Journal Entry 1

In this journal I hope to reflect on what I learned from my first teaching experience during the weekly school visits. This would be based on a some of the things I learned while teaching Science to year 7 at Betio JSS. It will focus on my initial expectation prior to teaching, what I felt and my response including the lessons I learned from the experience, and lastly, stating the insights gained after delivering the lesson.

To begin with, prior to delivering the lesson, I sensed that the lesson would go well. This is due to the fact that I have spent considerable amount of time preparing for this lesson. Having considered the time, the specific learning needs and preferences, plus other adjustments like student centered strategies, I believe that the lesson would be effective in giving me information about students’ learning. This has always been my major goal and philosophy - knowing my impact on my students. However, the experience turned out the opposite. I sensed that somewhere in the middle of the lesson, there was enough evidence that some are not participating and were not in the mood of learning. This took my attention, and that it bothers me to know that I was not able to assess all of my students’ learning.

This took me to a careful thought and reflection on the things that I may have not considered. Of course I have never dominated the class with teacher talk, and if I did at certain points, I am certain that it was Quality talk rather than teacher talk. But a further deep thought gave me a reasonable and of course, the major driving force which I believe to be my own neglect to take full attention of the class in the introductory part. Another probable cause would be my own failure in getting to know students well. This may sound reasonable as it is the first time that I meet these students, but a keen and committed teacher is supposed to have considered these beforehand. And although there were only a few who did not fully participate during the classwork activities and the likes, the overall expectation of the lesson was greatly affected.

Thus, I now learned that as a teacher, it it is important everything is fully considered and adjusted before actually delivering lessons. Also, it is of great essence that I as a teacher must find strategies that would address issues that evolve around meeting the students for the first time. Life is a learning process, and that in every experience there has to be at least a lesson to learn. However, learning,acknowledging and reflecting on such experience will help us grow professionally, especially in the field of teaching.