The first class

Previous post: The foundational bricks

After the opening conversation, I am ready to plan the first class (in online teaching parlance - the trial session). What are the elements that I include in this session and why do I structure it this way?

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I log on to the interface about 5 minutes before the child and upload an image like the one shown below on the first slide. I also check that my laptop and internet connection are working smoothly.

In my experiences, these trial sessions have always been 1 hour long. As you may have deduced, I divide it into three parts:

• introductions (~ 15 minutes)
• the core class (~ 40 minutes)
• sharing feedback (~ 5 minutes)

Why do I have a tabular agenda like the one above? In the post linked here, I explained how and why agendas were useful in my classrooms in Pune. They lend a visible structure to the lesson, state the goals of each segment and allow children to see the connections between different segments. In the above example, the child can see that we will be revising percentages to lay the foundation for simple and compound interest, then understanding the concept behind simple interest before ending with some practice on simple interest. Essentially, the flow of the lesson is no longer a mystery to them!

Let's briefly explore each part of the trial session...

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First, introductions. As described in this post, I believe photos to be impactful tools of communication. So, I start the trial session by showing the child snaps from my prior teaching experiences - usually ones where I am with my students. I use these photos as aids to describe my background, why I got into teaching and how it is something I enjoy to this day! Following that, I share a few of my interests so that the child gets to know me a little better as a person.

Post this, I ask the children some informal questions such as:

• what are their hobbies (and what draws them to these hobbies? 😀)
• do they have siblings (if yes, do they have playful fights? 😂)
• what subjects do they like and dislike at school (and why?)
• what do they want to learn from our classes together (and why?)

By this stage, the ice is well and truly broken and I am ready to transition to the next part.

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The core class.

This is the first taste that children get of my teaching style. I err on the side of caution here and start slowly to get a feel of how the child is responding - is the material of an appropriate level; do I need to modify any aspect on the fly; is there a prerequisite concept that appears shaky etc. Since I have already gathered a decent amount of information during our first interaction, the class tends to go smoothly and deviations from the agenda are minimal.

In the trial session, I ensure a mix of theory/concepts (coded in blue) and time for practice and solving questions (coded in orange). Thus, children get an idea of both how I teach a concept and how we work through questions together based on those concepts.

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Third, sharing feedback. This is a vital part of all my trial sessions. I ask the children questions such as:

• how did they find the way that I taught the concept? What went well and what could I do better?
• how was the pace of the class? Was it too fast, too slow or appropriate in their view?
• how did they find the questions that I had chosen for practice? Were they easy, difficult or at their level?

I also give them feedback on their knowledge/skills in the topic that we just covered. I highlight the concepts that I think they are strong at and also the concepts that they need to work on.

Making feedback an explicit agenda item conveys that I value their opinions and sets the tone for open communication in the future (in the event that they sign up for classes).

I conclude by thanking them for actively participating during the session and request them to discuss with their parents about whether they would like to start sessions on a regular basis or not.

Next post: Setting clear expectations

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Tailpiece: To date, I have taken 23 trial sessions - 19 of those resulted in the student and parent wanting to continue with regular sessions. My planning and execution of the trial session has evolved over the last 4+ years and the sample shown here is from the most recent one that I conducted.