“Stopping by Woodgrove every Practicum Morning”

Whose woods these are I do not know.
A place in the village, though;
Who will see me stopping here
Watching these woods – dealt me a blow

Travelling here, I think it queer
To stop without anything famous near
In the heat, I know I’ll bake
The darkest time of my training year.

I give myself a good hard shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
Getting so bored that I’d sleep
No lit, oh! give me a break

These woods aren’t lovely, but dark and deep,
But I have APT forms to keep,
And piles to mark before I sleep,
And piles to mark before I sleep.

I drove with dread and trepidation to Woodgrove Secondary the Thursday before the official start of the practicum. I met the SCM, who was the HOD IT (the VP was leaving for an extended course – but I’m not sure that she would’ve been the SCM anyway). I felt a chill as I saw my proposed timetable. English – 2E1, 3T1 (14 periods), Literature – 1E3 (4 periods). The HOD ELL was away on maternity leave, which meant the department had been “head-less” since the beginning of the year. However, on Day 1 of practicum, I was told (to some joy) that they only realised later that my CS1 was Lit and not EL, so they gave me more lit periods (or rather, they were trying to), which meant that I had no timetable! My EL CT was really nice and asked me to just shadow her in the meantime. Eventually my timetable was finalised and I was allocated 3 Lit classes - 1E1, 1E3 and 1N2, and 1 English class – 2E1. I had 3 CTs, 2 for Lit and 1 for El. My 2nd lit CT was away on medical leave, so I effective had to go in immediately and teach without any observation. What puzzled me even more, was that she taught Maths and Lit – a strange combination (I was to later find out that she’s probably the only one in the entire country with that combination). Even before we started, we were already told that the school was extremely short of teachers and were asked to come back. I felt quite uneasy – we had not even been observed and they’re already asking us to come back permanatly.

The practicum went on, but what really peeved me was that we were tasked (in the 2nd week of practicum) to assist in the Sports Heats as Sports Day was coming up. Nevermind that the trainees were down for both days when the rest of the teachers were only down for one. What really PISSED ME OFF, was that:
a) we were told last minute – in my case, 15 minutes before we were supposed to go off to the Innova JC track. I had already agreed to assist the debating team as they were going off for competition that Friday (this was Monday) – the SH asked me – REALLY NICELY and without obligation, might I add.
b) When I replied that I was supposed to be somewhere else in school, doing something else more productive, I was rudely told: “NO! You go for the sports heats”
c) We were also told that we would be given the duty roster over the weekend, but the e-mail NEVER came.

To rub salt on the wound. The same sort of thing happened for NAPFA test. We rudely found out that we were scheduled for all 4 days, when the rest of the staff were only down for 2. How did I find out? When an unsuspecting bio teacher comes up to me when I was discussing a lesson with one of my CTs asking if I could swap duties with her. Then my CT politely told her that I obviously couldn’t, as I was down for all 4 days. I was peeved, and I promptly made my displeasure felt. I’m very sure the entire staffroom heard me when I said: “They already said that we ONLY HAVE 19 periods of teaching. They thinky we’re VERY FREE! Of course we can go down for NAPFA on ALL 4 DAYS. 19 PERIODS only what, practically HALF of everyone else.” (quoted verbatim, might I add)

Thankfully my HOD came back the following week. The other EL teachers were also displeased at these occurrences and other things. Our HOD learnt about these incidences and actually said, “I’ve only been gone 12 weeks!” Nevertheless, these repeated occurrences really marred the TP experience.

We were also given a lot of relief duties. At one stage, it was practically the maximum they could “dish out” without exceeding the “recommendation” set out by NIE/MOE. However, we were terrible displeased and they way these relief duties were communicated to us. By student councillor who didn’t even know who to give the relief slips to. In addition, more often than not, the relief slips did not tell us who we were covering, sometimes, where we were supposed to go (in the case of special rooms like art etc) and what to do (i.e. let the kids rot? Sleep in class? Complete worksheets? Who to return the worksheets to?)

Given all the rubbish that I had to put up with. I’m terribly glad for a number of things:
a) my 2 main CTs, who were wonderful, approachable, and placed absolute trust and faith in me and my teaching;
b) My SH, who tried to fill in the void of being “head-less”, till the HOD returned from leave;
c) My HOD, who’s terribly funny and lovely to talk to – I learnt that we share a lot of commonalities – especially when it comes to educational philosophy and approaches, pedagogy and discipline.
d) Some of the other staff, who eventually warmed up to us and were forthcoming with sharing experiences.

Learning Points

I’ve learnt that there are people who are in service who should be FIRED immediately – I tell myself that I’ll never be like them.

I’ve learnt that there are DAMN GOOD teachers out there – these are they people that I’d like to emulate in my career.

Where’s the power? What’s the point?

I’m glad to say that I’ve NEVER used powerpoint at all throughout practicum - effective teaching does not necessarily have to entail technology. A teacher’s basic tools are the board and chalk (in this day and age, the whiteboard marker).

It is heartwarming when students thank you and say they enjoyed your teaching.

- ACLHL