REFLECTION ON INSTRUCTIONS

 Date: 1^st April 2022

 

REFLECTION ON INSTRUCTIONS

This observation focused on instructions in grades 7 and 8, in a class of 17 students. They are 12-13 years old, and they have the English language 3 times a week.

The lesson was on the history of democracy and the teacher taught this lesson to grades 8 and 7.  She began by setting the lesson’s goals which she projected on the whiteboard, clearly visible to all. For the first activity, T put some key concepts concerning democracy on the board and she instructed ss to put them in order of appearance in history. she even asked them if they needed to refresh their memories with the posters they studied in the previous lessons. But ss said it wasn’t necessary.

She was audible, and she spoke with a slow, tender, and melodious voice. At first, it was difficult to say if it was natural or if it was a teaching voice, but when I discussed it with her later, it was the same melody and it was really cool. She used this voice to praise students who answer questions, and encourage others to participate. She would say “Oh, I like you mentioning the voting”, “lovely”, and “I like that”, which is positive reinforcement. She also has a special way to designate the next student who would talk. After one student finished talking, she would say “good! Give it to… (next student’s name)”, and the student would answer.    

The next activity was to get ss to give their opinions about the pros and cons of democracy or to come up with 2 questions about the history of democracy and create a Kahoot or board game with them. With the instruction on the board, she still took her time to explain the task to be done and ensured ss have understood the meaning of pros and cons and what was required of them.  There was even a student who asked if he could do both, meaning T’s instructions were quite clear. 

To do the task, T shared some pieces of paper with SS to write their point on them. She tried as much as possible to get Ss to communicate in English and encouraged them to ask their peers to help with the vocabulary if necessary. Each time that the class got noisy in the process, she wouldn’t ask them to stop, but would just start counting down “3,2,1”, and the noise would gradually subdue. After T collected the pieces of paper with ss’ answers and gummed them on large cardboard. Then she asked Ss to all focus only on the pros and cons of democracy, a debate where Ss had to give their opinion by stating the fact, giving examples or justifications. The instructions were also organized on a table on the whiteboard. Each time SS agree on a point, T would type it in the table.

It was a hot debate and the class was really engaged some ss grew emotional, and T had to intervene to explain that they all had the right to have their own opinions and were free to express them and shouldn’t oppose each other. I like the way she handled the tension and encouraged SS to back up their points with arguments justifying their various beliefs. I could identify 3 or 4 ss leading the debate, while others watched and keenly, nodding their head or smiling at some points that were raised. T expressed joy when some other ss gradually got involved.

The activity ended with a writing task requiring SS to write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of democracy. They had to give 2 points for and 1 point against, or 2 points against and 1 point for. She elicited from them the only place where they could give their own opinion, the conclusion, and reminded them to proofread their work to check mistakes. She supported them in a special way that I loved, by providing them with some preliminary sentences in paragraphs that they only had to complete with their various ideas. She gave some time for questions for clarification and ended the class.

It was amazing time management, rounding up at 10:57, with the 3 minutes left to interact individually with students, and I seized the opportunity to make some remarks and to really appreciate the students for their performances. I was so impressed with the quality of the debate, their level of maturity and understanding of politics, and call them promising activists. For me, the day’s objectives were met, and it was a successful lesson!