Reflective Teaching Blog Challenge – Day Three: Discuss one “observation” area you would like to improve on.

At the end of most of my lessons, I’ve noticed there usually isn’t enough time to properly go over the day’s content. Somewhere during the phases when students are practicing and producing the language for themselves, I lose the last 5 minutes of class that I originally intended to use as review time. When I notice this happening, I usually choose to forgo the review and just allow students to finish the production activity. If I did move onto the review, I feel like I’d be cutting them off early or stunting their absorption of the material.

I guess what this really comes down to is an isse of time management and giving students tasks they can feasibly complete in the amount of time I alot. Then I can be more consistent with facilitating brief review sessions at the end of class.

To any seasoned teachers out there, I’d like to ask: Do you make a point of having clearly-designated “review time” at the end of every lesson? Why or why not? And if not, do you have a way of reviewing content/checking for comprehension that is more indirect? If so, what is it?