I am still a very new teacher- let me state that right away. However, in the ten months that I’ve spent teaching elementary children here in Korea so far, I have found one very distinct difference between those first shaky months and now; that is I no longer struggle to fill the entire class time.
I remember in the first six months of teaching frequently looking at the clock and just willing that minute hand to move faster. This would occur as I saw that the students were finishing the last activity that I had planned, and I still had ten more minutes left in class! I would get nervous and worried thinking, “How am I going to fill this last chunk of time.” I would often find some kind of video to play, but the students were well aware of the fact that their teacher had not done the best job with time management. A most welcome change is that now we never run out of time. I have been able to achieve this due to many factors, but maybe the most important one is always planning one more activity than I think we’ll need. As my knowledge of how long activities will take has improved, I find that many times this extra activity is not needed. However, when it is needed it is great to be able to pull it out and use it. That is not say that I don’t ever use videos anymore. Sometimes when I see that the students have mastered the material, or just that they look like they need a break, I will put on a short clip (I love the “How It’s Made” clips on YouTube; they’re in English, they’re educational, and the kids and I love them). However, it is nice to be able to choose whether or not I play a video, rather than having to play one out of necessity because I don’t have anything else planned- a most welcome change!
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AuthorCliff is an adjunct professor at Yonsei University, Wonju campus. Archives
December 2019
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