The class I was assigned to for English at Primary Five was an EM1 class. The pupils in the class were seated in groups of 7 or 8, each group headed by a group leader. There were more girls than boys in the class but, they were evenly distributed among the groups. Some groups were more vocal and animated than others but on the whole they were very communicative.
Procedures in class were already put in place by my CT and most of the pupils were accustomed to it. This was a mixed blessing. It was easy for me to conduct lessons, collect assignments and conduct cooperative learning but to introduce new procedures which I felt would make the class more efficient, was difficult. My CT encouraged me to "practice" teaching with the rules and procedures already enforced and model his teaching style. I found this helpful as I was totally new to teaching and without an inkling of what to expect. I felt compelled to follow his lead. However, what I really wanted to do was try out all the strategies I've learnt in school. Then again, as it was my very first ever teaching experience, I decided that modeling after him would help me gain my confidence and momentum as a teacher. That was my stance for the whole of my Practicum. Compared to my other trainee colleagues who have at least had contract teaching before, I felt greatly disadvantaged. They were more proficient and they were more knowledgeable of what they could and should do. Due to their prior experience, I witnessed them applying EED strategies more adroitly than myself.
The lesson I was supposed to teach as reflected in the lesson plan (see appendix) had theatre as the theme and was based on text types. There was a text book to refer to as well as worksheets supplementing it. According to the SIO, I was to allocate 4 periods for this segment, 2 of which I allocated on this day. It was a last two periods on Thursday, after Mathematics.
