Today I observed Patrick Kennel's classroom while he taught an Advanced Reading class. The students were being trained to read university-level material. As such, they had to read, take notes, and respond to different kinds of articles. In addition to the articles, he also taught English vocabulary such as misnomer, road rage, daunting, inkling, and twang. For the articles, they had to use SQ3R and the Cornell method of note taking in addition to the usual who/what/when/where/how details.
Kennel noted that classroom management is the same the world over, and that having children and teaching at a high school underscored its importance. He explained what it meant to flesh out your notes, and then asked students for their responses to Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. Some students were chosen to read the material aloud, in order to test their pronunciation, fluency, and emphasis. He also asked them for their opinions on the work.
It was a very dynamic teaching style and I found the class very interesting to watch.
This sounds very similar to the class I observed today. My class was an intermediate level so there reading material was not at the college level. They also went over the cornell method of note taking and how to apply it to passing the TOEFL. The teacher I observed was very energetic and as writing, reading and listending can make eyes very sleepy I think it is very important to have a personality that will perk up the rest of the class.
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