Life of a Teacher

How did you cope/manage completing the three days of “Life of a Teacher”?

As I discussed it with my mentor teacher and decided on the specific dates, I had enough time to plan. Yes, I was stressed, because I would have to take over the teacher’s whole day, but I cope with stressful times through being organized. So, after I did my planning, I was ready to go. I conducted my planning, through looking at the timetable and planning according to it. I made my own roster through adding the teacher’s responsibilities such as soccer practice and lunch duty so that I knew where I had to be and when.

How did you feel taking on all the responsibilities of a teacher in Block 1 compared to Block 2?

During Block 2, I was much more relaxed through taking on the teacher’s responsibilities. As I already new how it had to be done, but also by this time, I new the learner’s names. Through knowing the learners’ names, I could much easily manage the classroom, when telling a learner to listen or look to the front. During Block 2, I was also much more confident in myself and knew which strategies work better for the specific classes and even grades.

Which activities did you find most challenging? How did you overcome these challenges?

I found it very challenging to teach a lesson, and then as soon as the lesson is done be ready for the next lesson. Another factor which linked to this, was the fact that I sometimes forgot to look at the time. Learners would walk in while I had to clean the board and get their worksheets ready. I overcame this challenge by packing my whole day’s worksheets and resources on a table and constantly reminding myself to look at the time. Although, when I have my own classroom one day, I will make drawers for each subject to put all its worksheets and planning in. Also, when I teach, I would be able to plan the whole year, so if I see the lesson is maybe taking longer as expected, I can just edit my lesson plan and move things around to suite the learners’ needs.

I also found it challenging to teach the Grade 6’s. During this Teaching Experience, I had the opportunity to teach from Grade 4 up until Grade 7, but when it came to the Grade 6 class, I found it more challenging. Through, reflecting, I realise that not every class will be smooth sailing. There will be times, where one struggles and I think I especially struggled with this class, as it was the class I saw the least. So, there was not enough time for me to build a relationship with them.

Analyse your results of your self-evaluation survey, how “ready” do you feel to enter the profession as a beginner teacher, after this final Teaching Experience?

I am very excited to start teaching next year and feel that I am ready. I know that there is always room for improvement, but I am confident how I manage my classroom and how I communicate with the learners and staff. The only thing left to do, is to start applying for jobs. While I wait for responses from prospective schools, I will do planning. For example: Thinking how I want to decorate my future classroom, working on perfecting my teaching and learning strategies and doing research on what works for other teachers.

Look at the exit level outcomes and the final comments of your mentor teacher in your School Assessment Log & Report. Compare this to the initial self-evaluation you had completed at the beginning of your teaching experience.

From reflecting on the comments of my exit level outcomes, it is clear that I possess sound knowledge of the subject, curricular and pedagogical knowledge, have great assessment skills and lastly are able to reflect critically on skills to enhance my professionalism. Although, there is room for improvement when it comes to identifying and adapting to the learners’ unique needs. For example, I should set up worksheets to accommodate different learners. I feel this will be easier to do, when you spend more time with the learners and observe what works for them.

Figure 2: One of my activities (Kotze, 2024)