REFLECTIVE JOURNAL-25- FIELD TEACHING DAY ONE (LESSON ONE)

25^TH FEBRUARY, 2015

Today was the “big day.”…………..Finally I had to teach the lessons we planned.  I tried to keep a positive attitude (which by the way was very difficult because it was one of those mornings where everything that could go wrong, did.)  I thought I would have reached late that day because of the unforeseen obstacles I faced that morning to get to my destination, but God saw it fit to intervene in my dilemma.

I came to school with my partner that morning. That was not our original plan, but that’s how it worked out. We were able to encourage each other as well as rehearse our lessons once again. As we drove into the school yard, my partner was bombarded by teachers, parents and students who were glad to see her again. Getting to the office was very difficult as we tried to press through the “mob.” Seeing the love displayed to my partner was delightful to behold, and  it helped alleviate any nervousness or tension which we may have been experiencing. Eventually we were able to make it to the office, but we were not able to meet with the Principal because she was otherwise engaged. We waited until after the assembly to see if we could have met with her then, but she was still unavailable. My partner and I decided to go to our class and we informed the secretary that we were on the compound.

The class teacher greeted us very warmly. She seemed to be in a better frame of mind than the last time we saw her. We spoke with her briefly about the lessons we had planned for today. Originally we were told that we could do our lessons between recess and lunch time. However, The teacher said that her class is already in a routine of doing Mathematics before recess and she would like us to do our Mathematics lesson early. I was displeased with this sudden change of plans (and you may recall how much I detest change), but I did not protest. I recognized she was the class teacher and I respected her as such. We therefore asked her to allow us to use the last half an hour before recess as we were still waiting for the projector from the secretary. The class teacher agreed to this arrangement.

My partner and I left the class to see if the projector and/or the Principal was available. We were still unable to meet with the Principal, but we got our projector; my partner had called the day before to request its use. When we returned to the class, the teacher was telling the students a story. We sat quietly at the back and listened. The story is not one I was familiar with, but I admired the way the teacher allowed the class to discuss the pictures in the story and any other point they wished to contribute.

While I appreciated the teacher’s delivery, I could not  help but notice that “our” time was now going. We sat and  waited for the teacher to begin to wrap up her story, however, she seemed to be in no hurry. When she finally turned over to us, we only had ten minutes before recess. I thought to myself, “She had to be crazy!!!” But again, I maintained a calm head and professional disposition. I reminded her that we needed twenty five minutes for our lesson and that we only have ten minutes remaining. She stated that we could just "run through" the lesson and leave out some things. At this point I reminded her that that was not the agreement and I would prefer to have the full time to teach the lesson. She then told us to start the lesson and we would continue after recess.  I did not like this arrangement either, but we agreed because we were trying to respect the teacher’s authority in the class.

 My partner tried to set up the projector while I tried to settle the class to begin the lesson. There were extra students from another class with us that day. The class felt overcrowded and chaotic. It was difficult for me to figure out what was the arrangement of the tables. There was no proper structure. This was also something I had to deal with internally. I like to see order. I felt claustrophobic standing in the midst of those disarranged furniture, however, I did not know how to fix it without eroding the few minutes I had.

 We did our set induction and Teaching point 1, then paused for recess. I took this opportunity to arrange the furniture in a more structured manner.  Through out the recess period we realized that we had not explored the logistics of where and how the projector would be set up. We had great difficulty in trying to find a suitable place in the classroom to use it. Cleary this was an oversight on our part. We were also inhibited because we did not have an extension cord, or a proper place to rest the projector. Thankfully, we were able to work out a compromise, however, using a projector in our assigned classroom was not a very wise idea.

The students returned from recess and we continued with our lesson. My partner and I were accustomed to taking turns in peer teaching, however, our lecturer does not believe in that approach. I tried to communicate this to my partner as best as I could, however, she seemed unable to break from the old habit. This caused me to be concerned as I felt she could have been more involved when I was giving an instruction. I tried to incorporate her more, however, she did not always hold out with me. However, I thoroughly enjoy working with her because she always works hard and she genuinely cares about the students’ well being.

Dealing with extra students in the class created challenges as well. I was very pleased that I listened to the “small voice in my head” which told me to prepare extra copies  for each activity. The extra resources that  I prepared were just sufficient to provide for the additional students. The class was also very unsettled, they seemed to be accustomed to an environment  of noise. They displayed a certain level of rowdiness both with us and with their class teacher. The students  had a habit of having several books out at one time, and doing other activities such as colouring while they are being taught another subject. My partner and I tried to discourage this practice, however, we were met with great opposition by the students.  Yet, we were able to stand our ground. At the end of  the day, my partner and I discussed these traits of the class and we agreed to try other approaches to improve our classroom  management skills.

Sticking to the time frame was very important for me. I became a bit anxious when my partner seemed to be callous where time was concerned; hence, we went over the time limit. I resolved within myself to not allow this to happen again. We were also robbed of time when a teacher walked in  the class in the middle of our lesson and began openly discussing trivial things.  I was appalled at the timing. I recognized, however, that situations like these are to be expected and that I need to avoid stressing over every minute detail.  While I desire for everything to be perfect and in order, I myself am far from perfect.

In this lesson I also learnt how easy it is for miscommunication to occur. My partner and I met to plan our lesson, we walked through it together at a later time, and we rehearsed it a final time on our way to school. Imagine my surprise when I saw her doing something different to what we had agreed upon. I tried to steer her back on course in a way that did not seem obvious, but I was unable to bring her back. I couldn’t understand how or why she would have done something like that. However, when I later spoke to her, I understood how the activity could have been misinterpreted by her. The conclusion of that scenario is that my partner’s idea was also a very good one and she was still able to achieve the objective. I am glad I did not interrupt her because I think her interpretation of the teaching point was more engaging than what I had in mind.

The students enjoyed the collage activity at the end of the lesson and I was pleasantly surprised to see the type of creativity displayed by them.

On set back we experienced while teaching is that we did not remember many of the students' names. Name cards would have helped us greatly, so we decided to have some available for our next field teaching practice.