Informal conversations
This is actually my favorite part of teaching. I love those incidental conversations that tend to happen before I formally start teaching or when there are a couple of minutes of the end. So much info is shared during these unplanned conversations. I not only learn to connect with the kids as humans, but they get to learn something about me as well, sort of leveling the human playing filed. I get intensely interested when there are holiday being celebrated that I am less familiar with. I have learned much first hand information about Ramadan and Kwanza that I would have only been able to get from Wikipedia otherwise.
I also can use these conversations to have the kids reflect on my teaching. A simple "how'd I do explaining" can really help guide my instruction for the next day, by learning where I may not have been as clear as I had thought.
This is actually my favorite part of teaching. I love those incidental conversations that tend to happen before I formally start teaching or when there are a couple of minutes of the end. So much info is shared during these unplanned conversations. I not only learn to connect with the kids as humans, but they get to learn something about me as well, sort of leveling the human playing filed. I get intensely interested when there are holiday being celebrated that I am less familiar with. I have learned much first hand information about Ramadan and Kwanza that I would have only been able to get from Wikipedia otherwise.
I also can use these conversations to have the kids reflect on my teaching. A simple "how'd I do explaining" can really help guide my instruction for the next day, by learning where I may not have been as clear as I had thought.