Emilie CO #6

Date: October 28th, 2:00 - 2:50 p.m. | Listening Group 4 w/Dr. Felicia Ciapetta

Today's class focused on the students answering a series of questions and writing a summary about a Youtube video on motivation ("Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us") that they had watched previously. For example, one of the questions asked students to describe the studies in the video and detail their implications. Students had the opportunity to discuss their answers with each other; however, most students preferred to work on their own. Thus the class was mostly quiet and involved individual writing/listening.
Key Takeaways: Since students only have limited time, teachers must carefully select the material they wish students to peruse. Since Dr. Felicia's research concerns motivation, I assume that part of the reason it was beneficial for students to watch this video was to confirm the importance of intrinsic motivation and enjoyment in learning. To my understanding, the studies in the video found that money does not change or might even decrease results in complex cognitive tasks, a truth which is important for students to contemplate/internalize.
One other takeaway I noted was that the class felt surprisingly chill. I tend to get stressed if I feel I haven't been productive as a teacher for over a minute. This re-affirmed to me that it is okay to be the coach/facilitator as a language teacher and that it is the students who should be working consistently, not me doing all the work for them. I don't need to be constantly talking or performing (at least for higher level/older students, not elementary kids). I found this same problem when I was initially in Japan in 2018 and was teaching a "class" (one student) in Algebra. The student was highly motivated to finish and wanted to just go as fast as possible through the text (not because she enjoyed it, she actually disliked it, lol). After some initial struggles in trying to lecture or be more "classroom-y" or to change her mind about math, I changed my approach to fit the student and allowed her to progress as quickly through the text as she wanted as long as she still achieved satisfactory progress on tests (which we would discuss). Thus, I took on more of a "tutor" role and spent class time doing other work*, but was available to help her right there if she wanted it. 

*Towards the end of my time I also found my constant busyness/need for productivity catching up to me from my sleeplessness and more than once I woke up with my head on my desk! (much to my student's amusement). In another math "class" with also just one student I got so caught up in explaining a problem that I didn't notice how warm it was and how I hadn't drunk any water the whole morning. After our time ended rather abruptly, the oft-repeated literary phrase "her lips were white as a sheet" made a very real appearance in the bathroom mirror. Before I'd thought it was a bit exaggerated but nope, now I get why people say it! Fortunately after sitting and drinking some water by myself I felt better (truly my fear of fainting and being taken to a hospital without being able to speak Japanese kept me upright). Another time with that same student I was also so absorbed in explaining a problem I didn't notice an earthquake till it was almost over. All this to say - pay attention to yourself too, Emilie!