my 1st lesson

taught my 1st lesson on 13th Jul (Mon), 1140. an experience which i'll take with me for the rest of my teaching career (hopefully it's not too short). hurriedly prepared my 1hr lesson plan for my 5NT class from 0200 to 0500 the day itself, only catching an hr's worth of sleep. the last-min prep was an omen of what was to come.

spent whatever little time i had rehearsing my lesson, and 5 mins before it, i decided that i should just go and buang it and then learn from the experience. joked to my fellow attachees tt i would likely go 'G-G-G-Good morning class' and get laughed at even before i start my lesson proper.

but after all the presentations in uni (which are effing easy by comparison cos the pple are normally attentive and non-disruptive and one only presents for a relatively short while in a predictable setting) and dealing with subordinates and peers in the army, i honestly expected a certain level from myself.

well i obviously din meet it.

got damn nervous standing on the platform infront of the class looking at some disinterested and zoned-out faces - only the minority but still. started off by asking questions to recap their knowledge on magnetism before i went into magnetic effect of a current and force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field (which is damn hard to uds even for express kids).

spoke at a breakneck pace and the students had to appeal to me to cool down. "slow down cher!, relack cher!" and etc. and i recall saying dumb stuff like "a current produces a magnetic current (supposed to be field) in its vicinity". basically all my knowledge was jumbled up and even if the words came out clearly, the ideas and concepts weren't. and after recounting to them the story of Oersted and his discovery of the correlation btw electricity and magnetism, i forgot the order of the lesson plan i prepared and had to refer to it.

ok la so far it seems like a disaster.

but it got better over time, as i started composing myself and seeing the surroundings for what they really were. felt the steady and logical flow of words from my mouth and my strident voice soothed the nerves. the class participated readily with qns (which are really trivial) which i answered easily.

after hitting them with difficult concepts which they needed some time to digest, i then used the time to prepare my next sentences and look out for the lost sheep, after which i took action accordingly. felt in control during the 2nd part of the lesson, albeit it wasn't gg exactly to plan cos i kept having to repeat my points and recapping them as quite a few of them expressed doubt openly.

during the discussion of my 1st lesson by my mentor, he stated that i had been too ambitious, trying to squeeze 4 periods worth of lessons into 2, therefore causing them to be unable to follow the lesson well. and that it was very obvious that i was v nervous at the initial stage but improved dramatically after the students called on me to relax (haha they're q cute actually). one more fault of mine was that my whiteboard (cos i din use powerpt slides) diagrams were all over the place with no order whatsoever.

so i told him that i was darn jittery la, and just wanted to look for the closest blank space to draw my diagrams and write my points thus the disorder. we laughed, amused at my open admission.

but hmm good points mentioned: my strident voice (projection too), steady eye contact with students and quick catching/questioning of the lost sheep. also, most importantly, an obvious desire to help the students, as shown when they were openly asking conceptual questions. and he mentioned that one thing i had was an affinity with the students, as they felt v comfortable asking qns and expressing constructive views, one thing he rarely experienced with them, which i observed previously despite him being a really damn good teacher.

but oh i definitely dun look v friendly and affable that's for sure. clarice (dropped by for 1 period cos she had nth to do) stated that i was damn scary and intimidated her cos i looked vv serious and unapproachable whilst teaching, other than the times where we was stealing knowing glances at each other or me answering qns from students. well, it's likely amplified by the fact tt i'm never really serious abt stuff when it's not work-related and i've been hehe-haha-ing the past 2 weeks with her alot.

well. it was a good experience overall, for i thrive on failure. i always have, not entirely by choice though. i'm looking forward to the day when i will look back on this post and reminisce abt the old days where i was still a sucky teacher. i'm sure i'll improve and become the person i aim to be, moulding the minds of tml.

P.S: linky: enjoy ur last yr of sch. u're really gg to hate the kids and teaching. i'm q sure of that.