No Cheating!! My first Open Class.

One of the very first things my coteacher Mihye solemley told me when I first arrived was that we would have an open class once a semester. I wasn't entirely sure what that was in the beginning, but I figured it would be one of those things that I would find out about in time.

An open class, as I discovered over time, is a special class where the principle, vice principle and parents are invited to observe the classroom. This might seem like a fairly routine drill, but here it is a very stressful and important day. Teacher's are expected to prepare a near perfect lesson and execute with precision. The principle and/ or vice principle may observe for only a few minutes, the full class or not even at all. You may have many parents, a few or none at all. It all depends on the school. The teacher is then evaluated on their performance and depending on how well or poorly the principle deems their performance, the teacher will receive a grade. So to sum it up, its like a final exam for teachers.

I was told right away that our open class would be April 10th (a Thursday, 3rd period), and that the homeroom teachers (non-specialty teachers such as us English, music and art teachers) would have their open class earlier. I didn't think on it too much, as Mihye told me that this first one would be more about her performance than mine, and the next semester will be more about my performance.

Then I saw what happened at the school when the homeroom teachers had their open classes. The halls were silent and there was a distinct tension in the air as the parking lot filled with parents cars and teachers were dressed in their finest. That was when it dawned on me that maybe I should take the open class a bit more seriously.

6-2 weeks before the open class:  Mihye and I bounced some ideas around and planned our lesson far earlier than any other lesson. i presented her with some ideas, she took them, modified and then typed up a formal lesson plan for the class. For those curious, the subject was, "Whose umbrella is it?" working on possessive pronouns with the most rowdy class of fifth graders (naturally).

1 week before the open class: In the week preceeding the class we did a talk through and tried to work out any kinks that could come up (such as the students being confused that we decided to switch roles for certain parts of the lesson and specific phrases and body language used to introduce the activities). Our open class period was set for the 3rd period of the morning, so we would have two chances beforehand to practice the lesson and troubleshoot any weird things that came up. All the specialty teachers were set to have open class at the same time (Why, I don't know, it would have sense to have them at different times so that the principle could feasibly watch all of them, but far be it for me to attempt to understand the logic in the system) so the principle would come around for just a few minutes each class.

Week of open class: Every day those of us preparing for the open classes would ask the others how they're doing. It felt like the run up to a concert, where everyone could be seen practicing and fine tuning every element of their routine. Finally the day before we did one more talk through/calm down and reminded each other to wear nice clothes and we were ready to go!

Night before open class: For those who have ever lived with me (or worked/studied/existed with me) know that I love to bake things for special occasions. This was no exception so when I discovered that my Korean class was cancelled, I rushed to the store and got supplies to make fudgey brownies for all the specialty teachers. It's always nice to have a pick me up and now my apartment smells like dark chocolate, so I'm not complaning.

Day of open class: the walk to school behind the horde of high schoolers was the same.

However, as soon as I walked into the building and onto the English floor, I could feel it. The tension! All of us were dressed in our finest (interesting to note that we all wore black and white, or in Mihye's case, all black), and somberest outfits, ready to meet the parents and principle.

The English ladies!

The first two classes went alright, but with a few bumps. We ended up running out of time in the first class and the students showed their true colors of being cheaters in the lost and found game.
So the third class, our open class, we felt ready. The parents filed into the back (all three of them) and we stood around watching the students meander in. For some reason a group of girl students decided this was the day to ask me about my ear piercings. Technically speaking I'm not supposed to wear them at school, but as no one has directly told me to take them out, I keep them in. So I sighed and pointed out my piercings for them while they giggled and I just hoped that the mothers in the back couldn't speak a word of English and were potentially impressed that their daughters were speaking English with the teacher.


Brownies, ready to be eaten!  Well, kinda

Then class began. Unfortunately for us the students were not on their very best behavior, but at least it wasn't their worst. Mihye did the introduction this time and then we did a short little role play for them to guess what they were going to study that day. After some minor interruptions by the vice principle and principle opening and closing the doors too many times (they only stayed in the room for about 1 minute before leaving again), the class ran smoothly. The students did end up cheating on the game at the end, big surprise, but the reviews from the parents were glowing. They said our classroom looked fun and that the students were engaged in active learning. Yay!
After that we were so relaxed that we just waltzed through the last lesson and I almost forgot to go to my other classroom for my extra class.
All in all, the open class build up lead me to feel very let down by the lack of actual stress and pressure the day of. All and all, open classes are nothing to be feared, for any potential Korean public school teachers. It's just another teaching day after all! The only thing that was extra special were the brownies that we ate too much of at lunch, yum!

Oh and after school ended some of us teachers went out for dinner and drinks, it was a nice way to end a weirdly non-stressful stressful day!

My fellow English teacher is on left in the front, the others are specialty teachers.