3rd week of teaching practise

 This week kick started with a special day; 14th of November, Children's day. Children were very happy and everyone wished each other. Due to the November test, all my 6th periods were changed to the period in which exams were conducted. Tuesday the 15th of November was a holiday because of a strike. It was totally an unfortunate day because Rev. Fr. C. O. Joseph Ramban passed away. He was the
former superior of the Mount Tabor Diara. We had no class as the teachers and non teaching staffs of all Mount Tabor institutions went to attend the funeral and mourned at the demise of Fr. Joseph Ramban. When the 3rd week came to an end, I had finished the chapter, "The Nightingale and the Rose".

      

2nd week of teaching practice

A new week started and I started a new chapter with it. The new chapter was a story titled "The Nightingale and the Rose" written by Oscar Wilde. I had planned Power point presentations to show the learners.

https://1drv.ms/p/s!AnEfUMKPCf00nDPyzvw578tgjQqA?e=bkpHMy 

On 7th of November a "Flashmob" was conducted by the students as an awareness on drug abuse. A child from 8th standard approached me on this weekend with a rose flower. She told me that it was the flower from her garden and she would like to give it to me as a present. I was so happy to hear that and it made my day.

On the coming days children were very eager to hear the rest of the story. I collected the notebooks to check on Tuesday morning and gave it back at evening. Some of them were not complete and some of them hadn't written the home works, but most of them had done it. There was a meeting on Wednesday about the curriculum development. Many members from the Pathanapuram Panchayat and representatives of other schools participated in the meeting. Some of us who didn't have classes during the last period got a chance to attend and put forward our suggestions to the meeting

The November test for the students started this week and exams were conducted on each day. on Thursday i got a chance to go as an invigilator in the class 7th.I. They had Hindi exam that day. on the last day of this week I planned to finish the story "The Nightingale and the Rose" but unfortunately I couldn't because their November test was being conducted on the 6th period, which was my allotted period. Anyway I went to the class and stood their as an exam invigilator.

Using ICT tools helped to a great extend in managing the class and keeping the students interested in the class. The children seem to get the idea of the new words better with the images of the words. Using Power point slides to write notes was time saving and better. The children enjoyed seeing different animated slides. Adding certain effects to the slides makes the presentation interesting  and entertaining for the children. It sweeps away the boredom of the class.

Through the entry activities that I have given, I understood that the learners have got a grip on the story. Only using blackboard to teach new words couldn't create interest in the pupils. I had to connect it with some real life incidents with which the students could relate. I gave the students an extended activity of speaking about a topic. This helped me to understand the learners' point of view about the story and they could open up to their friends. They were a bit reluctant at first to talk in English but with more help they could do better.

Enacting a given scene was another activity that I tried this week. The talents of the children were evident from the pieces they enacted. They also had different imaginations and creative power. More activities that might bring out their talents will be helpful for them.

 

1st week at Mount Tabor Girls High School, Pathanapuram.

As a part of our first teaching practice session, we were allotted to different schools. Five of us, Ashna, Geethu, Nithya, Smitha and myself were allotted to the Mount Tabor Girls High School, Pathanapuram. 3^rd November 2022 was our first official day as teachers at the school. We gathered at the college and went to the school together as a group.

I was assigned to the class 8.I, and my class was during the 2^nd period on Thursday, 6^th on Friday and again 6^th on Saturday. My guide was Sreena.J.S teacher. When I went to the class the students greeted me with enthusiasm of seeing a new teacher. I was excited and introduced myself. The children asked many doubts about me teaching them. They wanted to know whether their permanent English teacher would never come back to teach them and many other things like that. I gave them satisfactory answers and asked their names. After those informal talks I started my class.

My topic was the poem The First Showers by Nalini Sharma, from the fourth unit, Flowers and Showers from their textbook. I provided some colour papers to make paper boats. Students made boats using the paper and some of them even named the boats. On the second day Sreena teacher and I had an interaction about the students. She asked me whether the students were all cooperative. A few of them were not so attentive. I planned to give a little more attention to them. I came to know that the 6^th period is much shorter than the other periods. This Saturday was a compensatory working day with Wednesday’s timetable. I completed the chapter First Showers by giving a short review of the poem and doing some activities based on the text. I had prepared some activities myself too. Children were enthusiastic to do all those activities. I found that they like to do activities rather than simply listening. I asked questions in between and most of them answered correctly. I told them that we will start a new chapter in the next class.

I understood that I should give more attention to the class time. I was a bit slow at first. Therefore, I had to go fast towards the end of the class. I got to know the students more and more day by day. They showed interest in group activities. I have to plan such activities to gain their interest and make the class lively. As the 6^th period is shorter I have to slightly change my lesson plans according to it. I realised that I have a tendency to explain portions over and over again. I have to keep an eye on that too in the coming classes. I could reinforce the students appropriately and I could finish the class on time on the 3^rd day. I slightly developed my time management. The learners were little restless and hyperactive while doing the activities. I should improve my classroom management.