Sunday, April 10, 2011

In The Classroom Part 1 (Morning Routine)

Hello,

Wintermute here and today we will start our discussion of “In the Classroom” with Morning Routines. I would have to say that this is the most important part of the day for you and your students. It’s a good time for them to fall back into the routine of only speaking English, work their brain into learning mode, and warm up for the hard day ahead.

The morning routine is literally just that, a routine or system that you will follow each and every day, this routine will hardly differ from any other day. It’s a time for the students to say to themselves its class time. So what we need to do is give them things to familiarize with so that each day they know, its class time. Think of it as an ad on T.V., they become so familiar with it that the students just sort of snap into place. I always start with a simple hello, usually repeat a few times getting progressively louder, kids love to yell it back. Then I look at each individual student and ask “how are you?” simple question, simple answer, happy, sad, angry etc. Then I ask why are you happy, sad, angry, etc etc. This gives each student “teacher time” and makes them start talking, that’s what we want.

Then more simple questions, what day is today, yesterday, and tomorrow, what’s the weather. The more advance your class gets you can have them right the days on the board (this uses up a lot of time). When talking with your students make sure to use their names a lot, (or in my case nicknames) as their Korean name vastly differs from their English counterpart. Have a schedule on the board, so throughout the day the kids can see what’s coming up and what they did for that day. This is important because guess what the parents first question to their child will be. What did you do today? So be sure to ask your class and refer to the schedule often.

I made mini books for my kids, a new book for each week. It was about 5-6 pages of simple sentences with pictures. I had 12 students, I would make 6 books, have the kids pair up with another student, and read the book to each other. This is getting them use to speaking in English to each other; the more group activities like this you can work in is great and will help them develop confidence. I would also send the books home with each student so they can practice with the parents.

Then comes brain exercises, my kids loved these. These are simple exercises (I stole from Brain Age DS) that get your kids thinking and ready to learn. My favorite was a play on the classic rock paper scissors. I would hold up paper and the kids yell what beats it, then Id hold up rock and the kids yell paper etc etc. Then you have them yell what loses, you hold up paper they yell rock. Go faster and faster and mix and match lose and beats often.

By now your class is more ready than you are to get on with the day. Again never introduce new material in the morning, keep it systematic but let it feel fresh and exciting. This is also a good time to pass out jobs and roles for your students to perform throughout the day, such as line leader. I also had my students stand in front of the class and introduce themselves, and talk about themselves. Not needed, but an idea.

Your Teacher,
Witnermute

41 comments:

  1. I hate the mornings takes me forever to get up :/

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  2. Sounds like you really care for your students. I don't think half my old teachers even knew my name.

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  3. sounds like you really know how to teach. It's good to see a teacher interact with the students and not be some shell. You seem to really care.

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  4. I have a question not regarding tis post but the POLL and why is Russia Classified as an Asian state I know that the majority of it is in Asia but the parts you would want to be visiting are in Europe or atleast most of them...

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  5. the poll needed 4 options, should I gone with Malaysia? haha

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  6. Great guide. I agree, the mroning routine is very important when it comes to languages. You're a great teacher!

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  7. could you post pics of the books you made?

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  8. You seem to really care about what you do. I remember some of my teachers just arrived to class, taught and then left. It makes you really feel indifferent.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. Thanks for that teech.
    Can I have a hall pass I need to wee reallyOh... hhhhngngngng... nm.

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  11. Good to see someone with passion about it, and it sounds like you really care about your students

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  12. the books didnt help them learn English that much but reinforce it. The books were very simple ("My dog can bark, my dog can roll over" etc etc) and were meant to get them back into the routine of speaking English in class.

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  13. My Korean physics teacher in HS used to have us do stretching and jumping jacks to get us ready for learn...I used to just stare at the girls from the back of the class. Aww yeah.

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  14. haha it's awesome how you got an exercise from the ds game brain age and incorporated it into your teaching!

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  15. Now i seriously wish i had a teacher like that when i was back in high school.

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  16. That's a clever way of get class started. I remember seeing this mentioned when i studied for my TA exams.

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  17. Well written post, thanks for the advice!

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  18. Intreasting way of blogging. a3

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  19. Enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing!

    Keep 'em coming!

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  20. nice to see posts like this... in a world of failing education systems.

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  21. Great post! Keep up the great blog, I'll be sure to return :)

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  22. Sounds like you are having a great time, keep the blog up man! :)

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  23. if i remember correctly, i think i had a teacher use the rock, paper exercise when i was a kid. hmmm

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  24. It's interesting to see how a teacher plans out a lesson for the kids.

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  25. never even though of that. nice post very helpful!

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  26. That paper rock scissors idea is great - I could see that really warming up the brains first thing in the morning, and maybe burning off a bit of extra energy while they're at it.

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  27. Good idea for teaching your students!

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  28. Yeah this seems like a good idea, get everyone awake and ready to learn.

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