Week 12: Aim above the mark!

This week's class was somewhat bitter sweet and it was quite different from the rest. Instead of having our usual 9:00 am to 12 noon session filled with activities and lots of content information, it was more of a bonding session.

For those who did show up to have breakfast together, we had a blast! Thanks to our lecturer of course! After we were finished with our outdoor breakfast party, we proceeded to class. Our first activity was occupying a space in the room facing the wall. Then with the use of two pieces of post its, we were instructed to place each piece as high as we can reach by whatever means possible. This exercise allowed me to think about the way in which I set goals for myself. Often times I will tell myself 'you have the potential to reach very far in life'. Therefore, with that in mind, I have set high goals that I wish to accomplish in the near or distant future and I do believe that I will accomplish them someday. This degree is just the foundation.

After the exercise, it was then time for the presentations about climate change. Each group was very entertaining in their presentations while being informative. We all tried our best in presenting the content in a less traditional manner. Although we had a few shortcomings with regard to the content, I think by the time exams come around we will definitely be prepared to write accurate and detailed information on any aspect of the topic. Our group demonstrated the topic 'IPCC predictions on world climate change' in the form of poetry. I certainly enjoyed it.

As we have come to the end of this course, I will use the skills and knowledge that I developed and acquired to add value to my teaching. Additionally, I am confident that I can better be able to undertake any task or challenge presented to me in the future. We have definitely come a long way and still have further to go. Thus, I will continue to work hard in my efforts to be the best I can be to add value to this society. On that note, I'd like to end with my favourite quote thus far.

Week 11: In week 10?!?!?...... Even if you're scared be prepared!

This week's class was a continuation of last class on Caribbean Weather Systems. This session was fully content driven with an interesting twist. Brochures, videos, standard cloud type charts, calypso, synoptic charts were among the resources used in this one class session. The first brochure was based on flooding. It gave details on everything we needed to know about flooding. Since we live on an island that is prone to flooding, it was quite helpful be reminded and sensitize ourselves of this reality.

After reviewing the information on the brochure, we were then instructed to use our observation skills to critically assess the way in which thunderstorms develop just by looking at a time lapse video. The questions that our lecturer gave us helped to guide our observations so my classmates and I knew exactly what to pay attention to while we viewed the video. It was quite interesting to note that by looking at one video, we can drawn so many conclusions about the topic. After discussing with my team members, I realized that we all had similar and dissimilar observations. Therefore, as we engaged in collaboration, we learned a lot more than we would have if we did it on our own. Additionally, after viewing the video several times we were able to discover more about thunderstorm development. Engaging in such engaging activities in this class has helped me to understand and value the importance of collaboration in the classroom and I intend on using similar strategies in the classes that I will be teaching.

It was time to move on to Northers/Cold fronts. My classmates and I were instructed to work individually on the exercise to determine the conditions before the passing of a front and after the passing of a front in Yucatan Mexico and in Belize. Although it took us a while to complete the exercise, I was assured that I answered the questions to the best of my ability. In my to do list, I know that I will definitely need to include, "memorize the symbols that are used to determine weather conditions" because during the exercise I often looked at the handouts that our lecturer gave us. I think that by now I should have been able to interpret the symbols without the aid of a weather symbol chart. Thus, it is important for me to review all the aspects of weather and climate. Additionally, I also have to do more extensive research on tornadoes and ITCZ so that I will have a greater understanding of the in which theses systems work.

In the final segment of this week's class, we review a brochure on disaster preparedness. As we followed along with out lecturer on the items needed in the even of a disaster, I asked myself, "How prepared am I in the event of a natural disaster?" "How prepared are my family members?" I then realized that in the event of a natural disaster, my family and I will not be fully prepared. I instantly had a flashback to the time when Tropical Storm Bret passed over Trinidad and Tobago. During that time my family and I were not fully prepared. However, now that I have the information at hand, it is up to me to sensitize my family and friends about the items needed in case of a disaster. It is crucial that we be fully prepared because we never know if we may end up in a similar position like our Caribbean neighbours in Dominica and Saint Martin. In future, I can definitely reassure myself that I will be prepared in the event of a natural disaster because I will use the information given to me and accept the challenge of making my own disaster preparedness kit.

In essence this was a very informative class and I realized that I need to continue doing research in order to memorize and deepen my understanding of geographic phenomenon. Additionally, I must ensure that I am fully prepared in the event of a natural disaster.

Week 10: Presentations again

At the beginning of this week's class, my classmates and I were given the opportunity to share our three week practicum experiences firstly with our team members, and then with our classmates. I must say, this debrief exercise was quite enlightening. I actually had an epiphany after hearing some of my classmates speak about the challenges they encountered during the three week period.

One of my classmates indicated that at the last minute she was challenged to teach a lesson that she was unprepared for on one of the days during this term's practicum. Despite the challenge she encountered at that moment, she indicated that she delivered the lesson successfully. She was able to assess the situation and quickly think of a solution to her problem. As she shared her experience, I actually began to think of the things that I would have done if I was in a similar situation.

As a relatively inexperienced teacher, I must say if I was in her position at that point in time, I would have been panicking and I would have felt so flustered that I would not have taught the lesson. I'm not sure if many people may share similar views but I am one of those individuals who cannot function efficiently if I do not feel as prepared as I should be in certain situations. Especially when it comes to teaching a lesson or doing an oral presentation. The fact that she was able to pool together the appropriate and available resources at the very last minute even though she did not initially planned to teach the lesson, is commendable.

Based on the experience she shared with the entire class, I realized that in the event of any challenge we might encounter during our teaching career, we must have the ability to respond to a particular situation with practical solutions that will work in the classroom using the available resources. She made a smart move by working with the resources she had and drawing from her previous knowledge of the topic. Thankfully she was knowledgeable in the content and this I think was an important factor that aided in the successful delivery of the lesson.

Therefore, with that being said, every chance I get, I must think of ways to refresh my memory in certain content areas where I may be lacking. So in the event that I am challenged to teach a certain topic, I will be prepared because I will have the content knowledge and I will make use of the available resources. I also have to constantly remind myself to keep up with current events to related information to students using real life examples which will also aid in the successful delivery of any lesson.

Another experience that was shared by my other classmate, really got me thinking. She indicated that the class she was assigned to consisted of students who had low literacy rates. Therefore, it was difficult for the students to grasp certain concepts. This for me sounds quite terrifying, knowing that some students may not have the ability to read or understand a concept. However, the ticket out of a situation like that, is using the appropriate strategies and techniques in a lesson that will allow students to understand the content. Her experience made me realize that as prospective teachers we must cater for all types of learners with learning disabilities. Therefore, I have to put in the extra effort to find different strategies and techniques that will appeal to the different types of learners I may meet throughout my career as a teacher.

After sharing our experiences, it was time to present our working models as part of our course assignment. I must say that the presentations from all my classmates were excellent. The working models that they produced were so well constructed. It gave me inspiration to construct the different model's that can be a useful and interactive teaching resources for their students. My team members and I also produced a working model which was selected from the module Caribbean Weather Systems, particularly hurricanes. Although my team members and I put effort into the construction of the model, there was room for improvement.

At the end of the presentations our lecturer instructed us to walk around to each group's model and allocate a mark to the different criterion on the rubric. This exercise made feel like an examiner, critically assessing the working model produced by my classmates in order to allocate a fair and deserving mark. I think it was good practice for my classmates and I to carefully inspect the work produced by each person, since we will soon be doing the same with out students.

After we were finished with that part, we did a quick overview of hurricanes which is one of the Weather Systems that affect the Caribbean region. The brochure that was produced by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and  Management, had sufficient information about hurricanes. The information helped to remind me of the main points that I need to know about hurricanes, and to re-emphasize that hurricanes are a serious threat to the people living in the Caribbean region. I think that brochures are a great way to summarize critical information on any topic. If I were to give an assessment for students, I may instruct them to create a brochure that will summarize the main points of a unit topic.

Overall, at the end of this week's class I was able to learn from my classmates practicum experience, get inspiration on ideas of working models that can be constructed as a teaching resource, practice allocating marks to students work, and refresh my memory about key elements about hurricanes.

Week 9: So divine

This was the last week of our practicum field teaching experience until the grand finale next term.

On some days the lessons that I needed to teach didn't go exactly as planned. Aside from more whole-school interruptions, I had to deal with time constraints and technical difficulties. However, I did manage to deliver the lessons to the best of my ability. During the past three weeks, by teaching the topic Human Resources, I was reminded that I must continue to develop key skills in decision making, creative thinking, classroom management, time management and so on, in order to be a productive and beneficial Human Resource.

In some of the lessons I taught this week, I ensured that there were group activities and it worked out well. Therefore, I will continue to involve the students because they were really engaged in the lesson and excited about the activities they were given.  Based on the observations I made, I was able to tell which groups were stronger and which ones were weaker. In the next practicum field teaching when I have more time with the students I will be able to assign them to groups where they could build on each others strengths and weaknesses. That is, I will not have all the stronger students in one group and all the weaker ones in another but rather have mixed groups.

Conversely, I instructed the students to do an individual research project and some of them really worked hard on it. I allowed the students to present their projects to their classmates and instructed them to indicate what they have learnt from their research about the topic. The students showed great interest when their peers presented their projects because this was something new to them and I think it was very effective. The pictures below are a few of the students work.

As the principal of the school indicated, in order to keep up with the time lost, we as future educators must be proactive. I think I am slowly becoming more proactive because on one of the days during this week, the teachers had a staff meeting which meant that the students did not have a teacher in their class. Like I did last week, knowing that the students did not have a teacher, I decided to take the opportunity to teach the lesson that I was supposed to but didn't get the chance due to a whole-school interruption.

I tried really hard to keep up with preparing and adjusting lesson plans, preparing resources, and keeping up with assignments for my other courses. Consequently, by Wednesday I felt both mentally and physically drained. The two key things that I need to work on to avoid these feelings are ensuring that I am fully prepared to teach a lesson and living a more healthy lifestyle in order to keep up with the daily pressures. I realized that like any other job, the teaching profession requires a lot of time, energy and effort. Things were so bad that I started to seek inspiration online. Viewing countless YouTube videos about inspiring the students of the 21st century has helped me. I needed some sort of external motivation to continue. This is when I began to question myself. Do I really think I am capable of keeping up with the demands of the teaching profession? YES! The answer is yes.

Teaching is a profession I have always wanted to venture into but I never expected it to be so tiring. However, if I keep the right attitude and right mindset I will be an efficient and effective teacher. In addition to that, I will take the advice from all of my practicum advisers and make the necessary adjustments to accomplish my duties as a prospective teacher which will in turn help me when I actually become a teacher.

Moreover, although the students gave positive feedback about the lessons that I taught during this three week period, I still feel as though I could have done so much more to assist the students in understanding the content better. Additionally, I could have been more prepared during this practicum and used different teaching strategies and techniques in each lesson. As one of my practicum advisers said, "its all about balance".  I still haven't mastered the art of multi-tasking but with time I will gradually get better at it.

Therefore, I will not give up and I'd like to think of myself as being very persistent. I did learn that preparation is definitely a key component and having appropriate teaching strategies and techniques as well as effective resources, will make the teaching/learning experience worthwhile. At the end of it all, I don't simply want to settle and be a mediocre teacher. I want to be that teacher who inspire my students during the teaching/learning process. So, with that being said, as long as I continue to work on my shortcomings, I think I will be ready and fully prepared for the next practicum field teaching experience and for my lifelong career as a teacher.

Proud and confident prospective teachers.

Week 8: Deepening the teaching/learning experience

Two weeks into this field teaching experience and I have already learned a lot about myself and about the way in which school activities can affect the regular teaching schedule. This week there were a lot of interruptions to the regular day to day schedule. Principals holiday, Math Olympiad, Polio Awareness Seminar just to name a few. However, despite the minor disruptions the work still needed to get done. 

On one of the days, the students were required to assemble in the auditorium for a seminar which lasted for the first three periods. This meant that I would not have been able to teach my lesson because I was scheduled to teach on second period. However, after the seminar I decided to find out if the students had a "free period" so I can go ahead and teach the lesson I had prepared. Fortunately, the art teacher did not come to school that day and I got permission to teach the lesson even though i was not scheduled to teach at that time. I felt so proud of myself for making that decision because I knew that the students benefited from the lesson. At the end of the day, I want to feel accomplished. I want to ensure that time spent on planning and preparing was not wasted and that students should not be deprived of a learning opportunity.

I've realized that students ask a lot of questions and I must ensure that I can answer these questions to the best of my ability. In doing so, I must be well informed, I must be knowledgeable about the topic and I must have the ability to give appropriate examples for students to understand the content better. If I'm unsure about it, I should not hesitate to seek help from the experts or from my peers/colleagues. For every lesson that I have taught for this week, I got better and better at my classroom management and time management skills. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect".  In addition to that, the feedback received thus far (from the students I have taught and from my practicum advisers) have given me the motivation to continue learning new strategies and developing as an efficient and effective teacher. 

On another note, the school has a student led geography club. Kristy and I took the opportunity to attend the club's meeting this week to get an insight about the way in which the club operates. The president of the club gave us a brief overview of the club’s purpose and informed us that they have a weather station at the school (which I am yet to explore), they have started recycling plastic bottles and they are now working towards raising funds for upcoming projects such as developing an aquaponics and hydroponics system on the school compound. The teacher who is overseeing that the activities carried out by the students go according to plan, indicated that we are free to attend meetings therefore, during the time that I spend at the school, I will try my best to attend the meetings which are held on a weekly basis to learn more about the club and assist in any way possible. I think that this will be great exposure so in future when I enter the teaching service, I can encourage and assist my students to become more involved in geography related activities.

In essence, this has been a very fulfilling week and I do look forward to learning more about myself as a teacher, more about the students and more about the school operations in the upcoming week. 

Week 7: Theory into practice

This was the first week back out on teaching practice since year three and I must say it is a pleasure to be back training in a school, putting theory into practice. I have mixed emotions about going into these classes and teaching because I must ensure that I am well informed and well equip in each class that I go to deliver a lesson. As the days went by I have realized that the work of a teacher can be overwhelming on some days and quite mellow on others. The more I interact with students, the more I am able to plan better lessons and relate the content in a way that students will truly understand.

This week I only got the opportunity to teach one class due to some minor disruptions that affected the entire students body. Nevertheless, I was thankful that I still taught and used some of the techniques and strategies I have learnt over the three years that I have been to UTT. This form 2 class was quite interesting because I was able to develop an understanding about the way in which the students of this age group (12-13 years) think, and the way in which they ask and answer questions. It was a review lesson so the students had previous knowledge about the topic Humanitarian Law. Therefore, using the questioning technique, I was able to activate their previous knowledge about the topic. I realized that the students had more questions about war rather than the humanitarian law governed to protect people who are victims of war. Therefore, I needed to redirect them by asking questions that will channel their thinking along the lines of the purpose and importance of the Humanitarian Law.

There were minor classroom management issues during this lesson. Whenever I asked the students a question they just blurted out the answer instead of raising their hand before they were chosen to answer. Then, when one student was speaking the others began to have their own conversations thus, ignoring the contribution their peers had to make on a particular point. In an attempt to minimize classroom disruption, I asked the students to remind their classmates about the class rules and expectations before I continued with the lesson. After that the class proceedings went quite smoothly. Another issue I encountered during this lesson was time management. Although I was able to cover the content I had intended too, I was unable to get the assessment done. However, I improvised by using oral questioning as a means of evaluation. The period had ended and I was unable to address all the questions asked by the students concerning war.

However, although I was unable to address the concerns of the students about the topic, I distributed index cards to each student and instructed them to write down the questions that they have concerning the topic and informed them that we will discuss it during the next class. Some students indicated that they understood the lesson and therefore did not have any questions. Instead of telling them don’t bother to write anything in the index cards since they didn’t have any questions, I told them to write something they liked about the lesson, something they disliked, and something that they found interesting in the lesson. Based on the feedback given by the students I realized that they are still unclear about the way in which the humanitarian law is implemented or enforced. Does this mean that the students are not thinking? or Does it mean that I did not relay the information in a way for them to understand the content? Either way, the next time I have to teach the class, I must ensure that each student truly understand the reasons and importance of Humanitarian Law.

Despite the minor challenges with classroom management and time management, I was able to capture the students’ attention at the very beginning of the lesson with the video I used for the set induction and I kept them interested by playing other videos during the lesson. The use of videos to teach the lesson was effective because of the positive feedback given by the students at the end of the lesson. Therefore, I will continue to use a technique of playing appropriate media content to keep students interested and attentive during the lesson. In addition to that, the students responded well to the questions I asked and they were quite interested in learning more about the Humanitarian Law in relation to war.  However, I do intend on clearing up the misconceptions they have about the Humanitarian Law in relation to war. In the future, I also intend to instruct students to create a list of class rules and expectations or have them remind their peers about the class rules and expectations before we proceed with the lesson. Additionally, I will ensure that I get the assessment done before the period is over. This means that I will allocate a proposed time frame to complete each teaching point in order get the closure and assessment done. I will also distribute handouts to the students which will guide them through the lesson. 

Ultimately, there is a lot more to learn in this teaching profession and I am looking forward to the days ahead so I can learn and develop as an effective and efficient teacher to deliver lessons that will be meaningful and of great importance my students. 

Week 6: Synoptic Charts a work of art

My classmates and I were quite grateful to welcome Mrs. Carol Subrath-Ali, the Senior Meteorologist at Trinidad and Tobago's Meteorologist Office in this week's class. Mrs. Subrath-Ali is an expert in the field of Meteorology due to the qualifications she possesses and years of experience she has gained at the Meteorological Office. Therefore, it was appropriate that she came to our class and assisted in helping us draw and interpret synoptic weather charts. 

I think it was a great idea to invite an expert in the field to engage us in the activities because of the first hand experience that person possesses. Therefore, in the event that I have to teach a particular topic where there are experts who is qualified and experienced, I will try to request them to my class to assist in delivering the lesson to make it more meaningful for my students, and to enhance the teaching/learning experience. In the same way that we needed assistance from Mrs. Subrath-Ali to help us use synoptic charts to forecast changes in weather with the movement of weather systems through the Caribbean region, whenever I am required to teach a particular topic for example, Natural Hazards and Natural Disasters, I may want to invite an expert from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management to share his/her experiences about the topic and brief the students about disaster preparedness. 

At the beginning of the class Mrs. Subrath-Ali did a review of the concepts that we . During the activity I felt a bit lost because I did not do any prior reading. However, if I had payed attention when she was . As I reflect back to that moment I've realized how important it is to pay attention and get some reading done before each class so I will not feel as lost and confused as I did at the beginning of this week's class. During the weeks that I will be out on my field teaching and even when I enter the teaching service, I think that it will be my responsibility to encourage my students to read in advance in order to enhance the teaching/learning experience. Additionally, I think that it will also be essential to stress on the importance of paying attention.

Apart for that, I was so proud of myself after plotting and analyzing the synoptic charts.

I appreciated the fact that Mrs. Subrath-Ali took the time to walk around to each individual in the class and gave assistance where necessary. This is a technique that I may want to adopt when teaching because I will want to ensure that each student gets the assistance and guidance that they need in order to effectively complete and learn something while engaging in the activity. Additionally, during this week's class, I was able to gain a better understanding of the way in which meteorologists interpret data collected from the radiosondes released on a daily basis. 

At the end of the class, Mrs. Subrath-Ali did not hesitate to give us her office number because she indicated that she is willing to work with us and assist in any way she possibly can in the near or distant future. This immediately gave me an idea when I have to teach the topic weather and climate at the CSEC level. In the event that I have to teach this topic I would love to organize a field trip for my students to the Meteorological Office for them to view the weather instruments in which they use  at the office and organize a brief lecture session with any of the qualified Meteorologist's at the office. 

Ultimately, this was a great class session and I was able to better understand and interpret synoptic weather charts. As a result I am now capable of delivering a lesson with confidence based on that topic in the future.