Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 10

Education - Essay Example nd distracted; such classroom behaviour4 was not an encouraging response, so I discarded the initial lecture I had planned and started showing them pictures of Degas’ paintings, to stimulate their interest in the world of Degas’ art and human figures.5 After listening to the tape, I feel that my soft voice and formal approach at the beginning of the lesson was not helpful in gaining the attention of the students, because they could not connect with me. I should have started off trying to engage their interest and stimulate their curiosity since children learn best within a positive environment where they are actively engaged.6 What I was doing was lecturing instead, talking down to them - so they were switching off rather than engaging. I had to adapt my instruction, because what I was using was not working, so I decided that it would be better to adopt a more informal and interactive approach, since children love to ask questions. I was tense and holding myself too stiffly, perhaps the children sensed it too. So I relaxed and held out my hands to invite them to draw closer to me to look at Degas’ pictures and start painting them. I was pleased to note that my ability to realize when one method was not working, in order to switch to another was one of my strong points in the lesson, because my inviting tone and gesture worked very well; the restless children who felt bound by their desks were able to loosen up and I also relaxed when I didn’t feel like I was on the spot, standing up in front of the class, as the teacher. I didn’t have to shout so loud either. I invited their participation by asking them questions like, â€Å"Do you think this painting is good?† and â€Å"What do you like about it?† I wanted to see what the first impressions of the children would be – what would they notice, what would they wonder about? I was delighted to find that they were astute enough to notice that the painting was a set of lots of dots, because they were viewing