Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Video Critique Task


For the first video, it is amazing to see such kind of a class. Teacher  teaches them math as if she teaches them a song! They are singing, they are moving, they are talking and no problem occurs while all of these are happening. At the beginning of lesson, teacher reminds the students rules and they talk to their partners and say each and every rule one by one. Besides,  she chooses a student : Julia. And I can see that she is really happy to be a student leader and practice class rules with her peers.  They know what to do and how to behave.  They are active, energetic and self-confident. I was thinking how this could happen in a classroom. They are little, young learners. Before I watched the video, I would think it is almost impossible to manage young learners without setting up harsh rules in classroom. I can see here how effective a teacher can be. She is walking with them, she is doing the same movements with them, she is repeating numbers with them. I mean she is REALLY with them. I am impressed and love that video! Students are always working with their partner and when teacher says to students “ Partner check”, they hold their partner hand and I think it gives them a good feeling and affect them positively. They feel secure. While I was watching the video, I realised that one couple is not doing what teacher says  and she immediately realises that, and takes action, moves to them and touches upon his shoulder and prompts him. Therefore, we can say that she is trying to engage each and every student to activities without forgetting anybody or focusing on only particular stretch  of classroom.
For the second video, the class is extremely crowded. I heard there are fifty students. I always thought that our English classes ,here, in Turkey are too crowded, but now my opinion has changed. Now, it seems that we are partially in better conditions than in China. Desks are too close. Some students are reading a text and I can not really catch each word because they are not reading it loudly enough maybe they lack self-confident,  or maybe it is the normal way that they speak in class. Teacher says somathing and students has to do it although they may not want to be a volunteer for it. This is the case in Turkey, as well.  In addition to all these, what really catches my attention is that students are said to work with a partner, which is expected to consist of  two people, but they are three! And the one who is sitting at the edge cannot engage in discussion, which is something very disturbing for me. Teacher does not do anything about it, and those students can not hear their friends’ talking, so they are sitting on the slideliness. Therefore, when we compare two classes, of course the first one wins!

9 comments:

  1. I really like your interpretation about the first video especially the point that she is really with them. I also thought the same thing while watching the video. Teacher is like a student but with a difference that she gives the oreders. She is like a group leader.

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Gamze. You said that she is like a group leader. So, this is what we expect from a teacher, right? As claimed in communicative approach, teacher is a facilitator and co-operator in classroom. Basically, she is applying communicative approach in her class :)

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    2. Actually, I watched some videos like that for my classroom management course presentation and that is called "whole brain teaching" and it is applicable to all grades and all subject areas but I think with the help of school policy. I was amazed like you and I hope one day I will have such classes. I think it is useful for students' engagement and for regular application of rules.

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  2. You seem to have summarized what is going on in the videos Seher:) ..and upon your comparison with the situation in Turkey, I'd like to add something related-maybe:) I couldn't help myself but think that in most of our classes, we were not that active, either just like the one in China. So, I'm thinking that maybe it is something cultural though I don't know almost anything about Chinese culture, but it could be because of the way they have been raised; thay could be accustomed to being passive and listened to lectures just like many of us! But of course that doesn't mean that it cannot be changed because if it was, we would be studying for years in this department in vain;)

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    1. Demet, I see that you took the challenge, and decideded to confront it. I wish the same for all of us :)

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  3. I also agree with your comments. Especially this one: She is REALLY with them! I really like that sentence. She acts like a student at that age, and she gets excited when the kids get excited. That is not an easy thing to do for a grown-up. Yet I still think the class was too controlled. I mean the kids only said a few sentences that were actually their own production. They just kept repeating and repeating. Maybe she should find the balance at some point.

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  4. She is really trying to engage everybody in the lesson and she is achieving it. As we have not experienced such a lesson in the first grade, it seems a bit odd to us but I think this is the way it should be:)

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  5. Seher I agree with you about 'the third student of a pair'. It is a logical fallacy at first sight. She could say that the third student could make a pair with the third student of the the desk behind them.


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  6. i didn't notice that the teacher touched the partners who did not do as the teacher says in the first video. And i didn't notice the student in the edge without a partner in the second video. you are such a careful watcher, Seher!

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