Monday 22 Oct 07
What a day.....
I've started off with lesson 1 with the Year 9s. It was great because I've set them off on an exciting journey on researching on a famous explorer. It was my present to them last lesson. So for the next two weeks, they will be working on their assignment. I will be pushing and motivating them to do their work, as some of the boys in the class are a ltitle hesitant today in finding any information. Some was because they had no internet access at school (financial difficulty to pay for internet quota), one is on NEP (he has difficulty reading and writing - but does not want to go to Special Ed to get help on his assgn) and some are chatting away.
One method i tried using was removing a student from his/her current spot to another seat (as that person was busy chatting to his/her friend). That seem to work a little.
I really wish all my mentors are easy to work. Two of them are fine but the other one really do put pressure on me to perform well in terms of all the areas of being a TEACHER. She's always grumpy and irritated and having that sour look on her face. It really just brings my mood down, but i don't intend to let that happen.
Anyways, my mentor for Year 8s have been away/absent since friday, so i had no chance to show her my lesson plans for today. She wanted me to do an essay with them, little did i realise how much they Don't KnoW what to write in an essay nor be able to think for themselves what exactly have to be written. Anyways, she expected me to change my lesson plan in like less then 30 mins till the lesson start!!! I was panicking cos I was going to set the studetns an essay based on a topic. She asked me to do something else =.= which really switched on my stress mode.
Ok, so I think i've tackled that alright. But.............. during class time, I've explained clearly way too many times what I expect to be in the essay (which is to be handed up to me at the end of the lesson). Most of them still did not get what needs to be written exactly down in their essay. Before i intro them to writing the essay, I discussed with them the key points that needs to be included in their essay. I even told them where to look fro the answers; which has the main points. They still didn't know what to write. =.=
My observation from that class and their teacher from previous practicum (RP1) and regular activity was that my teacher spoonfed them literally with everything; she told me they have written an essay before but I think what she did was told to write what down exactly. These students are so used to be told exactly what to do and they will do it, without even thinking. So when I asked them to write the answer down (i even provided them wit the leading question) and the answer is staring at them from the whiteboard, the students STILL didn't get how/what to write down. =.=
Besides that point, the students did not manage to get their essay finished at the end of the lesson so i decided to give them abit of next lesson to finish it off.
The students' behaviours was ..... talkative. They basically talked and chatted throughout the whole double lesson, which after several warnings from me, they still kept on doing it. So I decided it can't go on anymore. So i moved 2 boys from their seats to another seats, to prevent them from talking and disturbing their frens sitting next to them. That did not work. As.....the whole class was full, the only place to move them was the table behind them, which still gave them access to disturb one another and other fellow students in the class. Anyhow, i put up with it but after seeing them having no work productivity and wanting me to writ their essays for them, i decided to start giving out lunchtime detentions. I obviously warned them if they keep on talking, i will keep people in. And they tested me. So i started writing the first name on the board without warning them anymore. Then the whole class went silent. Haha, i just love that control! But pretty soon, the chatting starts again; not about the essay but about boys and other non-work related. So i told them once again what I expect of them and anymore people would like to join that student on the board with detention. haha... Anyways, i ended up giving 4 boys detention as they were a nuisance in the class all double lesson.
So..... after that long class, i have a headache. After lunch it's Year 11 IT. These bunch are pretty good; i've marked their assgns and most of them are sitting on a B & C. A couple of students got A for their 1st assgn. Today is going onto Assgn 2; they went straight into it. They were excited about finding images from the net and analysing them. Later after they have analysed the photos, they will go out and take images of their own, which they are all pretty excited about.
Although i must say, half the class are absent. But the assgns need to be done on a weekly basis and there is to be no extensions. They must finish each assignment to pass year 11 IT (their SACE). I feel sorry for the students who didn't come..... Speaking of which, I still have 2 more assgns to mark.
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