During my observations, prior to the three-week teaching block, two things stood out. First, was the role of the teacher as the source of all knowledge and second, the limited discussions and contributions by the students.
Personally, this is not an approach I am comfortable with. With Literature as the subject, all the more, I felt that engaging the students in discussion or debate would make the lesson interesting and broaden learning opportunities. I also believe that through these discussions the critical thinking skills in students would be further developed as they analyse literature and present their interpretations to one another.
As I prepared my lesson plans, discussions became standard features. I was apprehensive as to the general response of the class due to the fact that I was new to them and that upon consulting my Mentor, I was duly informed that a large portion of the class will not contribute due to shyness.
Recognising the hurdles I would have to overcome, I prepared myself and the class by doing two things: getting to know all their names, and grabbing whatever opportunities during my observations to sit with the “quieter” students. One of my main aims was to develop rapport with the students. I took interest in their views on the subject and encouraged them. During the short conversations, I also discovered why they would not share their thoughts in class. Much can be learnt if teachers would take the time to ask and listen. At that point, I became a student of students. I sought to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to set realistic expectations and hence, adopt appropriate teaching strategies.
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