First day of SBL

Yesterday was my first day of school based learning (SBL) at Havelock North Primay and I had so many highlights. The first highlight was being greeted firstly by the principle of the school. This was a highlight because it is always nice to be greeted firstly by the head of the school. We then got to meet our mentor teacher and she done a great job on the first day to show our group around and to have organised a great day. Our group then got a tour of the school by some year six students which they done a fantastic job. We then got the chance to sit in and observe in some classrooms this was a highlight because it gave me a taste of things to come. I was given the task on the first day to read a picture book to some year two students . This was my biggest highlight because we had full control of the situation with no other teachers assisting, this gave me my first teaching experience with the children.

On the first day we were always going to have some challenges and the first challenge for me was being nervous and not sure what we would be doing. This challenge was cleared up quickly because when we met our mentor teacher she was very clear and took those nerves away. The next challenge I faced was going around the classrooms to observe and trying to interact with teachers and children as they were busy learning. This was awkward at times as I popped into classes and the teacher was busy and I felt uncomfortable while I was there. Other times I had good timing and students were busy doing tasks and had the chance to chat with teachers and students. Another reason for this challenge was that we had limited time with each class.

Before I got to my SBL school I knew I was going to learn a lot on my first day because this is all very new. The limited time I did have in the classroom to observe I learnt a lot. The first thing I noticed was how different every teacher was at getting the children's attention. Some teachers had clapping rythem's and I am familiar with that, one teacher had a shaker that made a noise which was a good idea. One teacher I did see snapped her fingers at the children and I did not like that so it was good to see that because I wont be using that while I am teaching. I got to see all the year groups and got to experience the different ways of communicating with different age groups. The new entrant class the teacher had very basic instructions and kept the instructions small, compared with the year six teacher who gave the the students their options how to best use the next hour and gave them a chance to have some ownership.