Reflective Journal Week one.
Here we have it, it's Thursday and I'm on the bus home from what has been another successful day at Seymour College. I'm calling this a retrospective although it's not exactly a retrospective because my placement has not yet finished. I just like the way it sounds. I didn't write a pre-placement journal entry because I was simply too anxious. On my first day I dealt with a strange mix of feeling terrified (and wanting to be sick) and an odd sense of serenity and calm. Somehow being at school just felt right. How it is possible to feel terrified and calm at the same time is beyond me.
I settled in fairly quickly, everyone at Seymour is lovely and the grounds are beautiful. The students work hard and are generally a pleasure to be around. My mentor is Nelly Zerna and I’ll be taking her year 8, 10 and 11 classes. I am terrified at my level of French, but it will only be a problem with the year 11s and I think that Nelly will give me a lot of guidance and assistance. I feel really supported and I have already learnt so much. At Seymour they put a lot of focus on higher order thinking, and positive education. So I’ve been learning about teaching in ways that encourage students to investigate and discover rather than simply learn information they have been told.
Today I asked Nelly that she only speaks to me in French. I think this is really important to help me immerse myself in the language and stay in the zone. I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot from her.
I had a particularly wonderful day on Wednesday. I was lucky enough to sit in on year 10 history with David. In the 50 minutes I spent with David I learnt many new strategies for classroom management, both supportive and preventative. I’ll quickly recap some of them here.
What I liked best about David’s class was his use of language, and the energy he created. At all times he had control of the class and the students’ attention. He gave very clear instruction and a lot of praise to the students. Most of all it felt like a learning environment, it was warm, inviting and comfortable.
David also gave me some great advice, be a little bit weird; students like it if you’re a little bit odd. This is advice passed down from David’s father who is also a teacher. This is why David uses unusual language in the classroom. For example, when he’s late to class he always says ‘please forgive me for my tardiness, I know I don’t like it when you’re, so I’m sorry.’ He feels that this gives the girls a chance to have a giggle at his expense. I could have spent all afternoon talking with David about teaching and his method and strategies.
Today I continued with my observation and began my lesson planning. I feel comfortable at school and I wander around the yard with a cup of tea in hand, chatting with students and staff. It is really is a fantastic school. Not that that has come as any sort of surprise. My last lesson today was with Duncan Fairweather, year 12 history and we were looking at source analysis. Not only did he teach me a thing or two about source analysis in terms of SACE and how students should tackle exam questions he also imparted this great bit of advice. He said 'be yourself'. When you are natural students will warm to you quicker. Duncan's year nine classroom seems like chaos to the untrained eye but to him it's how he works best. He uses humour as a way to keep the girls engaged and on task. He tries to keep lessons fun as the retention rate for history is very low. But his advice has really stuck in my mind all afternoon. Be yourself. It seems so very simple. The logic is that, of course, you will find techniques that other teachers are using and use them in the classroom. But they will never work well if you don't give them your own spin. Lessons will always feel stilted if you're not comfortable and at ease in the classroom.
I have already learnt so much in a few short days.
Here we have it, it's Thursday and I'm on the bus home from what has been another successful day at Seymour College. I'm calling this a retrospective although it's not exactly a retrospective because my placement has not yet finished. I just like the way it sounds. I didn't write a pre-placement journal entry because I was simply too anxious. On my first day I dealt with a strange mix of feeling terrified (and wanting to be sick) and an odd sense of serenity and calm. Somehow being at school just felt right. How it is possible to feel terrified and calm at the same time is beyond me.
I settled in fairly quickly, everyone at Seymour is lovely and the grounds are beautiful. The students work hard and are generally a pleasure to be around. My mentor is Nelly Zerna and I’ll be taking her year 8, 10 and 11 classes. I am terrified at my level of French, but it will only be a problem with the year 11s and I think that Nelly will give me a lot of guidance and assistance. I feel really supported and I have already learnt so much. At Seymour they put a lot of focus on higher order thinking, and positive education. So I’ve been learning about teaching in ways that encourage students to investigate and discover rather than simply learn information they have been told.
Today I asked Nelly that she only speaks to me in French. I think this is really important to help me immerse myself in the language and stay in the zone. I can already tell that I am going to learn a lot from her.
I had a particularly wonderful day on Wednesday. I was lucky enough to sit in on year 10 history with David. In the 50 minutes I spent with David I learnt many new strategies for classroom management, both supportive and preventative. I’ll quickly recap some of them here.
- Students are randomly assigned seats using laminated cards with the students’ names on them. The cards are shuffled and then placed on tables. This (hopefully) breaks up the chatty groups and encourages students to work with other girls not in their immediate friendship group.
- David uses various verbal cues, for example, ‘laptops at 45 please’ (this means that students need to lower their laptop screens, to a 45 degree angle, so that they are not distracted), and ‘pens poised’ (meaning get ready to take notes).
What I liked best about David’s class was his use of language, and the energy he created. At all times he had control of the class and the students’ attention. He gave very clear instruction and a lot of praise to the students. Most of all it felt like a learning environment, it was warm, inviting and comfortable.
David also gave me some great advice, be a little bit weird; students like it if you’re a little bit odd. This is advice passed down from David’s father who is also a teacher. This is why David uses unusual language in the classroom. For example, when he’s late to class he always says ‘please forgive me for my tardiness, I know I don’t like it when you’re, so I’m sorry.’ He feels that this gives the girls a chance to have a giggle at his expense. I could have spent all afternoon talking with David about teaching and his method and strategies.
Today I continued with my observation and began my lesson planning. I feel comfortable at school and I wander around the yard with a cup of tea in hand, chatting with students and staff. It is really is a fantastic school. Not that that has come as any sort of surprise. My last lesson today was with Duncan Fairweather, year 12 history and we were looking at source analysis. Not only did he teach me a thing or two about source analysis in terms of SACE and how students should tackle exam questions he also imparted this great bit of advice. He said 'be yourself'. When you are natural students will warm to you quicker. Duncan's year nine classroom seems like chaos to the untrained eye but to him it's how he works best. He uses humour as a way to keep the girls engaged and on task. He tries to keep lessons fun as the retention rate for history is very low. But his advice has really stuck in my mind all afternoon. Be yourself. It seems so very simple. The logic is that, of course, you will find techniques that other teachers are using and use them in the classroom. But they will never work well if you don't give them your own spin. Lessons will always feel stilted if you're not comfortable and at ease in the classroom.
I have already learnt so much in a few short days.