Internship Reflection

Alex Slay - TCA133856

Observation Day - 1
Knowledge:

This is it, today marks the start of beginning teaching internship at Pedare Christian

College. The initial thought that came into my mind was, can I survive today?! I have
remembered going to Pedare Christian College as part of Middle Years Philosophy class last year,
this alone really helped me in preparation for todays observation day. As a result of having seen
the school already, I knew some of the formality and structure of the school. For example, at
Pedare, the sport gymnasium is shared with the two surrounding schools (Golden Grove High
School and Gleeson College). One of the positive thing that came into my mind is that because it
is beginning school teaching day, there will be no students, that thought alone took some stress off
my shoulders.

As I arrive at the school, I went to the administration office to sign in and obtain a visitors

pass and wait for my mentor teachers to arrive. I have learnt that at Pedare Christian College, the
formality of rules and procedures are very strict and consistent. I have arrived at 08:10am, I sat
for what seemed to be the longest 20 minutes of my life, then suddenly two people came towards
me, they were Mrs Leonie Brown and Mr Brendon Fennel, my mentor teachers in the
Mathematics and Physical Education facility. They both came and introduced themselves to me,
then we discussed and negotiated what I am going to teach and how much I should be teaching.

From having the discussion with my mentors, I have learnt that structure of a typical day

at Pedare is that they have home group then modules 1 and 2 before recess, then they have three
modules after recess till lunch and two modules after lunch. In contrast to the other schools that I
have visited, I have learnt that at Pedare, the recess and lunch breaks are significantly shorter. We
then started discussing the possible classes in which I will be teaching in semester two, term 3, this
is when I have realised that semester 2 at Pedare starts at 27th June, which overlaps with the end
of Term 2 (this is also a month before Term 3 starts). This is when it began to become more
overwhelming because Pedares structure is somewhat unfamiliar to me. Let me just say, my mind
is traveling 180 miles an hour at this very moment.

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Internship Reflection

Alex Slay - TCA133856

After having the initial conversation with the mentor teachers, I then had a tour of the

school. This is where I have discovered that the layout of Pedare is very systematic. For example,
the middle school is located in an area where Year 6, 7, 8 and 9 are all in close proximity to each
other. This was different from last year, Year 9 were in an isolated area, however, the staffs felt that
the Year 9 students were feeling separated from the other students. As a result of this, the
Principal of the school decided that, it is better to keep the middle school years all close by. After
listening to this, I now understand that the change has significantly improve students
interpersonal skills, teacher/student relationship. Additionally it has changed the dynamics of the
schooling environment.

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