DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK PLACEMENT

History of institution Darwin College, which has an overall of about 1450 students, is a private secondary school founded in 1953. The college-situated at Central Flacq-was brought to run HSC classes as from 2001. The pass rate at SC and HSC level has been an average of about 60% for the past five years. Moreover, Darwin College has 100 staffs out of which 30 are .non-teaching staffs Description of work placement, tasks, and responsibilities During the first week of the placement, I followed some of the classes conducted by the Physics teachers; moreover, they showed to me how a lesson is plan. The purpose of attending the classes was to observe how to put forward a concept, to get acquainted to the techniques used to test whether the students have understood the taught matter, and to observe how a class is made to progress in accordance to the teacher's lesson plan-while respecting the syllabus. Further, from the second to the fifth week, I was given the opportunity to teach; however, before conducting any class I had to prepare a lesson plan, which was verified by the concerned teacher. My responsibility was to explain the students the given concepts clearly and to test their understanding within a given number of classes. Besides, I also got the opportunity to assist the Head of the department in setting and holding a few practical sessions for HSC students. At last, during the last two weeks of the placement the administration allowed me to invigilate some examination sessions of the second term exams. An experienced teacher-having 35 years of experience in teaching- guided me for invigilation. He also gave me the chance to assist him in supervising a paper; he explained to me systematically the process of supervising .a paper

Student's evaluation of the placement What did I learn about the Institution I learn that the manager of the institution, Mr. H. Khadaroo, is in fact the owner of the college. Nevertheless, I would say he is doing a rather good job, as Darwin College lacks almost nothing in terms of infrastructure. It consists of three fully equipped science laboratories (Chemistry, Physics and Biology), two libraries, two Art rooms, two audiovisual rooms, two computer rooms, two specialist rooms for Design and Communication, and three volleyball playgrounds along with a basketball playground. Further, I also noticed that the staffs are in good relation with the rector and the manager; thus allowing the staffs to convey propositions and suggestions to their superior easily. Besides, most of the students of the College are highly disciplined students. I could always see them all wearing proper school uniforms and they were generally on time in .class ?What skills I think I have acquired I did a work placement in teaching; so I think I have acquired the skill of explaining. Explaining something clearly in a short interval of time and explaining something associatively,-that is by associating it with something else-are both two wonderful techniques. In fact, it is an art a good teacher is suppose to master. Personally, I think I have acquired a short dosage of that quality. I would say that I have also acquired the talent of talking to a group of people-students in this case-by making proper use of nonverbal codes and adequate facial expressions. However, the two most vital skills I think I am now more familiar with are listening and patience. After having done my placement, I feel I am more patient than I was in the past. Moreover, by observing the body language of a person to whom I am talking to, I may guess whether she is bored or not. !Definitely, I think the placement has been of great help to me ?Has my academic background been helpful during the placement

My academic background was surely the most helpful to me during the placement. After all, the task allocated to me during the placement was to teach concepts that I learnt some years ago. So, I did not had to make a lot of effort to prepare my lesson plans as I already .knew the concepts to be explained very well Difficulties I encountered during the placement and the way I seek to resolve them The only difficulty I would say I encountered during my placement was the time factor. In the beginning, I had some difficulties in following my lesson plans chronologically. For example, if according to my plan I had to introduce a new concept to the students, explain it to them clearly, give them some class works and eventually solve the questions for them as correction in 2 periods. I failed to do all that in only 2 periods; I could take me some 15 minutes more. On noticing that problem, I talked to the Head of the department. Together we found that I was taking more time than appropriate in introducing a concept to them. Therefore, in order to root out that difficulty I was encountering, he advised me to tell the students the agenda of the next class and to ask them to read about the concepts I would cover up in the next class. According to me, that was indeed a good solution as the students already had an idea about what I am .explaining and that saved time. I could then follow the lesson plan Recommendations/Comments No doubt, if I had to undertake the placement all over again it would be different from my first experience. Firstly, I would make sure that I do not encounter the difficulties I met in my first experience. That is, from the very first class I would conduct I would give the students my agenda for the next class and ask them to read about a few concepts in advance. Further, I would be very comfortable to stand in a class as a teacher anew. From the start itself, I would be able to talk to a whole class at ease, but henceforth it would be much easier than the first time to teach and interact with students professionally. As we say, practice makes perfect; so undertaking the training a second time would be like continuing and progressing with the strategies I adopted from my first experience. In simple words, it would simply be a better start, because as from the third

week of my placement I was very comfortable as a teacher at Darwin College-whether .with the other staffs, the students or with my responsibilities