It's the end of another productive and fast-paced week at the university. The interesting thing is that for the past few evenings when I've gotten home, I haven't had to prep for lessons or do any grading -- have been able to prepare everything while I'm in my office before leaving for home. I've finally been able to find a good pace in which to cover material with my students. Suffice it to say, they are just taking longer than I anticipate. When my Arabic teacher asked us to write three sentences (it took me about 10 min to do so) in class the other night, I realized just how hard it is for beginners to churn out paragraphs the way that I imagine them to. Even with the pre-writing, the students try to be really careful when they write. What I think should take 10 minutes, takes 20 or more.
In any case, their midterm is approaching, which means they are completely and utterly nerked up about how many questions there are, what the format is, etc. I've tried to calm them down by explaining that they have nothing to worry about, but they still worry. It's at times like these where in which I wish grades were irrelevant in education. Assessing competencies -- should it be simply pass/fail?
Despite feelings of test anxiety, I find my beginner students to be very sweet. They are more than willing to erase the board for me, carry my bags up flights of stairs, write on the whiteboard, volunteer to use the SmartBoard, stand on chairs to switch on the overhead projector, etc. Two days ago, the mouse for the computer in my one classroom was missing. This made it probelmatic to access the files I needed for class. Thankfully, it's a SmartBoard classroom, so I was able to use the screen to navigate the computer. Thank you, advanced technology. Yesterday, I was dreading the same experience, but low and behold, there was a new mouse in it's place from IT. What was very touching for me was the fact that two students personally brought in a portable mouse just in case there wouldn't be a mouse. I feel very fortunate to have this group of girls. How considerate! They are a strong group and are easy to engage. I hope their enthusiasm continues throughout the semester.
1 comment:
Wow, I wish students here were so great! Aren't smartboards AMAZING!!! I had one in the class where I did my methods and I loved it for teaching. I would make all my lessons in .ppt, then upload them to the smartboard (although I always had to fix the formatting), but the great thing was that then I had a record of what we did in the class because it saved everything, so if someone is absent, you can just print it off for them! I love it!
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