Practice Teacher's Experiences and Thoughts

We were given the golden opportunity to handle three different sections during our individual practice teaching. With this opportunity, I was able to gain a very valuable lesson.

It came to me that there are certain strategies and activities that are effective for a certain group of learners only. I may have given the same activity to all three sections but I saw that it was best effective in my 1:00 to 2:00 class. In the other classes, however, it may have been effective to some, but to some, it may not have been that effective. Although I tried my best to adjust my instructions depending on the ability, observed preference, learning strategies and learning styles of my students.

With this experience, I was able to prove to myself that teaching is indeed what I am cut for. It was exhausting, yes, but it was at the same time rewarding. I enjoyed every minute, including all the hassles such as making the instructional materials and worrying whether my students are learning or not.

Negotiation

The students celebrated their "Buwan ng Wika". Classes were suspended in the morning and resumed in the afternoon.

When we went into the class we were supposed to handle, the students were obviously not in the mood to have a class. They were asking us if they could have the afternoon off. We insisted that we still continue with the class since it was only for 50 minutes. We were already having our class but it's obvious that the students were restless. They were not cooperative.

My group mate was the one teaching at that time. She bargained with the students. She told them that if they will cooperate, she will make the lesson shorter and they could be dismissed earlier. They agreed to the bargain and settled down. She continued with the lesson, giving several activities where the learners would move around. Somehow, what she did took its roots in me.

From the experience, I learned that I should be sensitive and observant enough to be able to gauge my students' mood for the day. If I see that they are antsy and would rather play than be in the room and listen to my lecture, then I should be creative enough to come up with something to gain their attention. The way I see it, the strategy that my group mate used is something I could borrow and employ someday.