A Healthy Dose of Reflection

My last minute class went over quite well last night. It felt empowering that I was able to take a situation such as making comparisons and tailor it so that it could meet the needs of the students who wanted to take it easy and those who wanted to challenge themselves a little bit more. Once the groups had their topics, there was that lovely buzz that always makes me feel like I'm in the center of something important happening, especially people growing in their English skills and using them in different ways.

However, when I woke up this morning, I stayed in bed (actually an IKEA style red couch that I call my bed since the actual bed in my apartment is beyond uncomfortable) and thought about how I could do the lesson better. Usually I let the class go on until I have to rush off to my next class and hope that the students continue their conversations without even noticing that I've left. I felt like something was missing though. Was it the way I began the class? Was it the lack of handouts? Should I have encouraged a more sophisticated use of the target language? I wasn't sure.

When the questions start rolling around in my mind, I usually rewind the class in my head and do a choose your own adventure approach to reflection. Each decision I make has an effect on the outcome of the class after all. Once I figure out all the different factors that came into play for that lesson, I play around with the arrangement of them in order to see if something could have been more effective than it was. Here's an example:

The Thoughts

Last night, I did as I usually do when giving group work. Usually I walk around in the beginning just to see if there are any initial questions about what is expected of them. At this point, they haven't been able to really delve into the material yet so opportunities for discussion don't exist yet unless the topic immediately brings up an intriguing question. As they become more engaged in the task at hand (I hate calling them assignments because everything in this social club is voluntary), I then take time to sit with them and see what opinions they've formed and if they've been able to use any of the target language that was introduced.

The Choice

This morning, I thought about isolating the group work idea. I love using group work in my classes but it means that the time I get to spend with each group is minimal and surface oriented at best. So, I played around with the idea of randomly choosing groups to spend a more significant time with, maybe around 15-20 minutes so that two groups could get undivided attention from me rather than me being taken away at a whim by another group who has a pressing question. From this, I thought that this would be good for future classes because each group (students who usually sit together even though seating is by choice and limited by what's available) would have an equal opportunity in each class to get this opportunity even if they don't get it sometimes.

The Questions

Simply enough, this is when I ask myself how I could make this new process work. Should I use a dice? No, there are only 6 sides and sometimes I have more groups than that. Could I have the groups write their names on a paper? It's a possibility. Would other groups feel like their time is wasted? Another possibility.

Time To Table

Though I absolutely love to get lost in thought, I also find it necessary to step away from what I've been thinking about in order to make better decisions. The idea of handling group work differently is on my mind but I'm not sure if I'm ready for it just yet. This will be one of the ideas to revisit in a more practical way once I'm starting to plan my topics next week.

So that's how I implement reflection in my teaching life. Of course some lessons need more thought than others, especially if it's one that I'm thinking of publishing. I can't say that I'm the most linear thinker and that everything follows this template but I'd say it's close enough. I hope to follow up with some more discussion on why reflection is so important in the ESL classroom, both for newbie and veteran teachers.