Week 1

Hot Notes
1) Student Seating

This was combined with item number 4 which had students do a group reflection. I
told students as they were walking into the class (I teach in the audio visual room at this
school) that they could sit anywhere they wanted/wherever they felt more comfortable.
Wanted to also do the group reflection, I asked they make groups of five. Having everyone
choose their own seat did not take long as they were quick to form groups and sit wherever
they wanted in the class. Interestingly, most of the girls sat at the front while all the boys
chose the back. Out of all the students, only one seemed to not enjoy picking their seat as
there was one boy who arrived later and sat with a group of four girls. I asked him if that
seat was ok and wanted to join another group and he replied he was fine. However, he was
not motivated or talkative for the rest of class. Everyone else seemed fine as the atmosphere
was good and students were very talkative during the lesson.

4) Group Reflections

This was done with one first-year class at a high level school. At the beginning of the
class, students sat in groups of five and a question asking them about what they learned
during their previous class with me as well as what they thought was easy or difficult about it
was projected on the board. I read the questions aloud and gave a few examples. Sensing
they probably couldnt discuss this in English, I told them both Japanese and English was ok
because just the discussion was important. The two JTEs in the class walked around and
were helping me understand what students were talking about. I was told that some students
were discussing what they learned in the period before mine. Others I was told were just
chatting. I reiterated to the students that they were to talk only about my class and showed
an image of the worksheet they did before. Walking around, I questioned students and asked
if they found anything easy or difficult but most of them replied the activity was so-so.
Overall, I dont feel this worked well because in my context homerooms wait several weeks to
a month before they see me again making remembering anything I teach them difficult. I was
hoping they kept their papers and practiced; yet only one student pulled their old worksheet
out. The language barrier was also challenging as I could not tell what many were saying
and without them being able to use Japanese, they more than likely wouldnt have been able
to do this activity at all.

6) Using Goals

I did this activity with two first-year classes at a higher level school. Students were
given a small goal handout before class started. During the lesson, students stopped and
wrote a goal corresponding to a particular task on their worksheet such as how many
sentences they wanted to write or how many classmates they wanted to share your sentences
with. They were told how much time they would have and were given 30 seconds to discuss
with their partner how much they wanted to do (goals could still be individual). Everything
seemed to go well as most chose a medium number for their goal. Only a few students in
each class wrote they wanted to write the max number. Following the activity, everyone
graded themselves according to four questions; each with a 1~5 scale (not accomplished
accomplished). Everything was modeled as I showed them what my goals were and
described how each score should be chosen. The first two items were reflections on the goals
previously mentioned and the last two asked how much they participated and how much
English they used during the activity. After everything was explained and modeled, students
tallied their score (out of twenty points). I told them that making goals during lessons is
important and that if they had a high score they can try higher goals if they wanted. Lower
scores meant that they can think about how they did and reevaluate themselves to try to
improve their score. Most students I looked at had between 14~18/20 which was great. A
handful of students in both classes circled all top scores. These students were most likely not
paying attention to my explanations and models.

7) Teaching the Answer

For this activity I did a review lesson that I have done in the past with a second-year
classroom. Students were given a sheet of paper with fifteen question and answer blanks.
The class was split into six groups and one member of each group came to me to listen to the
question without writing anything down. They would then return to their group and repeat
the question while coming back to me if necessary. The group would then write the question
and search for the answer. The first in the group that finished would bring their paper to me
and I would check it; often I would give clues about the answer to help them if they were
incorrect. Once they had a good answer, they returned to their group and explained the
answer best they could in English and where to find it in the text. I had emphasized that
correct students should not just point to the answer, but explain it and talk about how it
relates to the question (such as using because). Some of my questions were not directly
from the book and had students making inferences. Most groups could do this pretty well,
although some students pointed to the textbook and just said here. The explaining part
was a little difficult, but the supporting JTE gave them some assistance. Overall, I think this
activity went well since group members were mostly paying attention to the student with the
answer.

10) Choosing the Time

I did this in my first Twitter Club class. For the activity, students were required to
write four sentences. Each sentence was to have a mistake purposefully written in it so other
students could correct them. There were two groups (first-year and second-year groups) and I
asked each how long they would like to work on writing their sentences. They looked at each
other and nervously smiled as if they were not sure what to do. Noticing this, I gave a few
suggestions such as five minutes or 10 minutes. In Japanese, the group of first-years was
saying it wouldnt take long to write the sentences. The other group consisting of second-
years was still a bit confused. I then said that four sentences usually takes about five to eight
minutes. I looked at the first-year group and they were fairly confident in saying five
minutes. The second-year group hesitantly said seven minutes. I replied that seven minutes
was ok and that if anyone finished early (since the first group wanted only five minutes), that
I could check their sentences for them. Overall, this took between 2-3 minutes of class time
to decide. As time was limited, I tried to speed up the process through suggestions. After the
seven minutes was finished, the majority of students had not finished. I asked if they would
like more time and how much. Several of the students asked for one more minute.
Following that extra minute, everyone was able to finish.
 Week 2
Hot Notes
2) How Many People?

This was done in two classes before starting idea 5. First, students were shown the
activity and given a brief explanation. This was done to allow students to know what kind of
task it was before making them decide how many people they were going to work with. A
picture representing alone, partners, and groups was shown on the board for clarification
and they were told that everyone has a different learning preference and they could choose
any option. Students in both classes chose their option and sat down relatively quickly (about
1~2 minutes). No one wanted to work by themselves as there were two groups of three, one of
six, and five pairs in the first class while the second class consisted of only groups; a five-
member group, two four-member groups, and four three people groups. This seemed to work
very well as students were sitting with friends which made the activity easier since they
discussed the activity a lot. Organizing the activity in these groups was usually efficient. I
did notice that groups that were larger than four members tended to not work as fast and
struggled to get done with the activity.

3) Self-Directed Action

This activity was an exercise in frustration. I remodeled the same lesson I used for
the using goals, group reflection, and seating ideas while being done at the same higher-level
school with two first-year classes. Briefly put, students were given a handout with the same
format as the original activity except most things were blank. Around the room were four
papers that had the phrases students would learn, directions for other parts of the handout,
and hints for what to do. To keep it from being too easy, I made things into more of a puzzle
by mixing up what information was put on each paper. I clearly explained to students at the
beginning of class that they could choose how they would split up the work and help each
other. I explained to students they were going to learn phrases for describing foreign things
(such as mocha, yukata, udon, etc.) I gave the class 40 minutes to complete the handout with
the last 5 to be a class check. Students seemed to aimlessly walk around and kept saying I
dont understand. Not wanting them to rely on me too much, I began to give hints about
what they should do and tried explaining more clearly.
After a while, the entire class finished the front side. The back side was barely
touched as students could not understand the three sentence directions for writing about
Japanese things. Only the second class did any sharing of their sentences with the provided
dialogue. In the end, most students felt frustrated because they didnt finish and many still
seemed puzzled. I tried giving them a lot of hints and restructured everything for the second
class. Yet, students could not seem to link ideas and clues together to form anything; even
when the answer was right in front of them, they had no idea what they were looking at. I
tried to summarize things at the end, but it was too late and many students looked like they
were ready to get out of the classroom.

5) Creating a Vocabulary Activity

This activity worked really well in the two classes I tried it in as all groups were able
to make an activity to practice studying vocabulary. The main issue was time as students on
average had 35 minutes to choose their ten words, plan an activity, and then make it. Despite
this lack of time, all students could turn their materials in at the end. Each class was shown
four example activities; these were Pictionary, karuta, a crossword puzzle, and a Tic-Tac-Toe
game. They were also told these were merely suggestions and they could make other kinds of
activities if they wanted. Of the two classes, only three groups made something entirely new
and different. For the directions, I left it up to students as to what they wanted to include
definitions, example sentences, fill in the blanks, etc. in their game. This allowed each group
more creative freedom and let them challenge themselves if they wanted to do more. Students
were told at the end of class that several activities would be chosen and played at a later
date. Overall, this activity went very well as students seemed to enjoy doing something
different which allowed them to be creative and practice their vocabulary. Those who
finished early even had fun playing their own games and saying their words aloud.

8) Order of Events

This was done at a lower level school with first-year students. The regular JTE
wanted to give them a vocabulary quiz that would take the first 5-8 minutes of class. I took
this opportunity to ask if students wanted to do the test at the beginning or after my activity.
As this was a lower level school, I felt two things was good number for them to handle. I
explained they could take it now and be finished, or they could wait and do it at the end if
they were unsure about themselves. This decision was left to a vote. I wanted this to be their
choice and not influenced by their peers (as Japanese students often do). Therefore, I asked
they put their heads down and raise their hand to vote. The majority of students voted to take
the test first and then have my regular class. Those who voted for it last didnt seem too
disappointed but there were some audible sighs. This idea seems to have worked well
because students could enjoy the activity afterwards where they might not have been able to
as much if the test were at the end.

9) What Kind of Lesson?

This was done at a higher-level school right after the Self-Directed Action idea. It
worked fairly well, but had limitations due to the worksheet I based everything off of (the
same worksheet I used for all the other activities). There were four stations set up with the
words reading, writing, listening, and speaking taped to the wall next to the
station. Students were given a handout with the four stations divided into sections making
each easier to understand. I explained each station saying they could go in any order except
speaking had to be last (due to the limitations on the original activity). Students used my
main iPad and projector to do reading about how/why we use the phrases. I used my iPad
mini and speaker for students to listen to dialogues and fill in the blanks. The writing section
had students simply write about three Japanese things. Finally, the speaking station had
them use their sentences, dialogue, and phrases together to share. Most students spent the
majority of their time at speaking and writing. I believe the reading section was a bit difficult
for them despite the sentences being short and using no vocabulary or grammar they had not
learned. Listening was easy for students, but many of them started to share the answers
which is one of the reasons not many visited that station. By the end of class, almost
everyone had at least a few things written for the speaking portion. I tried to summarize
things during the last 5 minutes to wrap everything up. In the future, I would like to try this
sort of class again, but have an activity that lends itself better to being divided into four
stations. The only negative thing about this style of lesson is with all the preparation and
need for multiple iPads, speakers, and a projector, it is not practical for most teachers.