Today flew by a lot faster than I would have liked it to.
It was surprising how many staff members asked when they would see me again! On the flip side, it was disappointing how few learners asked the same question – or even said goodbye. (One.)
I guess this is the nature of school visits: we are but fleeting cameos in a foreign tele-novella. Some of us may be slightly more memorable than others – but once the story arc is completed, we're out.
I'm going to miss this school...
Time to head back to my other life.
Mr. Knoetze, out.
And so it came to be that we all made it to the last Thursday of our school visit. Seven of my colleagues rose to the challenge and shone like the brilliant stars they are. One slunk away in the shadows, and one proved himself an ass. Every family has one.
During the free moments in our schedules, each of us bobbed and weaved between our mentors, portfolios in hand, obtaining the necessary signatures and reports necessary to successfully complete this module. It was impressive to see how much we were capable of given our time and resource constraints!
Looking back at our time together, I can honestly say that the good experiences far outweigh the bad ones. The frustrations I had to deal with along the way were definitely legitimate, but the joys both outnumbered and outshone most all of the negative experiences. (Those not outshone, have been pardoned, but not negated.)
"Familiarity breeds contempt" someone once told me. What transpired this afternoon partly confirmed the validity of that claim. I say only partly because, to a large extent, today's fall-out wasn't necessarily founded in familiarity. Probably the larger contributor to this situation was that of growing disappointment and a touch of resentment. Here's what happened:
After seven and a half weeks of working together on our practicum, some of our colleagues have grown quite weary of those who had not contributed, engaged or done their part. This manifested in a heated exchange of words on our WhatsApp group, when a meeting to compile our group assignment was convened. Those who had been slinking by in the shadows were represented by statements of impropriety as to the "suddenness" of this arrangement, while the diligent faction responded by pointing out that participation throughout the practicum period would have negated any perceptions of "suddenness" and "unfair treatment".
In the end the Slinkers slunk away, and the worker bees did the work.
Lesson: Work hard with those who work hard, and reap the rewards.
So there I was thinking that the mini-exams would be on the dreary side, when all of a sudden I encountered a genuine learning opportunity. One of those where real life threw you a practical bone in terms of your theoretical training. It went down as follows:
I was assigned to a Gr. 8 class today, that was writing Life Sciences at the end of the day. The learners were to make use of the preceding periods to study for upcoming papers, and review their work for the day's examination. Simple enough as long as they keep relatively quiet. Not so simple when one of the learners has need branded as probably suffering from ADHD...
Now I don't believe in ADHD, much in the same way as atheists don't believe in God. I might have flashes of despair which seem to confirm the alleged condition – but in my core I don't believe it exists. I'm firmly secured in Sir Ken Robinson's camp on this topic (amongst others). As Sir Ken Robinson suggests, I believe that learners are wrongfully diagnosed with this made-up condition simply so they can be tranquilized with medication, in this way making it so that nobody has to "deal" with them. Adults have grown too distracted and "busy" to have the time (read: desire) to work with these exceptional children.
Yes, I believe them to be exceptional. Be they incredibly gifted, kinesthetic learners, simply blessed with higher levels of energy and curiosity, or all of the above. The point is that these learners are merely bored (out of their skulls) because we do not know how to effectively keep them interested and busy while working with "the rest of the class".
Today I had the opportunity to test out this theory, and even though I wasn't exactly prepared for such a situation – I was eager to try and see what could be done to engage such a learner.
I had noticed earlier that he had brought a rubber finger cover in the hope of helping to hand out the exam papers. The teacher in charge had a different approach though (sending the learners out of the classroom in order to place a copy on each desk before letting them back in), meaning he couldn't participate as he had hoped. This gave me an idea:
Once the specific learner had finished writing the paper and reviewing his answers, I asked his assistance in preparing for a project. First, I asked him to count the sheets of writing paper that was lying in a nearby stack. Once counted (I was making this up as I went along) I requested that he divided the paper into stacks of three sheets each. The particular pile of paper rendered eight stacks and two sheets to spare. Having counted the learners in his class before, I requested that he counted out additional sheets from another pile until there were 27 piles. One for each student. I tried to create the impression that this was of great help to me and my work. The kid was happy as anything, and took his task very seriously. Once he had finished, I thanked him for his assistance. The time allocated to the test had run out, so I asked him to walk up each row of desks with a stapler, fixing each learner's answer sheets to the test. He beamed again, and made sure that each set of papers was stapled neatly, quickly and quietly.
I was pleasantly surprised by the change this exercise brought about in his behavior and demeanor! Where he had previously been unruly and a bit of a disruption in class, he had now turned into a model teacher's assistant.
I hope to prepare for such scenarios in future, and to keep testing out theories and finding better ways to engage all my learners in ways that speak to their individual requirements.
(I'd better invest in a few Rubik's cubes in case I can't come up with suitable "projects".)
The mini-exams started today, which meant that school started a little bit later, and ended a little bit earlier. In between these remarkable events, learners were expected to study in class or write their exam papers. Naturally this could not happen without adult supervision – which meant that I spent the day watching over a somewhat studious Gr. 8 class while they were "studying", and invigilating their two exam papers.
From what I can tell, this week is a week of admin through and through – for learners and faculty alike.
It needs to happen sometime!
(I'm afraid that if something excessively interesting doesn't happen outside of classes today, there won't be anything interesting to write or reflect about.)
Precious few people seem to realize a fundamental law of adult life: Children will listen.
While it is true that all people (and not only parents) should pay heed to their influence on each consecutive generation – this fundamental law should be the foundation all teachers build from. We are, after all, right there. In front. Teaching.
All. The. Time.
School came out an hour early today, in order for all of us to prepare for the "TussenOnsFees" – an annual festival here in town. This year, our school was responsible for the food and drink at the festival. I was on the Braai Team (braai = mega bbq) with some of the other male teachers today, and had a lot of fun seeing these men more relaxed and jovial. We were also joined by a few learner volunteers. Obviously getting free access to the festival grounds worked extremely well as an incentive for them to want to help out *chuckles*.
Soon the crowds started growing and the festival kicked into gear. Entertainers sang, merchants plied their wares, cars were showed and lots of food and beverages kept everyone fed and happy. It wasn't the largest festival I've ever been to, but it was fun!
And then it happened:
As the day grew old and the beer tent grew full, I grew restless as I saw what the children saw and heard and felt: Grown-ups getting stupid, with parents and family misbehaving as the inebriated do.
The kids were watching, listening and learning.
They were learning from their elders.
They were being taught what they were to be taught against
come Sunday: "Do as I say, don't do as I do."
I wasn't in the position to do anything about these people acting the fool in front of their own children, but I was able to show that there was another way of doing things. Living sober is not the easiest choice to make all the time – but it is the only choice worth making.
This has to be my mission outside the classroom:
to do as I say, so others may do as I do... should they choose to.
I believe all teachers should lead by example.
Seven weeks in and we're on our last day of classes. One week of exam invigilation to go and, according to my schedule, I am not likely to see my classes again. If course I'll see individuals in the corridors during next week, but I won't get to see them all together again. This saddens me.
It is uncanny how quickly I have learned to love the learners of this school! Thinking about leaving Worcester to go back to Stellenbosch and graduate is very exciting. Thinking about leaving these kids however, is not exciting at all... is this separation anxiety? Can't be.
My heart has been heavy all day.
Maybe this weekend's festival will cheer me up?
I had a really good giggle this morning when one of the kids in my favourite (yes, I have one) class told me that I had "swag". Apparently this was not only a compliment on my dress-sense, but on the way I teach and come across in general! Naturally I was flattered. It wasn't all that long ago that the last thing anyone would ever have accused me of was being cool or having swag. I am sure my inner-adolescent blushed.
My schedule today ended up having a great balance of both English as well as LO classes, as well as the opportunity to assist some Gr. 12s with their English exam preparations and a chance to sit in on an art period! All the good things in school ;0)
After school I picked up some of the school paper kids and headed off to the teacher at the helm of the paper's house, where I joined the editorial team in getting the term's edition print ready. We set up our laptops around the dining table and got busy. It was great fun! My experience in printing came in very handy, and chatting with the kids turned out to be both entertaining and enlightening. The nicknames kids come up with are horribly funny, especially for their teachers! Apparently most of my colleagues from Stellenbosch University have been given nicknames as well. Some more kind than others. Naturally the learners didn't want to tell me what mine was... saying that they will tell me at the end of my last day of practicum.
It is funny to see how everybody else's tension is building, while ours is subsiding. Polar opposites from our first two weeks here! We've begun finishing off our required lessons and admin, while the rest of the school is either busy with or gearing up for exams.
My day was an LO day from start to finish. The Gr. 12s wrote the Departmental paper (final exam) for Life Orientation, which I invigilated. After that I had the Gr. 10s in class, where we continued talking about adolescence and how one could deal with different kinds of changes during that period. I was amazed at the solutions these learners came up with - and with the wisdom they seemed to possess in some instances! Equally amazing albeit less profound were some of the questions that were asked. Suffice to say that one needs to maintain a healthy sense of humor to survive teaching LO!
I honestly love teaching this subject. It manifests one of my personal mantras:
I live to teach - as long as I teach to Life.
It is imperative that one start each day anew, with a calm spirit and clean slates for all your learners. This is not the easiest feat to accomplish – and I suspect it takes enormous emotional reserves to maintain such an attitude. The longer one remains in Education, the tougher it seems to get...
"May you never be jaded."
This morning didn't start off all too well on a personal level. (I won't bore you with the details.) It follows that when a notorious class walked in for the first period, I wasn't exactly a picture of peace. Seeing one or two of the learners that got my goose yesterday didn't help my mood much either.
Then one of them melted my heart with a sincere question and a hopeful expression:
"When will you teach us again, sir?"
May that moment stay with me forever, for it shook me out of my own hazardous thoughts and showed me a glimpse of the soul underneath the protective layers of a "problem" learner. There are genuine, vulnerable children inside the armored veneers of the upstarts and trouble-makers. When one opens up to you, you can't help but realize how difficult and rare such acts of vulnerability truly are.
I might not have understood that child completely, but I was humbled. Touched. And terrified of making the wrong move! I realized that the smallest hint of nonchalance or apathy would wound the boy and destroy any possibility of connecting with him. So I smiled appreciatively and explained my Life Orientation timetable to him. His class wouldn't see me for English again, but that didn't mean that I did not want to teach them.
Thinking back, I realize that my own armored veneer sometimes leaps back in unguarded moments. Little chuckles of nonchalance.
Subconscious eye-rolls.
Sharp words.
This is not an easy course I've chosen, and I will have to check myself regularly.
Today, I was tested. Standing in for a Math teacher wasn't the issue, as she had neatly set out all the work for each period on her desk. All I had to do was hand out the work/tests and let them get on with it. So no, on the actual content side there was no issue.
In truth, it was only one kid that brought me to the doors of despair. There are some impenetrable kids, walking crows-nests of hurt and anger, that just won't consider their peers. It's not about refusing to conform – I get that. And it's not questioning of the Status Quo – I get that too.
It's the vortex of chaos inside their minds that wrongs themselves even further – as well as those around them. A couple of periods over 7 weeks are not enough to get to the core of their dissociation. There's nowhere near sufficient time to help them out of that misery.
All I can do, really, is become a vivid memory of a safe place. Or loose my sh!t completely, forget about all this bleeding-heart nonsense and have them live in fear of my anger!
*sigh* I'm sure there's a balance to be found here. I'll just have to keep on keepin' on.
Teaching, grading, learning and living in and through all the different subjects, aspects and levels of schooling is quite all-encompassing. This realm I'm in has all the potential in the world to BECOME the world. This is something I must never allow to happen, for if it does I will become irrelevant and useless as an educator. There is – and should be life beyond the classroom!
Life beyond the classroom. That is after all why I want to teach, and what I want to teach to. That is why communities entrust their children to us. Life beyond the classroom is exactly why the classroom exists.
We need to remember that education is about preparing children to live full, self-realized lives in the vast realm of possibility that is life in the outside world. Our purpose is to nurture independent, strong and healthy individuals who are able to think and act for themselves. We should be cracking open the boundaries that keep us from reaching our full potential – and we should definitely not build ever stronger, ever more constricting barriers, boxes or cells... because
Something that struck me right on the noggin today was how utterly neglected the school subject of Life Orientation was, despite its incredible importance. Yes, it is true that the subject is one of a select few that all students are required to take – but that is about as much attention as it gets. While passing the subject is required to complete one's secondary schooling, grades earned in it are not included in any tertiary admission criteria in South Africa. On the contrary - those grades are actually subtracted from one's final grade point average before tertiary admission is considered!
No wonder learners have little interest in Life Orientation during the FET-phase. It also doesn't take a genius to figure out why LO is considered "the subject Schools assign to teachers when they don't know what to do with those teachers".
School in its entirety should prepare one for adult life, this is true. That being said, no other class in school creates the safe space which allows for the discussion of supra-curricular life questions faced by learners, as LO does. Nowhere else are learners given the sense of security and support to talk about anything they are facing, dealing or struggling with. Life Orientation is the class that helps us discover what it means to be who we are; it teaches us life- and business skills; it fosters both individual and communal wellness; it encourages independent thought; it humanizes both the curriculum and the scary meta-curricular web of the wide world waiting outside.
Life Orientation has the potential to heal, enable, activate and give wings to the most powerful citizens of the world! Why should it not be treated that way?
Today showed me how very differently one class could respond to a particular L.O. lesson than another. Where the Gr.X C-class nearly yawned the class into Oz, the A- and E-classes loved every detail! Where the first class was decidedly bored out of their skulls the moment they walked in the door – the other classes snapped out of it the moment I started the lesson. They enjoyed what I had prepared for them, and participated to such an extent that the lesson felt less like a class and more like a lively discussion among friends. It was amazing.
Your preparation as well as the kids make all the difference. The classes who put something of themselves into the lesson, got something more in return. This mix of energy allowed me to pour my whole self into the moment and emerge with my learners, energized and ready to move on at the end of the period (which flew by in no time).
I have yet to figure out why the first class differed so greatly from the other two, and what I could do to bring their spark out in the former group.
...
After school I went to buy my colleague a milkshake for his birthday (which he didn't want celebrated elaborately). Three of us jumped in a car, drove in the icy rain to the mall, and celebrated with sweets while surrounded by snow capped mountains. From the pay-point, I took the following photograph:
All was right with the world.
I also made him this little video as a birthday present :0)
Today I was Mr. Of Alltrades. Jack of Alltrades.
From revisions-master, to career advisor. Project consultant. Matric Exam Invigilator. Paper grader. Student. Manager. Job seeker...
Grading papers for a subject outside one's own field of expertise is pretty daunting! It is also a great eye-opener as far as external examinations are concerned: I always tell learners that they have to write their answers as if the examiner has no clue what they're on about. Now I can substantiate my reasoning with real-world experience that affects them directly! (Not that I'm a novice to the subject – I just don't teach it.)
Great news! I managed to find a fun poem to use in my Poetry 4 Enjoyment class:
I presented the lesson to two different Gr.11 EFAL classes, as well as my Visual Literacy lesson on Poster Design. That completed the circle – I have now done my song-and-dance for all five Gr.11 EFAL classes at our school.
It was interesting to note how many learners reacted positively to my lessons, and to see which of them knocked my socks off with their Prepared Reading assignments after! I must admit that I am especially keen to see what the learners from today's lessons bring to class on Monday!
Poetry remains one of my main passions in teaching.
Annoyed annoyed annoyed
I am viciously annoyed.
Ticked off, miffed,
agitated and
oh
so very
vexed!
Some of you will remember that I had presented a lesson on "Poetry for Enjoyment" when Prof. Beets came to critique me. The lesson served as a bridge between the movie "Dead Poets Society" and the Grade 11 Prepared Reading task, which made up their oral assignment for the term. After the D-day lesson, I presented this lesson to my Mentor's other Gr.11 class to their surprised delight.
It's a fun lesson, carefully crafted to achieve the "unthinkable" – making poetry so much fun, that you'd want to delve into it at home, in your own time, and love it.
Following my two presentations in my Mentor's classes, she suggested that the other Gr.11 English teachers consider having me present this lesson after they're classes have watched the movie. A suggestion which seems to've been received quite well, judging by the bookings I received. Of course I had to make room for these lessons in my L.O.-schedule, but I figured it was worth it for me, for the learners, and for the love of poetry!
Today saw me presenting this lesson to 11B, with both their teacher and the Department Head in the classroom. The light wasn't ideal for the overhead projector, but the lesson went down without a hitch. The learners seemed to love it, and their teacher said how enjoyable he found it. The Department Head, whose classes are up tomorrow and the day after, was however not as enthusiastic about the poem I used at the end of my lesson to drive it all home. She asked that I change it to one of the Gr.12 EFAL poems she had on a DVD.
This is the poem I have been using all this while as an exercise in performing a reading:
I'm sure you can imagine the hilarity (enjoyment) that ensued once learners were given the text to this poem and told they had two minutes to prepare a fun way of reading it, and then reading it in front of the whole class. Right there. (Yes, I'm incorrigible – with purpose.)
The plaintiff flat-out refused that part of the lesson.
These are the poems I've been asked to substitute it with:
Guy Butler – A Prayer for All My Countrymen Roy Campbell – The Serf John Donne – Death Be Not Proud Charles Eglington – Cheetah John Milton – On His Blindness Oswald Mtshali – The birth of Shaka William Shakespeare – Sonnet 116 Karl Shapiro – Auto Wreck Stephen Spender – An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum W.D. Snodgrass – Mementos, 1
WTF? Let's switch out a light-hearted, nonsensical and funny little poem for something more... well, either high-browed convoluted-ness or death and misery. Great.
Of course these poems are all fantastic works of art – in the same way a Rembrandt is fantastic. They're also just as much fun...
... and only one and a half left to go! Where did the time go? And what happened?
Standing in for my English mentor all of last week gave me a good idea of what life as an English teacher – particularly the one running the drama-related extra murals – was like. Honestly, I don't know how one manages two compulsory curriculums at FET-phase. Very few people do, it seems. It is a bit of a frightening prospect that one could be employed with the expectation of managing three or four!
This past week was also a personal trial on many levels. Not only did I have to deal with my own issues of having to deal with colleagues who don't seem to be as passionate about our work as I am, but I also had to try and find a way to help people see outside their own cages...
It was also a week of lovely highlights, affirmations and good old fun!
This was a week I will have to hold on to in days to come.
It helps to know why one teaches, and even more so to feel appreciated for it.
The Matrics celebrated their "40 Day"-milestone today. With the end of their High School career in sight, they came dressed as whom/what they wanted to become. There were nurses, race car drivers, lawyers, engineers – even a teacher or two! Naturally there were also those who took the Mickey out of it, and came dressed as wildlife, witches and wh... alternative traders (post dusk).
I wonder how their teachers felt about the day. Was it a joyous celebration of a path well travelled, or more of a lookout post half-way up a mountain: from which one gazes with both trepidation and relief?
At this stage of the game it really is all about academics, and a large portion of Grade 12s start realizing it 'round about now. The Record Exams starting on Monday, and the Final Exams of next term, are the culmination of 12 years of learning, studying and the choices each learner made along the way. Those who started taking their studies serious earlier on have an advantage over those who only realized today that their scores directly influence how and when (even "if") they are going to reach their life goals.
Making your dreams come true is a conscious decision and a daily choice all through your school career. Now impacts what comes next – in fact, now causes what comes next. (Duh!) Let's look at an example from my L.O. class:
Say your dream is to have a family one day, what do you need to make it happen? Perhaps a spouse, a house, a car and some kids? Maybe even a pet or two? Now... how are you going to afford it? "Work!" you might say. Absolutely, that's kind of obvious. But how much do you need to earn? Keep in mind that every child is a Ferrari in financial terms. From pregnancy to 18 years of age, each child will cost you the equivalent of a Ferrari purchase. (Not necessarily the top of the range model though...) Then there's the home you want to live in, and the car you want to drive, and the vacations you want to take... Realizing such dreams all depends on what you do now. Which depends on everything you've done so far.
Have you made the right decisions so far? Are you making them now?
It is with all honesty that I can say that I truly wish nothing but success, happiness and love to all of the learners at this school. They really are magnificent young people, with great talent and all the potential in the world! Unfortunately my wishing it, doesn't make it so. It is up to them to decide what they want, and how they are going to get it.
