a post about prac

Well. For those who don't know I've been on prac for two weeks now. I'm at a school in the same suburb I work with 5/6's, which has prooved to be incredibly interesting. If you know me, I'm more of a lower primary person.

Now this prac is different to most others. The first thing you will notice is I'm doing it incredibly late. The second is you wont see me doing as much outside work for it. The third is I'm doing it with a friend of mine. The fourth, I seem to be only teaching maths and science!

And am I enjoying it? No!

In fact, when the lecturer came out to see us the other day, I yelled at him!

Why don't I like this prac? Well, it's not because I have 5/6. It's moreso the point that next year I will be entering the fourth year of my course. I really need to learn how to be independant, and I can't be, because us student teachers are 'relying' on each other. It's difficult to teach in this way, because we are both two completely different teaching styles.

What's worse, is the kids pick and choose which one they like better. Because I'm not as cool and don't seem to relate as much, I'm not the favorite. But alas I am not there to be their friend, I am there to teach them!

I know that sounds harsh, and I know that the girl I told I didn't care about what she was doing on the weekend would agree (thanks for the 'strategy' Turtle ;)). I've discovered it's really about balance. I'm not there to make their happy lives miserable, but there needs to be a point that 'friendship' is not interrupting class time.

The issue also with working with pairs is, it doesn't matter how much you try to avoid it, someone always ends up doing more work. And unforunately, it seems I havent done a lot. I'm thankful that this prac hasn't ruined my friendship with the person I'm working with.

All in all, the prac is a good idea. You create a unit of work, you teach it. You become more familiar with the science side of things (an ever important topic in schools). Just not at this stage, in third year. I feel like I have taken a step backwards.

Given the circumstances, this could have been a good prac if it was 'normal'.

So to my friends up at La Trobe: What were you thinking?