Internship at Hilton 2015

I have been working with Mr Carlisle and Mr Roberts in History and English respectively.  In History I have worked with the grade 8 class on a few occasions,  teaching and marking a few of their research peices. In English I have also been involved with the grade 8 class, marking a few of their transactional writing pieces as well as attending most of their grammar lessons.

I have had a great time working with Thulani and Evan Thus far, I have been in charge of the grade 8 SAL class since the beginnig of Term 2. I have worked with the grade 10 IsiZulu class, teaching a few language and grammar lessons and that has brought a lot of insight and depth into my understanding of the language and teaching techniques.

This is quite a late post and you might remember that the winter sports season kicked into play before the long term holidays. Since then I've been assigned to the U15 age group, coaching the U15E team and working quite closely with Shaun and Mark. We've had a couple of games thus far and the U15 age group as whole has had some difficulties in getting right, a lot of the fundamentals of the sport; resulting in a few unfortunate defeats against schools such as Westville, Kearsney and Michealhouse to name but a few. Our last fixture as U15E went really well against Maritzburg CA and we managed to go down by just 5 points in comparison with our previous fixtures. 

This is a rather late post, but about a week ago we ended the basketball season and the transition to winter sports took place. Basketball in a nutshell was a rather challenging season and the boys really struggled to amalgamate and work as a team due to a variety of changes that took place throughout the season. We suffered a number of defeats against our main rival schools and only had one victory against Clifton. At the end of the season, I was encouraged to have an end of season discussion with the boys, in which we reflected on the season, my coaching and  basketball as a sport in the school. The boys had some very positive feedback as well as some areas of concern; which I really took note of. I am very accomodative of constructive criticism because I believe that the moment there is nothing you're getting wrong then growth is also being confined.

This is an introduction to story writing, what the boys think about it and what their definition of a story is. The speaker is concerned with motivating the boys to look a little closer into their own lives and understanding that writing a story is as easy as writing about yourself and what is happening in your life . She gives them ideas of what it is they can write about and how they can start thinking along the lines of how to start writing about themselves.  This is very interesting and has been educational for me as an aspiring teacher because I have gathered some ideas around how to approach my own literature writing and how I can go about expressing myself.  What I also gathered in this workshop is the importance of pin pointing the objectives of your presentation so that the learners, especially at the junior level, can be clear with what it is youre getting across and what it is you want them to grasp from your presentation. 

I've been quite impressed with the number of learners in my isiZulu class, because it really allows for individual attention. And that enhances my ability as a teacher to maximize all my objectives. I think being a young teacher also gives me an edge in that it allows me to relate to the learners very easily; so I find my isiZulu lessons very interesting and exciting. There is common ground which I then matipulate into fabricating an atmosphere within which learning can flourish. However the IsiZulu second additional language class is far less of a challenge, as I had predicted, hence I have branched out into working with first additional as well as grade 10s.

I had to do some History marking today, it was quite interesting to see how the boys have understood the work taught in class and seeing their understanding in how they have expressed the content that was taught.

Yesterday I was left to look after the grade 8 History class and I think I really enjoyed the lesson as we recapped on what had been discussed and learned in the past two lessons. The boys were very cooperative and so I allowed for the lesson to a bit more fun, discussing the differences between the American Indians of the 1840s and our curret society. The boys amazed me; in that they postulated really solid justifications of their observations and thoughts .

This particular lesson was very exciting, I actually felt like a grade 8 learner myself.  I learned a lot because I put myself in the same position as the learners and indulged in what the lesson had to offer. I particularly liked the introduction of the topic ; parts of speech. In this lesson parts of speech were paralled to a very familiar and easy to understand concept for the boys. It seems discussions and work supervision are the key aspects of learning management as they were a fundemental part of this English lesson.

This lesson was very insightful, as a variety of learning styles were accommodated and the learners were kept interested through a visual aspect of the lesson that was used to create imagery around the concept that was introduced. A discussion was used to assesss whether learning and understanding had taken place and to what extent.

Last week Saturday we played Clifton in Basketball and it was a good game overall, which we won 28-10 after having lost our first fixture as u15B. I really felt like we have a special connection with the boys and it was really heart-warming to see them full of joy after having achieved something as a team. I am particularly impressed by the level of participation pertaining to extra-curricular codes here at Hilton. The learners are always giving 100% attendance and participation; which can yield tantamount enthusiasm for the coach. 

Yesterday I visited the Art lesson with one of the grade 8 classes. As soon as I walked into the classroom I felt like my aesthetic awareness was awakened; through the display of artworks all around the class. The teacher was so passionate and enthusiastic about her subject. Classroom management was merely subject to the positive attitude and level of eargerness to learn from the learners, which made it very easy for the teacher to manage the class as well as discipline. This lesson was actually an introduction to Art in high school and what Art Education is. The teacher used a braistorming and questioning approach to try and define the demographics of the prior knowledge presented by the learners; in preparation for a systematic transition towards her lesson objectives ensuring that no learner is excluded in the process. I felt that this was a lesson where all the aspects of lesson planning were appropriately utilised and manipulated. Which then allowed for a smooth management of t...

I visited the Grade 9 History class today, I was very inspired more than anything. It seems that maintaining discipline in the class room is very much affected by your tone of voice as well as your body posture and the body language that you use whilst addressing the learners. There seems to be a very fine line between being taken seriously and being easily mistaken for someone who isnt sure of themselves. The instructional teaching approach works very well with the questioning and case study approach; as I was exposed to a combination of all three today.

This was the first grade 11 IsiZulu lesson i attended. The learners were doing "Ubuningi" as a revision activity. I learned that once the learners are familiar with your expectations and rules in terms of discipline, it really becomes easy to get straight into the lesson and let learning take place. There was a discussion about the activity done in class, in an attempt to see how much the learners remember and whether it was safe to move on. This was done through a series of questions that were asked and we came to a conclusion that the learners had not forgotten anything and it was safe to proceed.  I also learned something new in grammar, which is concerned with the correctness of a concept based on the rules taught in class and how it is normally applied in the real world. Being approachable and creating an atmosphere within which learning can flourish is really imperative. So lightenning up the atmosphere through general conversation can put the boys at ease. It is cr...

This was more of a briefing and a breakdown of the structure of the LO subject for the year. The grade 12s were given precise detail on all the objectives as well as the main tasks of focus this year. An instructional teaching approach was used, as well as a questioning and discussion approach to pick up the prior knowledge of the learners regarding the structure and importance of LO in matric. Classroom management was subject to an automated reaction from the learners as a result of the appropriate voice projection of the teacher in which he achieved a sense of being in charge and respect through the way he spoke. The lesson was very informing and gave me some insight as to how the LO department has planned its way around its objectives for the year.

I opted to do basketball in the first term, knowing absolutely nothing about the sport but I was left at ease by the warm reception I received from Suwi and Msizi. In literally one practice session I felt at home and I was well on my way to understanding the sport.  I am also pretty excited about the new sporting gear; which just looks and feels absolutely amazing

Monday was the first day where we had a meet and greet with the grade 8 parents in our respective houses. My housemaster Paul Venter is an extremely welcoming and accommodating individual who goes the extra mile to ensure that everyone is involved and content with their involvement, so that alone really set the tone of things for me. 

This was a great initiative by Mike and Peter; which saw us as interns really getting a chance to engage with one another and get to know each other, as well as familiarise ourselves with the Hilton way of life. This was done through a number of conversations with Mike and Peter; which resulted in a lot of insight; especially for me. I really felt welcomed and simultaneously had an enjoyable time. 

I went out for breakfast with Ryan and Mxolisa; to explore the area and its offerings. We went to Dulce Café in Hilton; where we got to know one another and enjoyed optimistic chats over breakfast.

The beautiful view from the Principal's house; where we had a meet and greet with prospective colleagues.  A stunning evening in totality, and a very warm welcome to all new staff members.  

We arrived at Hilton from Johannesburg. Hilton is a beautiful school with a great sense of tradition and culture. Stunning buildings, absolutely feeling thrilled to be here.