Presentation, Practice, and Product

One of the main techniques for teaching English which I was taught during orientation was presentation, practice and product. Roughly every topic should have all three. While a given lesson may only have two, over a couple of lessons all three should happen.

While my presentation could improve, as could all of my teaching skills, I have had some success with the presentation. I am able to show what I want the students to learn. I always have a visual representation of the part of the human body or system I am teaching.

Practice is also something I have had moderate success with. I try to incorporate physical actions to help the students remember various topics. For instance today the third graders were learning various muscles, so I had them lift their chairs to demonstrate biceps and lift their leg to demonstrate quadriceps.

Product is the part of the equation which I will be working on improving the most over the next few weeks. I will be working on it for next week since I have to give all of my students an out of school project next week in preparation for the test which will be given at the end of March.

Now that I am more in the swing of teaching here, I am trying to spend more time focusing on these sorts of concerns. The first couple of weeks were a whirlwind, especially considering all told I have more than 150 students in 5 different grades. While not an unreasonable amount, I am still working on learning all of their names and such things which are necessary for effective teaching.

I am still enjoying La Fortuna, even on rainy days like today. I need to run to a meeting with the parents so I will be able to practice my Spanish for the next hour or so. I'll try to remember to update more often as I settle into a routine.