Starting the lesson, rewards chart, reflection and feedback and classroom management.
These are the stages of the lesson that did not really change in December. We kept all of the existing elements and we simply kept using them without any major alterations. It is also interesting to look back and realise just that. I suppose that means that our routines are in place and they bring the outcomes as intended.
I continue to take notes about their behaviour and performance in the notebooks and I noticed that they all care. Now and again, I have a student ask ‘Are you going to write in our notebooks this week?’ or ‘Have we got the new notes in the workbooks?’ and whenever we use the notebook for the first time in the week, I have to remember to mentally add a minute or two for them to check the notes and ask questions and so on before we actually get down to what we have scheduled for that lesson. It is also a great opportunity for me to reflect on each child and to follow their progress.
Story and songs
Our main focus of the month, regarding the song was, of course, ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town‘ and it was a fun one, from the methodology point of view. My students are already not so little anymore and not so illiterate anymore. For that reason, we could do a song, just with lyrics, going over the song, looking for the new words and using a page with text during rehearsals…That felt great. I also decided not to create any special dance routine at all. I just told the kids, ‘You are good at improvising. Go on, improvise!’ and they did!
Again, there was no time to do any real story and I am not happy. Again. What I think it calls for is a real plan, with a reading list for us to cover, at least one piece of real literature a month.
Socialising
We had three main events planned for December and all of them involved us working as a team, within the class, within the year and within the school.
- Open lessons for parents were an opportunity to show what we can do to our parents and, although it was stressful as an event, it was very rewarding and necessary. And, overall, it went well and even if it did not, I was happy for the parents to see all of us in our natural habitat. As usual, it was an interesting case study because some kids behaved well because the parents were present and some, naturally, were acting up specifically because the parents were watching. There were some, too, who were acting up just because their parents could not attend.
- Christmas Fair was a whole school event that we all were getting ready for and, of course, on the day, it did affect our everyday life because the children were excited to see, to share ideas, to share opinions and then talk about everything that happened. But it also went very well and it was a success. I was not personally responsible, I was just a little piece of the machinery. But, nonetheless, I could see how much it did for the team spirint and bonding within classes 2A and 2B.
- Christmas Concert for which we were preparing a song and a little dance (‘Santa Claus is coming to town”) and it also helped us bond and work together. And, during the concert, we really (really) rocked it!
- We also did a few other things during that month:
- creating long garland for our classroom
- preparing the Andy Warhol Christmas trees for the classroom and for the school
- our communication lessons (there will be a separate post, eventually)
- lots of pairwork
Creativity
We haven’t really created a lot as regards the visual arts. Thinking about it right now, I think our most recent take was in November, with the Turkeys and the Craft Day. However, our life was so eventful that we (and by we I mean, me, the teacher) struggled with making time for the regular, curriculum-bound activities. And we did lots and lots of craft in our extracurricular classes.
But we developed a new hobby, that of coming up with nicknames for us and we spent hours and hours of classtime in character. That was fun.
We also had a lot of fun with the langauge, in all the role-plays, talking about unusual food and decorating our letters for the pen pal project.
Teacher
The teacher in December was trying hard not to go crazy. Trying and mostly succeeding. Because of all the events and kids being tired and waiting for Christmas and the break, we were all tense and a bit on the edge. But, overall, we had a good month.
I was really proud of us taking part in the concert and doing such a great job (and having fun!), working hard and taking part in all the activities.
Things to come…A teacher’s to-do list
- a revision of the rules, I am considering a real January Rules Challenge
- a revision of the language because the first two weeks will be messy
- another soft skills lesson to give us a chance to develop
- some tests already scheduled for January
- a new Art theme for the month
- a new song, a real one
- a January book (apart from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that we have in the coursebook)
Actually, l am looking forward to it all.
Happy teaching!