4th Entry

My fourth entry for this assignment deals with my colleague teacher leaving for maternity leave, leaving me to take over her classes, some of which i hadn't taught in the 7 weeks prior. On the Wednesday on week 7, two days before my colleague teacher was to leave, I was taken into the principals office along with the HSIE coordinator for a rather impromptu job interview for my colleague teachers position, which I had applied for a few weeks previous. After my successful interview I was told I couldn't tell my colleague teacher I was taking over from her until it was announced on Friday at Morning Tea. Ofcourse Friday was a very busy day for my colleague teacher, who was attempting to tie up all loose ends in between a 5 period day...the fact she was left to brief me on the position on a very busy day caused much rushing around at the end of the day. Would this rushed briefing be detrimental in my change over into the position?

Starting on Monday, I picked up her year 12 Modern history class, who had finished the majority of their studies and were simply putting the finishing touches on their final unit and Year 8 Geography, who I ad taught before and were a, shall we say vibrant class, but were nonetheless a good bunch of kids. Turning up to teach the Year 8 class following 7 weeks of dealing with senior was a bit of a challenge, having to remember my previous years practicums where I taught juniors and remember the ways I dealt with classroom management.

Needless to say, my first class with the year 8 Geo class was alittle unsettled, for the fact they saw me as a young, student teacher or casual teacher who they didn't need to work hard for. The initial lesson was a bit of an uphill struggle to put forward my expectations for the class and it can be said my first lesson with this class I taught with an iron fist inorder to communicate the fact that I will not put up with disruptive behaviour or poor work ethic.

This incident ties with Element 5, in particular 5.1.5 and 5.1.6, which is 'of the NSWiT professional standards, that dealing with classroom management skills. When I walked into that classroom I encountered a class whom I needed to prove my authority and expectations to, in order to change their views on my teaching authority. In dealing with this particular class I have found myself realising that I cannot deal with discipline on my own, but needed to ask other teachers for ideas for discipline and various coordinators for support in dealing with troublesome students who need the words of a more experienced, authoritative teacher to make them understand that their behaviour is unacceptable. Through taking on this class I plan to better myself in different approaches to classroom discipline that differ from detentions and demerits. Be a communicative teacher, who is fair and shows a genuine interest in the students as a means of building rapport for better classroom management, rather than punitive classroom management (McBurney-Fry, 2002)and I feel this class will be enormously beneficial in more growth as a teacher of positive discipline.

References

NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards <www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.htm>

McBurney-Fry, G (2002)Improving Your Practicum. 2nd Ed. Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press>