"Patience is a virtue."

I overall thought that my second microteaching went better than the first one. That being said, after watching my video, I had much to reflect on.

First off, during microteaching, I found it very hard to imagine and treat my native-speaker classmates as my students. This past Saturday, I caught myself briefly thinking about how bored my classmates might have been when I had asked them to figure out whether the critic had liked the movie or not and worse when I made them nominate and further ask each other the same question. In addition, somehow, I seem to feel as if I am racing against myself to get to the better parts of my lesson plan. For instance, last Saturday, I had hoped to have the opportunity to go through my first worksheet at the least, which was supposed to be a matching activity they would have worked on in pairs.  

On the bright side, I thought that I managed to use simpler, more authentic language compared to before. In addition, I found myself making better use of CIs (TSST, pair work, comprehension check, etc.) and MICs (WB, repetition, giving examples, etc.). I did comprehension checks before they started performing a task twice. However, although I had planned to ask one classmate (“student”) to report back what he was supposed to be doing, after I had provided directions, as comprehension check at the very beginning, I completely forgot about it in the heat of the moment. This was when they had all come to a conclusion that this particular critic hadn’t liked the movie and they were supposed to find proof from the text to support this conclusion.

After watching the video, I thought that I had spent too much time looking at my papers trying to organize my thoughts (especially after the fact that I had forgotten to do a comprehension check). This could have been contributed by several factors. Three of these factors stand out in my mind. Firstly, we are being graded for our microteachings and this creates some pressure. Moreover, this second time around, I was really trying to make sure that all would go down as I had planned it would in my head. Hence, I had put in too much conscious effort rehearsing for it beforehand and during microteaching. Yet another factor, I believe, was that I did not want to disappoint Tom and this was a chance to show him the “new and improved me” live… Instead of spending that much time looking at my papers, I would have loved to see myself instead engaging more with the class while they were looking for proof and feeling words in the text. Luckily, there will be a next time.

Clearly, it would be ideal if Tom or someone Tom appointed observed us with our students in our classrooms. However, this would be very hard to achieve not only due to time constraints with regards to class syllabus and how much time Tom or this appointed individual would need to put into this to make it possible but also due to the fact that many schools and hagwons perhaps would not allow an outside professional to be a guest in their classrooms as a result of own school policies, possible effects this could have on students’ learning and classroom interactions, etc. There are surely some limitations with the microteachings we do in the class. However, in my opinion, potential benefits outweigh these limitations. Once I reach that level of comfort and the ability to “look and be” beyond in front of my hardest critics, perhaps there will be nothing I will not be able to do.

I wish that I could make all bad habits go away and good habits “poof” and acquired. However, in real life, this is not how things work. When I used to work as a clinical dietitian in the hospitals as recent as three years ago, I counseled many outpatients for weight loss. I used to tell them to be patient, set small, realistic goals and that like everything else weight loss would also take time and effort on their end. Now, I can really put myself in their shoes. This is how I feel with regards to my teaching. I am sometimes unrealistic just like them and I wish to see results very quickly. I guess it is time to realize that this will be a never-ending journey of professional development, fueled mainly from within, paved with many obstacles, hiccups, sacrifices, and certainly BIG rewards…

Overall, I have to say that certainly I have much to improve. However, I should (and we all need to) give myself credit that I have come a long way since March 1^st. It is a privilege to be a part of this class with such a great group of classmates who help to bring the best out of me.  I find myself recently asking myself this question: “What if I had never taken this course?” I believe that the fact that I am able to look at myself reflectively and know to an extent what needs to be done is an improvement in itself. Fighting!!