You know that you are getting old when you welcome lesson observations.

This week, a teacher from the Dyslexia Association of Singapore came in to observe my lesson. Which ought to be a bane because the end of term was snapping at my heels and exhorting me to fulfill the 101 deadlines that seemed to come in all at once. But I actually welcomed the idea of a lesson observation because this would motivate me to put in extra effort for my lesson preparation. My extra effort might not be appreciated by my students but they would at least be seen by someone else.

Half an hour before the lesson, I was in a state of intense concentration, trying to pull out all the stops so that my visitor would have a memorable experience. And in that regard, I believed I succeeded. Students arrived at the classroom to be instructed to cut paper so that they could match a part of an informal email with its corresponding example and glued them together. Kinesthetic intelligence? ✅

As if this wasn’t enough, students were treated to a Quizlet game, in which they had to mix and match the different parts of an informal email under time pressure. While one student was in the hot seat, other students egged him on to match the appropriate parts faster. Competitive element? ✅Interpersonal intelligence? ✅

It was not all fun and games because I then drew their attention to the We Are Learning To (WALT) statement and forced them to repeat the five elements of an informal email after me. Then, we finally opened up the past year paper and I taught them how to tackle informal email writing based on what had transpired earlier.

Not shabby for 30 minutes’ worth of lesson preparation, huh? I guess there is an attention-seeking showman in me because I want to be observed more often (in a non-judgemental environment) so that I will naturally feel pumped to teach. LOL.