Formal Ob 1 - English Language (Informal Writing), Sec 1 Express

Context:

Double period lesson. In the previous lesson, students have learnt PACC (Purpose, Audience, Context, Culture) and went through idea generation through the use of mind-maps. For this lesson observation, I would provide feedback to some of the students' mind-maps and deconstruct the format and text features of an informal letter with them. Following which, the students would have to write an informal letter which will be counted as part of their CA.

 

1.      What happened?

What went wrong?

• Some students did not complete their weekend homework task (about 6-7 of them). As a result, I had to spend the initial 5-10 minutes scolding them and asking them to tell me what they have learnt in my previous lesson. The students required prompting before they could tell me what PACC was.
• Instead of having two groups to present their mind-maps, there was only time for 1 group to present.
• I experienced some difficulties with the visualizer. Basically, I wasn't able to zoom properly and some students behind were not able to see the words written on the mind-map.
• While deconstructing the informal letter, some students were giving nonsensical and irrelevant comments. For example, Yu Ting was asking whether he could use a North Pole address. Also, when I mentioned "body" in the context of writing, some students were not serious and started referring to it in the physical body sense.
• When referring to "date of letter", I forgot to emphasize the need of writing it in the right format. Thankfully, Mdm Nadiah (my CT) pointed it out and I managed to highlight it to the students.
• There was a slight confusion in the word count as I did not specify if the address and salutation counts towards the total number of words.

What went well?

• Eusuf's group managed to come up with several reasons explaining his suggestions for the places of interest. However, their group did not categorize it correctly under "what" and "why". Some of the reasons were categorized under "what" instead of "why".
• Generally, most students were able to point out several phrases in the model informal letter that suggest the use of an informal tone.
• Students, in particular Nazrul, were able to explain what "contractions" mean and almost all students are able to highlight and identify the use of contractions in the model informal letter.
• Students were able to tell me that contractions are normally used in informal letters and not formal letters.
• When asked to describe informal tone, students are able to throw out words such as "personal", "friendly" etc.

2.      Why?

• Instructions were not given and a firm tone should have been set to stop students from giving irrelevant remarks.
• I did not test the zoom-in function of the visualizer beforehand.
• There were certain details in the deconstruction phase where I should have paid more attention, such as the format of writing the date of letter and the spacing in between the address, date and salutation.
• I should have clarified / checked with my main CT on the word count.

3.      So What?

• I need to ensure that all students are able to see what is being projected on the screen / written on the whiteboard so that no students would be at a learning disadvantage.
• Information / Instructions need to be clear and specific to avoid confusion amongst the students.

4.      Now What?

• For future lessons, I would need to test the visualizer beforehand to avoid losing valuable teaching time.
• The class rules and expectations need to be stated clearly. Tell students that their responses / remarks should be relevant to the lesson.
• I will pay more attention to the small details (e.g. format for writing date of letter etc) for future lessons on informal letter writing.