It has been already two weeks since I started mentoring one of the novice teachers the school hired as “assistants”. At the moment in time, frankly speaking, there is not much assisting going on.

The programme is so that they will only be taking part in lessons from November and teaching full lessons in January (approximately). For now, my wonderful mentee is just observing my lessons and attending input sessions with an actual CELTA trainer. If, after reading the last part, you thought that the girls are extremely lucky, well, I have to agree with you here. Especially given the fact that there are only 3 of them, and they get paid (GASP!).

I must say that I am quite fortunate as well as I have learned (or was reminded of) several valuable things in the last weeks. One is that failures are subjective. I think that the lesson is a failure as I am very strict to myself. But the mentee notes the flexibility as I change the outline on the go, and is pretty impressed (though it doesn’t really take much to impress them).

The other is that being responsible for the possible future employee is not an easy burden to carry. If my mentee decides to stay at my school and is accepted, some things that she might do in the future will reflect on me. And our brains are wired in a way that we remember negative things better. Well, I have made my bed and shall lie in it. Fingers crossed, it’ll all turn out great. #work
#interns
#mentorship

One last thing I’d like to share today is an analogy that came to my mind. I was speaking with one of the mentees and told her that one of their responsibilities while observing classes is to pick up bits and pieces that will make-up their “teacher”, like the crazy but brilliant doctor from the iconic book by Mary Shelley did. Recalling my early teaching days and even contemplating the current period of my teaching career, I am still playing Victor Frankenstein and creating my “monster” teacher out of the parts I am still collecting and will probably never stop. The fingers fall off and need replacing, the leg doesn’t work quite well for the context and so on.

All our teaching careers are littered with our parts and the process, unlike the one in the book, is never complete. It’s absolutely fine to discard something that doesn’t work even if you love it dearly. I hope that the “monster” my assistant creates will be a functional one. And she’ll never be scared of improving some parts of herself to create a better version. However, some pieces should be put to storage as there might still be the right time for them. #work
#interns
#mentorship

Going to the 2023 Trendy conference I honestly wasn't expecting much. Frankly speaking, my expectations were spot on, bar a couple notable presentations.

The first was Kate Redkina with her talk about our perception of students. That we tend to pay more attention to the "good" students, give them more feedback, praise them more. Looking back I can say that I was guilty of that as well, but for a short while and not anymore. I am fortunate to work in an environment that makes it obvious that a "bad" English student can be amazing at a plethora of other subjects. And I've always been an advocate of underdogs having been one myself all of my school career, though it was not academically but rather communication-wise.

The second was by Elena Sarnavskaya who gave precise and very specific instructions on how to use Chat GPT. Very useful for some teachers, but given the size and detail of the prompt you need to write, it seems easier to me to write the text yourself.

There was one more hands-on presentation - one about various AI tools conducted by Evheniy Usachev.

I also got a chance to meet some old acquaintances and catch up with them. As well as devirtualize with some amazing people.

However, there is always a fly in the ointment. There was a section on failure we experience as teachers. It's my personal opinion but most of them were actually failures, not just talks about them. Maria's (manka_English) talk about pre-schoolers was really poignant and thought-provoking. Other than this one, though...

Some insights:
1) when someone prattles on about smth you find dull, it's tough to be attentive (a reminder to activate schemata and of the importance of lead-in activities in general).

2) Teachers in Russia want someone to tell them it's ok not to take Cambridge exams (I agree here, a teacher doesn't have to have a CAE or CPE certificate, but in my opinion, C1 is a must to teach pre-schoolers and teens and adults of levels from B1+).

3) My colleagues are amazing! Every time I venture out of my safe bubble at school, I reaffirm myself in this understanding.

4) Every year most conferences are dedicated to the current trends and it's understandable. 2022 it was Critical Thinking, 2022 - EQ, this year it's AI. However, there are less and less little general/advanced methodology talks. And some people, myself included, desperately need them. #methodology
#work
#conference
#CPD
#random_musings

I have set myself a little challenge to keep up my spirits and motivation. It's very simple - I am going to take photos of some stuff that I like, and then post a collage. It doesn't have to be anything big, for intance, I was happy upon noticing that my jacket matched my watch (accidentally, mind you). You are welcome to share some of yours. Maybe we could help each other find enjoyment in simple things? 💜🩵🩷 #burnout_resistance
#life
#random_musings
#motivation

🗣️ FEEDBACK 🗣️

Having discussed our good sides and areas for improvement, we decided to stick to feedback. To be specific, we are going to try to improve our Meaningful Feedback giving skills.

Why not just feedback? ‘Cause we are going to try to make the kind of feedback that will help the students improve. Which is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you teach groups.

That’s why, I am going to go through the following steps:

🌑 refresh my knowledge of different ways and reasons to provide feedback;

🌒 dig up some new ones;

🌓 use them with my students;

🌕 try to work out why some work and some don’t and for what reasons.

So I shall start reading up on feedback and sharing what I find here. Stay tuned! #methodology
#feedback
#work_at_school
#work
#CPD

I am procrastinating and fully aware of that. But do I care? Nah 🤪 #burnout_resistance
#life
#random_musings
#funsies

Feedback. What’s in the word?

The term was coined in 1920s, it began as an open compound noun and was used in the technological sphere.

When a cable grounds, the current at its end reverses; that is, flows into the cable (”feeding back”) instead of coming out of it. — Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Journal of the Franklin Institute, Jul. 1915 (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).

Feedback as we use it now i.e. "information about the results of a process" started being used in 1955.
It’s relatively new, and in the English language teaching methodology the meaning of this word is further expanded. What’s your take on the meaning of this word? #methodology
#feedback

Here are some possible definitions.
1. Feedback is a way to show how well the student's work aligns with the assignment, highlighting areas of achievement and improvement.


2. Feedback prompts students to think more deeply about their work, encouraging further clarification and challenging students to delve deeper into specific ideas.


3. Feedback offers advice and suggestions to students while their work is still in progress, providing guidance for improvement.


4. Feedback combines elements of prompting deeper thinking with offering suggestions for improvement, correcting current mistakes and providing suggestions for better language use. #methodology
#feedback

This is what happens when your employer asks you to complete a table with all your certificates (but this is not all of them). This is also the moment when you kinda regret doing all that, as it just means more work 😅
#work #work_at_school

#funsies #life #books #Russian