Lesson Plans | Lessons I’ve learned

Here are some lessons I learned by the halfway point in my time here:

• Sometimes (usually) lessons will not go the way they were planned. Even when I carefully pick the exact wording I’m going to use to make everything as clear as possible. And it’s better to roll with that and adjust the lesson on the spot instead of trying to force a lesson that just isn’t working out.
• Classes are often pretty similar in their responses and problems. One of the cool things about teaching a lesson over and over again is seeing how different classes react; even though some students will have weird or hilarious responses, many times students have similar answers and stumbling blocks across different classes. This gives me the opportunity to make a lesson better and better as a day goes on.
• Focus more on what the students need, not just about what I want to share. I started out wanting to strictly focus on lessons with an environmental theme, but realizing that I also didn’t want to deny my students the chance to learn more about American culture. Particularly around the introduction time, I tried to find out what they like (hobbies, movies, music, etc.) but also found that tiny details about the United States (like the color of school buses and taxis) can be cool to share as well.