Unfortunately very little of my teaching was recorded due to a "technical error" on my behalf. Joel was recording my teaching, and something got lost in translation when handing him my camera, thus only the "isolation stage" of my teaching was recorded. Seeing that we were only supposed to do the presentation stage (which I did do) the 2 minutes of my recorded lesson show nothing that covers ICC lesson of the MT.
Now on to what I remember. I believe that I included both 'Big C' and "little c" into my teaching. I informed the students about the history of the game, Euchre, which was created in my home state of Michigan. I also informed the class about the basic time line as to when the game was created, and the fact that it was once considered the national card game of America during the 1800's. I then went on to describe the 'Big C" aspect of the game, by informing the class that Euchre tends to be most popular amongst high school and college students, since it is cheap in easy to play. During this portion of the MT, I tried to engage the students as much as possible by only speaking twice, and then asking the students to repeat what I had just said, or by having them ask their classmates about the rules, or the Big C/little c elements that I just presented.
The "KNOWING" stages of the MT could have been covered a bit more thoroughly on my end. I do believe that I covered the "Knowing About" aspects of the lesson, since I gave a history of the games, as well informing the class about who usually plays the game. I briefly covered the "Knowing Why" aspects as well, since I set the class up in teams to indicate the social setting that the game is played in. No money is involved, just casual conversation and a bit of competitiveness. The game is also quick and easy to play, and was designed to be a social game made for enjoyment, as opposed for betting. Nor is the game designed to be an intellectual game like Chess. Thus the "Knowing Why" was briefly described. I must admit that I should have done a better job of explaining the "Knowing How" aspect, however for some reason I was determined to go into the Isolation" stage of the MT (for some unknown reason). I started to give game instructions during the isolation stage of my teaching, so the "Knowing How" part of the lesson and I would had taught the "knowing How' if time permitted. Finally, the "Knowing Oneself" would had been covered in the production stage, since I would had asked the students to describe a Korean game (such as Go Stop) and used the language lesson (Have to/Should/Could) so that they could introduce some of the rules. Then the class would have discussed why they like the game, as well as describe who tends to play it,(young people, is it a party game, is it a team game), and why they play it.
Again, I am going on memory here, but there were a few things which I didn't like about my MT, and one of them was the fact that I seemed rushed in my approach. I also remember thinking that I could had been more organized, seeing that i couldn't find any of the slides that I wanted to use. Also, I don't really remember covering the grammar lesson of the day, however, I could be mistaken about this since that portion of my teaching wasn't recorded. The biggest problem in my MT was that I was DETERMINED to do the Isolation portion of the class. For some reason I thought that we had to do it. Don't ask me why, the brain sometimes gets locked on a decision and little else matters. I also remember standing over the students shoulders during the isolation stage, which is a bad approach, since may have raise the affective filter of the class.
After doing the MT, I now have a clearer understanding of how an ICC approach can be easily added to some of my classes, while at the same time maintaining the English objective of the day. An ICC lesson may not work everyday, however, it can be a valuable tool to use on occasion since it can inform both the students, and myself, about each others cultures. If done properly, the students will get to learn in an interesting setting, while at the same time gaining knowledge about different cultures.
Friday, December 7, 2012
A Brief History in Time
In all honestly, I never planned on being an ESL instructor, but fate had a different path for me to follow. After 3 stressful years as a police officer, I decided to finally quit after a very troublesome final month. I wont go into too much detail, but that month involved a drive by shooting, a drunk driving accident which involved a 14 year old girl and a sexual abuse case involving a 12 year old girl and her uncle. I had enough. The most shocking incident (to me) was how I handled the drive by shooting. It started after I pulled over a vehicle which matched the description of the car which was involved. On approaching the passenger side my senior partner yelled "gun" to indicate that one of the suspects was holding a gun in hand. The suspect raised the gun (on 3 separate occasions) and each time we made it very clear that he had to put his hands on his head. I was quite calm as the situation unfolded and in hindsight, i am surprised how effective my police training actualy was. I remember taking a a mental inventory of who would be investing the case (we pulled the car over in a neighboring city, thus it wouldn't be my co-workers doing the investigation). I also mentally prepared how I would write the report if the shooting took place. Finally I considered my departments protocol, along with laws that concern the use of deadly force. Once I decided that my actions were legal, I was quite calm with my decision if I needed to discharge my weapon. Fortunately, when the the suspect tried to raise his weapon a third time, my partner stepped in front of me and very calmly put the gun next the suspects head and said "I wont miss from this far". End of story. I drove home during the morning and I was a bit disturbed of how quickly I decided that I could shoot another human being. Yes, I had every legal right to fire my weapon, thus that wasn't the moral problem here. The problem was how would my life changed if I actually took another persons life. The thoughts were not comforting. The decision to quit wasn't easy, but I do not have regrets.
I then went into the mortgage business and business was booming (God bless predatory loans). Once the mortgage well started to dry up, I decided to take a year off and travel with some friends. Uncertainty about future employment led me to Korea. I wanted to stop eating away at my savings, thus I took a hogwan job while I researched new business opportunities. I eventually bought a bar in Thailand and 2 years later, "Poof" just like magic, my savings were gone. Licking my wounds, I headed back to Korea and looked at International business degrees and International law degrees, seeing that had some familiarity in each field. I became quite discouraged when researching schools in Korea. Again, I wont go into detail, but my options were quite limited with the universities and the programs. I was not all that impressed with the standards. So at the ripe young age of 41 (and 10 months) I decided to enroll in STG, the this marked the first real commitment I made to my teaching profession.
There have been several conflicts throughout my teaching career, most of which came from the lack of organization by administrative departments at the schools I have been employed with. Coming from a quasi military background, I expect things to be much more organized than what I have experienced with the administrative departments at the colleges AND businesses I have worked at in Korea. Due to the lack of their organization, it was difficult for me to commit to being an ESL/EFL teacher. I ALWAYS had one foot out the door. To be quite honest, my opinions about teaching were very negative, however, much has changed because of what I learned this past semester at STG, and as a result, I am eager to learn more. Not to 'brown nose" here, but STG has been THE main influence on why I am now committed to teaching. Before starting STG, I never felt challenged in the classroom, nor did I feel as though I was REALLY contributing much to my students. Many of the reasons for these feelings were because how my employers have marginalized the English departments. My students are often permitted to miss my class due to projects for other departments and I am never given notice. I am told to pass every student that has missed less than 5 classes and events, such as Sports Days and Musical Events have taken precedence over English. All of which has led me to be very unmotivated in my approach. The only reason I enrolled into SMU was for better job opportunities, Since I have been teaching for so long, I assumed that I pretty much knew all that is needed to know about teaching. I was wrong, and I am glad for being wrong. Since starting STG, I now have a clearer vision of what ESL/EFL teaching is about, and because of the new techniques I have learned AND NOW USE , I finally feel as though I am contributing to the lives of my students. This course has been a game changer for me, and being enrolled in STG has been the biggest turning point in my professional career. My personal life hasn't been effected much, seeing that I am not married, nor do I have children, so my decisions have very little effect on those close to me. However, I have changed greatly since living abroad and I tend to view this change as growth as opposed to a conflict of my values. Empathy is very important to me, and being a teacher has helped me become a more empathetic person, and as a result my approach has changed when dealing with others.
This leads me to the question, "what forms of advocacy would be useful in my career?" Which can be very easily answered; I need to continue to educate myself (and my co-teachers) in the field in which we work. With education and experience both at my disposal, I can speak from a voice of authority when making suggestions. If my employer chooses not to listen, than I can do my best to follow the school rules, or look for another job. Yes, I often do feel marginalized by my employer for reasons that Ilisted above, however, I am of the belief that pursuing an education in ESL/EFL is the biggest step one can make to be taken seriously. If you don't take your job seriously, than no one else will, and educating yourself is the biggest way to advocate positive change in a working environment.
I then went into the mortgage business and business was booming (God bless predatory loans). Once the mortgage well started to dry up, I decided to take a year off and travel with some friends. Uncertainty about future employment led me to Korea. I wanted to stop eating away at my savings, thus I took a hogwan job while I researched new business opportunities. I eventually bought a bar in Thailand and 2 years later, "Poof" just like magic, my savings were gone. Licking my wounds, I headed back to Korea and looked at International business degrees and International law degrees, seeing that had some familiarity in each field. I became quite discouraged when researching schools in Korea. Again, I wont go into detail, but my options were quite limited with the universities and the programs. I was not all that impressed with the standards. So at the ripe young age of 41 (and 10 months) I decided to enroll in STG, the this marked the first real commitment I made to my teaching profession.
There have been several conflicts throughout my teaching career, most of which came from the lack of organization by administrative departments at the schools I have been employed with. Coming from a quasi military background, I expect things to be much more organized than what I have experienced with the administrative departments at the colleges AND businesses I have worked at in Korea. Due to the lack of their organization, it was difficult for me to commit to being an ESL/EFL teacher. I ALWAYS had one foot out the door. To be quite honest, my opinions about teaching were very negative, however, much has changed because of what I learned this past semester at STG, and as a result, I am eager to learn more. Not to 'brown nose" here, but STG has been THE main influence on why I am now committed to teaching. Before starting STG, I never felt challenged in the classroom, nor did I feel as though I was REALLY contributing much to my students. Many of the reasons for these feelings were because how my employers have marginalized the English departments. My students are often permitted to miss my class due to projects for other departments and I am never given notice. I am told to pass every student that has missed less than 5 classes and events, such as Sports Days and Musical Events have taken precedence over English. All of which has led me to be very unmotivated in my approach. The only reason I enrolled into SMU was for better job opportunities, Since I have been teaching for so long, I assumed that I pretty much knew all that is needed to know about teaching. I was wrong, and I am glad for being wrong. Since starting STG, I now have a clearer vision of what ESL/EFL teaching is about, and because of the new techniques I have learned AND NOW USE , I finally feel as though I am contributing to the lives of my students. This course has been a game changer for me, and being enrolled in STG has been the biggest turning point in my professional career. My personal life hasn't been effected much, seeing that I am not married, nor do I have children, so my decisions have very little effect on those close to me. However, I have changed greatly since living abroad and I tend to view this change as growth as opposed to a conflict of my values. Empathy is very important to me, and being a teacher has helped me become a more empathetic person, and as a result my approach has changed when dealing with others.
This leads me to the question, "what forms of advocacy would be useful in my career?" Which can be very easily answered; I need to continue to educate myself (and my co-teachers) in the field in which we work. With education and experience both at my disposal, I can speak from a voice of authority when making suggestions. If my employer chooses not to listen, than I can do my best to follow the school rules, or look for another job. Yes, I often do feel marginalized by my employer for reasons that Ilisted above, however, I am of the belief that pursuing an education in ESL/EFL is the biggest step one can make to be taken seriously. If you don't take your job seriously, than no one else will, and educating yourself is the biggest way to advocate positive change in a working environment.
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