Students

Student Comment
Jezire
A model student, getting his tasks done efficiently, with little disruption
Tyrone to himself and his peers.
Mystiqu
e A bubbly girl with a sunny disposition
Alex He is a very likable student in the class, sometimes a little bit rowdy.
Koushik He is a very capable student, but may be lead astray by his peers.
One of the girls who does not cause much trouble. On task and naturally
Amy friendly with the entire class.
Naturally boisterous (to the point of being disruptive) but is a good
Naar student when guided.
Miranda A natural leader, energetic
Cade
One of the girls who does not cause much trouble. On task and naturally
Kaytlen friendly with the entire class.
Easily disengage when not prompted with activities that are of interest
Josiah to him.
A sweet natured child. Seems to have a speech impediment and a minor
Quinton learning difficulty
Chance
Saphyre Does her work quickly, loves to read and keep to herself
Does his work efficiently and has been a model student (as much as a
Mack child can be)
Lycan is surprisingly good at thinking outside the box when presented
Lycan with a task
A child with special needs (autistic). She is lovely and bright girl although
Oviya she can be somewhat mischievous
Elaina Very bright and dependable student
Connor
Have a talent for drawing, Loves dragons. Very meticulous with his work
Rudy (sometimes not time efficient)
Savann
ah A sweet girl with a cheerful disposition, will mostly keep on task
One of the girls who does not cause much trouble. On task and naturally
Isabella friendly with the entire class.
Has been absent for most of the days that I was there, but a capable
Jeremy student from what I have gathered
Name: Oviya
Year: 3
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Indian
Learning difficulties: Autistic
Oviya was one of the few students which I worked with individually. She was born
pre-maturely and, due to other health complications during birth, has autism. Not
having experience with a child like Oviya, I approached her very hesitantly and
treated her like a fragile doll. She was having none of that! She sensed my
apprehension and she immediately set me straight. Her determination to be
independent (it was me wanting to help her versus her wanting to do it herself)
forced me to change my mindset. Disciplining her was hardest for me. I am always
assessing the situation, when is it time for me to put my foot down and call her out
for being silly and when is it time for me to let her do it her way.
Mentor
I established a relationship with my mentor via email correspondence before and
during the practicum. We met briefly the Friday before the practicum start where we
establish what our intention and expectations were from this practicum and each
other.
We used three modes of co-teaching depending on the varying situations, some of
which we would discuss the lesson the day before via email (especially if it was a
class where I would mainly be teaching) while others would be verbally discussed on
the day.
There were a lot of instant feedback and comments (both written and verbal) on the
different teaching strategies that took place from my mentor and other teachers
that I encountered during my time at the school. It was interesting for me to see the
various teachers handling similar situations with their own strategies. I felt
privileged when they took the time to explain their thought process whilst still
having approximately 25 students to teach at the same time.
Avatars
I really did enjoy interacting with the avatars, especially before being sent out to the
school. It was a good exercise to self-critique the delivery of your lesson without the
fear of making a Freudian slip. The simulation is a more sophisticated process than
rehearsing with a friend or running the scenario in your head.
However, the orderly manner the avatars took to answer and the few seconds delay
is lulling us into the false sense of expectation that primary school students would
be similar in real life. Allowing even two students out of the five to be able to
communicate at the same time would better replicate a classroom environment.
Regardless, I did enjoy my time when I engaged with the avatars. This ingenious
idea must be further developed and integrated into the syllabus in the future.