Teaching Internship: Reflection On The Strengths And Challenges While Designing And Implementing The Lessons

Strengths

Planning plays a very large part in teaching, thus while designing and implementing the two lessons, both were appropriate to the ability of the students. My ultimate strength of the two activities is that in my school, Barkly Government School (ZEP), almost all the students like Physical Education more than any other holistic subjects, and the all the stakeholders including the HM, also support this. Besides this, all the materials required for the activities, were available and easily accessible. I did not get much problem also about the weather as there was no drop of rain falling from the sky. This made both the activities went smoothly as planned.WeaknessOne weakness I continue to struggle is my time management. There was a lot of content and materials to gather for both activities especially for the numeracy race. I spent too much time on giving instructions as my students had some difficulty to assimilate the steps involved in the activities, despite demonstrating each step. Reflection on extent to which integrating and addressing values were successful.

Through both activities, the values that I have succeeded to integrate basic values such as Cooperation, Team spirit, Respect, Honesty, Tolerance, Sharing, etc. in the students that will give them an inspiration for any other activities they will perform together as a team or even individually in a team. The values integrated were as follows:

Cooperation

With numeracy race and mini football, learners have developed cooperation as being a team. Since they have been split in two, they did their best to achieve a common goal, and thus it was necessary for them to work together. If this was not been done, the end result for everyone would have been a failure. Each one had to cooperate when the activity was brought to competition level to win it.

Team spirit

It was sometimes hard for every team member to have the honour of hitting the goal that wins the match such as for the mini football, without team spirit. Each team member was assigned a position which corresponds to a specific task which was defending, attacking or goal keeping. By working with team spirit, students showed the feeling of pride and loyalty that exists among them and that made them want their team to do well or to be the best such as to score, defend and win the mini football match. RespectBefore both activity starts, I had to make sure that everyone was clear to the instructions given to them and that they all agreed. They have showed respect to the rules of both activities especially when it came to the competition level. The ‘losers’ respected the winners after the game ended for both activities by shaking hands.

Honesty

The students displayed honesty in both activities as they did not cheat at any step during the implementation. For example, in the numeracy activity, the students standing behind the cone honestly identified whether the equation is correct or not. Concerning the mini football, the students showed fairness when there was a foul or throw-in and abide to the rules and regulations of the game. Reflection on explanations of a child overall development while learning values through physical activities.

The most effective and inclusive means of providing all children with values, whatever their ability, sex, age, cultural, ethnicity, religious or social background is through physical education. As mentioned above, with the both activities designed and implemented, values such as Cooperation, Team spirit, Respect and Honesty were displayed among the students. These basic values will certainly help them for their overall development.

Cooperation

Co-operative learning is a very effective interactive learning way of involving all students in purposeful because students work with their peers for a common goal. It brings positive interdependence, a face-to-face interaction between the students where they develop oral communication skills and other interpersonal skills. Team spiritTeam spirit also allows for kids the opportunity to socialize with other friends. For those involved in a team, it allows them to become part of something of value and teaches people how to help someone on their team when they are struggling and offer them words of encouragement when they are performing either poorly or admirably, which the students showed in both activities. It can also give students a greater respect for one another and can build friendships that last a lifetime.

Respect

Respect is having a regard for others, means showing compassion and empathy for those around us. Physical activities environment is a great place to grow and establish respect. While involved in those activities, students learn the importance of respecting their teammates, opponents as well rules and regulations of the game. It is difficult to be kind to those who oppose you but this is a skill taught through physical activities. Children who show respect will find they are successful in all aspects of life.

Honesty

Being honest is not always easy, especially when it comes to competition level of a game. But without honesty there is no foundation for a lasting or enjoyable friendship among students. Honesty builds trust and this is the reason why we should instill it in our children. By telling the truth, students will have respect and trust for each other. It is a valuable lesson for each child to understand that everyone can make a mistake but being honest about it is extremely important.

Suggestions for improvement

When a teacher has planned well, the day will go smooth and transition easily from subject to subject, classroom management will be much better, and the curriculum will be taught more appropriately. For example, when the teacher has the lesson plan in place, the materials ready, and knows the content that will be taught in advance, there will be no time for students to misbehave or be bored and the overall learning environment will be positive. Through my internship I have experienced the moments of being well prepared versus the moments of not being ready and the importance of being ready with back up plans daily. As a teacher, you must be flexible and be ready to switch things up last minute if needed. I definitely feel I have grown to really master this goal, always making sure to have back up material for the students, knowing what I can afford to move around a bit and what I need to get in that day; a very important aspect in being an effective educator.

In conclusion, several of my weaknesses from the start of internship have become my strengths through the experiences during my student-teaching. However, I do still have weaknesses in areas I had when I came into internship, and although I feel I have improved in all areas, I do still have points to improve and work on for the benefit of the children. There will always be new strategies to be learned, not enough time to complete everything a teacher needs to complete, and new things to plan for. I will always be learning new and innovative ways of teaching, and I believe it is up to me how I embrace those new strategies, always with an open mind, and deliver them effectively to my students.