Teacher Toolbox
acc
When starting out as a new teacher, answering student questions can cause some anxiety. What if they ask a question that you’re not prepared to answer? Don’t worry! There are many strategies you can use while planning a lesson to help you prepare.
Create mind maps
Say you are about to teach yes/no question formation. Create a mind map that poses questions about each aspect of that skill. What are all the possible questions that students could ask about creating and using that grammatical structure? (If you aren’t familiar with Mind-Mapping, here is a website to get you started)
Prepare targeted examples
When teaching a language skill, have an example bank with you to reference. Providing targeted examples will help you teach the skill and get ahead of questions students may have.
Collaborate
Collaborating with colleagues can help set your mind at ease! Chat with them about their approach to teaching the skill you need help with. What about that skill was hard for students in the past?
Reflect
Keeping a reflection journal on your teaching experiences is a great way to learn. Note down questions students ask to reference in later lessons in this class and beyond.
Tackle it later
We’ve all been asked questions we weren’t prepared to answer. If that happens, be honest with yourself and your students. It’s okay to say, “Great question! I’m not sure. I’ll get back to you on that in our next class meeting.”
by: taylor snyder, ph.d. tesol
lecturer, applied english center
In my experience teaching in an Intensive English Program for the last 8 years, being intentional is one of the greatest lessons I have learned and continue to practice as an educator. There are many ways to be intentional with our pedagogical practices. Here are a few and why I think those are important:
Be intentional about the classroom activities and homework assignments you develop.
How do these activities work toward the student learning outcomes? Make sure that students understand the purpose of the activities. Also, think about the specific needs and goals your students have. For example, can you offer different ways to complete a specific assignment in order to build upon your students’ strengths? Additionally, think about how to develop materials and assignments that incorporate different learning styles in a way that keeps all students engaged.
Have clear goals in mind but understand that there are many ways to achieve these goals.
What works for a specific set of students won’t work for others. Always be willing to adapt and make changes. Be comfortable with the fact that sometimes our lessons just don’t work. Take some time to reflect on what works, what doesn’t, and why, and how to modify/adapt for use in the future.
Think about classroom rules and expectations and talk about them with your students explicitly.
Make this a group discussion when possible. What do students believe are adequate ways of being and engaging with one another? This intentionality and collaboration can improve classroom morale and relationships. Students will see that you take into account their own ideas and will feel valued. Also, always model expectations for your students. Students come into our classrooms with a wealth of knowledge, so use that as a way to encourage discussion and classroom engagement. Don’t assume that students know what the classroom expectations are.
Be intentional with the feedback you provide.
Learning a language is a difficult and long-term process. Think about how much is enough feedback as well as different mediums and types of feedback. Positive reinforcement and feedback are also important. For example, when providing comments to your students, it’s always a good idea to start with something they did well before offering suggestions for improvement.
In short, being intentional can help foster a class environment that is open, encouraging, and supportive. It can also increase the opportunities for collaboration and meaningful interactions.
by: marta carvajal, m.a. curriculum & teaching (tesol); ph.d. curriculum & teaching (tesol)
lecturer, applied english center
Sometimes we get that perfect class—the students are friendly, they get along with each other, they participate actively in the class, and they do all their homework. Everything gels, and you look forward to teaching class each day. And other times…well…the class dynamics are not so good. Maybe there is that one student who never does his homework, or the student who disrupts the class, or the one who sleeps in class. Over the years, I’ve seen teachers struggle with these situations. Here are a few tips for handling these troublesome situations.
Don’t personalize
It’s important not to get personally offended by bad classroom behavior. It causes you to lose your perspective and makes it difficult to stay calm. And staying calm is important as angry approaches can escalate the situation and destroy teacher-student rapport.
Stay on the same side as your student
It’s important not to set up an adversarial relationship. After all, you and your students should want the same thing–for the student to succeed. To do this, it is best to show concern and compassion rather than frustration. (I know, I know–that can be a tall order!) For example, rather than saying, “Why didn’t you do your homework?”, you can say, “I’m so sorry you didn’t do your homework. Now I can’t give you important feedback.” And, during this conversation, you need to show genuine compassion.
Talk in private
It is important to have difficult conversations in private. This way, students don’t lose face in front of classmates. It is also easier to lean on a personal bond and responsibility to each other when it is just one-on-one.
Stay close
Sometimes physical proximity can work wonders. Position yourself by the sleepy student. Chances are, they’ll do a better job staying awake. Put your hand on the desk of the disruptive student. It may quiet them down.
Set expectations early
It is always best to get out in front of problems before they happen. In order to do this, you need to anticipate what could go wrong. Then, during the first week of class, make sure the students all know what is expected of them. For example, you can say, “It is really important to always use English in class. I know it may be hard, but you will learn faster that way.” Later in the semester, if problems arise, you can refer back to this earlier conversation.
Teaching is always a learning experience. If you have a difficult day or a difficult class, just take note of the problems, so you can stay one step ahead of them next time. Every day in the classroom is a new day and another chance to try something different!
All students have a smartphone now. When smartphones first came out, we spent a lot of energy trying to keep them out of the classroom. Well, times have changed, and we now say, “Use this technology in lessons as often as you can!”
In fact, if you think about the cellphone as a tool for learning (and get your students to think of it in this way), suddenly, it becomes something more than a nuisance and distraction during class time. The following are some ideas about how to embrace smartphones as learning tools in class.
First off, smartphones can be used to liven up the classroom. One of our favorite apps is Kahoot! It is a game-based learning app that you can use to set up competitive quizzes in your class. You can check Kahoot! out here.
Google is, of course, a bottomless source of opportunities for use in class. For example, students can just type in a vocabulary word to listen to the pronunciation of a word, learn its definition and grammatical use, and so on. This can be particularly helpful for small group vocabulary work so that groups that have questions can proceed without having to wait for the instructor to make the rounds to their group.
In addition, anonymous polls during class can add an important, interactive component when checking to see if individuals understand the material, especially when the results are shared in class and there is some sort of follow-up or review lesson, allowing immediate feedback. You can create polls through Teams or Google Currents.
Likewise, using texting or chats to share sample sentences during a grammar or vocabulary lesson is fun and exciting, especially if the teacher can share the sentences with the class on a screen. Again, such a lesson provides the opportunity for immediate feedback and review.
Smartphones can also be used on an individual basis, especially using audio and video recording functions. Here’s one lesson example: Assign narration of a 1-2 minute video of animal life in the area to practice suprasegmentals, focused grammar, vocabulary, etc. There are now many ways for students to upload a video from their phones—VoiceThread, Teams, Canvas, and so on. Use whichever is the easiest for students to access. These videos can become a great starting place for a voice discussion board when shared with classmates. Students love watching/listening to each other’s work and commenting.
Another fun, small group speaking lesson is to ask students to share and talk about photos they’ve taken and have on their phones. This is an excellent vocabulary-building exercise and a way to encourage question and answer practice. This is another lesson that can be done on a follow-up discussion board with written or recorded interaction.
It’s taken the field several years to figure out how to incorporate smartphone use into the classroom. We finally learned, if you can’t beat them, join them!