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.