During my last semester at university I took part in the teaching Literacy through Classics module. I was very eager, as I had always wanted to pursue a career in teaching upon completion of my degree.
Admittedly after attending the teaching conference in the semester before the last, I felt daunted at the prospect of teaching a class and actually being the teacher. However by the time of the first class, nerves had turned into anticipation and excitement. I was so excited to see how I and my fellow student teachers would do in our first class together. We had been over and over the lesson plan, making sure we all knew our cues and what topic we were teaching. Finally, it was time to teach. On entering the class and seeing the students looking at you, it was quite frightful: frightful that you and the fellow teachers were going to be the ones teaching them ancient Greek. Nerves dissolved quickly though. As soon as we started asking what they knew about the Greeks, which was a lot, we could see their enthusiasm and excitement for the subject, especially when we taught them how to spell/write their name in the Greek script.
The weeks moved on, and my passion for teaching grew stronger with every lesson. We had our lecture and group meeting on a Wednesday, where we would discuss different teaching techniques and theories. After these meetings I always left eager, wanting to implement these new ideas that we had just been taught. The class were steadfast in their Greek learning. We may have had only six students, but it was great to see them turn up every week. It was also inspiring to see the class so happy when they started to understand how to translate and use Greek verbs. They were also filling in adapted Greek myths using the Greek language. It was fantastic to see how fast their acquisition for the language was.
Admittedly after attending the teaching conference in the semester before the last, I felt daunted at the prospect of teaching a class and actually being the teacher. However by the time of the first class, nerves had turned into anticipation and excitement. I was so excited to see how I and my fellow student teachers would do in our first class together. We had been over and over the lesson plan, making sure we all knew our cues and what topic we were teaching. Finally, it was time to teach. On entering the class and seeing the students looking at you, it was quite frightful: frightful that you and the fellow teachers were going to be the ones teaching them ancient Greek. Nerves dissolved quickly though. As soon as we started asking what they knew about the Greeks, which was a lot, we could see their enthusiasm and excitement for the subject, especially when we taught them how to spell/write their name in the Greek script.
The weeks moved on, and my passion for teaching grew stronger with every lesson. We had our lecture and group meeting on a Wednesday, where we would discuss different teaching techniques and theories. After these meetings I always left eager, wanting to implement these new ideas that we had just been taught. The class were steadfast in their Greek learning. We may have had only six students, but it was great to see them turn up every week. It was also inspiring to see the class so happy when they started to understand how to translate and use Greek verbs. They were also filling in adapted Greek myths using the Greek language. It was fantastic to see how fast their acquisition for the language was.
One of my favourite lessons had to be the second last. This class was dedicated to revision for the test the week later. We had decided that this was going to an interactive class with a student-led approach, so we created games for them! We had articulate, pairs, a board game on Theseus and the Minotaur, and a scatter game on Quizlet.
The class was a hit and the fun revision went down a treat. We were so pleased by how much the students had learned and retained. It was brilliant! The class was definitely energetic; the impressions of mythological figures in articulate were spot on.
And I do not think I can stress enough how competitive students become, especially on Quizlet. A competition had started and everyone was trying to get the fastest time on the scatter game. It was a frenzied battle to win.
The whole experience of this module in teaching has been fantastic. It was wonderful to see how understanding Greek grammar helped in the understanding of English grammar. The whole experience was extremely worthwhile, and it helped me understand what it is to be a true teacher. I will definitely take all experience that I have gained and use it in my future teaching career.
And never forget, a hippopotamus is a river horse!
Written by Michael Hayward, year 3 student
The class was a hit and the fun revision went down a treat. We were so pleased by how much the students had learned and retained. It was brilliant! The class was definitely energetic; the impressions of mythological figures in articulate were spot on.
And I do not think I can stress enough how competitive students become, especially on Quizlet. A competition had started and everyone was trying to get the fastest time on the scatter game. It was a frenzied battle to win.
The whole experience of this module in teaching has been fantastic. It was wonderful to see how understanding Greek grammar helped in the understanding of English grammar. The whole experience was extremely worthwhile, and it helped me understand what it is to be a true teacher. I will definitely take all experience that I have gained and use it in my future teaching career.
And never forget, a hippopotamus is a river horse!
Written by Michael Hayward, year 3 student