Lesson Planning

Last year, I didn't do a lot of lesson planning, and it had been one of my biggest concerns about actually becoming a teacher - something I have been considering for the future. How long do I need to plan a lesson? How can I make facts, even boring formulas, fun? Will the lesson be adaptable if it doesn't seem to be working for those students? Is the planning part boring?
These were some of the things I was hoping to learn about during my time here. Fortunately, this year I've had the opportunity to do more of this. I also have a lot more classes that play to my strengths: Sciences and English classes. These are my passions, and what I studied in school. Last year I had more classes like Arts and Tech, that I just didn't feel as helpful with, no matter how much I read up on it on my own time, and help is really all I could do. But science and English make planning lessons rather more straightforward for me. I already know the material, and I'm already passionate about it. All I have to do is make it relatable and fun, and having passion for it makes that part easier as well. And thinking about ways to teach it in an interesting manner with the technological limitations at my school makes me more creative.
I know it's still not the same as if I were working 40 hours a week, but it gives me a good starting point. Plus I get to try out some of my ideas and see how they work. To means I already have a bunch of usable lessons planned, and revised for if I do become a teacher. For that this blog, which started as an assignment, has already become a useful tool for me. Lesson planning already seems less daunting, as long as I break it down.

Reflections on the New Year

Last year, I made my final reflections, grateful to be done with this project and the MOOC course that we were required to do. Then I came back for second year, and I realised how useful this could actually be. All of my projects and plans in one place. All the things I've been reminded of and learned. It's like my own personal time capsule, I can look back and see where I started, and what I've done. It may have seemed a bit of a hassle at the time, but I'm glad I put in the effort now.
I've  only been back a month so far, but this second year already feels so different than the first. Being back at the same school means that I already know a lot of the students and several are happy to have me back to practice English with them. The second year also means that I know some of the teachers, and they know me - my background, skills and teaching style - so I could get right into the work. I'm already working on a project with the 4th ESO physics and chemistry students that I am incredibly excited about. The teacher gave me some guidelines, then I came up with the project requirements, ran them past the teacher, and then off we went. I have new ideas that I was too shy to pitch last year for whole school projects as well well, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they go. I have a little more responsibility, but it doesn't seem so daunting. I'm more confident discussing how I can help with the teachers I hadn't met before, letting them know my background at the start rather than waiting for it to come up. I know what I can do, and they know how they want to run their classroom and we find a way to put them together that allows me to know what I'm doing before every class.