Practicum Reflection 20 February 2012

Today was my first day at Fernvale Primary School. I had the opportunity to sit in three different classes today. I will pen down what I have observed and learnt in these classes.

I was assigned to a Primary 2 class to teach English and Social Studies. I was also assigned to teach a Primary 5 Mathematics class.

Profile of class 2/6: This is a mixed ability class with a few extremely weak pupils. However, most of the students are able to focus except a handful of them who are usually restless. The class has a point system which is very effective in disciplining them. The class also has a daily leadership scheme so that everyone has a chance to be a leader.

2/6 English: The first period was used for Spelling. However, this was the first time that the students are having spelling on a Monday due to the upcoming tests. Due to that , almost one quarter of the class was not prepared for the Spelling. However, my CT, Mr Rafi, had to carry on with it in order to be fair to those who has already learnt. But Mr Rafi was very flexible and encouraged those who did not learn to try. He was kind enough to allow them for a re-spelling tomorrow. This was to give those students another chance. It is important for teachers to be flexible and not be too rigid if it does not benefit the students.

2/6 Social Studies: The topic covered was on 'Ethnic Costumes' and Mr Rafi brought in many different costumes for the pupils to see and touch. This was good for the kinesthetic and visual learners. However, I realised that one period is inadequate for Social Studies lessons to be conducted with so much content to be covered. However, Mr Rafi has tried his best to cover as much and make it interactive for the pupils.

Profile of class 5/3: This was also a mixed ability class. Likewise, the class has point system to manage them.

5/3 Mathematics: The topic was on addition of mixed fractions. The base ten blocks manipulative were given to the class. They were supposed to work in groups and used the manipulative to find the sum of two mixed fractions. I observed that the pupils have difficulties understanding the concepts through the base ten blocks. In fact, I was a little lost during the lesson too. I understand that the teacher was trying to allow them to explore and work in groups but I realised that the objectives of the lesson were not met. For example, when the children were trying to add 1 and 1/4 to 2 and 1/4, they tried to covert the quarters to a base of 100 because the base ten blocks were in hundreds. It was a redundant step to convert the 1/4 into a base of hundred, which resulted in many carelessness. I think the lesson will be more effective if fraction discs are used.