I'm one of those teachers who are just never disciplined enough to write detailed lessons plans before entering classes.
In fact, I work best under spontaneity.
Probably my weakness which coincidentally could also be my strength, I am often unprepared, but with an idea or available resources, I could somehow whip up something... Which is the case of this lesson of mine 2 days ago~~
It was once again a double period with my notorious 2A4. Since it was the first lesson with them after a two and a half week break, I was kinda unsure of what to expect. Wasn't exactly a good thing that the class was right after our school assembly, meaning I had no time to make a run for my desk to grab some worksheets or whatnot... Oh well, I had literally no one to blame except for myself since we actually had a rather comfortable break (which I as a *self-acclaimed* passionate educator should have used wisely to plan my activities in advance)....
I sat on the chair, throughout the assembly, trying to think of something to do with them. But no, my brain decided to go dead on me, possibly still hibernating... oh yeah, I haven't had my caffeine fix which is the most crucial part of my day....
Soon enough, assembly was over, students dismissed and I entered the class, still clueless and a lil worried lol..
At least it was a relief that only 19 was present out of the usual 30, with most of the troublemakers not back at school yet... Not the best inner thought to have but I was thankful for their absence, because I had no confidence that I could handle all the craziness at such an early start of the new semester...
After the salam and doa, I found myself just picking up my marker pen and wrote the word 'HOLIDAY' on the board, asked them what does is stand for, proceeded to explain the difference between 'HOLIDAY' and 'VACATION', and got them to share with me what have they done during the holidays or whether they went for vacation.
After all the noisy and rowdy 'sharing', I shared about my trip to New Zealand, which somehow led to questions on how long was my flight and which airline did I take....
Next thing I know, I got all of them to fold paper planes...
Yup,
Paper planes.
Since they were rather weak not only academically but also in simple motor skills, some actually had difficulty folding the most basic and simple planes... I had to teach them how to fold a plane step by step. @_@
There were a couple of them who actually came out with more complicated designs and looked pretty damn proud lol.
Once I made sure everyone has a plane, I taught them to label parts of a plane.
'WINGS' - Both wings were labeled
'TAIL' - They cut the end of the plane, folded it upwards to create the tail
'ENGINES' - They had to draw the engines below the wings
'WHEELS' - Obviously they had to draw the wheels.
'COCKPIT' - Drawn on as well
After that, I quizzed them to make sure they remember the parts before moving on to teach them two verbs - 'TAKE OFF' and 'LAND'...
With their planes in their hands, they have to act it out when I shouted 'TAKE OFF' or 'LAND', much to their amusement.
I was even more amused by how excited they were. A glimpse of innocence could be seen underneath all the rebelliousness, the 'bajet pandai', the annoying antics, the rude comments, the stupid and uncouth jokes and the laziness....
Unfortunately, activities as such would not be quiet and peaceful or even orderly. Some of them started 'flying' their planes or even grabbing others'.... But thankfully, when I managed to obtain order again, I tested them and they could still remember those words that I taught earlier... Learning objectives achieved!
Tiring it was, but who would have known that simple resources such as unwanted papers could bring laughter and learning into the classroom ;)
