Week One

Week one of student teaching is well under way.  It is Wednesday, and much has happened this week.  The grade 1 teacher for the school has been out sick for a month now.  Teachers are hard to find here, and the school is struggling for money, so a substitute is not an option.  I have now become full time in grade 3 while my teacher spends her time in grade 1.  We start the morning all together and then split for the rest of the day.  Lunch break we spend together, but other than that, it is me and the students.  I was informed of this come the beginning of the school day on Monday, so I have had a quick lesson in improvisation.  Thank you to all of my professors, past teachers, and classmates for every teaching strategy you have helped me commit to memory, because I am searching as much as possible for ideas of what to do!

As of now, I have been able to collect stones and leaves to do a few lessons with numbers, counting, and “greater than and less than” concepts.  I labeled different items in the classroom with various weights in grams and kilograms, and students had to race to see who could grab and organize the items from least to greatest the quickest.  Then in reading, I had them work on comprehension by telling a story and making them draw a picture of  the main idea of the story, including 3 opposites in their picture, and describing their picture using 3 rhyming words. 

So far, the lesson creating has been fun.  However, with the way life is going right now, there is no time for planning.  I do my best to fill out a planning chart each night before school, and then quickly scratch out an anticipatory set idea, along with the main goals I want the students to achieve.  I try and create ideas of how to informally assess, but because I do not yet have the names of the students memorized or have access to their grade books, I can’t really complete this part. So I am slightly overwhelmed trying to figure out how to formulate complete lesson plans for this in the future.

Another issue has been the idea of discipline in the classroom.  Everything I have been taught in school is counteracted in this part of the world.  In this school, if I child misbehaves, they are verbally punished, and even beaten on the backside, the face, or the hand.  My teacher does not necessarily use this route unless the case is extreme, but some teachers in the older grades are quick to give beatings to students who do not come with their work done on time.  If a student in my class does not complete work on time, they must stay in and not eat any food during the break until their homework is completed.  This often means students go without food until the second break.  Also, when a student is misbehaving in the class, whether that be not listening, goofing around, falling asleep, or any other various misbehavior, the teacher calls them to the front of the class.  In front of everyone, she makes demeaning comments about their behavior, how the student should just be sent back to grade 1, how they will not make a good husband or wife, or how they are unintelligent, lazy, and ignorant.  Many times already, my teacher has turned to me during the punishment, and asked me what I would do to a learner like this.  I sit quiet, because I feel strongly that this is not the time and place for me to give my thoughts.  And then I talk to her about it later, how I feel uncomfortable in those situations, but not much seems to change.  She often looks at me also and says, this child has no parents, or this child’s father is in prison, or this child is too rich for his own good, or this child can’t even afford lunch; she says this loud and clear for everyone to hear, and right in front of the face of the student.  I cannot punish students like this, I just can’t.

  So then when the time comes for me to be alone, I work as hard as I can to establish a positive classroom environment, where punishment looks a little differently. This, however, may not be the best route either.  The students love their teacher, and she loves them.  It’s not a matter of her being a bad teacher who detests her students, rather it is just the way things work in South Africa.  To work against that and try and recreate my ideal classroom situation is unreasonable.  So my biggest issue is how do I work with this situation?  I am left with no answer, and often end up having to yell to gain student attention.  I have had many conversations with them about respecting their classmates, teachers, and parents.  At this point, that is the one main thing I am trying to get them to grasp.  I am in the dark in this area right now, so any thoughts or ideas are definitely welcomed!