Teaching Practice
This is my first time standing in front of a class and delivering lessons. At first, I felt nervous, but as I continued teaching, I became more confident. My teacher and friends not only record my lessons but also give me feedback, which helps me refine them. Through this experience, I am getting used to thinking and acting like a teacher. It has given me valuable insights and helped me grow as an educator, including learning how to engage students effectively and manage classroom dynamics.
01 Teaching
A science lesson consists of four steps. First, at the beginning of the class, the teacher reviews the previous lesson. Second, the teacher introduces the topic by posing a question related to students' daily lives. Using examples and stories helps make abstract concepts easier to understand. Next, students engage in a group activity. Finally, the teacher summarizes the lesson.
During the first week, I conducted pre-teaching. My role was simply to introduce problem-situation sentences to the students, which was quite exhausting.
In my lesson on food chains, students first reviewed key terms such as producer, consumer, and decomposer. Then, they played rock-paper-scissors, acting out the process of eating and being eaten. After that, they read a short story and worked on a group activity. At the end of the class, I attempted to summarize the lesson, but Kan and Pimjai added explanations in Thai to help clarify the content. The purpose of this class was for students to understand the relationships within a food chain and apply their knowledge to other environments by identifying additional food chains.
Thank you naaa!
02 Reflection
Everyone is always there for me, supporting and encouraging me. Students actively participate in the class, but sometimes they get too excited while playing. Some students become distracted when they play, and they start talking to each other. Some students lose focus and have trouble understanding what I say. I struggle with managing both the class and time, and I lack confidence.
Ajarn Jirakan advises me to speak loudly, be confident, and refine my slides. Although I struggle with class management, I am learning every day and improving little by little.
03 Improvement
I prepare as much as I can in advance, such as distributing cards. For the slides, I highlight key words by changing their colors and sizes, and I add illustration slides to support visual understanding. To manage time, we use a timer. Also, teachers have students clap their hands when the class gets noisy. I adopted this method, and fortunately, it works well. Students listen to the instructions and clap their hands, and the sound helps other students notice and refocus on the class.
04 Challenge
Although I am not sure how many students understand me or to what extent, they seem excited about my class, which makes me happy. The students are smart and good at English.
I started studying English in secondary school, so some students are more fluent than I am. These students help me during the lesson, by telling other students. They can read and listen to English well but struggle to connect the language with concepts because they have not yet learned the concepts themselves. This makes it difficult for them to explain their thoughts.
To support them, I try to use very simple English and ask straightforward questions, such as yes/no questions or questions that require only a one-word answer instead of full sentences, so that students can respond easily.
