Ideas? Help? Plz?

[DeletedUser]

Hello my prettiez!

So. We've been together a while, wouldn't you say? Gotten to know one-another? Developed a mutual understanding? Dare I say... respect? Not too many of you want to letter-bomb my home?

I do hope so.

Because you see, I need your help.
No, really. Even I need help sometimes. :icon_cool:

As many of you are aware, I teach.
As most of you are not aware, I am driving my friends insane with incessant teacher-related discussion. :icon_redface:
In the interests of maintaining my friendships, I am trying to converse about such things less. But this leaves me in something of a quandary, as I have no one to run ideas past. Or get ideas from. :icon_sad:

So. Ah. Was hoppping, if anyone felt so inclined, from time to time... if you can think of things that your teachers did/do, that you found/find especially beneficial... you could just mention them here. Doesn't matter what it is... if it's not directly suitable for English, I'll adapt it if I feel s'useful. :icon_twisted:

Baaasically, I want to get as much info as I can about how I can be any good.

So! If anyone has any ideas, hit me. Metaphorically speaking.

Any input would be appreciated.



EDIT: As Lobstah suggested adding... I teachz0r English, for years 8 - 12. Which is 12/13 - 17 year olds.

 

[Jobetopia]

Hello my prettiez!

So. We've been together a while, wouldn't you say? Gotten to know one-another? Developed a mutual understanding? Dare I say... respect? Not too many of you want to letter-bomb my home?

I do hope so.

Because you see, I need your help.
No, really. Even I need help sometimes. :icon_cool:

As many of you are aware, I teach.
As most of you are not aware, I am driving my friends insane with incessant teacher-related discussion. :icon_redface:
In the interests of maintaining my friendships, I am trying to converse about such things less. But this leaves me in something of a quandary, as I have no one to run ideas past. Or get ideas from. :icon_sad:

So. Ah. Was hoppping, if anyone felt so inclined, from time to time... if you can think of things that your teachers did/do, that you found/find especially beneficial... you could just mention them here. Doesn't matter what it is... if it's not directly suitable for English, I'll adapt it if I feel s'useful. :icon_twisted:

Baaasically, I want to get as much info as I can about how I can be any good.

So! If anyone has any ideas, hit me. Metaphorically speaking.

Any input would be appreciated.

Well AI, I am not sure how helpful this is, but many many years ago when I was 14 we had an insanely hot, short skirt wearing, 23 year old English Teacher (God bless you Miss Telford) who - Ahem - Inspired me so much on the subject that I ended up doing an English Lit degree!

Inspiration comes from so many different places!

 

[DeletedUser]

Well, one of my English teacher's, back when i went to school, spoke to us at OUR level, aka, asked us about life and such, like she was not a teacher. >.> doubt that is helpful.

 

[DeletedUser]

That is not helpful at all.

I am disappointed in you Jobe.

/shakes head sadly.



@ WFA - More helpful. Grazie. Anything ist good to know.


EDIT: Almost anything. -eyes Jobe suspiciously-.

 

[DeletedUser]

One of my old teachers had a plaque on the front of his desk that read

"if at first you dont succeed, try doing it the way you were told"

he was hilarious, we all loved him. Oh, and he had a massive moustache and smoked a pipe in lessons.

It would help if we knew what you taught/at what level..

 

[Jobetopia]

That is not helpful at all.

I am disappointed in you Jobe.

/shakes head sadly.



@ WFA - More helpful. Grazie. Anything ist good to know.


EDIT: Almost anything. -eyes Jobe suspiciously-.

Erm, sorry A.I. - Well one thing that always helped was "Interest" - For example, what really turned me on to Shakespeare (no this is not Miss Telford related) was the language and imagery that it inspired. Now you dont really (when you first start learning it) pick this up from the text, or from listening to your teacher explaining about Iambic Pentameter, it just seems strange and incomprehensible - and you lose interest.

Our Teacher, when we started on Henry V, before we even started reading the text, sat us down and made us watch the Kenneth Brannagh Film version of the play.

Prolouge here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5dI65LvbrE

This is still one of my favourite films and was the start of my love affair with Shakespeare - The text no longer seemed dry and boring but was instead alive with meaning and imagery.

So anything really that engages the interest and imagination of your students, takes them away from just the text and shows them the beauty and power of a peice of work helps imo - Be it organising Theatre Trips, Adaptations (and there are plenty of cool ones, Romeo and Juliet for example, Much Ado, Lawrence Fishburne even starred in Othello!) - Just get them seeing things in a different light and engage there interest - it worked on me!

(Hopefully that is slightly more useful!)

 

[DeletedUser]

Try and make lessons interesting and the like. Don't make them boring tl;dl (too long; didn't listen) lectures and be prepared to join in with the whole 'I LOST THE GAME' thing so you're students are all liek 'guize Miss AI is teh sex she reminds us of the game which reminds me I LOST THE GAME' - if you want, that is.

I'm not exactly sure about good advice, often teachers at our schools are rated as awesome by doing things like making witty jokes, coaching the rugby team etc., and fail teachers when they actually teach and have boring tl;dl lessons.

Make things interesting, and find out your reputation among students.

Then again, my opinions differ widely from other students. Many people hate my Geography teacher, I don't think she's that bad, she does put up with me randomly breaking into laughter for no reason and rofling IRL. Some people like my German teacher, I just find him speaking in German 99% of the time annoying and not like last year's teacher where we got lollies, games which in English would be considered being for 4 year olds and the like ;D

 

[DeletedUser]

@ Lobstah - Hahahah. That plaque rocks. >)

And er, heh. I teach English. For years 8 - 12. Which is like, 12/13 - 17 year olds.


@ Jobe - Grin. Much more useful, thanks.

Cool link. The problem with Shakespeare is really the language barrier, heh. Many of my kids struggle with basic English, let alone centuries-old stuff. So captivating from the moment ya start is important, yah.

 

[DeletedUser]

Lulz Lewder. M'aware lessons need to be interesting. That's the point of this thread!

/flail.

What makes lessons you've had interesting?

 

[Jobetopia]

What books do you have on the curriculum A.I. ?

 

[DeletedUser]

Well, i found the in class stuff was fun instead of being plied with homework all the time.

 

[DeletedUser]

@ Jobe - Basically anything I like, more or less. As long as it's in the resource library. Next term I'm doing Shakespeare with 10s, and can pick from any of the usual ones. Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado, The Taming of, etc etc etc.

Am studying Tomorrow, When The War Began with my 10s at the moment. Last lesson we did a win activity where they had to get into groups and imagine they've just found out we've been invaded, and they have 1 hour and 1 car/ute to pack supplies... and had to decide what they'd take, why, and whether they were essentials, useful items, or luxuries.

Sadly I have to focus on exam prep on Tues/Thurs, but after that, I'm gonna give them maps of the school, and tell them to imagine they're using the school as a base of operations, to 'fight back' from. So they need to decide where they'd set up HQ, what the weaknesses would be, where they might get trapped, etc. Gonna set 'em loose around the school (and pray to God they don't go destructive on me) and get 'em to actively map out certain scenarios and such.

If anyone has any additional ideas for that, feel free to add. >)

 

[DeletedUser]

Lulz Lewder. M'aware lessons need to be interesting. That's the point of this thread!

/flail.

What makes lessons you've had interesting?

Rather, making lessons not boring ;p

- NEVER lecture. Period.
- Be nice, everyone in our class loves our Maths teacher as she puts our Maths questions in Penguins and says if we don't do our homework it will eat us
- Give the option for people to talk during class
- Put posters n the like up around the classroom, not all motivational ones, things like movies, awesome pictures etc.

Also, your lesson plan sounds very interactive, far more interesting than most lessons we have here. Then again, as you've said, your students are not exactly in the Perth equivelent of Ascot or New Farm (very posh, up-market kind of places), so you need to keep them interested.

Be careful though when they go out of the classroom.

Oh and one last thing, when they get their assignment, give them a computer room lesson at least once.

 

[DeletedUser]

With the Shakespeare i would go for A Midsummer Nights Dream, it has the comedy aspect to it and the character names makes kids chuckle. Its not as serious as other Shakespeare pieces, but what you should do is mix it up i mean the art of English which i never understood until later in life is that the grammar and phrasing of words is important.

You need to read, do essays and possibly work towards a small play at the end of the book, also it helps watching the film as a reward. I know its no fun and doing activities along with proper English assignments will make the kids embrace the book more.

Also you could do role play i.e. every pupil takes it in turns to read the lines of certain characters then they imbrace the charcter and not just read words, if you get what i mean.

 

[DeletedUser]

Pft. They make the option of talking during class. Getting 'em to be quiet is the tricky part. >P

@ King - Heh. Have to do essays as part of the curriculum. And yah, we'll come to reading the play out loud 'n such.

I always want to do Macbeth or Hamlet or some such, just so I can play that Rowan Atkinson skit where he acts out the typical Shakespearean elements. :' )


Thunx for ze input.

 

[Soberknight]

AI, The best teacher i ever had was a math teacher.

The reason why he was so good was because he gave those students with less talent personal time in class and those who were very good he gave extra math riddles to solve (so they wouldnt get bored and bother the other students).

- start of his class was always max 15 mins of talk/explanation (never more because students will just loose interest and concentration)
- 2nd: he wrote the new riddles/math problems on the board for those excelent students
- then he had time to help thos who really needed his personal help.

Never seen such a superteacher before or after that year. His students usually graduated a full point average higher than the students from other classes.

If this isnt good advise you could always try to do what Jobes teacher did. It did seem to get his attention!

 

[DeletedUser]

English, never did like it myself, but your lessons sound so much better than any of ours were! >.<

How about a lesson where people talk about the impact of the internet on the uses and spellings in the english language, and how its changed peoples opinions.

 

[DeletedUser]

English, never did like it myself, but your lessons sound so much better than any of ours were! >.<

How about a lesson where people talk about the impact of the internet on the uses and spellings in the english language, and how its changed peoples opinions.

^ this.

I wish my current English teacher taught English like she did Christian Studies, tons of powerpoints and movies, with over 9000 computer lessons and no homework.

Then again, CS is a bludge subject tbh. And English is always boring. >_<

 

[DeletedUser]

Smirk. Powerpoints and movies do not good English studies make.

@ Sober - Grazie. Good advice. Can certainly be adapted for English. >)

 

[DeletedUser]

They do if they contain information And youtube clips are good too, like Conjunction Junction a vid on Youtube which I watched in year 8. It was epic.