Wednesday observation (17th March 2021)

 On the 17th of March 2021, I visited class four in the same school, Sunrise Primary School. When I first entered this classroom and I could notice that it was very organized in terms of classroom management and arrangement. Every corner of each subject and there were lot of posters and displays of students' activities as well as important notes for students. There was also a creative time-out corner which was designed for naughty and troublemaker students. Students acted very obediently as they usually paid attention to their teacher whenever he talked and delivered the lesson and task to them. 

Throughout his teaching and I could tell that his lesson was well organized and went smoothly from the beginning till the end of each lesson. The first important thing they do in the morning was a morning prayer and then they started their lesson,. He always started his lesson with a warmer like mind reader and number race. There was always a group discussion, presentation and individual activity in different lesson they did. Students were participating and engaging well in every task given to them and they did well in their presentations and activities. Each lesson was concluded through questioning but the best conclusion I noticed was a closing prayer and a small talk and sharing based on words of encouragement and the importance of schooling. This was done by the teacher to his students at the end of the last period before the class was over. 

I was inspired with every teaching strategies he adopted and I wonder how he managed to control his students, and what was his leadership approaches he applied to his students that they acted very smartly and obediently. There were other effective strategies he used and that was "SIGNAL" and he used it by tapping the board once for them to sit properly, twice for them to put their hands on their head and thrice for them to sit quietly. Another strategy he used was "TRANSITIONAL SONG", and he applied it when his students were going to do a group work and also when they going back to the middle when the group work was done. Transitional song was done by a song in which students sing a song and moved to their different groups, and when the group work was done, they again sing another song which indicates that their lesson ended and they have to move to another lesson and as they sing they gathered in the middle to do another lesson. 

Overall, his teaching strategies was effective and efficient as it save time and energy when controlling students. It is because he applied many effective teaching strategies like signal, transitional song, strict and calm sometimes and any other approaches that I have mentioned in this reflective journal. I could not intervene or do some improvement to his teaching as he did very well. I just want to be an effective and flexible teacher like him in the near future. 

Reflective Journal (10th March 2021)

 

During this day, I was again visited year 1 the same school and classroom from last week to do my observation. The students in this classroom became more obedient compared to the previous week, this day they cooperated in every task given to them by the associate teacher.

 The teacher started the Kiribati lesson with the letter sound by demonstrating Kiribati letter sounds. She was demonstrating the letter "Rr" sound to students and they followed her. After practicing the letter sounds then she displayed and explained their activity on the board. She always demonstrating letter sounds, do the counting 1-100, and sing ABC's song whenever she was going to deliver her lesson on Kiribati, English, Cultural Maths and Kiribati community study.

Throughout her teaching, students are engaging well to each other and to the teacher as well, but still one of her students act so childish and naughty all the time as he used to play around and teased his classmates. The teacher was so fed up with his attitude so she called out his mother to deal with him. This child was afraid when she was scolded by his mother but as she went away, he again acted so naughty and being so troublesome in the classroom. The teacher could not hold her temper anymore that she scolded that child and send him to the principal.

The lessons ended at 12:30pm and I could tell that the lesson delivering went well as most students enjoyed the lesson, and they achieved the learning outcomes at the end of each lesson. I knew this when they were asked questions about the topic and lesson and they responded correctly to their teacher.

In order to deal with any kinds of hyperactive child, I think it is better that creating creative play corner is better because it will always be available for students to play at when they have nothing to do or when they finished their work early. This is to avoid students to cause problems in teasing others when they are free.

Reflective Journal (3rd March 2021)

 During the 3rd of March 2021 and I was doing my observation at Sunrise Primary School in the lower class level, Class 1. Students at this age were hyperactive and like to play all the time. When I first arrived at their classroom and I could see that students were wild as they played around with their mates while their teacher tried to settle them down in order for her to start the lesson. There was no effective strategy she applied that she used to shout and controlled them very strictly by using corporal punishment.  

As she delivered her lesson, most of her students were listening to what she was saying but few of them were very naughty as they played around and teased others. Her delivering seemed interesting but chaotic in some ways as some of her students played around and did not want to do their task. Additionally, some students always asked to go outside while others made their mates cry.

However, the lesson went well as most of them did their task well and achieved the learning outcome at the end of the lesson. I could tell this after looking at their book when their teacher marked their activity, and most of them marked very correctly and excellency, which means they did very well. 

In order to be effective and flexible in teaching, it is best that sending naughty student to principal and time out corner will be better rather than using corporal punishment which is very not good and harsh for them. It is also good that using polite and calm words in controlling the students is very helpful as students prefer kind words than shouting and controlling them very harshly.

Practical 1

Accessing and creating the blogger address appeared a bit hard for me as it was my first time to work with it. There are lot of problems I encounter during creating my blogger address and account; the first one is that I did not know what am I going to write on the blogger which include my address, title and heading of it. The second one is that I am totally confuse on how to view profiles and posts of other student and to comment on their work. Overall, the main problem I noticed was the internet which is always not good whenever I access the blogger to create my address. 

However, there are only a few things or tasks I found it easier to do in the blogger and that is just asking for the blogger address and then access to it in the internet. The next easier thing is writing a discussion and post it publicly on the blogger.

Therefore, I was so grateful that I manage to come up with solutions to problems I encountered. The first thing I remember is seeking help from my colleagues and tutor to assist me in creating the blogger address and how to use it in various ways. Lastly, as the internet was bad in the college then I tried to do it at home using phone data as it very fast. Also when I see that there are few student using the internet in the college then that is the best time to access the blogger, and this is where I access the blogger through internet as it fast then. Overall, all of these problems are temporary and they can be solved easily if we used our mind wisely, read carefully and most of all to seek help from the tutor in time of need or confusion. By doing these, then there will be no more confuse and there will be also an improvement in the skill of creating and accessing blogger.