Dear reader,
I attended the first lesson of the Skillful Teacher course today. I am quite grateful that my mentor recommended that I bring a big enough bag. The first day proved to be material-heavy.
Despite the hype, I felt a little disappointed by the course. Although majority of the participants I interacted with enjoyed the first day, I felt shortchanged as the facilitators repeated their points over and over again. I felt the first day could be done in five hours, instead of eight.
Nevertheless, I did pick up a few useful things. The first lesson focused on attention and routine techniques. Let me highlight what I want to try out in my future classes.
Attention:
1) Giving students feasible choices for paying attention in class. For instance, giving students a choice of standing at the side of class or sitting up straight when one feels tired.
2) Use of personifications when teaching. However, this runs the risk of introducing anthropomorphism in scientific language.
3) Use of suspense and dramatics in class. I must take care, as this might be a one-trick pony tactic.
4) Giving easily-distracted students a role in class.
Routines:
1) Use of hand signals to indicate agreement, confusion and disagreement.
2) Allowing students to correct their answers after discussion from friends.
3) Use of subject representatives to collect extra worksheets.
4) Use of the "Yes" chant when preparing for a challenging topic.
Hopefully, these strategies may allow me to be a skillful teacher.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
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