My confidence was boosted by my first lesson that went well because my students were much better than I had prepared. Prior to my lesson I decided on a new goal for teaching this course: "Try something new every lesson." I think I will stick with this goal, but probably not a drastic as I was for this second lesson.
The topic for my second lesson was on friendships and forgiveness. I decided on having them draw pictures on that topic and then discuss as a class. I had them sit in a circle around a few folding tables. I just wanted to do something very different from the week before.
Instead of having 5 students, I had about 13 and the abilities were very different. This week the majority of my students were definitely "beginning" students and I wasn't prepared to modify the task to fit lower ability students. My launch of the task was horrible. They all looked at me confused. One student commented that friendship and forgiveness are very abstract, so it is hard to draw a picture of them. I agreed with them. So I changed the task to draw a picture of one of their friends. We then went around the circle and talked about their friends. They were pretty embarrassed at their art abilities. The drawing task ended up being a hindrance instead of aid.
At the end of each student's explanation of their friend, I summarized and had the class repeat. I don't like repeat activities because I want to push them more to creating their own sentences. But I also want them to talk more than listen.
I'll be less abstract and be more prepared to adapt my lessons for lower ability students.
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