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.

Week 5: Enhancing my presentation skills

Although my classmates and I wrote an in-class reflective blog for this week's class, and our lecturer informed us that we don't necessarily have to post an online blog, I still felt the need to share some thoughts about something I learnt in today's class. After all, sitting in class writing a reflection between ten to fifteen minutes was not enough for me to truly gather my thoughts.

So here we go!

This week's class was based on enhancing our presentation skills. In doing so, each group were assigned to present the following wind systems.

Jet Streams

Desert Winds

Mountains- Anabatic and Katabatic Winds

Monsoon

Oral presentations have been a requirement for every single course at UTT thus far, so it was nothing new when we had to present for this week's class. Although I tend to get a bit nervous during presentations, I have realized that preparation and confidence is a key ingredient to a successful presentation. Therefore, for this week's presentation, my team members and I ensured that we were fully prepared and this resulted in an overall successful presentation. Ultimately, I enjoyed learning about these wind systems and I intend to do some extended research to find out more about it.  

Week six will be a mix!