Open Class

Today, I had 5 classes of the 7 periods of the school day, culminating in my open class. All day, my co-teachers kept asking about my open class and how I was feeling. It was sweet and very encouraging. They all said "Don't be nervous. You will do great." So it came time to teach my superstition open class, and there must have been some sort of miscommunication because there were no other EPIK teacher there! I believe 2 male EPIK teachers were supposed to come watch, and I have no idea why they were there. The only person who came was a Korean English teacher from another school who the DMOE set as a supervisor. At least she was there. Niall watched my class as well.

Despite the confusion, I think it went really well. I managed my time perfectly. We finished all the activities and the bell rang right on time. I also think the activities were good and the students understood the objective. My co-teacher, and I worked well together also. The DMOE person said that it was clear I have a passion for teaching. She said I could work on giving the students more talking time and explaining directions to activities more clearly and using demonstration. Both of these critiques I definitely agree with and have noticed in myself. Some of the topics don't lend themselves to student activities and things like that, but I'll try my best. There was one boy in class who is typically kind of a jokester but also really bright and talkative. I asked for examples of superstitions and all I understood was "fire" and "pee." I had never heard of a superstition involving those two things, but we got there eventually. Apparently in Korea, if a child plays with fire or matches, they will wet the bed at night. Probably something parents made up to keep their children from hurting themselves. I had never heard this before, and I think it made the boy feel confident to explain it to me, even if it took me a bit to understand. It was a really nice teaching moment.

Overall, I think the outcome was great. Now, I just hope that they don't make me do it again because no one came to watch it! UGH!