Wednesday, 12 March 2014

3RD VISIT

3rd Visit

12-03-2014


Today the day started with the morning prayer occurring in the neighboring church. There was no mass today but all students went in the church to do the Rosary.

My partner and I did our Language Arts lesson on Rhymes in the morning period for our lecturer to observe. The lesson was well portrayed, I really enjoyed teaching this lesson. The students were well engaged and were excited and wanting to learn more. I enjoyed doing the activity with the students most (building the Rhyming Word tree). I would say if I have to teach this lesson again I would not change any of my content but rather the grouping of the students to work together before the lesson is taught and having a bigger tree with more words.

However, in the evening we taught the Adjective lesson, this lesson was the total opposite to that which was taught in the morning period. The students took a longer period to settle and the lesson was interrupted to deal with classroom management issues. The lesson was also interrupted with issues in the school as a whole (preparing for school supervisors). If I had to teach this lesson again I would definitely do it in the morning period where the students are not so uneasy. Additionally, I would use more hands on activities to engage the students. I enjoyed the students working in groups together to gather as much adjectives as possible, they were very competitive and anxious.

Overall, the day went well and both lessons delivered the objectives were achieved and the cooperating teacher enjoyed both. The students also commented us about the lessons and could not wait for our next time. Our lecturer also enjoyed our lesson and he told us we were great, objectives were achieved and it was one of the best lessons he have ever seen (students were well engaged at all times).

:D

Saturday, 8 March 2014


2nd VISIT

5-03-2014

Today was Ash Wednesday and the school I was assigned to is a Roman Catholic school hence there was a significant period spent in the church next door. the day started with all the students attending mass in the neighboring church hosted by the priest. 

Then we went back to our respective classes, in my class there were four students. The cooperating teacher told us that because of the small number it would not be ideal to teach the lessons that we had planned. Hence we just sat all day and got to know the four students a little better and also got some insights from their cooperating teacher. 

My partner and I planned to teach the lessons on Pictograph and Habitat. We made charts for the pictograph lesson and also models of the land and sea habitat. However, even though the lessons were not taught formally to the students present, they still observed and got an idea of what was planned.     


Sunday, 23 February 2014

1ST VISIT- FIELD OBSERVATION DAY

19-02-2014

I went to the South Oropouche Roman Catholic school along with 5 of my colleagues. I arrived at the school approximately 8:00 am and was directed to the computer room by the security officer whom was quite pleasant. When school began we all participated in the school's morning assemble which included national anthem, pledge, school's prayer and then a hymn. the principal was absent so the Head Teacher introduced us to the student body and told them about our stay at their school as well as the duration. 

We all then went up to the principal's office and there we discussed what information we needed as well as the classes which will be assigned to. My partner Amanda and I was placed into a standard 1 class. There  are 17 students, 10 boys and 7 girls. The classrooms were very small and separated by blackboards, there was hardly any space to accommodate us in the classroom. I observed that the teacher has to be able to speak loudly and clearly in order for her students hear while teaching because of the noise level in the school. I found that the students were easily distracted and that once they are finished with their assigned task they would start drawing. We were directed to use more hands on activities when delivering our lessons to keep the students engaged at all times. We also got all the subject areas and topics that the teacher would like us to teach. The secretary assisted us with some of the general school information as well as 2 of the senior teachers. 

Overall the day passed great but long. We got all the necessary information that we needed and the staff  at the school was very helpful and genuine.