Day 25 - August 30, 2018
“When the end is near, think of the new beginning.”
As August coming to an end, so does our stay here in Thailand, but I couldnt stop thinking about what am I supposed to do back in the Philippines. I know it will be a lot harder considering the fact that we had more lessons to study and more classes to handle in order to complete our practicum hours. I can do this, I believed, with the help of a little more faith and support.
Evaluation Day
I was informed that this day would be my evaluation day, but I had no news whether the evaluators would really come today or not, nor the time whether first period or second period. But I kept what my friends and family said, “with evaluators or not, I got to do my best inside the classroom”. I repeated it over and over my mind until I get my nerves manipulated to stop being so anxious.
I taught about breeding of animals and life cycles. For the past two weeks I handled EP5, it would be my first time to give an individual activity. For the first week I gave a group task about vegetation, second week I gave a paired activity using clay and for this week I gave an individual activity about life cycles. I assigned random animals to them and they had to draw their life cycles depending on their type of metamorphosis (common, complete, incomplete). Most of them were able to do the activity properly, while others needed help. In the end, all of them were able to draw properly.
Evaluation Conference
My two-hour class was coming to an end and I lost hope that my evaluators would not meet me anymore. Closely to the end of my period, they entered the class. I was very nervous since my class was already coming to an end and I was supposed to wrap everything up but I had to discuss some points again because it was part of my evaluation. I also felt disappointed that they were not there in the peak of my lesson. However, still did my best. In the end, I was able to successfully finish my lesson on time. As I asked them to line up outside of the room where I taught, I was already thinking of what they would say to me. I know they will critique my performance, it would not be complete without both positive and negative comments.
They gave me positive comments and commended my performance as a teacher. They said I had a lot of activities for learning that the students enjoy, they also said that I care for them because of how I consult them all throughout the activity. On the other hand, a point for improvement I got is that the activity I prepared for them is almost beyond their capability since it was my first time to give individual task. In here I realized the value of collaboration among students and that teachers should really know the students and their capabilities well enough. Since it was a demonstration school and that I was still in practicum as a student teacher, it is normal to try strategies and experimemt on activities or things that may be effective inside the classroom, besides we were here to learn, if not for the rooms of improvement, I guess we shouldn't be here after all. I was thankful for my evaluators and thankful to my God that I was able to accomplish my class for today well.
Farewell Dinner in the Milk Station
We went to the Milk Station, five minutes away from NSTRU, for our farewell dinner. We were with the vice director of Satit, Ajarn Mai, the cooperating teachers: Sir Ben, Sir Felix, Miss Jesille, along with Miss Nadia and Sir Sherwin. We ordered a lot of food and became really sated. We also shared a bubble ice cream and ate it altogether. Each one of us also left a message of gratitude for the lecturers, IRD, Satit School and our co-SEA Teachers, all of them made our stay here in Thailand, meaningful and fruitful.
