reflections

This is a post practicum reflection ~ this is gonna be printed out and stuck into my journal as well ~ just as a reflection journey so far, on becoming a swell teacher LOL. In this post, i will roam on and talk about interactions with the students, pedagogy observed, staff interactions, etc ~ very personal in depth reflection on my 2 weeks journey in this school and maybe an insight to my future career.

In this last 2 weeks, I've been on a rollercoaster; one day it's great, the next absolutely horrendous, then the next day it would be fantastic, and the next felt so tired and crappy. Anyways, for the first week, after school everyday, I would come home exhausted and tired. The whole different environment has been a total different change, hence maybe all the being-on-the-ball all day long and early wake ups have contributed to the tiredness.

In my 2 weeks prac, I have been placed in class 9A homegroup and I would be in their 9A S&E class. I was also placed in 8D S&E class and 10E S&E class. I would see these kids 4 times a week each, as they have 4 lessons a week; mostly 2 single lessons and a double lesson per week. The first week, I was pretty much observing the students-teacher interactions and helping around in class. I have to say, these kids are so different to when I was in high school. The level these students are at, are way below average level, especially when it comes to Year 10 grades. I got to know my 9A class the best, out of my 3 classes I had. This is mainly because I am also in their homegroup and I taught them for 2 lessons in this prac.

The students constantly need someone to probe them into doing their work; they are not bad kids; they just need someone to care for them and worry about them. Some of these kids come from pretty rough background and it's not surprising to see that they level of performance is not at par with many other students of their age this country. In my two weeks, I've been observing how my teacher (not my mentor) taught; she would constantly be yelling at them and shouting and screaming and telling students off; because they are not focusing on their task. These kids like to talk talk talk all day long and it's one problem that all teachers have problem tackling with ~ to combat this, the teachers hence need to yell on top of all the yakking and shut them up in order to listen to the teacher. Anyhow, I haven't yelled at the students yet but I have been giving orders and raised my voice alittle when i find them mucking around instead of doing their work.

A bright side to it is that I like the students to call me 'miss.....'. lol.. I'm just getting used to being called 'miss...' when I have to leave.. sigh.. I will see these students in Term 4 again, and hopfully i will get to teach 9A, but one thing is the teacher for that class is really intimidating; before I started teaching in class, she would be like telling me 'oh do this, do that.. do this do that'. I'm like trying to get my thoughts together on what to do (because these i cannot pre plan, as plans don't work hence gotta think on da spot). She's like giving me extra pressure on top of trying to collect 24 students' attention who are all looking at their computer screens in teh huge library open area =.=''. So my 1st teaching experience has been quite edgy, because my teacher had to butt in and kept everyone who hasn't finished their task for the lesson at lunchtime.. and that's like half the class! I thought,... man, this class (9A) is gonna hate me for this... but surprisingly, they started to like me. lol. I told them yesterday was my last day at hte school but i'm coming back in Term 4; and they said they will miss me and ask me whether i'll become a teacher in their school. LOL... one student said "u're cool miss..."

I miss them too.. but sigh.. i have to look forward to working with some unpleasant teachers again... i felt my teacher was very 'territorial' of her class...so i was therefore intimidated when i was teaching. =.='''

Wanna talk more but need to go now.