Week 5 Reflections (Jopescu)

Over the past weeks, I got the valuable opportunity to conduct several lessons for the 8^th-grade English classes I was observing, namely 8C and 8D. I was given 4 periods of lesson time (a total of 3 hours, divided into 2 45-minute lessons and 1 1.5-hour lesson) with 8C and 2 periods (1 1.5-hour lesson) with 8D, where I presented on Singapore and different aspects of life in Singapore.

In the case of 8C, the students were more inquisitive and took greater interest in asking questions. In general, I allocated time during each lesson for questions to be asked by the students, which helped to provide a break in the lesson delivery, transitioning between lecture-style and interactive-style lesson segments. While there were questions being asked during the first lesson, they were less than expected. This might have been owing to the content coverage of the first lesson, which was mainly an introduction and brief history of Singapore. In addition, when discussing the lesson with my CT post-delivery, my CT pointed out that some of the terms used in the presentation might have been somewhat difficult for some of the students to follow and understand. As a result, for the subsequent lessons, before the lesson started, I made it a point to reiterate to the students that if there was anything that required additional explanation during the lesson, they could raise their hands as an indication. I also made sure to review the content and simplify the explanations when needed. In general, I feel that the first lesson went quite smoothly, with students being largely interested.

The second lesson went relatively according to plan as well, although I felt that better time management on my part could have helped more, especially when the questions from the students took more time to answer than expected. The first two topics took up more time than expected, especially with the mid-lesson question segment. Nonetheless, it was good that the students were interested and asking questions, as it indicated that they were engaged in the lesson, which was an important factor to be considered in lesson delivery. Also, it is important to remember to have flexibility during lesson time and to adapt to the circumstances. Hence, I felt this was a key learning point for me to take away from this second lesson, as I had to adjust the subsequent lesson to allow for the added content from this lesson.

The third lesson, being two periods, provided me with more insight not only into the students and their learning styles, but also into my teaching style and the strengths and weaknesses within my teaching. A positive observation from this lesson was that students were more forthcoming with questions and more responsive to the interactive segments I included. However, one key observation I took away from this lesson was the importance of keeping student energy levels up, especially for a 2-period lesson. A lecture-style lesson was not ideal for such a situation as the students would start to lose interest. When discussing with my CT after the lesson, she suggested that I could have included a more hands-on activity like a game or group work towards the end of the lesson to get them to be more involved and engaged, as towards the end, I observed that some students started to become disengaged and sleepy. While I included participative segments during the lesson, which included opportunities for students to interact and be active, such as trying to read aloud the Singlish terms shown in the presentation and getting the students to share about their own life to serve as comparison, there could have been more especially at the end of the lesson. In addition, while the videos I included helped to provide a change in the content, I could have shown short snippets, especially for the song-sharing, as having continuous video screenings undermined the novelty of the multimedia approach for the students, losing its effectiveness in engaging the students. Nonetheless, during the question-and-answer segment at the end of the lesson, the students asked several interesting questions that gave the opportunity to revive the class interest levels. Rina and I had an impromptu conversation on a suggested topic chosen by a student, which my CT felt was something memorable. Hence, upon reflecting on this lesson, I learnt the importance of varying activities in class and being flexible to adjust lesson delivery to fit the students’ needs, especially in the case where students begin to lose interest in the lesson. Also, as I discussed with my CT, I do not need to plan elaborate activities to keep them interested. It could be something as simple as getting students to take turns reading aloud the poem or text I was sharing to their classmates, or giving them the opportunity to discuss something related to the subject matter of the text, which in this case was wedding proposals. Nonetheless, my time management was better in this lesson and while there was still room for improvement regarding lesson activities, there was still greater and more active student participation, which I felt was something positive that I could take away from this lesson.

In the case of 8D, I had a 1.5-hour lesson with them to cover different aspects of Singapore, which meant that content I used for 8C had to be adapted and adjusted to fit the shorter duration. This provided me with the opportunity to review my lesson content and to make decisions regarding what to include and what to remove – a skill I feel is important for teachers in lesson planning and adjustment. During the lesson, the students were less responsive at the beginning but became more active as the lesson progressed. As there was a student who used to live in Singapore, I had the opportunity to tap on him to get his opinion, which would then also encourage input from his classmates as well. As the class was not as forward with their opinions and input, I had to adjust my method for eliciting class response, such as changing my questions which made it easier for students to respond. One example I used was getting the students to indicate agreement or disagreement through raising their hands. This helped especially as some students might not have felt confident enough to speak up or voice their opinion. In addition, apart from the student who experienced Singapore life, there were several other students that I noticed were more engaged and more pro-active. Hence, I would then rely on their responses and reactions to further the discussion – so I do not end up initiating the discussions every time. This allows me to discuss things that the students are interested in rather than just presenting things that I find interesting but might not be of much interest to them. Also, as 8D had a smaller class size, it was easier to engage with the class, and to present the different aspects of Singapore life. As this lesson came after my experiences in 8C, I found myself being more aware of student response and indicators of interest, and I then used these to adjust my lesson pacing and activities. Hence, I felt that the lesson for 8D went quite smoothly as well, and while the engagement level through questions and discussions was not as high as observed in 8C, it was still a lesson that I felt was successful in terms of lesson delivery, student engagement, and interest levels.

In conclusion, I found the teaching experience with both 8C and 8D enriching and fun, as working with different student profiles and a different subject matter provided me with the opportunity to think more in-depth when it came to lesson planning. In addition, while there are some similarities between the students here and the students in Singapore, there are still important differences that I had to learn to adapt to and adjust my teaching style accordingly to best fit the students’ needs. I also got to understand some of my strengths and weaknesses better, and throughout the process of planning, delivering, and reviewing, identify areas of improvement that I needed to work on as well.

 

Also, during the last week here, I got to go on museum excursions with my students, and interact with them more through these opportunities. I got to find out more about them as individuals, and some of the things that they do and are planning to do over the summer break. Such opportunities are also important for a teacher to understand their students better, and to be able to connect with them more as well.

On the last day, one of the teachers was nice enough to show me some of the different items he collects and explained how he tries to incorporate the use of physical items and props in his lessons to bring it alive for the students. One tip that he shared was to spread out the use of 'fun and exciting' lessons - so as to keep such lessons fresh, memorable and impactful to the students. While I know that it is important for teachers to keep lessons interesting for students, I also learnt that it is equally important to use such lessons in moderation to maximise their impact.

Week 4 Reflections (Jopescu)

This week, I got to discuss the use of assessment and feedback with my CT and how she used different questioning techniques as well as tests to assess students’ understanding of the topic.

By varying the questioning techniques employed in class, this can help ensure that the students do not get bored or used to one form of questioning. This can range from questions that require individual answers from every student to discussion questions that students think about in groups and have a representative answer on behalf of the group. Hence, a greater number of students can participate, even the students who might be too shy or not confident enough to present to the class by themselves. Also, having a range of questions is important as well, as a mixture of easy and more challenging questions can help encourage more students to speak up in class. It is important to have some questions that are easy enough for the entire class to be able to answer so that every student has a chance to participate and contribute to the class discussion. I also observed that even when students are unable to answer the question, my CT provides support and takes the time to help them get to the correct answer through prompts. Hence, not only are questions used to provide feedback to the teacher regarding student’s understanding, they are also a good way for the teacher to provide relevant and timely feedback and help to the student in addressing their misconceptions or doubts.

However, my CT stressed the importance of not singling out students, especially those who are not confident of themselves, as such a practice might increase the stress on the student and discourage him or her from participating in the future. This links back to the idea of the classroom as a safe space where the students feel comfortable and have the confidence to participate freely. Not only should the students feel safe enough to answer and not be judged when they are incorrect, they should also feel safe by not being pressed for an answer if they are unwilling to answer. Nonetheless, it is important for the teacher to know the students well, and to be able to judge whether the student can participate. In some cases, my CT might call on some students whom she feels know the answers, and through having a conversation and the use of several question prompts, help them to get to the answer which they might already have known but were unsure of. This can help build confidence for the students, but nonetheless, it has to be qualified that such a method can only work effectively if the teacher knows the students well enough, as a misjudgement by the teacher might backfire and cause the student to lose confidence in themselves further.

In the case of tests, one example which we discussed was a German chapter test that was held a week ago in class. My CT shared that she would go through the scope of the test with the class during the lesson prior to the test, letting the students know the exact topics which will be covered by the test. By ensuring that there were no unexpected questions, this allowed students to prepare adequately and do well. My CT expressed that this allowed the students to have the satisfaction of doing well when having done adequate preparations, which she felt was important in encouraging students to revise and study. While we often are reminded to have differentiated segments in assessment to be able to differentiate between students’ ability, the importance of assessment and results as motivation for students cannot be understated as well. In this case, especially as this is the first time the students are taking German, I understood from my CT’s sharing that it was more important to have tests that can help build confidence in the students – while it was not necessarily an easy test, it was still a test that students, having done their work, can do well in. Another important point was the going through of answers for the students after the test was returned. By getting students to take turns to provide the correct answers, this not only ensured that the students would review their test answers again as a form of reinforcement, but also helped the teacher assess whether the students understood their mistakes. When a student has to answer a question that he or she made a mistake on during the test, the teacher will help prompt and guide the students to get the right answers, ensuring that they learn from their errors and are able to understand and work out the right answer. In addition, from such chapter tests, common mistakes made by the class can be identified as well, and the teacher can then adjust lessons accordingly, like putting aside some time in the next lesson to review the mistakes and revise the content with the class if necessary.

One area which I found interesting and different was the use of timed tests in class. I noticed that my CT would give an approximate amount of time for the students to do the test (say, 30 minutes) based on her knowledge of the students’ pace, but in the case of students with special needs, there might be extra time given for them. In ensuring that the students are not penalised unfairly by the time, the test will then be a more accurate reflection of their ability, which can then provide the teacher with important feedback regarding the students’ understanding of the topic. 

Week 3 Reflections (Jopescu)

The conversation I had with my CT provided much insight into how the school worked to create a positive learning environment within the school and the individual classrooms as well. We also discussed some of the classroom management strategies that I have observed over the past few weeks during her lessons.

The school has a comprehensive framework put in place to help support students and help establish a positive school and classroom culture. This includes the presence of trained personnel such as barne-og ungdomsarbeider, which were child-and-youth workers, in the school to help support the students in terms of their social and personal issues. Activities to help students to bond and get to know each other better within the class and within the larger school community were also conducted, such as a class breakfast held at the end of the semester. 

There are also opportunities provided for students to play games with each other and make new friends during their midday break, be it board games in the library or sports in the courtyard. Student surveys are also done during the year to find out how each student is coping with school and how his or her social relations are like with the class. This helps to flag out potential issues such as a student being isolated in class or even bullying of a student, which in turn allows the teachers to take prompt action. In addition, the teaching staff also meet up to discuss students’ progress and their well-being, thus ensuring that all subject teachers are kept in the loop regarding the students’ development, which allows them to have a full picture of how the student is doing in school. From these points that were brought up by my CT, I could see that the school had a comprehensive system put in place involving different levels of staff to ensure a positive school culture, which supported the students and provided adequate coverage to create a safe, positive space for learning in school.

At the classroom level, my CT shared some of her strategies she uses to help foster a positive classroom culture and to manage the students effectively. In terms of handling pupil misbehaviour, for some students who are repeatedly recalcitrant and continually talk to their peers in class, my CT shared that it was often more effective to address the other party and get them to stop talking and to pay attention. With the misbehaving students, constantly addressing them will make them feel as though the teacher was targeting them personally and might also result in them continuing to misbehave and disrupt the class. While it was important to be fair, it was also essential for the teacher to have alternative approaches and be open to using other methods that might be more effective in minimising disruption. While with-it-ness, an aspect of Kounin’s Group Management strategies that we learnt about in our Teaching and Managing Learners module, encompasses the ability to display awareness and being able to address the misbehaving individual directly and accurately, I feel that this example shows a different form of with-it-ness, that of being aware of the relative ineffectiveness directly addressing the main misbehaving student will have, and thus using the approach that, although might seem slightly counter-intuitive, was more effective.

Routines were also established in the class, mainly for starting and ending class. Students had to stand behind their desks and wait for the teacher to greet them before the class starts and before they are dismissed. This ensures that the students are ready for class or dismissal. Also, established rules with the class included the appropriate behaviour for different classroom activities. During lessons which are more lecture-style, there would be no talking or discussion; with lessons that have more discursive activities, a reasonable level of talking/noise would in turn be expected. Such routines help to minimise disruption to the class and can also contribute to the positive class culture established, especially when the teacher is not required to stop the class periodically to remind them of such rules. Also, the teacher uses repeated verbal reminders before escalating to the use of the ‘black mark’ demerit points, ensuring that there is a progressive element to the escalation. This helps prevent students from perceiving the teacher and the reminders/punishment as unfair and arbitrary. Hence, the students are kept aware and understand the rationale behind the teacher’s actions, keeping the classroom predictable and safe, important characteristics that can help ensure a positive classroom culture.

Week 2 Reflections (Jopescu)

This week, I got to focus on how my CT carried out her lessons, in terms of the different lesson segments, as well as how she motivated her students during class and encouraged active participation.

In terms of lesson enactment, my CT often started her lessons by discussing the homework given in the previous lesson. In our conversation, I learnt that my CT felt that going through previously assigned homework was important as it not only acknowledges the student’s effort in doing their work, which also plays a motivational role in getting them to continue doing work, but it also provides an opportunity for recap and clarification. My CT would rely on different ways to go through the homework depending on the nature of the assignment. One example I got to observe was in Religion class, where the students were previously asked to write a reflective piece on happiness. My CT got the students to share about their written work in groups of 4, based on their seating arrangement, and after this, she then asked for volunteers to share with the class. In this case, as the assignment was a personal written piece, it was important that the sharing was done in smaller groups, which was a more comfortable setting for the students to share personal stories. In addition, as class sharing was purely voluntary, students would only share their own written piece if they were comfortable with doing so. This example can then be compared to another piece of homework, this time a grammar exercise for German class. In this case, every student had to answer one question of the exercise each, as my CT went around the class to get every student to share. By engaging with the homework, my CT can also check whether the class did the work assigned. In addition, this constant practice of going through homework enforces the importance of homework and compels students to complete their work so that they can participate in class when called upon.

One key point that came up during my conversation with my CT was the importance of varying classroom activities and lesson segments. This can ensure that students with diverse learning needs have their needs met as well as prevent a level of monotony from setting in during lessons, which would then undermine student interest and participation. Some examples I observed during the week include the incorporation of games in German class, that gave the students an opportunity to do something fun and different while internalising the German language use more effectively. The use of a German counting game during tenth-grade German class helped students to better remember German numerical terms through a fun (and competitive) activity.

Also, with the good weather we experienced, there were times when my CT decided to do an outdoor activity during lesson time, letting the students be active in the school courtyard. This was also due to the restlessness of the students that affected their concentration in class.

A principle that my CT follows during lesson time is to ensure that every student says something, to ensure that every student participates in class. This is achieved through different ways as well, depending on the class profile. With more active classes, where students would proactively attempt to answer, my CT will ensure that different students are called. However, in classes that are less active, my CT will then either call on students to answer or get the whole class to take turns answering. The latter method is often used in German class, to ensure that the students follow the class.

To encourage participation, my CT shared that it was important to build good class relations, be it between student and teacher or between students. One way my CT achieves this is through fortnightly seating arrangement changes to allow students to work with different classmates. In addition, my CT emphasised creating a safe space in the classroom so that the students would feel comfortable to share their ideas and questions. These ensure that a supportive and conducive class environment is created, which in turn ensures that students are not afraid to speak up.

Also, based on my understanding after speaking to my CT, the students are largely motivated and interested in learning, which aids greatly in the maintaining of student interest and participation in class. Nonetheless, with the approaching summer break and the different holidays, the students are restless and tend to lose concentration, which in turn necessitates the use of varied activities to sustain their interest as discussed previously.

Week 1 Reflections (Jopescu)

My CT is the contact teacher of an eighth-grade class, 8C, so in the conversation we had, we mainly focused on that class for discussion. In terms of the class profile, there are 17 girls and 11 boys in the class. They are all Norwegians and Christians, hence in terms of the racial/religious make-up of the class, it is largely homogenous. Also, the class is made up of mixed-ability learners, with students of different characters and needs, as academic banding and streaming are not done in the Norwegian school system. Hence, the teacher will need to ensure that activities in class will cater to the varied needs of students.

During lesson time, I observed how my CT varied her activities and strategies throughout the lesson, considering the different learner needs present in the class. In eighth-grade German, my CT started off the class by going through a grammar practice that was given as their homework and getting students to volunteer their answers. Following that, my CT provided an opportunity, as it was the last lesson for the chapter, for the students to air their concerns and clarifications, which she then took the time to go through in class. To cater to the different learner types in the class, the teacher used visualisation to go through the topic of Time, using the classroom clock and getting students to say the time in German. I feel that this gave the students an opportunity to apply their knowledge in a real-life scenario and helped them to see a need for language learning.

As a final activity, my CT used a quiz game, where a student would take on a famous figure and the class had to ask questions (in German) to guess his or her identity. This provided a variation in classroom activities for the students and allowed students, especially the kinesthetic learners, to learn through an activity that catered to their needs. By using the game, my CT introduced a fun element to language learning. As German is a language that is first offered in eighth grade, the students would have had little to no experience with German prior, and as this was the initial stage of language learning, fun activities such as role-playing will help to encourage students to participate actively in the learning process.

Also, through my lesson observations, I noticed that my CT was able to manage lesson time well, even when unexpected events happened in the class. During my conversation, my CT shared the importance of planning lesson activities, but more importantly, the awareness that a teacher will need to be flexible and adapt to changes in class during lessons. My CT also shared that her personal practice is to rank the different activities based on importance, as well as to ensure that there was a good variety of activity types to cater to the diverse learner needs in the class. Based on the progress of the lesson, she would then adjust the activities accordingly, removing those that would take up too much time or not be as effective in execution based on her real-time assessment of the class.

In addition, it is also notable how the instructional materials such as the textbooks and the workbooks, in the case of English, had differentiated tasks and instructions, classified as Basic, Challenging, and Demanding tasks. My CT explained that when assigning work from the workbooks, she would provide one task from each category for the students to choose to work on. This provides the students with the autonomy to assess their own ability levels and choose the task most appropriate for themselves. This can also be attributed to the motivation and interest of the students to learn, thus providing autonomy can be useful to allow the students to take greater ownership of their learning.

Introduction

Hi! We are a group of 4 student-teachers who got the incredible opportunity to do our 5-week International Practicum stint in Stavanger from 14 May to 15 June! We will be penning down some of our thoughts and reflections over the past five weeks in this blog, as well as to share some of the fun experiences we had during our stay in Stavanger.

First off, we will like to introduce the sunny city of Stavanger! (Disclaimer: we were fortunate enough to experience an 'unnatural' month-long good weather during our stay there! Typical Stavanger weather is often rainy or cloudy!) Located in the southwestern part of Norway, Stavanger is the third largest city and is often referred to as the "Oil Capital of Norway", a moniker reflecting its ties today to the oil and petroleum industry. The coastal city has had several other significant industries throughout its history, ranging from shipping, shipbuilding to fish canning. Today, these industries still remain a part of Stavanger's visible history and heritage, from the dedicated museums to the different landmarks all around the city.

Moving on to the education system, the school year is from mid-August to late-June, divided by a short vacation period during December. One key difference we noticed was the lack of streaming from grades 1-10, which meant that class allocation was often done at random, resulting in classes with a variety of learner types. Schools also play a huge part in community building, with students going to elementary and middle schools that are situated in the neighbourhood. Not only do students come from the same neighbourhood, but they also get to mingle and form bonds with their classmates. This is further strengthened by how students, as we observed in the middle schools we were in, stayed in the same class throughout their 3 years in middle school.

The four of us were posted to two different middle schools in Stavanger, with Rina and Jopescu going to Kannik Skole, while Audrey and Shu Han went to St. Svithun Skole.

Kannik Skole is one of the largest middle schools in Norway, with an estimated student population of around 600. It is situated in a largely affluent neighbourhood, which might have also influenced the relatively homogenous nature of the students. The vast majority of students at Kannik are Norwegian, with a few students coming from a different ethnic background.

St. Svithun Skole is one of the older schools in Stavanger, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It has approximately 300 students and enjoys a greater level of diversity in the student population. While the majority remains largely Norwegian, there are more students from different backgrounds, family and ethnicity, which has added to the diversity of the population.