Weekly experience of a teacher in the making!

I had an amazing week of pure brilliance and learning galore!

But, first let me say that President High School won the derby on Saturday against a near by rival school. Thus the mood during the assembly on Monday morning was filled with excitement as all the learners and teachers that contributed to this win, were celebrated!

The Pressies Nettball team doing their thing!

I am truly finding my rhythm as a teacher, all the time I make a concious decision about what type of teacher I want to be! I think this is very important, that one needs to know how they want to present and conduct themselves within the classroom. I had a few special moments within this week. I found complete freedom about the choice to do a course in education when I was able to assist learners in understanding certain concepts better. It truly is rewarding like dr Davids shared with us, when a child's face lights up and their eyes sparkle, because you were able to be that help they needed to understand something. 

I am starting to form a relationship with the learners. By now they know what to expect from me and they behave accordingly. So when the grade 8's entered the classroom disorderly on Wednesday, I gave them I good pep talk. I told the class that I will not tolerate this type of behaviour and that I expect better from them as the standard have been already made aware to them. During all of this I spoke with them in a gentle, calm tone. I refuse to succumb to anger or raising my voice when learners behave the way they're not suppose to. I'm aware that this can easily change after a good few years in the teaching profession, but I too think that it is important to handle learners with care and the out most respect, although they lose their respect for you it doesn't give you any right to lose your respect for them. This will truly be my aim and most probably be my greatest challenge maintaining an attitude such as this. Kids are special and I don't know what circumstances they come from or how they're treated at home, but the time I'll be graced with their presence they will know that they're worthy and deserves nothing but the best from me!

I also noticed in the grade 8 Natural Science class and after confirming it with the principal, that there's a boy with a learning disability within the class. He has been medically diagnosed as a special needs learner. He has a short concentration span. His parents have tried to put him in a school to accommodate his needs, but at the moment the school is too full, which is really unfortunate. He has caused quite an uproar in some classes and today he tried to be disruptive which has never happened out of the classes I have taught them. When I noticed his seek for attention, I asked him questions regarding the content and he would answer, although he was wrong I still thanked him for his contribution and one could see it on his body how good it feels to him to be given praise. I look forward to see how I will deal with him in the future.  

My best time at the school is really that 45minutes I get to teach a specific class. This journey gives so much more meaning to my life, to my existence. I didn't think I would enjoy it this much, especially being the only one out of our PGCE group at this school. 

The week was eventful. The matrics had their 40 days on Thursday, which made for a very chaotic day. They truly came full force with an agenda to disrupt the norm, they "kidnapped" (tying hands, feet and mouths) teachers out of their classes, while teaching a lesson and held them prisoner in the quad. Not quite sure why I say them, because I too was "kidnapped", but I chose to go willingly, meaning I walked down to the quad and not carried by anyone. Out of the few teachers that went through this "traumatic" ordeal, most teachers laughed it off, while one teacher was really upset. All the time I was just saying/asking myself "Is this really happening?". "How can such disruption occur in a school?" School which is a place of order. 
I too have to admit it was exciting to behold the fancy costumes and this type of behaviour displayed by them as my school never had these events. It however affected the behaviour of the other grades as well and this made it unpleasant for teachers. But everything did stabilise and returned to somewhat normal.

It is also the Matric Farewell Tonight, so I look forward to hear how their night went. When I get a chance to finally teach the grade 12's.
I am very pleased to know that I will be able to sleep a little bit later on Monday, before the teaching and learning commences on Tuesday!