Practicum Week 10

In terms of the tasks which I had to complete, this week was much like Weeks 8 and 9, but with the additional element of having to prepare my students for my departure from AJC and handing my classes over to my CT and the other J1 teacher. Leaving the school after 10 weeks of settling in was quite difficult, and I realised at the end of the week that I really had a very fruitful practicum experience and would miss both my colleagues and the students.

One highlight of this week was having breakfast with my principal, the VPs, and my SCM - they made a special appointment to see all the practicum teachers together to hear about our experiences and suggestions to improve the school, and although I missed most of this session as I had a last-minute tutorial to cover (the other J1 was on MC that day), I was touched by their concern for us and willingness to hear from us about how our time during practicum had gone. This warmth and openness is something about the staff culture in AJC that I really appreciate, and my perception was reinforced on the last day, when we went around giving little tokens of appreciation to the school management as well as the many teachers who had supported and guided us on our practicum journey. There was a real atmosphere of camaraderie in the staff room during this time, and it felt great to know that I would soon return to be a part of it.

As for my classroom experience during this week, I really had a lot of fun during all my International History tutorials, as I got my classes (including the class that I had to take on behalf of the other J1 teacher) to imagine that they were part of a court trial to determine who was most responsible for the outbreak of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Each class was divided into 4 groups, with 1 group playing the USSR, another the USA, another Cuba, and the final group playing the judges, whose task was to critique each group's defense and come to a final verdict. I was initially nervous about how the lesson would play out, especially for my H1 class as they had never done anything like this before (the H2 classes, at least, had experienced a reduced SAC process in a previous tutorial for Southeast Asian History) but my experience in each lesson thankfully proved that my fears were unfounded. My classes all responded extremely well to this activity, and came up with arguments on the spot that were better thought-out than anything I was able to draw from them during an average tutorial. I guess it was the atmosphere of subtle competition that sped up their thinking, and from the laughs and cheers that the presenting students got from their peers during the presentation and Q&A segments, I could tell that they were all enjoying the activity. Unfortunately, my means of assessing the success of this activity has to stop at what took place within the classroom - the students actually have to complete an essay assignment on this tutorial question, but as I will have left the school by the time it is submitted for marking, I will not be able to see if their lively discussions will translate to a well-thought-out, structured, and balanced essay. Nevertheless, this activity has given me the confidence to use more of such strategies in future, and I can say with confidence that I thought that these lessons were my best teaching experiences in AJC.

Finally, on my last day, my H2 class surprised me with this lovely card. This was a great affirmation of the work that I had put in for them over the past weeks, and I really am looking forward to my return.

Practicum Weeks 8 and 9

I have decided to combine the reflections for these 2 weeks into one post as my experiences during this time were very similar. Basically, practicum life in the aftermath of all the lesson observations returned to its simple routine of preparation for and delivery of lectures and tutorials, marking scripts, CCA observations, occasional consultations with students, and staff meetings. As I think I mentioned in my Week 6 reflection, it was actually quite good to settle down into a routine - while I tend to be the sort of person who values spontaneity and frequent change in my work, teaching by its very nature already involves much spontaneity and change, since every student and class has their own unique strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles, and the material for each lesson changes from week to week. As such, having a basic timetable to follow was actually a good thing, since I was aware of the main tasks that had to be completed in the week as well as when they had to be completed by, and this gave me the freedom to decide when I wanted to do each task, yet kept me focused on finishing what I had to. I really am very comfortable with this sort of system, and am grateful to have a CT who is supportive and helpful yet refrains from micro-managing my tasks.

Of all the tasks that I had to carry out in these weeks, marking scripts was definitely the most challenging - my colleagues were amused to learn that Marcus and I took an average of 30 minutes to mark just one script, but also reassured us that the process would get better with time and increased familiarity with student work. We had a few meetings during these weeks to standardize our marking for the lecture test scripts (since there are 3 JC1 teachers including Marcus and I, and my CT was preparing to take over our work once we left the school) and these sessions increased my familiarity with the school's standards of assessment. In a sense, I felt like it was meant to be a test of how much my personal standards were in sync with the established standards, and after some practice, I was quite happy to have reached the point whereby my CT and I were  in agreement about the ballpark grade for each script. This tedious process of marking also helped me to understand why my CT and the other teachers were generally reluctant to mark other student work beyond their tests and assignments - marking really is quite time-consuming, and given their other responsibilities of CCA, Project Work, other committees, or being the civics tutor of a class, it would definitely be difficult to manage. While I do not anticipate taking on the full load of these responsibilities when I return as a Beginning Teacher, I think I will need to decide whether I can continue with my current practices, which include setting the students small in-class assignments and doing occasional "spot-checks" of their essay outlines (i.e. their tutorial preparation) that I take back to mark and review. Much as I feel that regular feedback and assessment is crucial for student learning, it unfortunately seems like this formative aspect would have to be compromised once the full spread of my responsibilities as a teacher begins.

Another thing that I participated in this week was my observation of my CCA (the Drama Club) carry out some filming work as part of their preparation for an upcoming production, due to be performed at the end of Term 2. The filming was conducted by the CCA teacher-in-charge at his own house, and I was impressed by his passion for the project and willingness to go this extra mile to make it a success. I was also surprised by the maturity and commitment of the students - despite this filming process being time-consuming (and especially given that it was taking place at a time where I'd expect many of them to have to grapple with assignments and lecture tests), they were willing to put in their full effort and never complained when things went slowly or technical issues cropped up and interfered with the process. I realised during this time of observation that JC teaching is really about preparing the students for life beyond the classroom, and that skills such as teamwork, discipline, and responsibility are often cultivated best during such extra-curricular projects.

Mr Bell and a member of the crew work together on filming a scene.