Advanced Reading and Study Skills

  • For the first hour of this class, the students had a test based on the previous lessons until this point. As the teacher handed out the tests to the students, they reminded them about the test taking rules of the classroom, as well as that if everyone gets one of the questions wrong on the test it will be removed from the overall score of the tests.
    • Reminders of how you’d like tests to be conducted is a good idea, especially if the test taking culture is different where the students are from. I think even in non-ESL courses this is a good idea to remind students of your test taking rules as students might forget to silence or turn off a phone without one. That being said I think it is a good idea to remove one or two questions if the entire class gets them wrong, or change how much of the final grade the test is if the entire class’ test scores run lower than expected on average. Communicating this with your students either before or after the test is up to one’s discretion, but I think telling your students this is important because it shows that you care more about their learning than their physical grades which can be reassuring for some.
  • During the test, the teacher gave my fellow student-teacher and I the resources that the class is working with. This included a textbook that they had curated for the class with various different essays for reading material, as well as a timeline for the course and the various tasks or projects to be done within its duration.
    • I really appreciated this, as we could not just see, but take home the materials for future reference of the types of resources we can curate for our future lessons/courses. Not only that but the teacher also made sure to answer any questions we may have had at that point.
  • After the test was completed, the teacher collected all of the tests and marked them during the 10-15 minute break they had given the students. Once the students had returned from their break, their teacher had handed back all their tests and was met with some shock. Many of the students had never had a teacher return work so quickly before. Their teacher then explained that they try to get work back to students as soon as possible so they know right away what they might need to work more on, or so that they can ask any questions they might have about the test and get clarification, opposed to wondering and waiting or even forgetting what it is that they might have questions about. This way the test was still fresh in their minds when they get their marks back.
    • I had never thought of it that way before! While this might not always be feasible depending on the curriculum, or how long your class’ runtime is, I think I agree that getting things like homework and tests back to the students as soon as possible is a good idea. Even in non ESL learning environments some students get antsy if they cannot see where they are grade-wise within a course. So if one can alleviate that anxiety, it can also build a level of trust with students that they can count on you to get their marks back to them in a timely manner.
  • Once the class had settled back in and the class was about to resume, there was still a student paying attention to their phone so there was a reminder to put it away before continuing on. The student did so and the class continued without further delay.
  • The teacher resumed the class by congratulating them on what they all understood and did well on in the class. When noting where they struggled, the teacher reminded them all that getting answers wrong is not a bad thing, but it just shows what they might need more practice/work on.
    • I think it is good to remind students of this, as we can end up being our own worst critics, or they might come from a culture where doing well academically is very important. it helps reinforce that we are here to help them learn, not to execute a curriculum so to speak.
  • When a student was confused as to why they got a certain question wrong, the teacher allowed them to explain their thought process. After understanding where the student was coming from, perhaps the teacher might tweak or change how a question might be worded for more clarity.
  • It was at this point that the teacher showed the class a movie trailer with a theme relevant to the topic they’ll be discussing next. In this instance, the next topic was “Canadian Inventions” and the movie trailer was for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. After watching the trailer, the class was asked to guess what the next reading topic was based on what they had seen within the clip.
    • As a second language learner, I had seen teachers use scenes and movie trailers as listening practice, but not as a segue to what the next activity is. I really liked this, and I think I would like to try and use this within my own practice in the future!
  • Before the class began their reading, the teacher reminded them of the anatomy of an essay, such as the introduction, body, conclusion, thesis etc.. of the essay and to look at the reading material as examples of how an essay should look like when they are writing their own. Not only that but the teacher also encouraged them to write their annotations in their booklets. The teacher then put a copy of the reading on the projector and made notes between the lines of the introductory paragraph as an example of how their can mark up their own copies before giving the class time to go over the readings for themselves.
    • I really enjoyed this. As someone who has had it ingrained in them to keep their schoolwork pristine, it is nice to be explicitly given permission to write on their paperwork. Having a physical copy of the reading as well makes it easier to highlight and mark points of interest within the text as well. Giving the class examples of how they can mark up their work gives students the foundation for how they might like to construct their own notes within the texts they are reading. I don’t think I would have thought of right away to tell them outright that it is okay to write on your schoolwork, but it is a good reminder for not only myself but others who might benefit from it as well.
  • Once the students have had some time to go over the text for themselves, the teacher calls everyone’s attention so go through the essay together as a class, making sure to have everyone’s attention before continuing with another reminder to look for the different “anatomical features” of an essay as they go through it.
  • As the teacher reads the majority of the sentence aloud, they give pause frequently to let the students finish the sentence together as a class to create a type of call-and-response.
    • I thought this was a good way to keep the class focused on the material, while also getting some speaking practice on some words they might not have seen or said before. This is also another way to gauge participation, at least with a smaller class, as you can hear each student’s voice or the absence of it. If there is a student continually not speaking you could get them to read a sentence aloud or get them to answer a question about the sentence just read to ensure they are still following along. If they struggle, it might be a good time to remind them to pay more attention, or that you aren’t explicitly testing them until you are actually testing them and want to ensure their understanding.
  • As the teacher leads the class through the text, they constantly mark up the text with little annotations and notes as a visual reminder of what the students themselves might want to mark their own. Not only that but musing aloud about the text as they mark it shows students the though process behind certain annotations.
    • With something that might be new to students, like dissecting more academic texts, I think this is a great way to walk through the process without directly holding their hands through it. It reminds me of my classes in middle school and high school and struggling to deal with more academic texts. If a teacher had gone through it like this with me, I think I may have understood a little better. It also reminds me of the subtle nuances of doing higher-level written communication in a Second Language, and how some things may be common sense in one language’s context, but unheard of in another.
  • Intermittently throughout the call-and-response, the teacher asks students to tell them where certain things are in the text such as the thesis statement of each paragraph as they continue through the work.
    • I think sporadic reminders will help keep students thinking about the anatomy of the essays, you would just have to be careful not to overload the students with too much information. However in this moment the teacher is good at gauging how students feel about the material.
  • Once the class has gone through the entirety of the essay together, the teacher gets them to line up according to their favourite colours. Red being on one end and violet being on the other, students sorted themselves accordingly for the teacher to put them into groups of 2 or 3. They then were to spend the remainder of the class time working on annotating and marking their own copies of the essay they had just gone over.
  • A few minutes before the end of class time, the teacher gives the students a summary of what it is they had gone over today, then explaining that annotating the essay they were working on in class is part of their homework for next class. They also explained about how there would be no class on one of the scheduled days the next week due to a public holiday that meant the school would be closed before letting them go for the day.