Week 2 of SBL

What were the highlights?

I loved seeing the children again. It feels great to have already developed a relationship with some even if it has been brief. What I enjoyed most this week was experiencing a whole day in just the one class but then having different ages each day. It allowed me to see different ways teachers approach their lessons based on the age group they have. I especially enjoyed the fact that the first teacher I was observing really made me feel like a part of their class for the day and involved with helping the children learn.
My second day at SBL I saw many teaching techniques that I would like to incorporate into my own classes one day. I liked that the teachers manner was calm, sincere and his instructions were clear and concise. The learners understood what they were about to do and why. I also like that when the teacher was correcting the learners on an issue he linked it back to PRIDE. I noticed this deepened their understanding.
I especially enjoyed seeing the beginning of a Kapa Haka session.

What were the challenges?

With a class so on to it and organised as my class I was lucky enough to be in on the second day, there wasn't an awful lot to help out with. It was hard just sitting there with nothing to do for awhile but at the end of the day it wasn't for that long.
I found helping out during a Maths session a little bit challenging but actually found out I learned a lot in the end. Teaching children to actually learn how to do an equation is a lot more of a task than just showing them how it's done. If you don't make sure they understand how they got the answer you risk the chance of them not retaining the information.

What did I learn?

It is so important to understand and know what it is you want the learners to get out of a lesson.
Learning buddies is a great system.
Giving positive reinforcement to one learner, and letting them know why they are receiving it, helps the other learners in the class by giving them a guidline of the requirements.
Getting the learners to rate how well they think they are doing on a certain subject allows them responsibility for their own learning and along side that teaches them 'Integrity' by requiring them to be honest so they get the most out of their learning.