Week 2 :: Day 6 :: Monday

First thing in the morning I had a whole class shared reading session where everyone gets a go at reading a page. I chose Rainbow Fish because I really like the artwork. I don't know if other children feel similar, but I never liked a lot of books both as a kid and now as an adult, if the pictures are not to my taste.

Before we started I went through some of the vocabulary they may have found problematic. Unfortunately I had miscounted the pages in the book and thus not everyone got a chance to read, which was a shame. They also read the book faster than I expected and I didn't end the lesson very well. there was also a constant murmur of talking that I didn't squish very well. I think a lot of this is about my confidence as a teacher; not wanting to be strict, but not surely why this is. I guess I've stepped over the friend-friendly line.

Then I had a spelling group and tried a couple of activities that didn't work especially well, students were calling out on top of one another. The end of the lesson, where we were talking about silent consonants was a bit squished and my group management had a lot of room for improvement.

In the afternoon I had to take a whole group maths class. This one had been freaking me out for a while. English and literacy are my safe comfort zones; maths is a whole different ball game. we were doing mass, which involves a whole bunch of equipment preparation, and I didn't feel I got nearly the support I would have liked from Rebecca. I've has this growing feeling of hostility from her over the past week and haven't figured out if its me or her usual sunny disposition. When I was a kid, my mum was pretty strict with me, and I remember spending alot of time looking over my shoulder wondering what I was going to do wrong next; That same feeling has been haunting me throughout this practicum. If I ask questions I feel like a monumental nuisance for taking her away from more pressing things, and if don't and then I screw up, then I'm in the doghouse too!

However, back to the lesson - because I didn't know my material well I had gone through every possible contingency and planned exactly what I was going to do - something I took away from the minutiae that was imposed during our CELTA ESL training - so all though I was out of my comfort zone and the lesson was not as smooth as I would have liked, I completed all my lesson objectives thoroughly.

I think my main achievement was finally being on top of disciple. After letting some things slide last week it was time to take some definite action so the whole class would take me seriously. Even within the lesson I could feel respect for me growing and more attention being paid.