Of this past 65 days, approximately 30 were spent interning for the Ministry of Education as..well. A teaching intern.
A lot have mistaken it as mere relief teaching, and with all due respect, it's different. Relief teaching is but a tiny fraction of what we interns are assigned/scheduled to do. I was assigned to two Chemistry classes (Sec3 and 4) as well as a Math class (Sec4). These three classes took up about 10 periods a week. In my six weeks as an intern, I shadowed my supervising tutors as well as taught these students on my own. Lesson plans had to drawn up (and then edited. and then re-edited). Worksheets had to be printed. Impromptu changes had to made when the plan doesn't go as planned.
As the weeks went by, I began to love my job. Rushing enthusiastically for classes despite knowing that the students may be late, patiently explaining concepts on the whiteboard, bumping into familiar students in the corridor, being greeted with a HUGE smile and a HI MS TONG!, there were even days where i'd willingly stayed back in the school canteen, for what we commonly term (in JC) "consultation". Besides all these, there were non-academic stuff to handle. Together with two other interns, we set up a recycling corner in Broadrick, we put up a presentation in the hall during assmebly, we sat in for numerous CCA sessions, we arrived earlier in school, or stayed way later for Staff meetings/department meetings/team-building sessions/workshops. You name it.
Each day i'd return exhausted to the bone, some days with worksheets in my bag, other days with a pending proposal or powerpoint presentation to be edited. And then, there are days where my mind's saturated with thoughts.
How could I get my kids to settle down?
Why were some so hyperactive, and the others so quiet?
What could I do?
How long would it be till I lost my cool?
Did I have to lose my cool?
I am certain I developed some sort of maturity in those weeks (which, sadly, came in a package with wrinkles and sleepless nights)
And I'm ever so honoured to have had this opportunity. The workload, the long hours, the seemingly irrelevant tasks we were assigned, the wars and battles in the classroom - it was all part and parcel of this amazing journey I'd experienced.
To my disappointment,though, I was not able to extend my stay at Broadrick.
I can't wait to go back and visit((:
No comments:
Post a Comment