Week 2

Week 2 is well under way, and much has happened.  It is Tuesday, August 28^th today, and I am sitting in a storage closet after school.  The school day finished at 1:30 for all learners except grade 12.  Last week I had to leave exactly at 1:30 with the other students in order to find transportation back to the house where I am staying.  This week, I was able to organize transportation for 4pm, the time that the grade 12 learners are dismissed.  This time has been so good for me.  The emphasis placed on planning throughout the education program was not taught solely to give us more work to do, but rather because it is truly vital to successful teaching practices in the real world.  Being at school, surrounded by papers and supplies makes planning and idea-generating much easier.

Without the internet, I realize my resources are very limited.  Teachers truly need to have a supply box filled with strategies and ideas for times when they are stuck without technology.  However, because I feel like I am still working to fill my teaching tool box, I’m having quite an interesting time planning.  I have been learning to use my students creative minds as resources as well as other faculty members in the school.  

So far this week, my mind has been focusing on assessment.  Teaching is meaningless if there is not some goal in mind.  My students need to be aware that what we are doing is leading towards something that there is purpose to everything we are doing.  Here, the only guidance as to what to teach is a grid with information on the questions that will be asked on ANA, the Annual National Assessment that every school must give their learners.  Yes, even in South Africa teacher find themselves frustrated with having to “teach toward the test.”  But I have found that this limits teachers so much.  They don’t push the limits with creativity or incorporate multiple learning styles into their teaching.  My teacher does try and motivate her students through physical movement, which is well taken by the students.  But especially in older grades, the teaching style tends to be very much a lecture style. 

I have been trying to figure out how I can take the topics included in ANA and turn them into units, or big ideas for my time teaching here.  Last week, while I was still able to teach some successful lessons, I neglected to step back and see the big picture.  I also neglected assessment.  I can attribute most of this to the shock and stress I felt from the craziness of every event and change that came last week.  But so far this week, I have been keeping scratches of assessment notes in my binder, and am learning so much simply through observation.  Now that I have the students names down, it is much easier to figure out who is lacking in what areas.  I have begun today by giving students a spelling list. We are focusing on soft g and soft c sounds, as well as 5 extra words that were frequently misspelled in their writing activity from Monday.  They have had 1 spelling test before, and they aren’t to excited about this second one.  But here I am, thrilled to think that I have an assessment in place and now have tons of ideas of how to use these words to enhance my teaching and their learning in the next 3 days.  Assessment is continuous.  I am learning that it is so beneficial to always be thinking about the progress of each student.  Many bits of progress slip by unnoticed, but having a mindset of looking for every sign of progress or struggle will help make my teaching more beneficial and tailored specifically to my class.  I know this sounds like something that should be obvious, but after really diving in to a classroom like this as an actual teacher, it finally seems to be real.  I understand the benefits and hope to become more skilled at teaching this way.