These
are some observations made by the trainees of my college (2011-12
batch) after their first and second spell of Practice Teaching. Its worth pondering over !
* In a
school in the city, there were children from Juvenile Homes. Some of them had a criminal record and were prone to violence! The trainees did not
really know how to tackle them.
* In another school a particular trainee was asked “ Do you
consume beer”? It appeared that the students consumed beer regularly!
* Some trainees reported that Constructivist practice did not work
in the Social Science class and they found that lecturing method was more suitable
in the secondary class!
*In
a particular school there
was an unexpected announcement that
part of the four floor school building
has caught fire. All the students were
directed to rush out immediately. Within seconds , a trainee who was teaching
in the third floor dashed to the ground floor.
In fact, he was the first to reach the ground floor! Only on reaching the ground floor did he
realize that it is was a ‘Mock Fire Escape Training’ planned by the Fire and Rescue
Service. The trainee had no idea, that what he was expected to do, was to get
the students to fall in line and move along with them quickly to the ground floor!
*Some trainees stated that during Practice Teaching, they realized
that a mastery of the subject they teach is essential to teach effectively.
* A
teacher candidate, who till
joining the BEd course was teaching
at the Primary Level realized that at the Secondary Level to teach a single period one ought to prepare a lot
unlike at the Primary level.
* In
a particular school, instead of distributing sweets on their
birthday, the students are expected to
plant a tree in the school campus.
* The Supervising teacher of a leading
school in the city reprimanded the trainees for giving home assignments!
* The Supervising teacher of a
particular school was extremely cooperative and did handover his Laptop to the
trainees to prepare materials for teaching the students!
* During the thirty day Second Spell
of Practice Teaching, six days were
wasted owing to general Strike followed by suspension of classes!
*In some schools, there were children
in Standard VIII and IX who did not
know the
English or Hindi alphabet.
*A particular trainee affirmed that
they all
had engaged in Practice Teaching with the seriousness it deserves and did
not as a teacher educator had warned, turn the Teaching Practice in to a ‘Cheating Practice’!
* A trainee who was assigned a Girls’
school in the city to teach,
observed that, many students were attracted to the male trainees. And once, it so happened that a male worker employed by the school
had ignored some girls and did
not smile at them. This hurt the feeling of
some children!
* A particular trainee, quite naively confessed that some of the students they
taught were really smart. It so
happened that a student had asked the trainee whether he had
a Facebook and the trainee
quite innocently replied “ I’m afraid I don’t have one ...perhaps you could look for it in the
School Library”!
Now... do we really train our trainees properly ?
Any comments??
