absolutwillie

Tag: academia

  • Roaring misery

    I had to raise my voice at a class today. Roared rather. It was a last resort, and it worked, but I hated doing it. To tell the truth, it upset me enough to spoil lunch. (Nothing ever spoils my meals.)

    The thing is, I take issue with disrespect. And today seemed to’ve been the day for it.
    The Matric class that brought me to roaring-point got me there by blatantly disrespecting one of my colleagues, who was doing her level best to keep their work as fun and light-hearted as possible. No matter how much she asked for their cooperation – or just to keep it down – the kids acted as if she wasn’t even there. Even less so that the other observing student-teacher and I were there as wel.
    So I roared. And it worked.
    But I hated doing it.
    Little did I know that the undercurrent of disrespect had only started manifesting.
    We were asked to invigilate at the Gr. 12’s final exam (paper 3) in Afrikaans after school. All went well, until a member of staff and Gr.12 accomplice decided to throw a bomb-cracker down the corridor where the paper was being written. I happened to be standing in the corridor at the time. The bomb-cracker went off right behind me, and when I looked around I saw the culprits tearing up with laughter. Such blatant disrespect for the other students, the exam and the invigilators (not counting my stinging ears) struck me dumb. And from faculty!?
    Apparently it’s that teacher’s “thing”.
    Everyone looks the other way.
    I can not see myself associated with any school where this sort of thing is accepted.

  • A week in review, take 2

    This second week seems to have gone by a lot faster than the first week. I suspect it might feel this way because we are being given more responsibility, both during and after school, and we are being exposed to more classes.

    The novelty of our placement has passed, and we are beginning to buckle down and work a lot harder. They say it takes new teachers 3 years to find their feet in a school – I suspect it takes student teachers 3 weeks to come to grips with everything that is expected of them.
    I will admit to a certain sense of apprehension concerning all the paperwork that needs to go into the portfolio for University. Especially worrying, is wether or not I’m doing the evaluations right (lessons are really reviewing opportunities for test/exam preparations), and how I’m going to manage to present the required amount of lessons in each of my subjects. At least I’ve managed to work out a timetable that focuses mainly on my subjects – but also allows for taking in other classes. And what a timeous achievement that turned out to be, as I’ve been asked to take over some of a staff-member’s classes, who is going on tour with the school orchestra this week. Hopefully I’ll get more lesson plans prepared, presented, critiqued and signed off!

  • Free Friday

    My day in front of the Professors is drawing near, and my nerves are starting to hint at a translucent film of concern that is growing ever more opaque. Pinning down periods, classes and venues is turning out to be a lot more complicated than seems necessary. I work in hope though!

    I picked up some great ideas in my English classes today. Even when I was asked to supervise a class who’s teacher was absent – I realized what a great additional (if informal) learning opportunity it could be! The class was very open to discussion, and we ended up having a great forum on the importance and role of language, comprehension and subjects like Life Orientation in preparing young people for life in the world outside their classes, homes and even countries.
    I live for this!

  • For the love of our children

    Today just blew my heart wide open…
    My Grade 8 learners (similes-and-metaphors class the day before yesterday) read the poems they wrote aloud in class today. Each and every one of them – even the shy and immovable ones! And boy did they write the most amazing little pieces!! Each tiny poem crept straight into my heart.
    And then came one about me, and it was so sweet I welled up like the Titanic. The second one about me nearly had me crying with joy!
    I just wanted to hug each and every one of those shining, joyful little souls.
    (EFAL learners, so forgive all the errors and see the intent.)

  • Sharing is Caring

    I love conversations. I love having them around the dining table, on bicycles, in busses, at home and with friends. I also adore having conversations with learners. And this, I feel, is a good thing in subjects like Life Orientation.

    The problem with class conversations, is time. As time flies when you’re having fun, it does while I’m working. I just need to be careful that time doesn’t  run out mid-lesson! Now thankfully I usually finish on time, but on occasion we tend to hit gold in our class discussions, and following that vein to where it leads – hitting “flow” as a group – can steer you way off course as far as your lesson plan is concerned. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, in my humble opinion – on the contrary – but it devours time like nothing.
    Today I hit such a vein in my L.O. crit class, and while I’m certain that my mentor enjoyed the class immensely, I do worry that I didn’t do enough. Part of this worry comes from the deviation from the lesson plan (that is critiqued as part of the whole) and part of it has to do with how much I want these kids to learn something about themselves. I just want to take the time to know that each of them finds joy in themselves, that they learn to accept themselves and others as the wonderful creatures they are, and that they fall back in love with the beauty of life.
    Usually we can only hope that some little thing we try in class ends up helping somewhere. When you strike gold though, and you can see those souls shining, it’s a drug that fills the entire room. That is when magic happens all around you. And that is why I love what I do.

  • Subject advisors in the continuous tense

    English came first today.

    I started off with the 8E class that I had to present on poetry (similes and metaphors), then got commandeered to substitute Gr.10 and 11 classes in language revisions (concords etc.) while their teachers were with the departmental subject advisor (“inspection”-ish). Although I prepared some really amazing media for the class – I was met with a total technology “fail” at the start of the lesson. None of the electronics were responding as they should, so I switched gears and took to the blackboard. I must admit to being a touch on the flustered side of the spectrum – and that old survival habits ( blabbering on) kicked in to compensate.
    The truth is, my preparation was not up to the task. I had put everything together with such a fixed vision of how the class would go, that I very nearly didn’t find the resolve to go on when things went awry. I’m not convinced that the Gr. 8 class learnt the concepts and definitions all that well. In retrospect, I should have spent more time on the definitions of and differences between similes and metaphors.
     Planning is essential – and one should try to plan for all sorts of eventualities!

  • Running on the spot

    There honestly is barely enough time in a day to do everything I’d like to do. Observing lessons in each subject, in each grade, and trying to prepare my weekly lessons is proving to be rather challenging – admittedly a large part of the challenge is trying to get a grip on the school’s timetable and all the relevant teachers’ schedules and extracurricular activities.

    But the more you do – the more you can do! (Although this s also only true within limits. Something I have to be careful not to forget.)
    At today’s Eisteddfod rehearsals my Mentor informed me that the Deputy Principal has tasked me with organizing an assembly program (showcasing the Eisteddfod work) for the week after next’s hall assembly. It’s an entire stage production, with items to be selected and staged, programs to be developed and orchestrated, lighting, music… It’s going to be fun – and a bucketload of work. I asked my colleague (Mr. Van Huyssteen) during tonight’s orchestra rehearsal if he would like to help me out. Thankfully he is pretty amped to participate!
    Good people make all the difference.
    Speaking of good people, my colleagues and I have been thinking about additional ways that we could extend a helping hand to the school. When we compared notes this afternoon – I suggested we consider a voluntary evening class in “test-taking techniques”. Under this umbrella, we could lump all our experience and expertise together, and hopefully help participating learners improve in various aspects of their work simultaneously. I intend to discuss the idea with the Deputy Principal (our liaison member of staff) in the morning.
    The morning… it’s already here, and I need to get up early to finalize a lesson plan. Possibly to type up an additional presentation as well…
    (it seems my broadband provider is experiencing serious technical difficulties… I’ll try and publish this post at 5am, when I get up again.)
    Happy half-past midnight!
    Catch you later.

  • A week in review

    The first week at HTS Drostdy was dedicated to the orientation of the visiting Stellenbosch students. Having been assigned mentors for each of our specializations was exciting to most, and less so for some. I was extremely fortunate to be assigned to Mrs Lambrechts for English ( EFAL) – who also steered extracurricular activities relatd to the arts. I was also afforded the great honour to be assigned to Mr. De Lange – the Senior Deputy Head of the School – for Life Orientation.

    Focusing on Eglish lesson allocations for the term were more successful than those for L.O. That being said, it has to be noted that I was only allocated one English lesson during the first week, and two during the second. Thankfully, the first was critiqued by my mentor, which fills me with hope that I will make my required number of critiqued lessons in English. I hope to be allowed to be more involved next week!
    In L.O. I was only assigned one lesson for next week. At first I was a bit demotivated by this, but being able to observe a week of Mr. De Lange’s classes turned out to be immensely valuable! Experiencing how this subject was handled in practice cleared up a lot of my questions and concerns. On Friday, I managed to schedule a meeting with Mr. De Lange, where he informed me that he was going to depend on me a lot during the coming weeks, as his other duties promised to take up a lot of his time. I was both excited and concerned about this, as it meant that I would be allowed to be allowed to dive into the curriculum quite extensively. My concern, however, is that my mentor in L.O. might not be able to critique the required 8 lessons. Perhaps I could arrange for other teachers to observe my lessons?
    Colour me nervous.
    As far as extra-curricular activities were concerned I hit the proverbial jackpot! I was invited to join Mrs. Lambrechts’ activities, and welcomed to join in with the School Orchestra as well as the School Newspaper: Die Aambeeld.
    Overall, I am extremely excited about the coming term!

  • Opportunity knocks

    I had to be a bit of a policeman today, when one of my colleagues came in late, and stomped his way across the staff room in the middle of morning prayer. As visitors to the school and representatives of our University, it is expected that we respect the traditions and values of our hosts whilst maintaining a professional attitude and demeanor. In this case, habitual tardiness has developed into disrespectful nonchalance. Having addressed the issue of tardiness in a friendly manner before, with no effect, I stepped it up to a stern talking-to. Here’s hoping for improvement tomorrow.

    I got to sit in on some other English classes today, and was delighted to see a class of 10th Graders fully immersed in poetry! Especially the jocks! There is hope for the future!! That particular teacher invited me to sit in on one of her Matric classes tomorrow. Woohoo!!
    In one of my English Mentor’s classes, whilst working through a memorandum with the class, I was surprised (delighted) at the large extent of participation, and positive attitude I received from the learners. I’ve seen these kids in action before, and generally one would be tempted to label them as a tough crowd. There is no way that I can claim this as a feather in my cap, as I am by no means a super teacher (yet). I do suspect that getting a “clean slate” in class, with the chance to be viewed through a stranger’s perspective, motivated some of the “more difficult” learners to sit up and try harder.
    Four days into the first week of our school visit later, I finally got a chance to sit in on a Life Orientation class! Some of the learners in that class were faces I remembered from the Eisteddfod. I might have a shot here! If I can get to know at least some of the learners outside the classroom, I might be able to present successful lessons to this class. 
    Colour me surprised when the Eisteddfod kids asked me wether or not I would come watch them again tonight. Obviously I couldn’t say no – and despite all the protestations my body could come up with after lunch, I went back to the Eisteddfod. And boy am I glad I did!! At the venue, I was surprised to find several learners from my English classes – including some of the roguish boys! And when I saw how their eyes lit up when I walked in, something clicked. The mere act of me showing up meant something to these kids. Instant connections were being made left, right and center, and I experienced a sense of alchemical transfiguration.
    I wonder what tomorrow will be like?

  • Winded

    Today was a bit on the (very) long side, but my work paid off! My Mentor awarded me a distinction for my work with the Grade 8s, I managed to wrap up most of the day’s admin (despite teachers being off-campus or out of town for a while) and I got to see the students from  Monday perform in the Eisteddfod!

      The Eisteddfod kept me off-campus until after dinner, but it was worth it! 
      Bugger. I would like to write more, but I’m battered and falling asleep as I type. For fear of dropping something expensive, I’d better turn in now.
    Good night.