Day 3

Through my third day, the most important thing I noticed was when my MST took four students from the assembly to give them special class. The teacher applied various activities with the low-level students twice a week, and she focuses explicitly on literacy abilities. This is the first time where I observed a classroom teacher giving extra classes for students. In my opinion, it will be tremendously helpful for both students and teachers because it builds a good relationship between them.

In the first and fifth periods, I taught my first English lesson where I aimed to associate between learning and enjoyment at the same time. We read a story about pets then students individually create a mask for their favorite pet and write a short description about it. At the end of the class, I asked students to do a role-play where they wear their masks and present their writing to the class.

Besides, I focused on establishing some behavior management strategies, and I considered creating a competitive environment. For instance, I created cards labeled with “I’m a great leader", and I choose a leader from each group. I explained their roles such as organized group, help peers, and collect books. At the end of my lesson, I chose the best leader, and I give him/her and the rest of the group sweets. I think this strategy had a powerful impact on my students’ attitude which will encourage me to use this strategy for the rest of my classes. I think I should search for new techniques because classroom management is the core of any successful teaching process.

The most exciting part was student’s participation and engagement through the whole lesson. I was so proud of myself at the end of the class when my students thanked me because they like the lesson and I thought: “yes! That was my point”. Also, during the break students asked me when I will teach them again because they want to be leaders. In general, it was one of my best teaching days because I enjoyed… I really do, even if my MST feedback was only “good” and no “excellent” in the form. When I reflect I asked myself why I should bother myself about the evaluation if I work as hard as I can.

Also, during my MST teaching session, I tried to help her with a challenging student who refused to work. I talked to him in Arabic as his English skills were not enough to communicate I was happy when he listened to my instructions and finished the task successfully. After the school day finished, I stayed in the school until 3 o’clock to design a display where I presented my students' masks and writing about their favorite pets. The display still needs some touches such as title and sections’ names which I will complete on Sunday.