Biographical information

To summarize, I attended three primary schools due to us moving. In Robertson, I attended the Robertson Preparatory School until grade three. My father got a job in Stellenbosch and we moved here at the end of 2001. In 2002, I attended Eikestad Primary, but only for one year. It was quite difficult to adapt to a new environment and to a new school at such a young age. From 2003-2005 I attended Pieter Langeveldt Primary, which was closer to my home. My high school education was quite challenging at first, since I was enrolled at a girls school, Bloemhof Girls’ High. Even though it took some time to get used to the school, I can honestly say that Bloemhof is one of the best schools in Stellenbosch. I was challenged academically and enriched culturally, a good combination. I think my schooling career was quite diverse, but I gained valuable experience and I would not trade it for the world.

Becoming a teacher was at first something that I was not keen on doing, but I reached a turning-point in my life during lesson analysis and practice teaching. I observed a lesson of one of my fellow PGCE students and she taught learners from my neighbourhood. I was stunned to see how little knowledge these learners because I hardly speak to anyone in my neighbourhood. It hurt me to the core when I heard the comments that some of the other students made after the lesson. I immediately took it upon myself to stand up for these learners. Even though I did not attend the school in my neighbourhood, I can still relate to these learners, because I see what they have to endure daily. I realized that I could make a difference of the learners around me. I want to be one of those inspiring teachers who encourages learners to always give their best and to no be victims of their circumstances. 

Last English lesson

My last English lesson was quite short and sad. I enjoyed teaching my favourite grade eight class for one last time. I was very enthusiastic about this lesson, but it was obvious that I was overcome with emotion. I did a lesson on interpreting fonts in advertisements and how to interpret pie charts. This lesson focused on visual literacy, since it will form part of next year’s ANAS tests for the grade nines.

The lesson reached the outcomes since the learners were able to interpret the pie charts and they were able to gather information from the pie charts. Also, the learners were able to identify how different fonts can be used to persuade people into reading advertisements. Thus, even though the lesson was short, I reached my outcomes. 

I feel really relieved that I was able to finish all nine lessons in time. By the seventh week I was quite worried that things were not going to work out. Since this is the fifth English lesson I presented in one week, I felt really stressed at the beginning of this week. My English lessons gave me the most stress. That is probably why I postponed it all the time. The teacher also had to finish all her compulsory work before I could present all my lessons. I presented this lesson to the other grade eight class as well but it did not count.

Last day of my school visit

My last week at School X has come to an end. This was undoubtedly the saddest day of my teaching practice experience. I was praying for this day to come, but I did not picture it to be this way. Academically this has been the most difficult and stressful week for me. I had to present seven evaluated lessons in one week, which was hectic. At times, my lessons followed immediately adjacent to each other, so I had no time to look through my lessons again. I learned that as a teacher, you should always remain calm, especially in difficult situations. Teaching is based on improvising a lot and this is what I had to do this week. Even though you write a thorough lesson plan, the lesson will never go exactly the way you planned. What I also learned is that teachers should be able to improvise when learners put them on the spot by asking difficult questions. This is something I experienced a lot this week. One cannot be prepared for the questions that the learners are going to ask. It is also difficult to actually think of an appropriate answer since the learners expect feedback immediately. I handled the situations the best way I could and the teachers applauded me for that.  On Tuesday invigilated a test and I had to supervise a Xhosa class where the learners had to practice their orals.

Assessment in the school was done by means of orals and tests. The grade eights and nines had Xhosa orals for the first time with their new teacher, so they were all quite nervous. The entire school wrote tests on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday’s assembly period was used as a test period and on Wednesdays the school has a fixed test period. The grade 8 also wrote a History test, which took place in class time. The grade 9 learners missed a few classes due to the ANAS examinations. The grade 12 learners wrote their preliminary examinations, so they did not attend school this week. The grade 11 learners had an English essay to hand in.

The school is in the process of expansion so certain parts of the school cannot be reached. The construction workers removed a few trees in order to make the ground level. The noise was disturbing at times; the building site is right next to the hall where the matric learners are writing. 

Overall reflection of school visit

 

Reflection of the full school visit period

I cannot believe that I am done with teaching practice. The nine weeks flew by so quickly. Teaching practice was such an enriching experience and I grew as a teacher. However, I think that nine weeks is too long, since you have learned how the schooling environment works by the fifth week.

Practice teaching is challenging and I think that once you have completed your teaching practice, you should be able to determine whether teaching is the occupation that suits you the best. I have definitely become wiser and some of my character traits changed.  I am more mature and patient but most importantly, I am less judgemental. I see things from a different perspective and I am also more aware of what I do in public.

Before I started with practice teaching, I knew that it was going to be challenging, but I did not realize to what extent it is going to be challenging. I never realized how much work educators actually do and why they are always tired. Once I stepped into their shoes, I could comprehend the above mentioned factors. Even though teaching is more challenging than I thought it would be, I still want to become a teacher. One never really understands why teachers are always tired, but once you are placed in their shoes, you realize that a teacher’s responsibility does not end in the classroom. A teacher is also not just a teacher because you have to be a mother figure, psychiatrist and caretaker of the learners. The teachers are also involved in extra mural activities after school, which make the teacher even more tired.

Before I started teaching practice I could not picture myself as a teacher. I knew that I wanted to become a teacher but I was too shy and self-conscious. Each lesson that I presented took up so much of my time because I planned even lesson thoroughly. I started gaining self-confidence when I received good marks. The advice that the teachers gave me really improved my teaching and the quality of it. I experienced tremendous growth in the nine weeks and I have grown so much as a teacher and a person. No university can teach you what you learn during practice teaching. Thus practice teaching is the most important part of studying education (PGCE). The only limitations I experienced was the English teacher who prevented me from language lesson during the first 8 weeks of practice teaching. I do not think that I experienced other limitations, since I am a very flexible person. I have full confidence in my abilities as a teacher right now. By being able to control a class of 35 grade nine learners, I knew that I could do anything. I am able to do anything I also realized that I am the authority figure in the classroom, so I should not be scared to speak my mind when the learners are not behaving.

The most valuable aspects of my school visit were the fact that I grew close to the learners. I realized the importance of staff meetings and now the discipline learners. I also realized that the lesson never goes as planned on the lesson plan. Lastly, the teacher taught me that I should always assume that the learners know nothing. Firstly, the teaching practice has given me an insight into the schooling environment, since you are in school with real learners. This experience prepared me for the teaching profession, since I now know how a school environment works. I stepped into the shoes of a teacher and I got first-hand experience. I had the opportunity to teach alone for 3 weeks, so I felt the pressure that real teachers feel. I do not agree with people who say that anyone can become a teacher. You really have to be a compassionate person if you want to be a teacher.

There is not really an aspect of the teaching practice that I did not find valuable. Teaching practice was good learning experience but I think the extramural activities should be reduced based on the number of specialisation field studies you have. I did not learn anything from the other extramural activities, besides the activity I took part in. 

If I could do the teaching practice again, I would do it. I wish the teaching practice could be longer, but then the number of lessons should remain the same. Teaching practice was the best experience ever. I think that the university should however prolong the teaching practice and reduce the theoretical aspects of PGCE. The theory I learned during the first two terms did not really help me during teaching practice. 

           

Lesson observation Xhosa

Lesson observation
Xhosa

Today the teacher started the noun classes of the isiXhosa language. I do not think that people understand the importance of noun classes in Xhosa. The learners complained that they are grade nine, but they are not able to construct sentences in Xhosa. The teacher and I then learned that the previous Xhosa teacher did not do noun classes with the learners. If you do not know the noun classes and their rules, you will never be able to construct a Xhosa sentence. The learners responded well to the lesson, but they are utterly confused. They do not yet understand  the noun classes, but this will came with time. The learners were able to construct sentences with the nouns. The learners will present this lesson to the grade eights as well, so that their foundation is right.

Confused

This was the first week of the teaching practical. I have learned an immense amount of new information in several fields. Firstly, it felt really uncomfortable sitting amongst real-life teachers in the staff room during the first week. Our liaison teacher was away during the first two days of school, so there was no one to brief us on where to sit, who the teachers are or which classes we could join. We literally had to use our own initiative during the first two days. Some of the teachers were very territorial, which made things even more difficult for the student-teachers. We did not know where we could sit and where we could not. We just ended up sitting on random open spots in the staff room. 

One thing that I learned is that the teachers do not always make use of lesson plans, like us students are taught to do. Certain teachers only make notes in the text books that they are going to use. I saw one lesson plan of a teacher which was about ten years old, but it contained the same information as the lesson plans we use on campus. The teachers really try their best to include all the learners when they have discussions. When the teachers give the learners classwork, they walk around in the class to help learners that are struggling. I think that is a very useful strategy, because certain learners are too shy to put up their hands and to ask for help. I think the first week was the most important week of our school visit, because we had time to observe real-life teachers and how they handle their classes. The first week in particular, was the most difficult week for me, because I had to act as a substitute teacher and supervise the classes of the same teacher. The Xhosa teacher resigned last semester, but she still had to be at school during the first week of the second semester. She however did not come and her learners were left destitute. I learned that one must be able to cope under pressure, because I had to take over the teacher’s class but she had no notes or planning whatsoever. I literally had to plan lessons from scratch. The learners were all panicking, since they did not have a Xhosa teacher.

Secondly, not all of the learners were welcoming. There were a few learners who made my first week quite difficult, since they blatantly just refused to listen. I learned that this was going to be one of my challenges next year: to get the learners to listen to me. I think that the learners do not take the student-teachers seriously.

Overall, the discipline of the school is quite good, but there are always be a few rebellious individuals. The learners are very involved in the learning process. Some of them are quite eager to answer the questions of the teachers, but that occurs mostly in the lower grades.