Reflection 2

Last week at school was Marcellin Champagnat week – an opportunity for the different years to enjoy a week of team-building, educational and religious activities outside of the school setting. While Years 7 and 9 were on camp, the other year groups partook in various other activities and outings.  The boys were excited about this week as it was an opportunity for them to get out of the classroom and have some fun with their peers. I was assigned to be with Year 8 for this week, who were spending the first two days of the week in normal classes and then the last part of the week at a local park playing sports and partaking in team-building/religious activities.

I was quite happy being assigned with Year 8 as it would allow me the opportunity to communicate with the boys in my class outside of the four walls of the classroom. Watching the boys interact with each other outside of the school setting was an intriguing experience I was glad to have. I was also completely surprised by the amount of constant energy boys seem to posses – they never seem to tire! 

 

The week also allowed the boys to see me in a different setting and fun environment.  I do feel as a result of this week’s interaction I have a better understanding of the boys, and behaviour and learning back in the classroom setting have improved rather significantly (Element 2).

It was also from this week onwards that I really felt a part of the teaching staff at the school. It gave me the opportunity to interact with the staff in a different more relaxed setting and it was also a good opportunity for the staff to get to know me. In terms of staff relationships and involvement I feel this week was a very beneficial one for me (Element 7).

Not only was this week beneficial in the sense of relationships, it also allowed me the opportunity to see a number of different schooling issues occur – including bullying. Bullying is not something I have had much experience with. I was never bullied at school and had never seen it occurring on any of my previous practicums. However, in this instance some of the Year 8 boys had discovered a ‘pet name’ that one of the boy’s was called by his mother in private and were taunting him constantly about this. Eventually the boy ended up in tears and the teachers found out what was occurring. This was certainly a learning experience for me, seeing how the teachers dealt with the situation and the protocol that was to follow. It was also a reminder for me that bullying does occur and can anywhere and anytime, even in the most innocent of settings.

I also found that in the more casual setting of the week some of the boys became more curious about who I was, my age, my interests etc. In this situation I really found myself considering what was appropriate and what was not. I believe there has to be a good balance between the information you share with students – while it would certainly not be appropriate to share certain things about one’s life, little interests that the students could relate to will most likely build rapport and respect with the students. Teachers may represent a combination of parent and peer; they must be both and not purely either one. If they are entirely a peer, a teacher cannot represent the advanced level toward which the students are striving but if the teacher is very parental, it is difficult for both of teacher and student to overcome the generational differences (Michael Plaut, 2009).

I found however, that once I divulged one piece of information, they wanted to know more. Although their questions were only innocent I felt the situation may get out of hand if I didn’t put a stop to it. As a result, for the last day or so I was very reserved, kept my ‘teacher face’ on at all times and did not answer any more questions. I certainly did not want this continuing on once we were back in the classroom. While this week in class there have been a few random questions about my life, I explained that it was inappropriate to ask such questions in a way that the boys could understand. After this, the boys seem to have retired their detective hats and settled back into the classroom nicely – the appropriate barrier between teacher and student has been established once again.

Thanks for reading!

Sarah.

This blog holds reference to the following elements: 2,3,4,7.

Reference:

Plaut, Michael  S., Ph.D. Boundary Issues in Teacher-Student Relationships.2009. http://www.advocateweb.org/home.php?page_id=79 (accessed: 18/8/10)

Reflection 1

This reflective blog is going to look at one of those little ‘teaching life lessons’ that should come as an obvious, but it’s not until you are thrown into an unknown situation that you come to realise you really should have thought of it before hand! So in order to share this experience with you I will attempt to critically reflect on my experience and consider ways in which I could improve my teaching practice – which in this case shouldn’t be too hard!

It was the first day of my prac, it was period 1 and it was my first time with Year10.3, the lower ability Geography class. I had spent the Sunday planning my lessons, making sure that all aspects were covered in order to produce a successful lesson. As a result I was relatively confident i n my preparedness and was sure that I could pull this first lesson off without any major hurdles – I was wrong.

Problem 1: I was not 100% confident with the content I had to teach that lesson (Element 1). I knew what I had to know for the success of the lesson but was still a bit scratchy on the broader information of the topic.

Problem 2: A tightly structured lesson is helpful but only if what you have planned can actually be implemented in the classroom. I had organised a large bulk of the lesson referring to the class GeoActive Textbook. The students were to use the maps, images and graphs to complete worksheets and other various activities. Here lies my biggest problem – ONE student out of the TWENTY in the class actually had his textbook…

With only one textbook in the classroom this wasn’t just a matter of sharing one between two and simply cutting out one activity –  this was a matter of not being able to use the textbook AT ALL and not being able to use the bulk of my tightly structured lesson plan… AT ALL! Improvisation came into play here but when you are not 100% confident with the content you are teaching and your standing up in front of 20 Year 10 boys for the first time, it is a pretty daunting situation.  I managed to get through 40 minutes of the lesson but then had nothing else I could think of to do with the boys for the remaining 10 mintues. Feeling a bit like a failure, I actually ended up asking my college teacher to finish the last 10 minutes of the lesson for me (which he was more than happy to do). Looking back on this situation I know I was too harsh on myself and if the situation arose again I could most likely deal with it, but it was all so new and I was so nervous, so that is how it happened.

As a result of this experience I have learnt the undeniable importance of having a BACKUP PLAN for every lesson I enter into! Through the outcome of this lesson I have also come to realise the importance of constant development in rapport building, organisation and especially successfully dealing with the change processes (Lieberman, Saxl and Miles, 1998). (Element 6)

Although at the time this lesson was extremely painful for me, I am glad that it turned out the way it did. I am now a great deal more aware of the realities and unpredicibility of teaching and , once again, of having a back-up plan… something I will surely not forget in a hurry!

LESSON : ALWAYS HAVE A BACK UP PLAN !!

OH, and this is also probably a good thing to remember:

Thanks for reading,

See you next time!

Sarah.

This blog holds reference to the following elements: 3,6.

Reference:

Gehrke, Nathalie. ‘Developing Teachers’ Leadership Skills. 1991. http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9219/skills.htm (accessed 19/8/10)