Joel's Final Reflection - The Realities of Life and Teaching

b.       Reflect on your teaching practicum so far: What have you learned from your experience during TP? What kinds of challenges do you foresee as you develop as a Literature teacher in your specific school context?

This practicum (though it has only been six weeks) has provided an injective dose of reality which were never revealed to me during previous teaching stints, be they relief, contract or previous practicum experiences. I have definitely learnt much and hopefully gained much as well.

Right off the bat, it must be mentioned that teaching constitutes only five percent of what a teacher does (at least in my case). The other ninety-five percent of the time has been spent settling administrative tasks, attending meetings/non-classroom engagements, endless markings (and revised markings) of students’ scripts, lesson plans, relief duties and the list goes on. On top of all these, a teacher is expected to conduct himself well with relation to the five percent and perform what is above and beyond the requirements.

I have learnt that it is of paramount importance to not lose one’s personal philosophy of education or why we have embarked on this most noble profession in the first place. During the beginning weeks, I began to realise that as more time passes, the more I became disillusioned with what I was witnessing and experiencing. It was necessary to hold on steadfastly to my personal beliefs and really “not lose myself”. I did not want to be another statistic.

Two essential traits of the trade would be adaptability and resiliency. The former will ensure that despite the many “curveballs” that come my way, I would still be able to make the best out of any situation and think quickly “on my feet”. This is essential as every single day would provide new challenges that would be unforeseeable and unexpected. This would be where the latter comes in as well. Resiliency is required to maintain one’s sanity and to be in control of all situations as any single act of defiance, perceived or otherwise, could spell the end of one’s career. This I feel is where two realities are evident. One would the realities of teaching and the other would be the realities of life. The realities of teaching should entail the many challenges faced and more importantly (or at least I feel this way) the students and their learning. This would be crucial to what the job entails but on the other hand, there is the slight matter of actually keeping that job in the first place which would form the harsh realities of life. This brings about the conundrum that I think is unique to teachers. As teachers, our hearts should ideally be with and for the students. However, in the event that things do not go as planned and the students’ well-being are perceived to be in detriment because of decisions/circumstances placed on us (trainees), do we then approach the matter with our hearts on our sleeves or do we compromise against our own wishes? Many would be quick to point out that a balance must be found and common sense should prevail but a balance can never be struck on unequal planes and common sense is, contrary to popular belief, less common than most other things in life.

Pedagogy wise, NIE has indeed trained us well enough to handle the classroom. Unfortunately, it is not possible to be prepared for the actual school setting that we are posted to as this would be unique to individual schools. I have never been one to believe in luck but I do believe it does play a significant part. Having a good mentor/CT is of the utmost important and we are unable to select them. Hence, we will need to adjust accordingly and follow suit in the vein of our CT(s). It is unwise to do otherwise.

The challenges facing me as a Literature teacher in this school would be multi-fold. Firstly, although Literature is my CS1, I only have a total of two periods per week and this is for teaching the lower secondary. It does not help that the two periods are separated into one each. This makes teaching challenging as only so much can be accomplished within a single period and the time spent with the class is insufficient to have the same impact as say for example English where I have many more teaching periods. The school does not place a strong emphasis on Literature and this is most evident by way of the Time-tabled teacher’s (TTT) period where it is part of the school’s policy to set aside two periods during school hours for teachers of the same subject and level to all meet to discuss the proceedings and decide on the way forward.etc. To my knowledge, Literature is the only subject that does not have a TTT. Furthermore, at the upper-secondary level, there are only one and a half class taking Literature and it used to be even less than that with one teacher taking the entire upper secondary. This would be rather challenging for me as I became a teacher with the strong intention to teach Literature. The current situation would not bode well for my development.

The future would appear rather bleak for the subject as well if the beliefs/comments of the teachers and my CT are anything to go by. It has been made quite clear to me that things can be done in a slip-shod manner for Literature because “most of them would not go on to take Literature at the upper-secondary level anyway”. If the people teaching Literature place such little emphasis on the subject, it is no wonder the students view the subject as something to be overlooked and it also adds to the impression that Literature is a difficult subject to score in and that many do not take them at the upper-secondary level. The situation is not helped by the fact that many teachers who teach Literature are not Literature trained as well. It creates a world of difference when the person teaching Literature is actually trained in the subject. The irony of it all would be that there are two Literature trained teachers (including myself) posted to the school but we are both given minimal periods to teach it and only at the lower-secondary level.