Aviv’s Pedagogy World

This year was the first time I had to go to teach in school, and for that, I got the tools from my fantastic and full of ideas lecturer, which helped me succeed in this experience in a good and effective way. I have learned so much, and I’m glad I chose this profession for life!

So come with me to the wonderful world of pedagogy.

Which lectures do you think were particularly helpful?

So one of the lectures that particularly benefited me was how to make a story interesting and engaging to students by asking questions. (pre-reading/while-reading/after-reading). Since I became familiar with this method, I have used it almost every time we read a story in class. Many times students see a story, and it seems long and difficult to them, and the questions create interest, draw students to the story, and make them want to read and know what will happen. In one of the classes, we read a story about the picnic of the King and Queen, we read the story’s title, and I asked the students a pre-reading question: ”what would you like to eat at a picnic?” Everyone wanted to answer and share, and then I asked, ”what do you think the King and Queen would eat at the picnic?” And I wrote the answers on the board. After reading the story, we compared the answers I wrote on the board. Thus, I made the students more concentrated, so they wanted to read and participate, and the lesson became more efficient and fun, and most importantly, it didn’t require any effort!

What did you find useful in relation to your practical training at school?

I learned how to prepare a lesson plan, which is the most useful thing a teacher must do. It created order in my head, and I knew precisely what to do in each part of the lesson, so no mishaps occurred and no time was wasted. In addition, I could define the objectives of my lesson, and I had time to explore different ideas online, in books, or with colleagues, so I could bring my students a meaningful and effective lesson.
Main examples I did in each lesson planning:
I wrote the name of the month in my notebook.
I read the story and answered the questions before (and indeed, there were new words I did not know).

In addition, in one of the lectures at the Etai conference, I learned that I could use a cool and entertaining online timer. In each class, the students would wait for work time to choose the timer (their favorite was a roller coaster timer). This method helped me manage the time of the lesson efficiently and gave students motivation to work and finish everything before time ran out.

Is there anything that was not discussed in the lectures, but you would like to study next year?

So I have to admit that we covered so many things that helped me, and I can not find anything related to teaching a lesson that I’m missing. However, in the context of dealing with problematic students, I would be happy to get tools on how to manage and conduct an appropriate discussion or solution for this situation, this year, we had an accompanying teacher in the lessons who helped us keep order in class, but when I will be alone in front of an entire class, it is going to be a lot harder, and indeed, I saw many students in different classes at the school this year raging, shouting and even throwing objects and interrupting the course of the lesson entirely, and Mali simply ignored them and continued the lesson, but it was very difficult for the students to concentrate, and it is not a practical solution in my eyes, so I would love to learn tools for dealing with such situations.

Is there anything that you would like to learn about in more depth next year?

I would like to know more about how to correct students’ mistakes in tests/assignments. Although we have gone through this, I would like to know more about which methods exist, what the implications of each method are, and how it changes from each grade because without intention, we can make students feel like a failure and be unmotivated, and we as teachers need to know how to give suitable feedback to our students that will make them grow and emphasizes their strength. Besides it, I really feel that we have depth in every subject, and I learned so much; you have shown us lots of examples of everything and lots of different methods and ways to teach.

General Comments

First of all, I want to say that in pedagogy classes and in general classes with you, I and I believe that most of my classmates felt confident and free to share and discuss any topic and not just things related to the lesson. And for that, I thank you! And I will reflect on this and what I have learned from it as a future teacher.
I took inspiration from you on how to treat students, you give students the confidence to express any opinion and say anything without fear of it sounding bad to you, and as a teacher, you always put us at the center of the lesson, you open discussions with us, and encourage us to answer and share what we think, in addition, you do it by fun and creative ways, and the way you react and relate to everything everyone says is with full attention, with patience, and I feel like you really want to hear me, that what I have to say is fascinating and relevant.

In conclusion, what I’m trying to say is that the study material is very important, and you taught me unique and creative methods on how to convey it, but no less important is that the teacher that runs the lesson, he/she should give a safe place to express an opinion, because every student wants to be heard, and I as a teacher want to hear what my students have to say because it will make me a better teacher, and loved by my students (as you are my favorite !!) and this is how you created in me motivation to succeed, and a desire to please you from a place of respect
and appreciation, and this is the key to successful teaching!