3575. Teachers Learning from Teachers, Some Tips for You

Each teacher has his or her own way of teaching, right? Also their own way of planning lessons. I would advise you to plan each lesson, always. Well, a few times one could improvise, and I think every one of us has done that. 

Now I’d like to share my experience about lesson planning, in case it might help someone. 

At present I teach remotely, by utilizing Google Meet. By the way, I live in Spain but one student joined today’s lesson from Germany, for he is there visiting his daughters. That’s one advantage of remote teaching, yet we would like to return to face-to-face classes not for a long time from now. 

Before lesson planning I’d like to re-read a piece from some book on teaching I have in my room, and which ones I’ve read before. Thus I’d continuously learn and refresh from the experts. That means a few minutes and I confirm it makes me improve my lessons. I'd read and shortly meditate on that. It has to do with intuition.

Then I think of a few goals, say, three for example, with my dear students in mind. That student needs that, this one this thing… Or thinking of the class as a whole, and according to their needs now. I teach English, by the way. 

And then I plan the activities we will implement in that class. 

As well I think of some homework so as for them to reinforce something at home, and when we have a few minutes left, I assign them that piece of homework. 

Oh, the very first activity is a warmer so as to plunge my students into the warm pool of English. 

Normally I try and plan activities regarding the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. 

Sometimes I would like to have also a glance to English textbooks, in order to learn activities from them and gain some inspiration. 

Of course during the class I intend everyone would say a lot of things, and sometimes someone or some of them could intervene for longer than a sentence. For example that student in Germany could tell us about the trip to that lovely country. 

Have I mentioned too many things? Possibly, yet what I’ve told you today is a compilation of things I try to carry out along the school year, or even shorter. 

Obviously we teachers can learn from many teachers worldwide, from the Internet.