miRcOtEaching: OVer at lAst!! :D whEeee..!!

What do u intend the students to learn?
From my lesson (C:\Documents and Settings\Annabelle\Desktop\tourism\tourism powerpt_files\frame.htm), which was an introduction to "Tourism", I wanted my students to understand what tourism is, why and how it develops, using Singapore as an case study.

How did u transform the big ideas?
I started off with a brief flowchart to link the previous lessons together under the big idea that: " Industrial sectors develop to meet rising demands in an economy". Thereafter, I wanted to bring tourism under this big concept, thus giving it the enduring understanding (EU) that: "Tourism development is dependent on the industry’s ability to meet the increasing demands".
However, I realize it wasn't easy to come up with an overarching statement for a single lesson on it's own. After my lesson and the feedback that I received from my classmates, I realized I didn't emphasize or relate to the EU throughout the lesson until the conclusion part, hence, making it less effective. Perhaps the EU wasn't clear or direct enough, or my lesson wasn't planned properly towards it. Nevertheless, the process of planning for an EU was quite enjoyable and thought-provoking. Moreover, from the observation of others' lessons, I also learnt how they tied ideas together under interesting, big ideas and it helps to overcome the inertia of planning or using it in my own lesson.

How did the events of the lesson unfold?
Quite quickly because the entire lesson was rather rushed due to the lack of time. Nevertheless, I managed to carry out the group activities and the spiral questioning parts towards the end of the lesson.

How did you make sense of lesson delivery?
My aim was to make the lesson as simple as possible to understand and identify with; and yet informative and engaging for all. According to the comments by my peers, the presentation and lesson was engaging and fun, however, the overarching understanding as mentioned previous, can be further worked on and improved.

What did you learn from the experience?
I learnt that resources and careful planning is essential for the lesson to go smoothly, especially when I, personally, lack experience and exposure in this aspect. Moreover, proper time management is also very important, especially in the managing of group activities and teaching time.
The belief that we are to "teach as we were taught" can no longer apply in today's school context, because we are heading towards student-centered learning, which is quite different from how we were taught in the past. Moreover the new generation of students out there are quite different as compared to the past (our generation), thus, it is going to be a great challenge ahead of us when we enter into the schools in 6 months time. :)

Does the experience teach others?
I certainly do hope so! I managed to share some exciting ideas that I employed in the past and I believe that the enthusiasum of the teacher is essential in engaging the class during lesson and I do hope i managed to bring that out at the microlesson. =)

What does it teach you about student learning?
It taught me that students can actually be very creative and knowledgable, thus, sometimes we do not need to keep providing them with answers that we want. We can become facilitators in their learning and we guide them towards their own understanding of the issues in geography. :) hoorayy!!! Does that mean less work for us? =P not really.. in fact I think more effort has to put into planning for learning.. oh well.. shucks? hahaa.. kidding! ;)