Life of A Teacher - Reflection

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

The days in Life of a teacher were fun, exciting, insightful and challenging however it gave me experience and a taste of what teaching a class of my own will be like when I become a full time teacher. In my "Life of a teacher" days I had to take over all responsibilities of my mentor which including duties from the classroom register right up till letting them out of the school gates when it was time to go home. In all honesty before teaching a day in the life of a teacher I was nervous but not scared, I would say I was more eager because prior to my days I would pick up on the way my teacher taught and ran her classroom so I felt slightly prepared. I have had experience teaching an entire classroom on my own and being thrown into "deep end" situations so I was ready to take on this challenge. After completing my first day in the life of a teacher I felt like I could do more than just the 3 days which I got the chance to do as my mentor teacher was busy most of them time and left me in charge. I realized that in teaching every day is different and will not be the same as we are faced with different or similar challenges on the daily and the super power of a teacher is knowing how to navigate and deal with challenges and situations like that. Teaching these 3 days made me more confident, proficient and ready for the real world of teaching. I cam to the realization of how competent I am and how I am ready to take the next step. In teaching within those 3 days I came across behavioral, language, work ethic and time management challenges which I unpacked and dealt with individually. I learnt how to deal with the behavior's of certain learners and how to enhance certain aspects of lessons to accommodate learners struggling with understanding and language. One of the important aspects was managing my time because in the beginning I would always go over time or give learners to much of lenience which I know realized only spoilt them more. They need to be given strict time limits to work on the activities for certain subjects and I have adapted so well to this concept as I started creating time management strategies in the classroom when I taught. I've also come to realize that not everything will go according to plan in the classroom and that we need to adapt and become flexible in that environment because sometimes we are faced with certain obstacles like timetable changes, concert practices, PE times changing and we will have to adapt and work around those obstacles but still maintain the mindset to get things done as needed.

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

Assuming the role of a teacher in Block 1, I was anxious to teach her lessons because I was concerned that I would not do so in the same manner as she would. I was worried about introducing and teaching certain concepts my way and the way know and learnt it but I tried to remain positive and cross bridges when I get to them. I asked a lot of questions and made sure if what I was doing was in the correct manner because their were a few times where she did make me feel undermined and doubtful in my capabilities. When I came back in Block 2 and took on her responsibilities I felt like I needed no introduction to the concept of what was needed of me, all I needed to know is what changes have been made since the last time and then I will adapt to that. In block 2 my mentor teacher was very busy as she is acting HOD so when I had told her I would have to assume some of her admin duties she did refuse me and said I could not do that because I am not qualified yet which I felt was disheartening and demotivating because how else was I supposed to gain experience or learn. Teaching her lesson in block 2 I felt confident and competent as I knew what I was doing. I took the initiative to get the weekly plans and looked at what was needed to be taught everyday which was helpful for me. I would bring extra resources and expand on knowledge for certain topics during discussion periods in the lesson but I would constantly have to run it by my mentor teacher which was slightly frustrating because I felt like she was not allowing me to thrive on my own abilities at some points. I took it all with a pinch of salt and still maintained a positive and respectful mindset towards her as it was her classroom. Overall on these 3 days of life of a teacher I felt super ready as if I have been teaching for over a year and that feeling boosted my confidence and enthusiasm making me more eager to be a teacher.

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

For me the most challenging activities were PE and having loadshedding. PE was a challenge for me because the learner go into hyper mode and get overly excited making them much harder to control. Sometimes the PE schedule would change due to the senior phase kids writing so the whole thing becomes off and I had to change thing around and swap things here and there which definitely taught me the importance of being flexible and adapting to obstacles and abrupt changes. I overcame this challenge by taking a deep breathe and not over thinking the situation, I laid out ground rules for them that if they misbehave and do not listen their PE time will be taken away. With the timetable changing I adapted and changed certain lesson around for example moving my English lesson to the slot before PE so that the times will not clash or go over. The loadshedding was definitely one of the bigger challenges because it would set us back with work. Due to no electricity the printers weren't working so the worksheets for the subject were not printed in time, there was also issues with the printer itself. Most of the work for the learners is done on a projector and smart board so without electricity it was difficult because the classroom has only one board. To overcome the printing challenge I would swap around the work schedule for example if it were Monday I would swap the Maths work for Monday with Thursday because Thursday's Maths is not a worksheet it is a written activity in their books. With the projector challenge I would right the work out on the board piece by piece for them to copy down into their books, it took a lot longer because they only have 1 board to write on but it got the job done. I also checked the loadshedding schedule and made prior arrangements to swap some things around or to get the most important work done whilst we still had lights and did the easier less challenging content later on in the day. These challenges taught me flexibility, adaptability and resilience.

Analyse your results of your self- evaluation survey where would you rate yourself higher?

After analysis of my self-evaluation that I completed before I started Block 1 teaching experience, I have come to the realization that I thought highly of myself and my capabilities because I gave myself moderately high ratings in certain areas, however it shows clearly through and through now how I have evolved and can definitely rate myself higher than the high I gave myself previously.

• Teachers have a sound subject knowledge. - Distinguished

• Teachers know how to teach their subjects and how to select, determine the sequence, and pace content according to learners needs. -Distinguished

• Teachers know who their learners are, how they learn, their individual needs and teach accordingly. - Distinguished (I pick up on names and learner profiles very quickly).

• Teachers must know how to communicate effectively in general as well as in relation to their subjects. - Distinguished

• Teachers must have highly developed literacy, numeracy, and IT skills. -Proficient

• Teachers must be knowledgeable about the school curriculum and be able to unpack specialized content while using resources appropriately. -Distinguished

• Teachers must understand diversity in the South African context in order to teach in a manner that is inclusive to all learners.- Distinguished

• Teachers must be able to manage classrooms effectively.- Distinguished

• Teachers must be able to assess learners in various way and use results of assessments to improve teaching and learning- Distinguished

• Teachers must have a positive work ethic and correct values. - Distinguished

• Teachers can reflect critically in conjunction with professional community of colleagues on their own practice to improve. Distinguished

Justify how you have improved these competencies through this experience.

Through this experience I have improved my teacher competencies through practice and engagement in my 5 weeks at the school. I noticed the more tasks, duties and responsibilities I was given it helped me develop the competencies and gain so much experience. Through the lessons I taught it enhanced my communication skills and taught me how to adapt to learners with different learning needs as well as how to teach the curriculum with a full set of resources and a limited amount of resources. Experiencing day in life of a teacher has prepared me and allowed me to improve on my capabilities which benefits me in the future.

Look at the exit level outcomes and the final comments of your mentor teacher in your School Assessment Log & Report. Compare this to the initial self -evaluation you had completed at the beginning of your teaching experience.

Looking at the comments and exit level outcomes from my mentor teacher it did match certain areas of how I had already rated myself however I do feel like I have improved efficiently. In all honesty I did struggle with her as my mentor teacher because she would barely give me any feedback and she did not write comments in detail so I would not know exactly how she felt about me. The way she treated me in the classroom was very different to her comments and marks given to me as she would not give me good remarks in the classroom but she would give me good comments here and there. There were times where she made me feel incompetent and there was times where she did not so it is a bit difficult to reflect on that. Overall I am grateful for the experience cause it has taught me so much and I will remain the confident worthful self that I have become.