Sequel to the Set Induction

Pre-Reading.

I made up my mind to teach one of the themes of the play I chose. Mr. Harold mentioned that he wanted to see variety in our micro teaching. I figured that most of my coursemates will be doing on characters (and my prediction was right), so I chose to do on the theme instead.

For my pre-reading activity, I selected two extracts from the play The Ring by Vincent Jeremiah Edwin. Extract A is about Raj who cuts his arm with a razor to feed Leila and Extract B is the part where Raj’s mother approached him about his condition and expresses her intentions to take him to the doctor. I chose these two extracts because I wanted to show the students about Raj’s inability to differentiate between illusion and reality which is the theme that I chose to teach.

For the activity, I distributed printed handouts of the extracts to the students and briefed them on what they are supposed to do. I assigned them to highlight the characters in the extracts and then underline words, phrases or sentences of the things that they do. The purpose of this activity is to guide students to identify the theme through the portrayal of the characters in their speech or actions. Before I ended the pre-reading stage, I discussed the answers with the students to ensure that they are on the right track and that they understood what I was teaching.

I believe that the length of the extracts that I chose were appropriate and not too lengthy. The task was within the students’ ability because they could attempt the task without problems. My instructions were loud and clear and I chose to use simple language to instruct. The task which I assigned the students was also student-centered and I checked if they understood what was being taught by asking them questions.

While Reading.

For my while reading activity, I designed several questions for students to attempt. These questions were then printed as worksheets which were distributed to the students. The questions that I designed were based on the extracts and activity carried out earlier during the pre-reading stage. I designed my questions in a manner that will lead students towards the identifying the theme that I wanted to teach.

I believe that the questions that I designed were appropriate and within the students’ ability. The task which I assigned the students was also related to the pre-reading stage earlier. I believe that the task was well-connected since I sequenced the questions in a manner that would direct students towards the theme that I wanted to teach. The task was also student-centered.

In my opinion, both my pre-reading and while reading activities were different from what I was taught in school. Back then, my teacher would get us students to read the selected literary text without assigning us any tasks. Instead, she would spoon-feed us with the important elements related to the text. All we had to do was read the text aloud and then answer the comprehension questions that came along with it. Mine required the students to identify a few elements in the extracts that I have chosen on their own. Then, they were required to answer the comprehension questions which were connected to the previous activity I assigned them.

I found my strength to be my loud and clear voice projection as well as my clear and straightforward instructions. I noticed this when I asked the students seated behind the class if they could hear me and their answered in the positive. I also noticed this through my peers’ feedback and evaluation.

As for my weakness, I remained static throughout the entire activity. The layout of the lecture hall refrained me from walking around to facilitate students. Therefore, I lacked physical interaction with my students. In order to overcome this problem, I used interactive language by asking students questions and also their feedback.

If I were to deliver my lesson again, I will definitely choose to do it differently. For instance, I would include other teaching materials such as manila cards or word cards for students to use to present their answers. I believe that students will find the lesson more fun and interesting if they get to do hands-on activity.

In a nutshell, my pre-reading and while reading stage for my micro teaching went on smoothly though there were instances where I could improve on in the future. However, I wished that the lecturer or tutor would suggest or introduce other types of activities for pre-reading so that there would be variety instead of the usual use of extracts.