LIFE OF A TEACHER - REFLECTION

How did you manage completing the three days of "day in the life of a teacher?"

• I believe that I managed well enough as this was my first time ever to do so. In the beginning it was a bit scary for me as I never had that type of responsibility before but as the day went on, I felt a bit at ease when doing my lessons. In the beginning the teacher aided me as I was still confused and then she left me and over-watched me and then gave me feedback for the next two days in the life of a teacher.

How did you feel taking the responsibilities of a teacher in block 1 compared to block 2?

• Taking over the responsibilities of a teacher in block 1 was scary and confusing as I did not know what to do for the most part of it but then in block 2 I felt more at ease when taking over the teachers duties as I knew what to do and how to do it even though the teacher was still over-looking me, I felt at ease to carry out my duties.

Which activities did you find most challenging and how did you overcome those challenges?

• The activities that I found most challenging in the day of a life of a teacher was that throughout the day I became tired as there was 41 learners in each class, but as the time went I became more used to it and I was not as tired as in the beginning. I believe with practice that I would become much better at it and not be as tired as I will be in the groove of it.

Analyze your results of your self-evaluation, where would you rate yourself higher?

• I would rate myself higher in the self-evaluation survey on the aspect of "newly qualified teachers must be able to assess learners in reliable and varied ways, as well as being able to use the results of assessment to improve teaching and learning." I would rate myself from "developing" to "competent."

Justify how you have improved these competencies through this experience.

• The way that I have improved this competency is by learning from my mentor teachers on how to assess the learners in reliable and varied ways and they have also taught me how to improve teaching and learning based off results from assessments. So, these are ways that I had improved myself. This final stretch of teaching experience has put a toll on me but has also taught me much on being a teacher and all the difficult work that comes with it as well.

Compare the final comments of the teacher and your initial self-evaluation of your teaching experience.

• With regards to the exit level outcomes I had received a mark of 3 out of 5 which depicts that I had received a level of competence in my work and development. This is the same and a little better from what I had chosen in my self-evaluation survey. The final comments of my mentor teacher proves that in myself I had developed as a teacher and I believe that I will keep developing as I gain my experience through the years. To gain more confidence in my subject knowledge I will have to teach more lessons and this will help me prepare myself and be able to learn more. My mentor teacher gave me a mark of confidence and I plan to better this in my years of experience. When it came towards the end of my teaching experience I had received more confidence in my content knowledge and learner engagement. I believe I received this when the teachers kept asking me to look after their classes when they were not around. So in this time I had gained learner confidence and when I taught them I was not so nervous.