Feb 1st, 2017
Entry 1: Observation visit.
The school far exceeded my expectations. The surroundings was far from being unkempt.
Initially, I assumed that the layout would be disorganized and have low maintenance, however I was pleasantly greeted with an abundance of flora surrounding the entrance to the school. The vice principal kindly welcomed us into the school. The most outstanding memory of that day, was the dedication the vice principal had towards making our stay most pleasing and enjoyable. I and my partner were assigned to his class, and Mister Gopi (vice principal) went back and forth gathering all the documents required for us. What was most shocking was the tone that our cooperating teacher used to address the class throughout the lessons, granted that this was the most feasible method for effective learning in this classroom. At first I taught to myself, he was being harsh with the students, but after carefully analyzing the students and how they responded, I came to quickly understand that these students learn best by fear as appose to gentler methods of teaching. At that moment, I learnt that as a prospective teacher, you must adapt to your class and their learning styles. Mister Gopi was greatly feared by the students but in a respectable manner. The noise level during lunch and break was high, but that was expected for a primary school. The upper block, of standard 1 to 2 was relatively quiet, with the exception of the standard ones. The students of the standard 4 class were charming, and very eager to learn, but there was a clear distinction between the intellectual spectrums within the class, with one students being capable of answering all questions posed correctly. Some were averagely smart while others didn’t pay attention or misbehaved. I was placed in a real life classroom context without prior experience, and gained a lot of information about the variety of students in a classroom in addition to teaching strategies based on the type of classroom given.
Feb 8th 2017
Entry 2: Field teaching day one
Early mornings are usually used to teach mathematics, which encourages the children’s brain to be engaged for the morning session. Personally, I taught this was an excellent technique to kick start their brains. At first I was nervous to pair teach, since it was my first teaching experience. After talking to the students who were quite welcoming, I summed up the courage to teach.
The content of the lesson was accurately taught, resources such as charts and worksheets were interactive and fun and relative to the topic being taught. I didn’t anticipate how much I was required to project my voice with the noise coming, not necessarily from my classroom, but others around. The class was quite attentive, and most were eager to learn. The second lesson was not taught since the cooperating teacher had taught that topic already. Overall the class was pleasant and the students were very friendly.
Feb 15th 2017
Entry 3: Field teaching day two
Today was quite eventful, since it was zonal in the school, and the majority of children went to participate in zonal. In my class there were about 6 out of the 10 students resent. The first lesson on pronouns was taught well, but finished quickly. On that day, due to lack of supervision by our cooperating teacher who went to zonal, we were left in a classroom unattended too, for the early half of the morning. Supervisors came to visit the school, and we were moved, together with out standard 4 class to the standard 5 classroom. My partner and I taught pronouns to the entire class for the morning period. Due to the unanticipated large number of students we didn’t have enough resources to distribute to students. We tried to incorporate most of the class, with special attention to the standard 4, who the lesson was intended for. The day progressed, and my partner and I taught many lessons to keep the class preoccupied. After today, I learned that as a teacher u must be prepared for unforeseen circumstances, and must be equipped to tackle these obstacles than can occur at any given moment.
Feb 22nd 2017
Entry 4: Field teaching day three
Today being the last day of practicum was quite tiring. I was not fully prepared for the amount of prep work that had to done when teaching a class. Our first lesson to be taught was parts of the flower, which was well taught and students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson. I was pleasantly surprised that the students were able to recall many of the names of the parts, before the topic was taught. Fractions was taught afterwards by me and my partner, and that concluded our two lessons for the day. For the rest of the day, our cooperating teacher taught the class the quota of work he had to finish, while we sat an observed.
