ASSESSMENT COVER PAGE

Course Name: Practicum 2a

Course Code: EPC 2401

Instructor
Antoinette Wiseman
Name:
Task Title: Coursework Interview
Due Date: Nov 21, and Nov 24, 2016

Instructor
Name:

Date
Submitted:

November 21st
2016

Antoinette Wiseman

Student Name: Aisha Ali Alowais

Student ID:

H00330699

Section:

12B3ECE01

Late Penalty:
Unless special circumstances are agreed with the course teacher regarding late
submission, work submitted 1 working day late will be deducted 10%, 2 days late
20%, 3 days late 30% and any work submitted more than 3 days late will get a
zero mark.

Academic Honesty:
Breaches of Academic Honesty will be treated with the utmost
seriousness. You are reminded the penalties for cheating or plagiarism
include dismissal from the HCT.
(for more information please refer to Academic and Student Regulations , HCT
Academic Honesty Policy , Student Handbook )

Student Declaration:
This assignment is entirely my own work except where I have duly acknowledged
other sources in the text and listed those sources at the end of the assignment. I
have not previously submitted this work to the HCT. I understand that I may be
orally examined on my submission.

Signed:___________________________

Date:______________________________

Professionalism and Understanding:

Please give a brief description of the school, i.e. boys/girls, size, location. Curriculum and
texts used.
- Al Darari Kindergarten is located in Sharjh, Al Darari. It is run by the principle of the
school Fatima Saif Al Nuiami. The school looks small but is actually really spacious
once you go in, enough to contain over 282 students and 12 classroom teachers. Each
classroom contains one class teacher and around 24 students. However, the number of
girls and boys differ in each classroom, my classroom KG2-2 has 9 girls and 15 boys.
My classroom teacher Miss Amna Alshamsi(MST) teacher Arabic, simple Math, and
Science. Each classroom also has a second teacher that teaches them mainly English,
but also Math and Science in the English language. The curriculum was always
changing; every week my MST would tell me how they keep changing their
curriculum so its still undecided.
What different subjects are taught?
- Arabic
- English
- Math
- Islamic (Quran)
- Science
What did you enjoy most about your practicum?
- Interacting with the students, I enjoy listening to them get excited about small things
and explaining how shocking or fun it was. Ex: A student named Saif once sat down
next to me to tell me that they got two new pet rabbits that were huge and white, he
looked so happy sharing this information with me that it made me really glad I chose
this profession.
What challenges did you face?
- My MST was difficult to deal with, she wasnt very friendly and was aggressive
towards students and told me to be stricter and to raise my voice or Ill never develop
classroom control with my overly calm behavior.
What did you do to show your commitment to your job as a teacher in the school?
To show my commitment I joined the workshop they planned for the students, I
helped them set up and set myself up on a table where I had Uncolored animal faces,
colors, stapler, scissors, and ribbons. I gave each student the option to choose an
animal, I then wrote their name on the back and stapled a cut up ribbon on the paper
and allowed them to color it. When they were done I tied it around their heads.

How did you collaborate with your MST and other teachers in the school?
- For my English lesson (Introduction to the letter /i/), my MST and I discussed the
structure of the lesson together, she gave me ideas such as using her letter blocks and
getting the children to find the letter /i/ and /p/. I then sent her the lesson plan and we
talked over it.
Describe a typical day in your school.
- Students walk in and greet the teacher, put in their name tags in the attendance chart
and line up for Moring assembly.
- Morning assembly starts where students salute the national anthem, read quran, and a
story.
- Students line up back to class for morning circle.
- Morning circle includes choosing the helping hand, counting students, discussing
date/day, and giving a brief lesson Ex: Prophet Mohammeds relative names (Mother,
Father, Uncle).
- Students line up and go to the lunchroom for a small snack. Ex: (apples)
- Students line up and go to Arabic class and study a new letter if its Sunday.
- Center time where students can work on the activity or if the table is full they can play
in centers.
- Students line up and go to play in the playground.
- Students wash their hands and line up in front of their classroom, then have lunch in
the lunch room (Sandwich, juice).
- After lunch students have a short math lesson, followed by center time which they can
work on an activity or play in centers
- Students line up when the English teacher comes by, she takes them to the English
classroom for their lesson.
- If its Sunday they will be introduced to a new letter, if its Tuesday they will be
taught how to write this letter.
- Center time/Activity time followed by lining up.
- Students separate into two lines (cars/busses) and are guided by the English and
Arabic teacher to (Cars waiting room) (Busses their bus).

Planning for Learning

Talk about the process of planning for lessons. How did your MST go about this? How did
you plan to ensure you worked within the curriculum?
- My MST and I would go over when and how the lesson would take place, we would
share ideas for lessons that are within the curriculum, I would work on my lesson plan
and send it to her and wait for her feedback. She would send me comments and if
there was anything she feel would fit better.

What did you learn about planning during the practicum?

That plans change, for example the story Titch was supposed to be read on a Tuesday,
but my English teacher had to substitute for another class because theyre teacher was
out sick. Due to this matter my lesson got postponed and I taught it on a Wednesday.

What challenges did you face when preparing your lesson plans?
- I needed to find activities that kept the students excited and focused, and my MST
would reply only at around 7-8 and would give short replies so it was harder to plan.
Explain how you planned for teaching speaking and listening.
- I first discussed which was the most suitable way to learn a new letter with my MST,
for example how the students are used to taking new letters, and made sure my
pronunciation was accurate, then found a song that would help students remember the
new letter by listening to it repetitively.

Implementing and Managing Learning

What strategies did you use to manage the children?
- I would constantly remind them to listen quietly and that I wont accept answers from
students who are not quiet and raising their hands because all students want to
participate.
Which were the most effective strategies you observed your MST using in the classroom?
- My MST would tell the students, if you dont listen quietly you wont be able to leave
class for playground time, that strategy worked well because students enjoy their
playground time.
Describe a lesson you taught and the way in which you implemented the lesson class work,
group work, and individual work. How successful was this for you?
- While teaching the letter N I first had them work together as a group to find the
nose card with the letter N on it around the classroom, for individual work I had
four activities which all included either coloring or tracing, I feel like it was slightly
successful it could have been better if the activities were more fun, but students really
focused on tracing the letter N with clay and coloring, so Ill be sure to use that again
in the future.

Explain the stages and how you taught listening and speaking as an integrated process.

I first drew out the letter on the whiteboard and asked them if they can guess what
letter it is.
I then listened to their answers and discussed where they might recognize it from.
The letter was then introduced as the letter N then I would show them how to
pronounce it Nih and ask them to repeat it after me till I feel that they have grasped
the pronunciation.
I will ask students to repeat it after the letter N song to ensure their understanding
of the pronunciation along with them listening to it over and over throughout the
song.
After the video I will show them flashcards and have them guess what this is Neck
Nose and ask them if they know anymore words that start with the letter N.
I will say Can anyone find their nose?
I will then play an activity with them where I hid noses with previously studied letters
around the classroom and all students must find the nose with the letter N on it.
Students can also play the game of finding the letter N block between all the
previous letter blocks.
We will then go over the letter N words one last time before modeling the activity
for center time.

What strategies did you employ to teach speaking /listening activities?

- Repetitiveness and constantly reminding them to listen to the way I pronounce it, then
asking them to repeat it. Throughout the whole lesson I kept reminding them for
example: What is this? Thats right! Eih Eih Igloo.
What do you have to take into consideration when teaching speaking/listening activities?
- I have to realize that some students process information slower than others, and that
repetition is key. I also have to be able to pronounce the letters correctly such as I
which is pronounced as Eih some students think its read as Aii so I have to keep
reminding them of the correct pronunciation.

Organization

What did you do to appear well organized when in the schools? (refer to organizing your
time, portfolio, tasks etc).
- I read ahead of time everything I need to get and only carried my booklet, pen, and
bag with me to school, where I placed my bag in the cupboard the moment I walked
in and discussed what I will be doing this semester with my MST and took notes
when necessary.
- It was hard organizing my time according to their always changing plans, I have had
many lessons pushed back due to trips or the teacher not finishing the previous lesson
in time.
- My portfolio I believe is very well organized, because although I spent a lot of time
working on perfecting it, I am so proud of the outcome because everything I need I
can easily find on my weebly.
Why do you think its important to be well organized when in the school?
- Because by being well organized youre being professional, you can focus on what
you need to do rather than lose track of time and have empty pages and missing work.
Have your organization and planning skills improved? Yes - in what way? No - what steps
can you take to improve in this area?
- Yes, I feel like I have developed a strategy for organizing everything using tables, I
like simplifying visuals of my thoughts. I used to just write down all notes, but then
when I come back to them I feel a huge weight on my shoulders because of all the
information thats unorganized and dont really want to work. But when I started
trying to simplify everything into tables I feel like its more straightforward and easier
to understand for not only me but others as well. My planning skills I feel have
improved a bit, because now I can plan out what to work on, and when to have it done
but also know how long it might take me to finish.

Reflection
What has been your most powerful learning throughout the practicum?
-

Always have a back-up plan, whenever my lessons got pushed back or cancelled I
would end up not teaching enough lessons, I struggled with this matter for the first
two weeks then started trying to find ways around the schedule by talking to my MST
and going over their schedules to make sure I teach all my lessons.

What was the most helpful feedback you received during the placement?

That I need to be more excited to keep the students interested, I have a very relaxed
tone while teaching and tried multiple times to be enthusiastic my MST said I was
still lacking and that students were bored. However, from my perspective the students
were actually really excited and constantly giving information regarding the story I
was reading them, more than my previous lessons so I will work extra hard on being
enthusiastic.

What challenges did you face when writing your reflections?

-

I would constantly talk about the same issues, enthusiasm and learning styles. I keep
trying to improve my enthusiasm but my MSTs say Im very lacking and speak in
monotone, I also want to explore learning styles and will look into it before my next
TP.

Were you able to make links between what you did at college and what you observed or
experienced during TP? Give an example.
- Yes, when teaching lessons in college were taught how to manage our classroom
through different strategies, I personally prefer looking at the student until they stop,
my Arabic MST yells at them until they feel like theyve done something bad, my
English MST however does what I do in college which is staring at the student, but
she also asks the student Why did you do this??. For example, once during story
video time the students were all distracted by Sheikha so she stopped the video and
asked Sheikha Why are you playing with the chair? You will not get jelly today.
What do you think are important things to study at college to ensure that you are well
prepared for TP?
- How to work with special needs students, I had a student with special needs that I
tried to work with, I feel like I did well but I wish I could have done better. Also I
feel like first aid training should be taught to all students, especially future teacher
since students will become our responsibility in the future and we need to be prepared
for the worst.