Life of a Teacher

Task 2.3: Reflection

How did you cope/manage complete the three days of "Life of a teacher"?

I was able to manage perfectly fine during all three days of "Life of teacher". I believe my "life of a teacher" days went well, I wouldn’t say according to plan as there was many changes and events that took place during those three days that weren’t in the timetable or part of my mentor teacher’s days, but we adjusted and still made it work perfectly.

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

In block 1 with it been just one day it seemed to be a breeze and everything went smoothly. There wasn't much responsibilities however, I enjoyed doing the most of what I could do such as basic admin for the classroom. However, in block 2 even through everything went smoothly throughout those two days, this time around there was a little more responsibility such a tuckshop duty and break time duty to go to, dealing with misbehaved learners and normal admin duties. I honestly felt the pressure during the two days in block 2 and it was extremely draining. However, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, the loud chattering in the classrooms, the whole day standing and lots of shouting, this is still something I would choose to do over and over again.

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

The most challenging part was been strict with the learners. Especially the grade 7s as they were at the stage of their lives were they want to go high school and have lots of hormones acting up. They are very rude and disruptive which kept me on my toes and it was a challenging trying to keep them quite and focused throughout the lesson.

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

After analysing my results, I feel that I would rate myself higher with regards to understanding the learners as an individual and tailoring my teaching to their needs, I feel like after spending 3 weeks with them I got to understand the learners and their needs. Lastly, I would rate myself higher with regards to the having sound subject knowledge.

Justify how you have improved these competencies through this experience

Spending more time with the learners and building a connection with them helped to get an understanding of the learners and their needs. Interacting with the subject’s content and spending a long time on that subject allowed me to gain sound subject knowledge and broaden my knowledge and abilities to understand and grasp knowledge of that subject.

Look at the exit level outcomes and the final comments of your mentor teacher in your school assessment log and report. Compare this to the initial self-evaluation you had completed at the beginning of your teaching experience.

Based on my self-evaluation, the comments and exit level outcomes given by my mentor teacher I believe I am exactly where I need to be, and one thing that I can take from it all is that, there is always room for improvement and places to grow in the schooling environment. I need to find what I enjoy most and make the best out of it.