LIFE AS A TEACHER REFLECTION

How did I cope/manage completing the three days of “Life of a Teacher”

Upon reflecting on my 3 days in life as a teacher, I coped quite well, with mostly positive experiences. Other than the huge workload and administration duties, it was extremely fulfilling.

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How did I feel taking on all the responsibilities of a teacher in Block 1 compared to Block 2?

I found Block 2 responsibilities easier to manage when compared to Block 1, since I had previous experience in dealing with break time duties, and taught Afrikaans, Life Skills, and English to Grade 7 and 4 learners. I also dealt with relief periods due to other teachers’ absenteeism, which I found easier to manage. I also dealt with admin duties in the office having to print out a lot of worksheets, as well as the marking of a lot of books and scripts.

Block 1 on the other hand dealt with a lot of administration work, dealing with sports registration documents for learners wanting to register to play football, volleyball, cricket, and chess. I also found officiating a bit challenging as it was my first experience in terms of dealing with such a big responsibility.

 

Which activities did I find most challenging? How did I overcome these challenges?

The activity which I found the most challenging was in teaching the subject of Afrikaans. This was because most of the learners did not speak Afrikaans as their mother tongue and they were finding it difficult to understand as they were dealing with what from their perspective, seemed like a foreign language that they were not keen on learning.

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I will overcome this challenge by making the subject of Afrikaans as easy as possible for them by making use of their home language English to teach them Afrikaans to ensure a better understanding and do it in a more fun way by introducing visuals and games, any other means to help hook them in. It is about changing their negative attitude towards the language of Afrikaans which is the root cause of their difficulties. If I can manage to get them more confident and involved in the lesson, then they will take to Afrikaans in a much more productive way.

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Analysing the results of my self-evaluation survey.

I would rate the results of my self-evaluation as mostly proficient, with room for improvement in all aspects. Any teacher or an expert in their field always has room for improvement! We all have strengths and weaknesses but in terms of work ethic and managing classrooms effectively, I feel that these are two priority ratings that one needs to be distinguished in, as they are so important in terms of everything else.

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How I have improved these competencies through this experience.

I have improved these competencies by prioritizing attendance and punctuality, which is critical for the benefit of all learners. Through my own personal experience, I have found that learners tend to pick up such habits from adults, and so to make certain that I am there every single day and on time, is a positive trait that the learners can absorb and inculcate into their own lifestyle. I also improved these competencies by respecting children and not belittling or threatening them as many old-school teachers have done over the years. Modern learners require modern methods and our way of dealing with them needs to be adjusted.

 

The benefit of this initiative to the school and commenting on its sustainability.

Like my self-evaluation, the mentor teacher also suggested that my classroom management needs improvement and suggested that experience will stand me in good stead in making this step up.

My Lesson plans can also be improved with more importance attached to it. According to my mentor, our evaluations for everything else pretty much matched and that can be viewed as a positive. In conclusion, what can be improved is my classroom management techniques and lesson plans, which I fully intend to do just that!