Week 2- Professional                                                          

                           

This week saw the start of the 6 o’clock alarms being set for our six week block of placement in Holycross Basic School. Classes start at 7:30 although our teacher is often late so it means we usually don’t start teaching until around 7:40. It has been quite difficult having to get up and start classes at such an early time compared to school times back home but hopefully we’ll get used to this over the next few weeks.

I am teaching a Grade 6 class where the age of the pupils ranges from nine to fourteen years old. This is due to the fact that pupils have to pass certain exams in order to move up to the next grade so it is evident that there is a wide range of abilities within the class, some pupils progressing more so than others.

The classroom in which I teach is very bare and the only resources the teacher has are the blackboard and textbooks. There are six main subjects which are taught and for each there is a textbook which the teacher fully relies on when delivering lessons. I have also been presented with these textbooks for teaching Maths, English, Science and Creative and Technology Studies (C.T.S).

The fact that the pupils need a lot of the information found in the textbooks in order to complete their tests means that when I’m delivering lessons I have to stick completely to what is written in the book and cannot veer too far away from this. However, in teaching these particular topics and subjects I have tried include a variety of teaching approaches which aim to engage the pupils and make the lessons a lot more interactive and so far the children have seemed to enjoy this.

The behaviour of the children in class is generally very good but the teacher does not have any methods of controlling this or rewarding children for good behaviour so this week Ashleigh and I decided to make a reward chart for each table in the class where they get a table point for good work, good behaviour or working well as a team. This technique has been very successful so far and it is evident that the children are trying very hard to earn a point for their table.

It has become clear whilst marking work or asking the children questions that there is a wide range of ability within the classroom however there is no differentiation in place and all pupils are learning the same thing and completing the same activity whether it’s too easy, too difficult or just at the right level for them. Having said this, it is interesting to note that the teacher has split the pupils into different levels for Literacy where each group works on a different activity but it would be good to see the same happen for other subjects, especially Maths and English.

Overall, my first week of teaching in Zambia was rather successful and I have really enjoyed being in the classroom and getting to know the children. They are very enthusiastic and have such lively personalities. They even finished the week off for us by letting us experience some singing and dancing African style which put me in a good mood for the rest of the day!