The LP was to use the 'cat on a ledge' pictures from SLA to get the student to be creative and also emotional, in theory, by answering questions on what the characters were feeling at each stage of the story. After talking about different intelligences with the student I asked her which she thought she was strongest in - interpersonal and analytical - and explained the benefit of practising others from a language perspective.
Of late my terminal objectives have been somewhat woolly and this was no exception. It was only afterwards that I considered what it was that I'd intended the student to be able to do leaving the class. The answer was a hazy "describe emotional states better" and "creatively describe the steps of a story".
Now, with the latter, I wasn't expecting any Campbell-esque "She accepts the call the adventure" style exposition, but on the other hand, I didn't have anything set of what I did expect. Was saying "She wants the cat" acceptable for her intermediate-mid level or not? By the end of the class, I got a very basic, simple description of each picture with some "she is scared" level emotional description when prompted. Hardly a roaring success.
In hindsight, if I don't have a fixed objective of what I want the student to achieve, and neither does she because she doesn't know what we'll do in class, it can only add to the sense of "what was all that about" that we both felt at the end of the class. This has become especially noticeable recently due to the loosely structured classes that I currently have (no textbook, no specific grammar focus etc.) that I do find myself walking into a class with no TO, instead thinking "reading for the first 10 minutes, vocab for the next 10, then discussion till the end" with no firm plan as to what that discussion should achieve. All too often, in the last few weeks, it seems to have no objective other than "the student should practice expressing their idea". Not that this is a bad thing, but without a more specific goal, it seems that both the students and I are finishing the class without a sense of progress.
Now, in today's class, not pushing for more linguistically thrilling answers was influenced by the fact that she'd found out her team had lost a client literally 5 minutes before the class, so was in a foul mood and was getting angry/sympathetic phone calls from colleagues every 10 minutes. So I was being really careful not to push her too much, as I was just happy she was speaking at all. However, as a class, it did bring home to me how often I have left class recently thinking "did I earn the money in that class" and not being able to say 100% yes.
So, the plan is to improve to TO. For example with this class, the student should leave the class being able to accurately relay a simple story using conjunctions, including a description of each character's emotion in each panel, and without scaffolding. Also, I need to communicate this to the student at the beginning of the class, otherwise how will they know why they're doing something either. I've fallen out of some good habits recently and I need to reinstate them just, if anything, for both me and the student to feel like I'm worth what I get paid.
UPDATE: Later the same day I tried the same exercise again but with a more overt TO and explaining to the students what and why we will be practicing it. Although I was clearly still thinking it through ("do they need to know all of them, or, as we'll be practicing others in the future, it's better to get them all out now??") it certainly felt better.
UPDATE: Later the same day I tried the same exercise again but with a more overt TO and explaining to the students what and why we will be practicing it. Although I was clearly still thinking it through ("do they need to know all of them, or, as we'll be practicing others in the future, it's better to get them all out now??") it certainly felt better.
However, I did set expectations (Happy = X) and give examples of more specific vocab and using conjunctions. At their level (upper intermediate), I shouldn't have to say "make long sentences" but, as Korean students, they do generally find the path of least resistance so it was worth reminding them.
So, in conclusion, I need the TLO as described above, but be less Monologic with the explanations of it.
Andrew, these are valuable observations that I have been learning throughout this semester too! It is all too easy for both students and teachers to go into a lesson with the general objective of improving the learners' English, but no other measurable goals. Specific goal-setting that is at least known, and perhaps even agreed upon, by both parties can be important in even achieving that general goal.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, sometimes this has been brought to my attention during micro-teaching as well, partly thanks to your occasionally quizzical expressions that tell me that you wonder why I am doing something as I am teaching. (At least, that is my impression--you may not have realized it!) Your comment to Paul and I last week, that we need to consider our end goals and work backwards from them to create our lesson plan, was extremely helpful in this regard. Thank you!
I think I just have a naturally quizzical face! I certainly wasn't trying to face-heckle you! Maybe I was just trying to match your steps with the Harmer steps in my head. From what I remember, there's only one part of your MTs that I specifically remember being lost and that was the pop corn picture "Where are you?" in the first one. Other than not, nothing.
DeleteYes, the backwards method has served me well for years. What should they leave being able to do? Then what do they need to produce? So what do they need to practice? To do that, what do you need to tell them? Boom. Done. A lesson plan.