Open Class

Today I had my open classes. In Korea, all teachers have to "open" their classes for parents or other teachers to come and observe. They also give some feedback at the end of class.

My 2nd and 4th grade classes were picked to be observed.
My co-teacher and I have prepared for this for the last week or so. She was a bit more nervous than me; I guess mainly because she doesn't have a lot of experience speaking in front of class, especially in English. She did great today!!

So my 2nd grade class was supposed to start at 2pm like the usual time but the parents and the students all came at around 1pm. My mentor teacher told me that there was a mistake and we will began at 1:10pm instead. I was like...um ok, that's ok because the earlier we do this, the earlier we finish. There were two mothers in the back along with my mentor teacher. At first I was nervous but honestly, I was glad that my principal or vice principal weren't there.

The class went pretty well; except when we needed the powerpoint, the computer froze. My co-teacher was panicking a bit but I just improvised and wrote the words on the board instead. I can never fully trust technology. Everything worked out the way we planned it. My mentor teacher was satisfied and happy. She said we did a really good job. 2nd grade is her homeroom class (She is their main teacher) My 2nd grade class was a little rowdy but it's because we were playing games... At least they weren't bored out of their minds.

My 4th grade also began earlier than planned. There were 3 mothers. This time, there were also more students than usual. The boys usually only come to my morning class but today they were there too. That was another unexpected thing. We did everything as planned but for one of the activity, one of the boys refused to go up to the board when it was his turn; even my mentor teacher told him to go up but he didn't want to. Well I just played it off and say it's my co-teacher's turn to compete so the mood got lighter. My mentor teacher was again happy with our lesson for 4th grade. Honestly, I only cared what she thought because she has years of teaching experience. Most of the parents (maybe all) did not even understand what I was saying. My mentor teacher will take my co-teacher and I out for dinner next Friday as a treat!! :)

The parents mentioned at the end that the girls were all really good but the boys weren't paying attention much (typical?).

Overall I am happy that everything went well and that my co-teacher is relieved now.

Thank you God for taking care of everything!