Monday, May 16, 2011

What I observed in the classrooms

My first week at Meynaa School, I observed many classrooms.  That week was a period of review, since the term final exams were scheduled for the following week.  As such, teachers noted to me that no new teaching was taking place .... just review.  I could understand this.

What I observed during those review periods, was that teachers would hand out a text for students to read and on the reverse side were a series of comprehension questions.

I noticed that before reading the text, the students immediately went to the questions.  Good test taking strategy if students are using this as the framework from which to read the text.

However..... students would read the question, then search for key words in the text that might give them a clue as to the answer.  They'd then write what they thought the answer to be in the space provided.

Had the students read and comprehended the text?  Not really ..... hence the reason why the English teachers in unison requested help from me with reading comprehension teaching strategies.

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