl. I gave her a puzzle. The rest did their homework while she did the puzzle. Now when I walk in the room I have trouble taking attendance because they are all so eager to show me their homework is finished. I teach 50 minute classes. I have no problem giving them a few minutes free time at the end if we get the lesson done and they did their homework.

I had a student who bragged about never doing homework. I went to the office and got candy that I gave to everyone but him. How long do you think it took before he started doing his homework?

In all the thousands of studies done on education there is one thing that is absolutely universally true. You can't teach a student who refuses to learn. You can't keep a motivated student from learning. Okay that's two things but you see the relationship.

There are teachers who can naturally charm kids into caring. That is not a skill I have. I wish I did. If someone could teach me, I would take it as a kindness. Until then I use variable positive reinforcement.

I have a great deal to learn as a teacher, I can take almost any mob and turn them into a class marching in the same direction. That is worth something. I may not be getting the most possible out of them, but they are learning. Most importantly to me, that one girl who loves to learn and always does her homework now has a class where she can learn AND be part of the group.

[Fishead soup]