KTDP...

or the Kaplan Teacher Development Program is tougher than I thought it would be. Atleast, I am struggling a bit with it. Which is strange, considering I have a fair bit of teaching experience in India. It now looks like that very experience is both my biggest strength and a source of inconvenience for me. In the 2 sessions i've attended, i've repeatedly been told that I appear confident and knowledgeable in the area I am going to teach for-- the GMAT. I am, however, still struggling to up my levels of class participation. I have 10days before the next class, and my biggest concern is that if i dont fix this within the next 2sessions, I won't be asked to return for the 5th session, which will quite clearly mean the end of my teaching for Kaplan. And I haven't even started yet!

As mentioned earlier, one of the many reasons i am currently enjoying my program is because of the way the class is taught. The professor initiates a discussion and lets the class do the rest, gently nudging us along the way. Kaplan has a similar concept-- teachers speak for close to 50% of the time in the class, and the rest is for students' involvement. In India, however, there was no such requirement. Indeed, my CAT students preferred to let me do all the talking since for most it was their first shot at the exam and they didn't know much. The paper-based test was all about strategy--maximumn number of problems in the minimum amount of time. For my LST students, I preferred not to let them speak much because twenty 17yr olds speaking was chaotic, not to mention most of the time they only seemed to be gossiping about their school. Ironically, my classes had become the very thing i disliked about the Indian education system-- the instructor speaking most of the time and the students listening.

Really need to figure this out. And Soon!