PRAC 2002 - EJOURNAL - JAVED JUMAN
JANUARY 25TH - FIRST FIELD VISIT
The school lay nestled between 2 pillars, a pillar of health and a pillar of god. My initial impression was one of calm, as the trees on the grounds filtered a cool breeze, and almost sounded like the ocean when they swayed.
The school itself seemed small enough. 2 main buildings and modest parking. The walk down the hill to the main entrance illuminated the once dark interior, as i got closer, seeing bustling shadows become conscious beings.
The Principal was not there that day, and as the group waited, it seemed that the passers-by were not too keen on having us there. I would later realize the heavy burdens that teachers already bare, and having us to chauffeur around only meant more work for them.
The vice principal was nice enough, in fact, he could even be described as overly accommodating. Yet all the while, amidst the soiree of administrative get-to-know-yous, the children were always the star of the show. Always saying good morning, very polite and curious at first. My first memory was one pupil exclaiming the adjective "kakasplash" when describing another. At least their polite and courteous facade was only skin deep and as thick as a strand of hair.
In the classroom they refused to show their true colors initially. As my partner and I sat at the back, observing like observers do, they put on their best behavior. Yet the teacher (our VP) remained strict and stern, and often spoke in a loud and harsh voice, as if his voice box had been stuck on high through countless years of over use. We thought that his aggressive tone was disproportionate, and that maybe he might be over-reacting. Soon we realised that the propensity to keep the atmosphere slightly tense was intentional, as the teacher often had to walk a very fine line between friend and mentor, and most kids don't have great balance.
In the end we didn't observe any of the Colorossos, or the Curwins. We saw some Piagets and Vygotskys but we certainly missed their influence in the teaching process. The teacher stayed strict to direct instruction, in the way that an old fashioned veteran would, slicing through lesson after lesson, knowing every reaction and every confusion before it occurred. It was as if he had been teaching the same class of children for 40 years, stuck in a perpetual time loop, and witnessing the slow decay of moral society along side notions of his own morality.
Sadly I was quite happy for the 3pm bell. Not that I didn't enjoy the experience, but considering my own prior 15 years of teaching experience, I shared a morsel of the teacher's disdain. The real journey was in the weeks to come, where my partner and I would have our 15 minutes in the spotlight, playing teacher.
FEBRUARY 8TH - FIELD TEACHING 1
The first session was quite entertaining. The topics themselves were minor, synonyms and fact versus opinions, however my partner had never taught before, and having a squeaky little voice found the notion of ventriloquism quite intimidating. Nonetheless my experience took over the lesson, and whilst I was happy that the lesson went smoothly, I soon realised that my partner had been robbed of having her own first experience. Yet still it was good to put on the training wheels before throwing her in the deep end of the pool, where she would prove herself to be quite a good swimmer.
In essence I took over the lesson. Trying to fill every gap, and smooth-en any lulls of transition, in an effort to keep their attention. You know how kids can lose attention quite easily these days. She could barely get 2 words in, and seemed to be speaking to me more than the kids. However it was me who did not allow her the space or opportunity, certainly I would have to keep that in mind next time.
FEBRUARY 15TH - FIELD TEACHING 2.
The second day was quite interesting indeed. Because my teacher was out on a zonal sports day, our standard 4 class was joined with the standard 5 class. And so we taught our lesson to the combined classes, which required improvisation as our resources weren't enough for everyone. In the end our ratching skills proved seasoned and the lesson was a great success. I consciously decided to let my partner take the lead, and she did a beautiful job.
Overall it was a fun day. Because the teacher wasnt there meant we could do what we wanted, and ended up teaching them all day. Just pulling cool topics out of our heads to teach them, and they were eager to learn. I started them on an investigation to find hidden patterns in their multiplications tables, and they were amazed to find that each table actually had hidden patterns.
We also taught them how to draw fractal shapes, which introduced the advance topic of fractal geometry without them even knowing it. The coolest improvised lesson came in the afternoon, where we did a 'casual' creative writing session. It was the first time the class ever created a story as a group, where each student had to continue the next sentence, to see the story unfold. It seemed like mindless fun, but it was evident how profound the basic applications of pronouns and synonyms were in creative writing. By the end of the day my partner and I were quite satisfied, believing ourselves to be super teachers.
FEBRUARY 22nd - FIELD TEACHING 3
The final day came with a eerie feeling, it was as if I myself was manifesting negative vibrations. The teacher was present on this day, but hardly around as he was busy with administrative duties. In the morning my instructor came to judge our flower lesson, which I hoped went well. I think it did. Afterwards we immediately taught our fractions lesson, which didn't go as well as we had hoped, namely because of the distracting efforts of one attention seeking little boy, who continuously disturbed the lesson until I had to confront him, and after he ignored any semblance of authority I could display, and totally disrespected my presence, I decided to defuse the situation by apologizing for my aggressive affront. He too apologized and calmed down, and the situation resolved to an uncomfortable tension, as the kids saw the unfriendly side of me.
Thank god that was the only negative vibe, that I had anticipated from the scent in the air earlier that morning. And after an extended lunch to celebrate our last day, came back to the afternoon session to find our teacher busy at his lessons, that we would finally have the opportunity to observe once again how an experienced hand claps.
