Week 9/10 - Team Teaching

After weeks of observation and engagement in instructed class duties, it was time for me to work with the lead teachers in planning and execution of the lessons.

I started team teaching with Miss McClelland and Miss Mkok, both in the secondary sections teaching Years 7 and 8 respectively.

At the time of my entry into the team-teaching phase, I had already done enough observation to know the requirements of a good teacher in an international school setting. However, there was a slight difference between my observation and the actual implementation of the act of teaching. Nevertheless, I took up the challenge gladly and started with a few minutes of the lesson.


My first lesson: Year 7

I had the pleasure to start my first teaching exercise with the year 7 students, covering a new topic- "Favourite Things". I had been instructed by the lead teacher to prepare an introduction of the topic and present it in class during the lesson.

I used the lesson plan prepared by Miss McClelland but edited a few sections in the introduction to suit my intended teaching strategy, which was to be an interactive discussion. Using slides, I stimulated the students minds to thinking of some of their favourite pastime activities as well as their favourite foods.

The main objective for my allocated 20 minutes of the lesson, was to enable learners to write effective notes about their favourite things. They were able to list down their favourite things and I requested them to write notes about the one thing they like the most. Note making was a bit complex for the learners because they did not understand how to make notes from their minds. I therefore, divided them into groups of twos and threes to exchange ideas of how they could write effective notes. I gave them an example of my favourite thing and how I made notes on it to guide their thoughts.
At the end of the first 20 minutes, they had made great strides and were able to make notes.

I considered my part of the lesson a success. Afterward, Miss McClelland took over and I resorted to assisting individual learners who got stuck during the lesson.

At the end of the lesson, Miss McClelland noted that I stimulated the learners well!

Week 6 - Involvement in School Activities

By this time, I had already familiarized myself with the school well and capable of making meaningful contribution in activities within the school. 

MSMUN Advisor 

Having joined MUN previously, I have been working closely with the lead teachers to get a grasp of the club and more importantly to know how I can be of help. In preparation for the upcoming MUN conference, I have been assigned the role of being the MSMUN advisor. I will be working with the middle school learners in formulating a UN resolution for Qatar on Human Rights. 

This is a role I intend to take seriously as I too will be learning a lot in the club. Hopefully, I will attend the club events and gain a firsthand knowledge on the roles of lead teachers in such a club. 

Secondary Production

I have been working with lead teachers in secondary production with an aim of making a contributions in the production. So far, no specific role has been assigned to me yet, probably because the students in the production have not started their rehearsals yet. The production was still auditioning and it is on Thursday (4th October) when students were assigned their roles. Hopefully I will help in the production as action is set to begin next week. 

International Day

This was one of the most exciting days in school. Apart from the fun activities, there was so much to learn. 

1. Firstly, I again saw the importance of planning in making any event successful. All the participants planned well for this event to make it as colorful as it was.  
2. I also learned the importance of teamwork in promoting success. The administration worked in coherence with all the departments to make the event flow in a smooth manner. 
3.  Of course, sense of national identity and respect for other people's culture was also a thing to note during the day.

I also had a great chance to interact and guide our house team members through the various activities of the day.
There is so much that I can say about this day but I leave it at that with a winding quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that says; "If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective". This is exactly what BMIS displayed on that day 

The Desirability of Positive Education Approaches in My Ideal Classroom

Positive education, according to Seligman et al., (2009), is a form of education that encompasses both the traditional skills (such as literacy and numeracy) and happiness as part of learning. This approach of has a number of characteristics that I consider a perfect synchronization with my ideal classroom, which encourages more learning and less teaching. I, thus, consider the adoption of positive education in my ideal classroom as a desirable step, only to the extent that the negative concerns about the approaches are addressed.

            One of the leading reasons why I find positive education desirable in my ideal classroom is that it aids learning and creative thinking. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) suggests that the success of the Montessori’s principle of guided play rather than structured teaching can be attributed to the traces of the concept of ‘flow’, which is an important concept in positive education. The concept of flow allows learners to focus more on what they are doing to an extent that they lose their self-consciousness momentarily (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Though my ideal classroom does not necessarily follow the Montessori principles, the idea of a guided learning process rather than structured teaching resonate well with my ideal classroom of less teaching and more learning. Therefore, if the concept of flow, as advocated by proponents of positive education, can work in such a learning environment, then I consider it very desirable in my ideal classroom.

            Furthermore, the characteristics of the ‘flow’ approach to positive education are also in line with the general objectives of my ideal classroom. As a teacher who intends to create an ideal classroom of more learning and less teaching, I consider the characteristics of flow as presented by Csikszentmihalyi (1997) as very desirable. Whilst there are a couple of features, the one that I consider very desirable is the immediate feedback of actions. When learners engage in creative learning where they are more involved than the teacher, getting immediate feedback is easy, thus, the desire to use the flow approach to achieve this objective.

            In as much the approaches to positive education seem quite interesting in my ideal classroom, it could also have a drawback if it is stressed. According to an article by The Independent, teaching learners how to be happy could actually distract them from doing activities that make them happy. The validity of this concern is not in question if you consider the fact that there are no measurable or solid evidence to support the success of this approach. However, I do not see this concern as having an overriding authority to discredit the reliability of positive education approaches in my ideal classroom, and thus, conclusively add that regulated positive education approaches are desirable in my ideal classroom.

Week 5 Reflection - Primary School Experience

During this week, I go a chance to get more classes in the primary section. With the help of Miss Philips, the primary deputy headteacher, I was able to get observation opportunity in Year 1/2 (Phonics), Year 3 (English), Year 4 (English and Guided Reading), and Year 5 (English and Guided Reading).

The Primary School Experience 

The experience in primary school was somewhat different from that in secondary school.

Firstly, the numbers were a bit higher than in secondary, thus, bringing a whole new dimension of behavior control in the classroom, which I shall discuss shortly.

Secondly, style of learning was a bit different. From time to time, learners had to change their sitting positions. I noticed the effectiveness of the front carpet when telling stories. Inviting the children in front to listen to a story is an effective way of achieving the receptive literacy skill of listening.

Classroom management 

What I noted as the greatest challenge in the primary section is class management. The high number and the age of the children are factors that when combined make it hard for the teachers to effectively control the class. I was impressed at some of the techniques employed by the teachers to command attention whenever there was a disquiet among learners. For example, counting from five to zero with a warning that a yellow card will be given to any student talking after the countdown ends. I found this method as extremely effective in in commanding attention.

What I also noted is that the teacher has a greater task of balancing the different levels of learners in the same classroom. This moderates the pace of teaching in a way that all learners have to be catered for in the classroom. Proper use of the readily available teaching assistants is also one effective way of handling the different learners in a classroom.

Take away:::

• Effective organization of the classroom is a key element to achieving success in the primary schools
• A teacher simply has to know more than just one single way of managing behavior in the classroom. According to Bruner (1966), over-reliance on extrinsic motivation is not an ideal way of keeping learners motivated. Therefore, I propose intrinsic motivation to help learners manage themselves better. Since I am new to teaching in an international school, I can only make theoretical inferences on how to deal with such situations. With that, I find Seligman et al., (2009) theory of positive education as an ideal way of dealing with that situation. You can find my sentiments on this theory here. 

Week 4 Reflection - Co Curricular and Mentor Meeting

In week 4 (my second week at BMIS), I was still making observations in the secondary section. Well, the lessons learned were relatively the same as the first week's so I feel obliged to avoid redundancy and highlight the new experiences I had.

Mentor Meeting:

I had my first formal meeting with my mentor, Tom Craven, the head of Braeburn Mombasa. Together, we reviewed the course expectations as per the PGCE (i) and Braeburn requirements. The focus area of the meeting was on lesson planning.

1. Lesson Planning

Mr. Craven categorically stressed on the importance of lesson planning. His insistence on this area was because of the expectations of a teacher in the classroom and how the achievement of these expectations are tied to proper planning.
One of the things I learned was that lesson planning is not just about highlighting the things you will do in class but actually going an extra mile to ensure that every detail is captured in the lesson plan. Even examples to be used in the class should be planned for in advance.

2. Modeling 

What differentiates an exemplary teacher from the rest is simply good modeling. In the meeting, Mr. Craven dwelt much on the importance of modeling in the classroom as opposed to giving instructions to students on what to do. As part of the teaching expectations, he challenged me to ensure that modeling becomes my base of teaching English.

Co-Curricular:

MUN
In my second week, I was struggling to find suitable clubs where I could make meaningful contributions. With the absence of a debate club in the school, I opted to join Model United Nations (MUN) club.

Friday Football
I was also interested in football but I could not get into the field because I had not carried my sports kit. However, I knew football was going to be an activity that I would participate during my placement at BMIS.

Week 3 reflection - the secondary experience

Experience in Secondary (Years 7, 8 & 9)

During my first week, I was primarily involved with learners in the key stage 3. 

Well, my initial thoughts were that the classes were relatively small compared to the national schools in Kenya. However, I found the classes to be extremely small; all the three classes had five (5) students each. I had mixed feelings on the effectiveness of teaching a small number. I will review my feelings as I highlight the differences between the Kenyan national curriculum and the international curriculum taught at BMIS. 

Major differences observed were:

1. Teaching methodologies

Observing all the lessons in key stage 3, I noted the use of child-centered methodologies. The learners played an active role in the classroom, where the teachers only modeled the lessons based on the learning objectives (LO). 

Less teaching and more learning took place in the classes with the learners showing clear involvement with the lessons. 

My feeling about this approach has always been positive because I recommend its use as opposed to other methodologies of 'banking' that put the teachers as the only source of information with the learners playing lesser roles in the learning process. 

Therefore, I was impressed by the use of a learner-friendly approach to teaching and would be more than glad to implement it in my classes.

2.  Number of students in a single classroom

This was one of the most noticeable differences. I expected a class of about 20 students, which according to my personal experience would have also been a small class. However, with an average of five students per class, I realized the number had a lot to do with the teachers' choice of the teaching methodology. Without an option, the teachers had to engage all the learners. So I put this on the pro side of a small class. Furthermore, keeping close attention to the learners is easier with a small class. 

One of the drawbacks I recorded was lack of a variety in the classrooms. With a small number, there was less that learners could learn from each other.

3. Use of ICT and resources 

As expected, and of course very different from our national curriculum, there was good use of ICT and resources in the classrooms I observed. The resources were quite helpful in stimulating learners involvement in the class.

Take away:::

The takeaway lesson I learnt here, which my mentor also stressed on later, was the need for proper planning. With proper planning, there is less room for error and the outcome becomes measurable. 

These were the major differences (in classrooms) that I observed comparing to my former exposure at the Kenyan national school during my teaching practice. 

Extras:

Learners involvement in learning boosts their confidence and also helps them to improve on their language skills more especially in speaking and listening.  

Week 3 Reflection at Braeburn Mombasa - Settling in

This was my first time in an international school. Having been schooled in typical national schools with no touch of international education, you can imagine the kind of anxieties that filled my mind! 

The school headteacher, Mr. Tom Craven was assigned to me as a personal mentor during my training at the school. We had a brief discussion, which was mainly to set the dates for our regular mentor-trainee meetings.

With the help of Miss Laetitia Mkok (Head of Languages), I was able to, swiftly, familiarize myself with the international curriculum used in Braeburn Mombasa. She took personal responsibility to ensure I have all I need to settle; and indeed I settled well. 
Her help has been unimaginably great, fast-tracking my swift adaptation to the school.

I was also glad to meet Mr. Kamana, who is a former PGCE(i) student. He shared great insights into the course and offered some valuable tips for balancing between school work and PGCEi coursework, which has been quite overwhelming.