Life of a teacher.

✓ How did you cope/manage completing the three days of “Life of a Teacher”.

Completing three days was not easy because it required a lot of effort and work. My mentor teacher did not understand the whole idea behind life of a teacher as she was so set in her ways, and it was difficult for her to give me the opportunity to take over her class especially in the first block as she still had to build trust in me. During the first block the learners were busy with assessments during that time that also made it difficult for me to do my life of a teacher. However, in the end I managed to do all three in days.

✓ How did you feel taking on all the responsibilities of a teacher in Block 1 compared to Block 2?

Block 1 life of a teacher did not have many responsibilities for me as my mentor teacher only made me do a department maths assessment with them, it was on a Friday and the assessment took quite some time I was also nervous because this was the first time taking over the class, prior to that I did not teach any lessons for my practical's neither any of the teachers planned lessons. my mentor teacher also didn't have any lessons for me to teach on that day. Life of a teacher day 1 was not easy for me because I felt like the teacher didn't really trust me as a teacher or with her learners, every time I reminded her about what was required of me to do during my teaching experience she would forget and I had to keep reminding her, hence I only completed my day 1 life of a teacher on the last day of block 1. In the second block of life of a teacher it was a little easier as my mentor was warming up to me as I had to teach quite a few of my lessons to the class and she could see that I was capable of taking over the class. The first day of my life of a teacher block 2, my teacher was feeling well and therefore it was easier for her to allow me to take over most of her duties, she was there to guide me as well. Many of the learners did not come to school that day because there was a fun day the previous day. All my life of a teacher days was on a Friday as the days were shorter, however it still took a lot out of me, my mentor teacher allowed me to use different classroom management techniques which included displaying a timer on the board as well as use sound bubbles. The third and final day of the life of a teacher required me to assist with term 4 planning, my mentor teacher had to do the planning for mathematics for all the grade teachers, on the day of my life of a teacher I had to type the instructions on the ATP lesson plans, print and copy one for each teacher, together with that I taught a few lessons, two of which I planned but was not part of my 12 lessons that I needed to complete and the learners enjoyed that very much. At the end of it all I really enjoyed the days in life of a teacher.

✓ Which activities did you find most challenging? How did you overcome these challenges?

The most challenging part of the life of a teacher was to manage the classroom discipline with the mentor teacher present as the learners did not have that much respect for me as a teacher and would calm down when the mentor teacher reprimanded them. Having her do that also broke the routine of having me as the teacher for the day. I feel that if I was able to do my days in the life of a teacher without my mentor teacher there, I would feel more confident and have more control over the class. If the Varsity allowed the students to record substituting for a teacher as a day in a life of a teacher, it would give students more of a feel of a real teacher, with supervision with the HOD checking in on students.

✓ Analyse your results of your self- evaluation survey where would you rate yourself higher?

I would not rate myself higher because it wasn't an authentic assessment on myself as I was not entirely alone in the classroom, and I still rated myself as a student teacher in my life of a teacher.

✓ Justify how you have improved these competencies through this experience.

Definitely more practice and being able to do more than just teaching expected lessons.

✓ Look at the exit level outcomes and the final comments of your mentor teacher in your School Assessment Log & Report. Compare this to the initial self -evaluation you had completed at the beginning of your teaching experience.

Based on the rating that my mentor teacher gave me in three of the exit levels being subject, curricular and pedagogical knowledge, adapting teaching methods and the use and development of assessments were higher than what I rated myself, she rated me competent where I rated myself developing. The last exit level whic was practice, skills, ethics and professionalism, she rated me distinguished, where I rated myself proficient.