Anupama

I don't know how to express my feelings.foe the first time in my life I am so proudly saying that choosing B.ed as a course is one of the better decision I made  .For the last 40 days we cherished a lot as a teacher and student too. I can't forget all these moments.

This week for me was all about working with those students who need to improve their grade to pass the classes I teach. Some of the seniors in my classes are failing these classes. This coming week students in both classes will be completing their Classroom Based Assessment project which I first started with them in June. I have told the failing students that this is their last opportunity to improve their grade and pass the class. Some of them know that they have to do well. Others are still indifferent to my warning to them. To be honest, by this stage of my Internship I’m not really surprised. These indifferent students have shown this same attitude all throughout their time with me, so why should this attitude change? It is disappointing to me to see how these seniors don’t seem to appreciate the severity of their situation despite my advice to them. This particular student had a test on Friday which would have improved his overall grade, but he was not in class. His ch...

I’m finding that I’m more attuned to the day-to-day role and routine as a teacher. As my mentor said to me at the start of my internship ‘everything comes with experience’ and I know what he means. Every week at the school teachers have been working with schedule changes which involved shortened classroom periods. This has been a good lesson for me in time management and I’m glad I’ve had this experience. For example on Friday the students in all my classes were involved in self-directed class forums. We lost ten minutes per period on Friday due to an assembly taking place during sixth period which is precious time for a teacher. I found my role was to constantly watch the clock and calculate the time each speaker in the group forum had. The students were successful in completing their forums but it was a close run thing. We finished each lesson with only about four minutes left – enough time for me to briefly summarize and let the students know what is coming up for the fo...

Now we get down to business. I have been pretty much teaching solo all week, and I’m very grateful for the trust my mentor teacher has in me. This has helped me to build my confidence. The more contact time I am having with my students the more they get to know me, and the more I get to know them. The two-week honeymoon period that teachers talk about with students is over. I wondered what my students would ‘try on’ with me as I was new. I’m happy to report that I am forming a great student/teacher relationship, being mindful to be friendly with the students but at the same time maintaining that professional distance between teacher and student. I know the students who need attention during class, and I know those who are self-directed learners. This is working out very well, and I’m glad these roles are being more and more defined as I take on additional teaching responsibilities. One thing I have learned is that it is good for teachers to laugh at themselves. I’ve put the...

Week 3 for me has been all about establishing a routine for myself and the students. They are still getting to know me, and I am getting to know them. I can put most faces to names in the classroom, and I’m working with the less vocal members of my classes to make sure that I am involving them more in class activity, and therefore I will get to know their names. I am making connections with students as well – what are their interests? What do they want to do when they leave school? . On Monday I will be able to talk to them about this and tell them what a good job they all did. I want my students to know that I am interested in them as people as well as students. With regards to my teaching in the classroom, I am gaining in confidence. I know this is early days yet with regards to my internship, but I am happy in how it is developing and how my mentor teacher continues to give me tips, ideas, and more duties. I am not afraid to dive right in. I believe this total immersion ...

Aside from the actual teaching, I was involved with taking attendance, grading papers and entering them into the computer/grade book. I feel this first week has given me a full introduction in to the roles of a teacher. I’m really happy about this. It was a lot to do in the first couple of days, but by Friday I could do exactly everything that my mentor teacher had shown me during the week. There are some areas I need to work on that I have identified at this early stage. I should not be nervous about making clear rules to the kids. If we are all on the same page then there will be no confusion. By this I mean having a uniform policy about cell phones for example. I should not also be timid to speak up about inappropriate behavior. As the day wore on during Friday I became more comfortable in this role. I’m glad that even at this early stage I can reflect on and identify areas I can improve on.