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.