After being confronted by Jan at my tutorial on Tuesday, "Why aren't we teaching?" I began to question myself. Is it because the program says we don't need to teach until day 4 of prac.? Am I not ready? Do I have the skills? Have I learnt enough? Can I cope? Can I control the class? Mostly can I teach? I decided to step up to the challenge and teach. When I arrived at prac. yesterday I explained to my teacher that I was ready to teach and had prepared a lesson for the class on reading comprehension using the NSW English syllabus. (Board of Studies) The teacher was very enthusiastic for me to take the class and we sat down and allocated class time for me to teach today. The structure of the days work was the same format as previous prac days and I felt very comfortable stepping in and teaching the class.
The NSW institute of Teachers' Professional Teaching elements requires "teachers knowing their subject content and how to teach that content to their students". The lesson I was taking was reading comprehension and I had planned the lesson the day before and was very confident with teaching it. It is also important to "know the students and how they learn". (NSW Institute of teachers) In previous prac days, I had observed various student behaviours and the way the teacher handled early finishers, disruptive students, changed programs, arrival of new students, sick students, slow learners, I felt this helped my understanding about classroom management and the best ways to teach this class. I enjoyed teaching the students and the teacher's feedback was mainly positive although when I made a mistake and apologised to the students which was a sign of weakness to the students. It is more important to realise the mistake and then correct it as the students will just accept the correction. Lower voice tone and holding the big book forward are other areas I need to be aware of.
The teacher ask if I knew how to play French cricket and could I teach the students. I knew the students found it hard to focus after lunch and began thinking how I was going to keep the students on task. I needed to be very clear and concise with instructions and took time explaining to the rules to the students before we ventured outside. All the students participated with great enthusiasm. When the enthusiasm began to get out of control I would sit the students down and bring them back on task.
One teaching strategy I learnt yesterday is that I need to learn how to write on the Whiteboard using Foundation hand writing. The teacher needs to lead by example and ensure all writing on the Whiteboard is consistent with Foundation hand writing. This teaching strategy will help the students with their hand writing. I did not even give this a thought until the teacher asked me to write on the whiteboard. As you can see from the photo below I am going to need a lot of practice.
Reflecting back I can see many things that I need to improve and would do differently and this is all a part of growing as a teacher. Pollard (as cited in Hinde-Mcleiod,j. & Reynolds,R.) "Planning through reflection involves constant self appraisal in situations which are constantly in a state of flux and where there can be no definitive answer to problems posed. It requires attitudes to open-mindedness, responsibilities and wholeheartedness."
References
Board of Studies NSW (2007) "English K-6 syllabus" Sydney. Board of studies.
Hinde-McLeod,J.& Reynolds,R. (2007) Planning through Reflection. In Quality Teaching for Quality Learning: Planning through Reflection, (p.96-113) Thomson Social Science Press.
NSW Institute of teachers. (2010). "Professional teaching standards" Retrieved from http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards/
The NSW institute of Teachers' Professional Teaching elements requires "teachers knowing their subject content and how to teach that content to their students". The lesson I was taking was reading comprehension and I had planned the lesson the day before and was very confident with teaching it. It is also important to "know the students and how they learn". (NSW Institute of teachers) In previous prac days, I had observed various student behaviours and the way the teacher handled early finishers, disruptive students, changed programs, arrival of new students, sick students, slow learners, I felt this helped my understanding about classroom management and the best ways to teach this class. I enjoyed teaching the students and the teacher's feedback was mainly positive although when I made a mistake and apologised to the students which was a sign of weakness to the students. It is more important to realise the mistake and then correct it as the students will just accept the correction. Lower voice tone and holding the big book forward are other areas I need to be aware of.
The teacher ask if I knew how to play French cricket and could I teach the students. I knew the students found it hard to focus after lunch and began thinking how I was going to keep the students on task. I needed to be very clear and concise with instructions and took time explaining to the rules to the students before we ventured outside. All the students participated with great enthusiasm. When the enthusiasm began to get out of control I would sit the students down and bring them back on task.
One teaching strategy I learnt yesterday is that I need to learn how to write on the Whiteboard using Foundation hand writing. The teacher needs to lead by example and ensure all writing on the Whiteboard is consistent with Foundation hand writing. This teaching strategy will help the students with their hand writing. I did not even give this a thought until the teacher asked me to write on the whiteboard. As you can see from the photo below I am going to need a lot of practice.
Cursa Foundation Writing
References
Board of Studies NSW (2007) "English K-6 syllabus" Sydney. Board of studies.
Hinde-McLeod,J.& Reynolds,R. (2007) Planning through Reflection. In Quality Teaching for Quality Learning: Planning through Reflection, (p.96-113) Thomson Social Science Press.
NSW Institute of teachers. (2010). "Professional teaching standards" Retrieved from http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards/
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