Tomorrow I’ve got my third open class. Next Wednesday I have my fourth.
What’s an open class? An open class is a class to which teachers and administrators from my school and other schools in the area are invited. I was here only a few weeks when I received word that I would have an open class a couple weeks later. And then, less than two weeks after that open class, I was to teach another for parents of students (an open house of sorts where parents sit in on classes) to my most poorly behaved of my eight sixth grade classes.
I taught the first open class with the fourth grade teacher who heads up the English program at my school, a teacher with whom I didn’t regularly teach. I met her class a few times before the open class; we reviewed the material so the kids would “perform” well. The idea of an open class is one that was pretty foreign to me, and I still have trouble wrapping my head around why we expend our time and energy on these things when most Korean teachers are so busy with administrative reports and other responsibilities… but: when in Korea, right?
Oftentimes, the open classes are rehearsed, staged, and things happen in an open class that don’t happen in your everyday classes. I’m really not trying to judge here, but to tell it like it is. And this is what happens.
Korean teachers generally stress out over open classes, hope to create a spectacular extravaganza, often preparing activities that just plain don’t work in your everyday classes, often promising the kids a treat in exchange for good behavior. The day of my first open class, with fifteen minutes before I ran off to teach first period in the other building (open class occurring ten minutes after that), I was told I would lead the majority of the lesson instead of splitting it with the Korean teacher 50/50 as I had previously been lead to believe. I hadn’t even looked at most of the material! The teacher was extremely nervous, and I quickly realized that my job was not to stress out alongside her, but to be a rock. Show up in my skirtsuit, appear cool and confident (despite the sweat pouring out of my armpits and soaking my blouse), lead the lesson. A Vanna White of sorts, if you will. In the end, the class went well. Only two people outside of our school attended as invitations went out last minute.
The second open class was sort of a disaster, but I did the best I could. As I mentioned the class was the most poorly behaved group of kids in the sixth grade. A handful of mothers made an appearance, but it seemed that their attendance served more of a social function than that of critiquing my teaching skills.
This time, I’ve got the best possible scenario. My fifth grade co-teacher (the one I taught sixth grade with last year) and I will teach one of our sixth grade classes. The lesson we are teaching is absolutely no frills. She’s decided to stick to the lesson from the curriculum; no additional games, powerpoints, nothing fancy. Very little extra effort. I couldn’t be happier. Nothing over the top. No nonsense. The game we’ll play borders on lame, but I’d rather have it this way than be jumping and spinning and swirling across the room and having the kids jump out of their seats in choreographed dance moves.
In addition, we teach our 6-3 class after we will have taught this same lesson to six other classes. So we’ll have plenty of practice, and by the time 1:50pm tomorrow rolls around we should be able to do this lesson in our sleep.
She suggested that “maybe four teachers will come… and then leave early.”
Open class is a concept I don’t know that I’ll ever understand. Invite a bunch of colleagues over to watch a usually very rehearsed, staged lesson only so we can sit around and eat snacks and drink instant coffee and not give any truly constructive feedback.
fiat lux 