T4W2
Started the week with an ITP follow up session with my class at AST on Monday, and I have to say that session was something I didn't feel I needed until I was there. Sharing the past month's ups and downs with my class, and getting to listen to others' challenges and success stories truly helped put my experience into context and inspired me to do more and be better.
This week was the first official week of art lessons for the P1 & P2s.
While the P1s were introduced to their new topic for Term 4 - Nature, P2s were starting on a new art task that was still related to Term 3's topic. Took some time to go through the agenda for each week of term 4 with Mawar, factoring in the many year-end event disturbances, and that really helped me clarify the flow of lessons and expectations for each lesson. I felt that the added clarity helped me manage my lesson time. With a clear idea of the lesson objectives, I was able to reiterate it succinctly, and students were clear on what was expected. They were able to complete what was required of them within the amount of time given - 20 minutes. Once this week, I actually got my P2s packed up and ready to leave a few minutes before the dismissal time, and that was the first time it has ever happened! I was genuinely surprised when Venus approached me and reminded me that I cannot dismiss the students until the bell rang. I led the students to the foyer slowly and was thinking on the way there that it felt great to be able to dismiss students calmly, instead of rushing to pack up when the dismissal bell rang.
However, classroom management was still an aspect that I was working on. I would pause my lessons to discipline the individual students, and by doing so, the flow of my lessons was disrupted. Rather than calling out on the students immediately, Mawar suggested that I could use non-verbal cues to get the students attention instead. For instance, I could walk up to them and tap on their table while continuing with instructions, or remove items they are fiddling with without saying anything and speak to them once instructions were given out. While these are good suggestions, I knew I needed more practice before I could execute them seamlessly as it required multitasking on my part! Having tried them out this week, I have to say that it was effective in reducing lessons disruptions and redirecting students' attention although I still found myself pausing at some points in time. Another suggestion I received was from Angie, relating to the seating arrangement, which does affect classroom management. Rather than having students sitting with their back to me, I could move them over to the empty tables and have them face me. This is definitely something I will be trying out soon!
This week was the first official week of art lessons for the P1 & P2s.
While the P1s were introduced to their new topic for Term 4 - Nature, P2s were starting on a new art task that was still related to Term 3's topic. Took some time to go through the agenda for each week of term 4 with Mawar, factoring in the many year-end event disturbances, and that really helped me clarify the flow of lessons and expectations for each lesson. I felt that the added clarity helped me manage my lesson time. With a clear idea of the lesson objectives, I was able to reiterate it succinctly, and students were clear on what was expected. They were able to complete what was required of them within the amount of time given - 20 minutes. Once this week, I actually got my P2s packed up and ready to leave a few minutes before the dismissal time, and that was the first time it has ever happened! I was genuinely surprised when Venus approached me and reminded me that I cannot dismiss the students until the bell rang. I led the students to the foyer slowly and was thinking on the way there that it felt great to be able to dismiss students calmly, instead of rushing to pack up when the dismissal bell rang.
However, classroom management was still an aspect that I was working on. I would pause my lessons to discipline the individual students, and by doing so, the flow of my lessons was disrupted. Rather than calling out on the students immediately, Mawar suggested that I could use non-verbal cues to get the students attention instead. For instance, I could walk up to them and tap on their table while continuing with instructions, or remove items they are fiddling with without saying anything and speak to them once instructions were given out. While these are good suggestions, I knew I needed more practice before I could execute them seamlessly as it required multitasking on my part! Having tried them out this week, I have to say that it was effective in reducing lessons disruptions and redirecting students' attention although I still found myself pausing at some points in time. Another suggestion I received was from Angie, relating to the seating arrangement, which does affect classroom management. Rather than having students sitting with their back to me, I could move them over to the empty tables and have them face me. This is definitely something I will be trying out soon!
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