Wednesday

I was really nervous about teaching iambic pentameter, and thus as a result I planned really thoroughly for it. I made sure I had a variety of activities planned in case:
a) the students wouldn’t get it
b) I would get confused trying to explain
c) the students would hate it.

We spent some time as a class and in pairs practising reading the fragmented parts, where characters get distracted or interrupted etc. I had students find similar examples in the text and then we went on to IP. Explained it briefly and then put up an overhead for them to copy which took longer than expected. Then we found some examples and most of the students seemed to get a grasp of what we were doing which was good. I emphasised that this was an introduction and that they didn’t need to feel they understood it completely as it is quite an advanced topic for year nine.

Mid way through the lesson, when I was trying to explain why they used so many puns in Elizabethan times, and show the difference between visual and verbal literacy I became enthusiastic about my subject matter and finally felt like I was injecting some passion into my lesson. It was good to remember what teaching feels like, as opposed to following a script.

In period 7 I had year seven again; a casual teacher was observing me and this meant that I was left to cope with classroom management by myself, without an authoritative figure sitting in the back of the classroom. It’s amazing how much difference that makes even when they don’t say anything.

I learnt the hard way that classroom management is largely to do with having lessons well planned and getting students working as soon as they come into the room, not getting sidetracked and hijacked, especially late in the afternoon. We only got through the stuff to be finished from the last lesson, not new work. I think I was blasé about year seven after having got my double Shakespeare out of the way.

At least tomorrow is a new day and we can all start afresh.