Diary of a Trainee Teacher: Week 4 (22nd to 26th Feb)

Hi again bloggers, 

Thanks for following my weekly posts about my experience as a trainee teacher at IES La Nucia. I have to admit that as days go by, I am getting more and more involved in the classroom and, when possible, I enjoy getting to know my students better. 

It is a fact that you will find so many different personalities stuck together in one classroom. By getting to know those personalities at an individual level, you have a better understanding of how they will interact with one another and that will help you in planning groups and preventing subsequent problems. That's my first point of the week: the importance of getting to know your students. 

Moving on to the best of the week we had a session with the School's Director about Governement Bodies in High Schools. For example did you know that the "Consell Escolar" (School Council) is responsible for approving financial budgets every year? And did you now which members make up the "Consell Escolar"? The meeting went on for two hours and it helped me get a broader view of the organization and management of high schools.

Regarding the classroom, I'd like to tell you about three special activities we went through this week. 

Firstly, on Wednesday at 8.00 in the morning we left the school with the Integra Group and walked up a small hill 10 minutes away. It is known as ‘La Cruz’, a flat piece of land with a big cross statute in the middle. The objective of this activity was to get inspired by the peaceful landscapes which surrounds us to produce poetry, in particular 'haikus'. Once there, we take a piece of paper and a pen and look for an inspiring spot before we start working. We spend around half an hour creating 'haikus'. A 'haiku' is a Japanese type of poetry that can be written on many themes, from love to nature. It consists of 3 lines and 17 syllables.

The entire group (except for two students who did not turn up) behaved in a very good manner and everyone was committed to the task. Great outside activity experience. And great ideas coming from my tutor to keep these kids engaged and motivated, but at the same time, ensure their ongoing learning and development.

Secondly, in FPB we keep doing dynamic activities aimed at building communication skills in English which seem absolutely excellent to me. Well, do you know what? This time students surprised me by singing the 'Alphabet Chant'. I was surprised, they actually knew it by heart. You can see below a picture of the song's structure. We also worked on the correction of their exams.  

To finish off, I also witnessed my first 'playground watch'. A colleague in my department was in charge of keeping watch this week, as a rotation system is used among the teaching staff. So I took the liberty to go with her and live the experience. She explained to me briefly about the sections in which the playgrounds are divided and how teachers coordinate themselves for this task.

Taking a look back at my first week, there has been a remarkable progress in some particular groups over the last weeks (I got really excited when I heard that comment around the department). We continue making our best to help teenagers become better persons and better students. 

I hope that you enjoy reading as much as I do enjoy teaching at school.

Talk soon!