Impressive! Meynaa English teachers applying what they learned in the professional development workshops...

Today I made a series of unannounced classroom observations of the expat English teachers who'd gone through a series of professional development workshops with me.

I was very impressed with the number of instructional strategies, each of the teachers had already incorporated into their lessons:  "Starter Activities" written on the board, a Learning Objective also written on the board, use of vocabulary review activities, a timer to pace the lesson, structuring reading comprehension through numbering paragraphs and underlining key words, diagnostic assessments, checking for understanding, explicit directions, use of graphic organizers for pre-writing actitivies.

I'm proud of each of the four teachers I observed today. I congratulate each of them for stepping out of their comfort zone and being so willing to try some new instructional techniques.

Changes is often not easy for any of us to make, but all of these teachers have taken the first steps to bring new changes to their instructional practices.

I'm impressed!

Classroom management 101

Proximity is an easy classroom management tool to use.... by moving throughout the classroom, the teacher can monitor learning, check for understanding, and bring students back on task if need be.

Eyes on Me!



Rules and procedures are important in the classroom.  They provide students with the structures they want and need to learn.

Here is a fantastic classroom procedure, which helps the teacher quickly gain students' attention, therein maximizing on task behavior as well as instructional time.


The phrase "Eyes on Me" when stated by the teacher, means students are to stop immediately what they are doing and focus their attention on the teacher.

Having gained the students' attention, the teacher can now check for understanding, provide additional directions, reteach a concept if necessary..... the lesson continues to flow with little to no wasted time.

Three simple words..... yet very powerful when used in the classroom!



English teachers - "The training is over..... already?"



The last day of the Meynaa School English teachers' professional development workshops, I asked the teachers to reflect back on all the various strategies I'd taught them.




First I had the teachers brainstorm their own individual list of all the different instructional and classroom management strategies I'd taught during the training.

Next I had the students pair up and share with each other their list



Following the pair-share activity, where teachers looked over each other's list of strategies, we developed a collective list on the white board. 

I asked them to star the 3 they could do tomorrow, the two the could do next month and the one they'd do next year.

I asked them to commit to which one instructional strategy they would implement immediately when classes resumed following the end of the term exams, and which instructional strategy they  would implement within the next month.

 

Taking the process one more step, now that teachers had committed to implementing one new instructional strategy, I asked them to develop a mini lesson plan, using that strategy, and presenting it to the group.



Anil decided he wanted to introduce the reading comprehension strategy where students number the paragraphs, double box the title, then they identify the subject of the sentence "who"  with a box, the "what" is underlined, the "when" with (...), etc.



George wanted to begin with giving his students "Explicite Instructions."  In other words, being very clear and specific.



Chinchu would like to begin using the praise with specifics strategy.  This is where the teacher praises a student, and tells them specifically why they are being praised.  i.e.  "I'm very happy with the way your raised your hand today and asked permission to sharpen your pencil.  Good job!"



Aravindan explained how he would incorporate a bell work or start of class activity.





The lead teacher, Ahamed, presented how he'd use graphic organizers.



"If the last five days of these professional development workshops was an animal, what animal would it be and why?"

This was my final reflective question to the English teachers.  As soon as I asked the question, the ear-to-ear smiles were immediate!





"A dolphine because it is so intelligent."
"A baby elephant because it can grow big."
"A rabbit because it hops around."
"A cat because it is so sneaky!"
"A horse because of the beautiful view when riding it."