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You are here: Experts > Education > Elementary Educators > Elementary Educators > teacing grade 1 at the first time
Expert: Marsha Cunningham - 11/6/2009
Question
dear Marsha ,
i am in real trouble I ve been teaching year 11 for eighteen years . At a mutter of sudden i have to teach year one . My first lesson is on Sunday .. I attend a lesson of the same class that i will teach later . the kids were moving talking and some time getting out of the class. please tell me how can i control the kids without shouting How can I gain their attention . how can i teach them in reading stories because i have two reading lesson every week (( Oxford tree Reading Stories )) .
plaese help me marsha
swisser
Answer
Dear Swissar,
Yikes!! The best thing I can tell you, in your situation, is this:
1. To get their attention, even if no one is listening or looking toward you, quickly say things like: I see three girls ready to go, 4 boys in blue shirts are looking this way, three students in the back have their hands folded, great! What a great class you are.(This has never failed me. It works because your are declaring the ideal, which is what they all really want but don't know how to get. If you declare it they will get into the mode and you'll never have to raise your voice) and then show them what you intend to show them. Make it short and sweet then check for comprehension by asking a few questions.
2. Make them all feel important and don't forget the girls. Keep eye contact with them at all times and move around the room frequently.
3. Be delighted at their answers and all efforts. Tell them that you're going to tell their parents and the director how wonderful they are.
4. If you have a camera, take pictures of them and put them up in the room. You can make a bulletin board of them along with small name cards and they can match their classmate's names to their pictures.
5. Are you teaching them to read in English? They need to know the letter sounds and to be able to print each letter and make its SOUND as they do so. I teach words that sound like they're spelled first, as in my book, and teach other words later, but then I wrote my own textbook for that. You can down load it free at www.artsimprovingacademics.org and see if it could be useful to you, and use it if your director will allow it. Teaching letter names and sounds at the same time in English is counterproductive, confusing and takes a long time, so I just use letter SOUNDS, it's much faster and easier. I could really explain it over the phone much better, but I think that you are in another country so that would be an expensive call.
I wish I could be of more help. I do explain my method in my book, under Step-by Step directions, so you could try to read those if my terms are understandable to you.
Best wishes to you,
Marsha Cunningham
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