LSA1 all but a fading memory

I was observed for my LSA1 today, and on the whole, I think that it went quite well.

Each part of the class went smoothly enough, and the time restraints that I'd put onto particular activities, despite being on the strict side, and despite the fact that they could have been extended (and indeed would have been in any normal class which I teach), were fitting and respected. Students seemed to follow everything fine, and produced the target language at the end of the class.

Anyway, I'll look at the lesson here stage-by-stage:

* The warmer went well in getting students talking about technology and thinking about the subject area. I could perhaps have give students less questions though, and encouraged them to delve into their discussions a little more.

* The eliciting of what type of text the report was didn't do so well - could this be because the students don't have as much experience with (particularly English-language format) reports as I imagined? Or because reports are not such common classroom texts as newspaper articles, or diaries?

* The guided discovery seemed to go well and students got their heads down and had a good look at the target structures. Some of my wording could have been better on the handout though - when I referred to connectors, I rather took it for granted that Ss would understand that I was referring to the connectors in the model text. Instead, they started listing all and any other connectors that came into their minds. 

* I was satisfied with the specific focus on comma placement and syntax; I think that the exercises on the guided discovery sheet allowed controlled practice and the chance for students to analyse form in a scaffolded fashion. The work with Cuisenaire rods reinforced this, and was both enjoyable and useful for the students. This was my first time using the rods in class, and I was pleased at how students took to them and used them to manipulate and look at the structures from another point of view. Indeed, when we finished the activity, it was difficult to get some students to give the rods back!

* The final production activity seemed to go well; from what I saw while students were writing, the target language was being used with some accuracy, and the texts were generally of a good length. I was concerned at first when students hesitated before writing, but perhaps this was merely their natural thinking time before they started the task. I could have perhaps generated a bit more interest in the report-writing activity before we leapt into it. I'll be able to see how they used the target forms when I look at their work in more detail tomorrow.

All in all, I feel happy that it went as hoped. There were a few rough corners that could be smoothed out, but I think that I was successful in giving students an interesting task with the right level of cognitive challenge, that the procedure that I chose for the class (both the Cuisenaire rods and guided discovery) was useful and worth exploring further, and that it ended with fruitful production of the target language.