becoming and effective teacher and oprah's webcasts!
i originally wrote this as a note on facebook but am re-posting it here:
i'm reading this book i got in the states:
how to be an effective teacher: the first days of school by harry k. wong and rosemary t. wong
it's great! it has sooo much good advice! it's also a little overwhelming though because there are so many things you need to do in order to be an effective teacher.
the reason i'm reading it is because i've spent two years teaching in mokpo and being completely stressed out and depressed about how my classes always end up getting utterly out of hand by the end of each semester. i've tried a lot of things but nothing ever really seemed to work. i was just blindly searching for solutions and randomly trying things that were ineffective. my co-teachers were never of much help either.
they say in the states that your first year of teaching is always the hardest and that you really get the hang of it at the start of the second year. i've wondered why it's taken me two years to begin to figure things out but i realized it's because i'm in a foreign country. it takes twice as long because not only are you figuring out how to teach but you're also figuring out how to cope in this foreign culture. in the states everyone would be speaking my language, explaining everything to me and i would understand how things worked. but in korea a lot of things go unsaid because i don't speak korean and they don't speak english. so it takes longer to figure things out.
but i'm changing schools at the end of april and i'm going to be teaching high school. i want a fresh start so i got this book to help me figure out how to do things effectively right from the beginning. i have to adjust some of the advice to fit my situation here in korea but i'm hoping that this stuff works with korean students just as it would american students.
i'm finding out about stuff that i never knew would make that big of a difference. they say you should show that you are in control right from the beginning by having your room ready (rules, procedures, assignments, etc. posted), greet students at the door as they come in, tell them where to sit, and have an assignment for them to do as soon as they come in the first day! like have them define a word and write a sentence using that word in their notebooks or something like that. show them that they're going to work in this classroom and not goof off. while they do the assignment, take roll (which i don't know if i'll be needing to do that or not) but it's a good time to do it so you don't waste class time calling out names.
it also says you should only post 5 rules at a time (easy to remember). so you pick the 5 most important rules to you that you think the students will need to be aware of and post those. other rules will also need to be followed but the ones that aren't posted are ones that you think the students should really already know or they're so specific that you don't want to post them- you just want to tell them as the situation arises. you can also replace old rules with new ones as they learn the old ones and need new ones.
i haven't gotten into the discipline procedures for breaking rules yet but i've looked over it a bit and i'm afraid they're not going to be conducive to my situation in korea. it gives the kids lots of warnings: writing their names on the board and giving checks. i have no idea how i'm going to know their names first of all. i've done name signs in the past and it just takes forever to set up each day. the actual discipline includes a lot of "detention time" so like come in 10 mins. at lunch or 30 mins. after school and i really don't think i'll be able to enforce that. i have no idea where the kids are when they're not in my class and i won't be able to find them at lunch, etc. if anything i could just keep them after their own english class, which will make them late for their next class.
i think alot of the discipline will really have to be backed up by my co-teachers. i'll have a different one for each class and each one will probably have his or her own idea of how we should discipline which will be quite a challenge!
i just don't want to let happen what has happened every semester for the past two years- i either try to follow the lead of the co-teacher and she does nothing or i try to take the lead myself and i'm not backed up by the co-teacher: both resulting in a chaotic class. i've realized you really need to be a team with your co-t and be on the same page as far as rules, procedures and discipline.
when i get to my new school i'm going to ask them if they have specific rules they tell the kids and what the discipline procedures are. from what i've seen korean teachers don't have a set system and they kind of just do whatever they can think up at the time of the problem. if this is the case at my new school i want to explain what i'd like to do in my classroom and hopefully the teachers will jump on board.
i'm pretty nervous about this. i've been told that high school is easy. the kids are more afraid of getting in trouble so they stay in line for the most part. i've also heard the teaching is easy. you can pretty much do lecture style with power point, etc. but i've never been to any of the high school classes so i don't know what the atmosphere is really like. do the kids like power point presentations or would they rather have more active activities? sometimes i have this dream of being this amazing teacher that inspires her students to learn and they love english and have tons of fun! lol a lofty dream i know.
anyway, we'll see what happens!
i also posted this:
i'm loving oprah's best life series and soul series of webcasts on her website. they've been so informative and inspiring. i recommend them to everyone!
here's a link to the best life series:
http://www.oprah.com/article/spirit/knowyourself/pkgyourspirit/20090112_sas_video/1
you can watch the videos or just listen in. (be sure to click watch now or listen now).
the soul series has even more videos to watch/listen to. she's been doing that since the beginning of 2007 and i had no idea! i watched one with eckhart tolle and one with rev. ed bacon today and loved both of them. you can watch all of those here:
http://www.oprah.com/oafhost/oss (this is on the oprah and friends page of the website)
if you go down to where it says past shows you can click browse the archives and watch/listen to any and all of them that you want. it's awesome! if you click on any video it shows one commercial and then begins. to the right you can choose a guest if you want to go straight to a certain person's interview with oprah.
this soul series is actually part of oprah's radio show called oprah and friends. on the oprah and friends page you can look to the left and see people's names there and click on them to see their portions of the radio show. so for example oprah's best friend gayle has done many of her own shows.
anyway, i just love what i've seen so far and wanted to share it! :o) pass it along!
i'm reading this book i got in the states:
how to be an effective teacher: the first days of school by harry k. wong and rosemary t. wong
it's great! it has sooo much good advice! it's also a little overwhelming though because there are so many things you need to do in order to be an effective teacher.
the reason i'm reading it is because i've spent two years teaching in mokpo and being completely stressed out and depressed about how my classes always end up getting utterly out of hand by the end of each semester. i've tried a lot of things but nothing ever really seemed to work. i was just blindly searching for solutions and randomly trying things that were ineffective. my co-teachers were never of much help either.
they say in the states that your first year of teaching is always the hardest and that you really get the hang of it at the start of the second year. i've wondered why it's taken me two years to begin to figure things out but i realized it's because i'm in a foreign country. it takes twice as long because not only are you figuring out how to teach but you're also figuring out how to cope in this foreign culture. in the states everyone would be speaking my language, explaining everything to me and i would understand how things worked. but in korea a lot of things go unsaid because i don't speak korean and they don't speak english. so it takes longer to figure things out.
but i'm changing schools at the end of april and i'm going to be teaching high school. i want a fresh start so i got this book to help me figure out how to do things effectively right from the beginning. i have to adjust some of the advice to fit my situation here in korea but i'm hoping that this stuff works with korean students just as it would american students.
i'm finding out about stuff that i never knew would make that big of a difference. they say you should show that you are in control right from the beginning by having your room ready (rules, procedures, assignments, etc. posted), greet students at the door as they come in, tell them where to sit, and have an assignment for them to do as soon as they come in the first day! like have them define a word and write a sentence using that word in their notebooks or something like that. show them that they're going to work in this classroom and not goof off. while they do the assignment, take roll (which i don't know if i'll be needing to do that or not) but it's a good time to do it so you don't waste class time calling out names.
it also says you should only post 5 rules at a time (easy to remember). so you pick the 5 most important rules to you that you think the students will need to be aware of and post those. other rules will also need to be followed but the ones that aren't posted are ones that you think the students should really already know or they're so specific that you don't want to post them- you just want to tell them as the situation arises. you can also replace old rules with new ones as they learn the old ones and need new ones.
i haven't gotten into the discipline procedures for breaking rules yet but i've looked over it a bit and i'm afraid they're not going to be conducive to my situation in korea. it gives the kids lots of warnings: writing their names on the board and giving checks. i have no idea how i'm going to know their names first of all. i've done name signs in the past and it just takes forever to set up each day. the actual discipline includes a lot of "detention time" so like come in 10 mins. at lunch or 30 mins. after school and i really don't think i'll be able to enforce that. i have no idea where the kids are when they're not in my class and i won't be able to find them at lunch, etc. if anything i could just keep them after their own english class, which will make them late for their next class.
i think alot of the discipline will really have to be backed up by my co-teachers. i'll have a different one for each class and each one will probably have his or her own idea of how we should discipline which will be quite a challenge!
i just don't want to let happen what has happened every semester for the past two years- i either try to follow the lead of the co-teacher and she does nothing or i try to take the lead myself and i'm not backed up by the co-teacher: both resulting in a chaotic class. i've realized you really need to be a team with your co-t and be on the same page as far as rules, procedures and discipline.
when i get to my new school i'm going to ask them if they have specific rules they tell the kids and what the discipline procedures are. from what i've seen korean teachers don't have a set system and they kind of just do whatever they can think up at the time of the problem. if this is the case at my new school i want to explain what i'd like to do in my classroom and hopefully the teachers will jump on board.
i'm pretty nervous about this. i've been told that high school is easy. the kids are more afraid of getting in trouble so they stay in line for the most part. i've also heard the teaching is easy. you can pretty much do lecture style with power point, etc. but i've never been to any of the high school classes so i don't know what the atmosphere is really like. do the kids like power point presentations or would they rather have more active activities? sometimes i have this dream of being this amazing teacher that inspires her students to learn and they love english and have tons of fun! lol a lofty dream i know.
anyway, we'll see what happens!
i also posted this:
i'm loving oprah's best life series and soul series of webcasts on her website. they've been so informative and inspiring. i recommend them to everyone!
here's a link to the best life series:
http://www.oprah.com/article/spirit/knowyourself/pkgyourspirit/20090112_sas_video/1
you can watch the videos or just listen in. (be sure to click watch now or listen now).
the soul series has even more videos to watch/listen to. she's been doing that since the beginning of 2007 and i had no idea! i watched one with eckhart tolle and one with rev. ed bacon today and loved both of them. you can watch all of those here:
http://www.oprah.com/oafhost/oss (this is on the oprah and friends page of the website)
if you go down to where it says past shows you can click browse the archives and watch/listen to any and all of them that you want. it's awesome! if you click on any video it shows one commercial and then begins. to the right you can choose a guest if you want to go straight to a certain person's interview with oprah.
this soul series is actually part of oprah's radio show called oprah and friends. on the oprah and friends page you can look to the left and see people's names there and click on them to see their portions of the radio show. so for example oprah's best friend gayle has done many of her own shows.
anyway, i just love what i've seen so far and wanted to share it! :o) pass it along!