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.