IS school still a place of learning?

What an intense week this last one has been for me. When I look back I wonder how I made it. As a student teacher we want to do things properly and when we plan lessons we tend to PLAN the hell out of them. They can take up to four hours to compile, if you include an activity and well-thought out lesson plan material and ideas to keep today's children interested. I had five lessons, some of which I had to repeat to another class in the grade. Five lessons over five days meant planning into the wee hours of the morning most days. It was exhausting but I absolutely love teaching so it just seemed to be worth it in the end. I had to give one class a serious talk about their behaviour in my classes. Their register teacher had been so upset with them because of how badly they had been behaving in the last week, and they did the same in my class with their incessant talking and devil-may-care attitude towards their work. When they found out that their behaviour was causing me to do poorly in a lesson that is being assessed (yes, they don't know that us student teachers are actually there to be ASSESSED), they changed their attitude because although they were chatty, they seem to genuinely like me, and continued to behave in the rest of the class, for which I am grateful. I thanked them afterwards for understanding.

One thing that stood out to me this week was the fact that there are so many things going on in that school that the teachers are aware of but choose to turn a blind eye to because either they know that they are fighting a loosing battle or because to take action is simply too much effort. Once the rain had penetrated some of the prefabs that I work in, we were forced to move to the old section of the school that had been scheduled for demolition but still stood for some reason. These classrooms obscure the view of the back of the school and the abandoned tennis courts behind the school. As I was sitting in class one break time I saw something that ignited an anger within me - streams of children walking on a mission to the abandoned tennis court walls. I had one thought at what they were doing and I was right. I decided to go and investigate and to my horror, the smell of marijuana hung heavily in the air with cigarette smoke and who knows what else. I took one look at the mass of about 80 children hanging in masses hidden by the abandoned tennis court walls. They become high during breaks and then we have to deal with children who are absolutely unable to take anything in. The smell of marijuana stinks of failure and lost opportunities.

I spoke to my mentor teacher about this and she told me that they are aware of the problem but something is being done. The worst punishment a child can get would be detention which they seem to enjoy because all their friends are there too. My heart breaks for these children in masses throwing their lives away for a fleeting feeling. It makes no sense to me. The next day I saw that not only are these children smoking weed, they get SOLD weed by people who sneak in through the gates and sell these drugs to school children. Men in hoodies, who are obviously gangsters. One I saw walking with a scissors - not to cut out pictures from a magazine I can guarantee you. It just breaks my heart because there are young girls on the grounds, and impressionable young boys who are put at risk by these gangsters and strangers on a school premises that should be a safe haven for any child. This is totally unacceptable and I intend to write a letter to the head teacher to report what is going on.
My heart breaks for these children and I feel like I have my hands tied. Is school still a place of learning or just a place children come to smoke, socialize, get high and do the bare minimum? Am I looking at this the wrong way? What can be done? Where do we go from here?

Wrap up of my very first week as a "Miss" and "Juffie"

T

his week has been a whorl wind of an experience. Arriving at school I was overwhelmed to say the least. He kids seemed so unruly to me, I felt as though I had absolutely no control over their shouting and screaming. These kids showed absolutely no sign of wanting to work, which disheartened me, to say the least. This however, was not an accurate representation of who they are as a school. I had to revisit my experiences and in so doing I realised that the reason for their unruliness was obvious. They had just come from a long holiday of doing as they pleased to having to sit in restricting desks and being made to keep quiet. Understandably! I battle to get myself into gear after a long holiday, imagine being just 14 and having to sit still when all you want to do is excitedly chat to your buddies on the other side of the class about the holiday!

Throughout the week I saw how they gradually tamed down to the point where they were almost entirely manageable. I must say that over the course of the week I have grown to like these children whom I dreaded seeing on the second day. So much change in one week. I have grown used to the teacher and her teaching style and realize that everybody has their own way of teaching and hers is different but custom made to who she is. I had the opportunity of presenting y first ever lesson to a high school class. The class was to be repeated to the other class in the grade which sounds simple enough although in practice it lacks this simplicity. I found myself trying very hard to perfectly replicate the lesson to the other class and felt very frustrated when I missed something or the children didn’t react in the way that the other class ha read. I had slightly more discipline issues with the grade 8F class than I did with the G class. The astonishing thing though is that the naughty class (just look how I'm positioning them! tisk tisk!) produced the best work! I was so glad that they got the message that I was trying to bring to them about descriptive essay writing. The G class however completely missed the point, with some boys not having down anything at the end of the period which was frustrating since I gave them ample time to complete what they had to do. I followed up with the today, Friday about what they did wrong ad what I really liked about their work. Besides simple issues like the distinction between too and to or their, there and they're, they wrote as though they were writing a diary entry. This however cannot be generalised to the whole class as some did perform and came up with delightful pieces to read. I marked the pieces and wrote some constructive comments, some of which can be viewed in my portfolio.

Initially at the beginning of the week I was terrified of the classes because I didn’t really know how to approach the situation. It turns out that the influence I have over the kids is far greater than I could have imagined. I was always kind to them but ha to remember that they are not my friends, since I am someone who enjoys being playful a laughing. I had to remember that there is a time to be friendly and a time to be stern, something that I am learning how to manage more and more every single day. I had the grade 10's today for a reading period where I read to them. They seemed to really enjoy this because I can remember that for most of the period you could hear a pin drop! I gave others a chance to read when I felt tired and gave as many as I cold the chance to participate, especially those who seemed to not be paying much attention.

There was this one boy who sat in front of me who was lying with his head on his arms. My instinct told me to let him be, but when it came to his chance to read I gently touched him and asked him to read, which he did with no problems. After this I could see that even though he had his head down, he was paying attention. At the end of the period I jokingly told him that it looks like he got his afternoon nap in! He is a very shy boy who had been bullied throughout his high school carer so his demeanour is that of a child who doesn’t want to be seen. In my showing him kindness and respect this seemed to have opened him up towards me which made me feel so honoured. He told me that he wasn’t feeling well and I wished him well so that he could come back next week feeling better. Shyly he said "miss has a nice voice" and I thanked him. On his departure he gave me a hug. To this I had mixed emotions because we are told that we cannot touch a student, that we have to keep our distance at all times, but I felt hat this boy needed this kind of affirmation from me and I understood an appreciated his display of affection. I spoke to their teacher later and asked me if that’s normal and she said that he has had some issues with bullying and that I should feel good that he came to greet me like that. I felt so validated as a teacher, as though even though we have to deal with nonsense from unruly children, it’s these moments that make it all worthwhile. If I could make that kind of impact on even just one child, it makes it all worth it in the end. Looking forward to seeing those kids again, and I mean this with all the sincerity in my heart. I love being a student-teacher.

Wake-up Call!!!

Wow. All that I can say is wow. I had been to supervise at my father and mother’s schools before so I had an idea of what I was to expect, but then I got to school and could see the vast difference there is between primary school and high school. I was told to prepare myself for the kids who are sassy, hormonal, clowns, and hard to get into gear. Heck, when the teacher told them that it was time to work I felt that same sinking feeling I used to feel when I was in school and my laughter and fun was abruptly cut off by that four letter word, “work”. Not something any kid wants to hear when they’re clowning around with their besties or chatting about how “I was sick and so I gave it to Kyle” – in reference to how a grade 10 girl was talking about her transmitting the flu to her boyfriend, via kissing is the best guess I could come up with (I might look like I’m not listening but watch out for me, I’M A MASTER at dropping eves), but, I digress.

On my poegie I arrived at school and the teaching body was very friendly. I saw quite a few younger teachers which was slightly comforting in a way, knowing that I wouldn’t be working with a whole warehouse of old geysers was refreshing! (I joke!). I must say that after today, all the respect I could have ever had for teaching has unquestionably quadrupled. I was allocated a teacher who is in her second year teaching and she and I seem to be getting on very well seeing as the age gap isn’t too large at all. Since the school is relatively new in terms of English Home Language being offered to learners, the grades only went up to grade 11, no matrics.

Class after class I could see the distinct difference in grades and their general rapport. I noticed that the grade 8s and 9s are ridiculously childish and will laugh at a bag of potatoes if allowed. They were terribly hard to get into order and into the mood of studying. They generally lacked manners and the ability to take the work- or themselves seriously. The respect they had for their teacher was minimal if judging from the standpoint of their behaviour. Their ability to be influenced by others in their class was through the roof, and off the charts. I have never seen this domino effect in full effect until today and boy, is it infectious.

I felt that as a student teacher I had to remember my place in a class and not say anything unless asked to contribute, because after all, the class and all its contents is under the dominion of their teacher, and in giving random inputs I felt I would be out of place. However, the one class of grade 8s just brought me to saying something. I regretted it afterwards. Not because of it being wrong or me saying something horrible but because I felt like I was being “that teacher” who tells kids to be quiet. The one the kids don’t like, and it is quite sad that I still somehow find myself wanting their approval in some way. I need to work on that. The teaching style of my mentor I found to be questionable at times. Though I am in no position to judge, not having had a single class to teach in my life, I must add that perhaps writing down memos on the board for a test they had written in June exams wasn’t the best way of dealing with their mistakes. Some girls asked for their papers back so that they could see what they had done wrong, which the teacher chose to not return to them yet. I would have rather discussed the paper with them and have them write down the corrections as they came to terms with the mistakes they made than have them spoon-fed answers, like robots. She did not always look very prepared for her classes as she looked to be searching in the text books for things they could read. This left a lot of time for the children’s minds to be idle and for the talking and disruptive behaviour to take flight. I feel that when it comes to younger children, their minds need to be kept constantly busy, which is something that she didn’t really excel at in doing.

The grade 10s and 11s were notably more organized, though there were a few learners who were class clowns as usual, to the point where I had to take a long stick from one of the boys. I saw they were vying for my attention as they were continually looking for my eyes when they did something they knew was wrong. The grade 10s were very engaging and the grade 11s had a whale of a time talking about Orwell’s iconic piece: Animal Farm. Although they digressed immensely at times I could see that they were interested in the subject matter and were having a good time, being quirky and pushing the boundaries with their teacher, inch by inch. The teacher offered them extra classes and told them that she was always available, something that I found to be wonderful.

All in all, I had a good day. I could see that it was the first day after a holiday and the kids were bursting from their seams! Hopefully tomorrow will be better, calmer and more productive.                                                             

- Nicole 

What is digital pedagogy???

What is digital pedagogy?

Let's break it up to make it just a little bit easier to grasp:

Digital:  in this sense the word is in reference to the use of electronic media and aid.

Pedagogy: pedagogy is the art of teaching.

thus: digital pedagogy can be said to be the art of teaching using electronic media within the classroom as an aid or supplement to the lesson you are presenting as a teacher.

You're welcome.