today, i had a good teaching day.
initially i had wanted to let the other 2 teachers do the teaching today. and sometime mid-week, the school administrators sent us a copy of a worksheet that one of the teachers from the other class derived. they asked us to consider using it if it helps in our teaching of the subject. i ignored it. i thought having a worksheet to regurgitate the text in the textbook is not going to be useful for the lesson. it might help her in her lesson but i thought it would not be useful for me. the topic is just too complex to teach and deliver using a worksheet.
today, i went to school early to prepare myself for the lesson. at the resource room, my other 2 teachers were already there. the one that was always very strict and always create a lot of tension in class was rather excited about the worksheet and wanted to print it. the other, who was the lead teacher and who was always very easy with the students told her to go ahead. i asked one simple question - who is going to lead today's class. the lead teacher looked at me, shrugged his head and say anyone would do. i remarked that the topic seemed easy but was actually the most difficult. he looked surprised. he gave me the "huh?" look and remarked that he thought it was one of the easiest topic to teach. i told him no, today's topic required one to be familiar with all the previous 7 week's topics and be able to synthesize all the lessons from them. and it involved a deep understanding of what "ethics" was. i asked a simple question - what do you think is "ethics". he thought hard and offer an answer. i shared my thoughts about it and he understood straightaway the depth and complexity of the concept. and with that, i told him i would lead today's lesson.
the class started as per routine. but before i could even start, the strict teacher started scolding a particular boy. he was leaning against the table behind... and she went on and on and on... my goodness, i thought, this certainly should not be the way to start a class! and so i did something unexpected, i walked to the left side of the class and told them i would be teaching from there. there was no way this boy could lean back now. and with this little stunt of mine, the strict teacher quietened down. i held the class tight and i went on about the topic of the day. the lead teacher knew i meant it when i said i would lead. in a way, i signalled that i did not want to be disturbed and i wanted to do things the way i thought was good. so after the pleasantries, he went to the back of the class and sat down. as for the strict teacher, she tried very hard to complement me... often she threw questions to challenge everything i said. i felt rather irked by it but i took it. and whenever she thought she didn't agree with me, she tried to interject. but i thought she interjected too often and sometimes too early. i thought she should allow me to complete all i had to say before interjecting. case in point was this example. we were discussing what trade was considered not in sync with buddhist practise. and i asked - is prostitution considered a right trade? i started by saying it was wrong, but posed a question - what if the person sells his/ her body to feed a sick child? a little grey now right? i said. before i could continue, she interjected, no, no, i disagree, it is wrong! i waved my hands and stopped her. i had to continue developing my argument. and with that, i went on to ask the class to think - was what she did morally upright?... and with that, i completed my point that in buddhist context, the prostitution trade is not correct.
anyway, this kind of interjection kept coming on and on. but i turned it into questions for the students to think. i took it as an opportunity for the students to know there are different perspective and that they should probe and reflect when presented with certain issues before making a judgement. overall, i thought i managed to hold the class well. i played my cards right. i knew the boys would be intrigue by military stuff. and i used all the military history examples. and i spoke of war, weapons of mass destruction, precision weapons, geneva conventions and so on and i managed to hold their attention rather well. it was rather interesting. for many moments, even the teachers didn't know how to argue, complement or question me. i held the class very tightly. at the end of the sharing, one of the boys commented - wa teacher, how i wished you can be my history teacher. hahaha... i was amused. but what made my day this morning was not the fact that my students were very attentive or the scope that i managed to cover. rather, it was the one single "teacher, thank you" uttered to me by one of the boys as he walked out of the class at the end of the lesson.
what made this "teacher thank you" even more meaningful and impactful was because of 2 things. firstly, this student was one of the most attentive and quiet one. he was always very interested in and attentive during lessons and i suspected he was rather irritated by the many lessons that either became out-of-control or ended up as scolding sessions. so, when he thanked me, it told me i had been effective in doing a good lesson. and secondly, i have only joined the class for about 3-4 weeks. and to get an endorsement from an interested student now was the last thing i had expected.
such endorsement - priceless!
:-)
ps: i had a slight problem with the textbook for being too prescriptive. you should not this, you should not do that... it's very difficult to practise anything when the text is so literal and everything is stated at the "action-level". i thought it would be more effective if the text book could respect reader's intelligence a little more and peg the content at the "intention-level". doing so would be more appropriate in today's complex world. and it would give a person a lot of things to think about.
initially i had wanted to let the other 2 teachers do the teaching today. and sometime mid-week, the school administrators sent us a copy of a worksheet that one of the teachers from the other class derived. they asked us to consider using it if it helps in our teaching of the subject. i ignored it. i thought having a worksheet to regurgitate the text in the textbook is not going to be useful for the lesson. it might help her in her lesson but i thought it would not be useful for me. the topic is just too complex to teach and deliver using a worksheet.
today, i went to school early to prepare myself for the lesson. at the resource room, my other 2 teachers were already there. the one that was always very strict and always create a lot of tension in class was rather excited about the worksheet and wanted to print it. the other, who was the lead teacher and who was always very easy with the students told her to go ahead. i asked one simple question - who is going to lead today's class. the lead teacher looked at me, shrugged his head and say anyone would do. i remarked that the topic seemed easy but was actually the most difficult. he looked surprised. he gave me the "huh?" look and remarked that he thought it was one of the easiest topic to teach. i told him no, today's topic required one to be familiar with all the previous 7 week's topics and be able to synthesize all the lessons from them. and it involved a deep understanding of what "ethics" was. i asked a simple question - what do you think is "ethics". he thought hard and offer an answer. i shared my thoughts about it and he understood straightaway the depth and complexity of the concept. and with that, i told him i would lead today's lesson.
the class started as per routine. but before i could even start, the strict teacher started scolding a particular boy. he was leaning against the table behind... and she went on and on and on... my goodness, i thought, this certainly should not be the way to start a class! and so i did something unexpected, i walked to the left side of the class and told them i would be teaching from there. there was no way this boy could lean back now. and with this little stunt of mine, the strict teacher quietened down. i held the class tight and i went on about the topic of the day. the lead teacher knew i meant it when i said i would lead. in a way, i signalled that i did not want to be disturbed and i wanted to do things the way i thought was good. so after the pleasantries, he went to the back of the class and sat down. as for the strict teacher, she tried very hard to complement me... often she threw questions to challenge everything i said. i felt rather irked by it but i took it. and whenever she thought she didn't agree with me, she tried to interject. but i thought she interjected too often and sometimes too early. i thought she should allow me to complete all i had to say before interjecting. case in point was this example. we were discussing what trade was considered not in sync with buddhist practise. and i asked - is prostitution considered a right trade? i started by saying it was wrong, but posed a question - what if the person sells his/ her body to feed a sick child? a little grey now right? i said. before i could continue, she interjected, no, no, i disagree, it is wrong! i waved my hands and stopped her. i had to continue developing my argument. and with that, i went on to ask the class to think - was what she did morally upright?... and with that, i completed my point that in buddhist context, the prostitution trade is not correct.
anyway, this kind of interjection kept coming on and on. but i turned it into questions for the students to think. i took it as an opportunity for the students to know there are different perspective and that they should probe and reflect when presented with certain issues before making a judgement. overall, i thought i managed to hold the class well. i played my cards right. i knew the boys would be intrigue by military stuff. and i used all the military history examples. and i spoke of war, weapons of mass destruction, precision weapons, geneva conventions and so on and i managed to hold their attention rather well. it was rather interesting. for many moments, even the teachers didn't know how to argue, complement or question me. i held the class very tightly. at the end of the sharing, one of the boys commented - wa teacher, how i wished you can be my history teacher. hahaha... i was amused. but what made my day this morning was not the fact that my students were very attentive or the scope that i managed to cover. rather, it was the one single "teacher, thank you" uttered to me by one of the boys as he walked out of the class at the end of the lesson.
what made this "teacher thank you" even more meaningful and impactful was because of 2 things. firstly, this student was one of the most attentive and quiet one. he was always very interested in and attentive during lessons and i suspected he was rather irritated by the many lessons that either became out-of-control or ended up as scolding sessions. so, when he thanked me, it told me i had been effective in doing a good lesson. and secondly, i have only joined the class for about 3-4 weeks. and to get an endorsement from an interested student now was the last thing i had expected.
such endorsement - priceless!
:-)
ps: i had a slight problem with the textbook for being too prescriptive. you should not this, you should not do that... it's very difficult to practise anything when the text is so literal and everything is stated at the "action-level". i thought it would be more effective if the text book could respect reader's intelligence a little more and peg the content at the "intention-level". doing so would be more appropriate in today's complex world. and it would give a person a lot of things to think about.
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