End of Week Three ;-)

I am somewhat surprised that there is only one week left.

Three weeks have passed and when I look back I smile at the vast amount of things I have been exposed to but feel somewhat saddened at the amount of work that has actually been achieved.

Myself and the other two student teachers were just discussing at how some of the staff have no concern for time and arrive 15 - 20 mins late for each lesson. 15mins is a quarter of the lesson time which means a whole term out of a year is lost due to teachers arriving late for the lessons.

If I just look at these three weeks I have been here, the first week was spent marking and doing reports, the second week was only 3 days long so not much work got done and this third week panic set in. Contributing to this was that the teachers who I am working with just don't come to school for one day out of every week. Another day in the life of the learners which is lost.

It is no wonder then that the curriculum does not get finished or that the work is done so superficially in order to rush through the allotted content that the learners are not able to grasp the core concepts. My heart bleeds for them, especially those trying so hard to make something of themselves and to rise above their current situation.

Saying that, I found myself, giving in to the same attitudes to most of the teachers. There are two problem classes - 9a and 11J. I take 11J and 11P for Physics and Biology. The difference in the two classes is quite considerable and it is not really in ability but more in attitude and size. 11J have between 40 - 50 children in the class where as 11P have 30 - 40 in the class. The size of the classrooms also differ. 11J is a big class in an even bigger classroom and are difficult to control. The learners have massive attitudes to go with the big class size and classroom.

I have been losing the battle this week with the physical science where I have been trying to teach science but have been spending most of the lesson explaining the maths behind the science. How the learners were allowed to take maths literacy with physical science I will never understand. Simple mathematical rearranging of equations are beyond the scope they seem to cover in maths literacy. Anyway it all adds up to one frustrated teacher who is being pressurized to get through the curriculum but cant get past the maths or the attitude of the students.

This morning I had my assessment in physical science with 11J. I had a brilliant lesson planned with a demonstration with lenses, application of the curvature in mirrors in the change rooms of clothes shops, how spectacles can correct near or far sightedness.

I walked in there ready but with some trepidation about doing my assessment in the 11J class. That was my first mistake. Then I jumped into establishing how much they remembered from Grade 10. Needless to say I was thrown when they denied knowledge of any grade 10 work they were supposed to have done. Instead of continuing with the plan - I let it get to me that once again - I wouldn't be able to teach Grade 11 science because they didn't have the basics. I gave into frustration and the lesson went pear shaped from the start. 5hours later I had the same lesson but with 11P - I was wondering how to change and adapt the lesson to make it better. I started the same way asking what they had done in grade 10 last year. Not only could they tell me but they had brought their note books with the notes from last year in them and were able to show me what they had done. So my lesson went really well, better than I had hoped it would go. And as Murphy would have it the lesson that went really well was not the one in which I was being assessed in, but the conditions were different, the students more conscientious and the class is smaller and more manageable.

On an shock note.... One of the student teachers was trying to control the habit the students have of bunking class or slipping out to go and smoke. So when one of the main culprits went to leave for the toilet - she asked him to stay for the important section she was discussing so he stood at the door, unzipped his trousers and stood there for 5mins before he urinated in the bin egged on by cheers from his peers.