Teaching Experience

The first full week of teaching experience for my students was this past week; I spent the majority of my time observing, meeting with the student-teachers to reflect/give feedback, and on Thursday and Friday, I led teaching workshops for the first year students. The first year students take a course called Becoming a Teacher, in which they learn the basics of teaching methodology. As they are first year students, they only have to give one full lesson and they are supposed to spend the remainder of their time during teaching experience observing. In order to prepare them for their full lesson, they attended all-day workshops to help them plan, prepare, and practice. I lead workshops on lesson planning and all of my students presented (practiced) the "Introduction to New Material" section of the lesson on Friday, getting feedback both from me and from their classmates. I find activities that have real-life implications (i.e. these students were going to give the lesson the next week) to be much more meaningful. It was great to see the growth in my students, even after two days.

There was an incredible experience when I was observing one of my fourth year students - he was teaching a poem to grade nine, called My Name by Magoleng wa Selepe. The student teacher began by introducing himself and discussing his name, and not knowing the students' names, went around the room and renamed every learner (silly/ridiculous names). The learners thought it was a joke, but it set the mood for the poem that they were about to read:

My Name

Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa

Look what they have done to my name,

the wonderful name of my great-great-grandmother

Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa

The burly bureaucrat was surprised

What he heard was music to his ears

‘Wat is daai, se nou weer?’

‘I am from Chief Daluxo Velayigodle of Emalu Podweni

And my name is Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa.’

Messiah, help me!

My name is simple

And yet so meaningful

But to this man it is trash.

He gives me a name

Convenient enough to answer his whim…

I end up being "Maria"

I…

Nomgqibelo Ncamisile Mnqhibisa

(*Under the Apartheid government, blacks were given "Anglo" or "Christian" names, rather than their traditional, tribal names. The tradition still continues, with many adopting "Anglo" names in addition to their given name*)

The lesson was powerful not only because of the poem, but the backdrop on which it was presented. The diverse classroom, the "new" South Africa, did not experienced the oppressive Apartheid regime. It was powerful to hear the learner's reactions and listen to the stories they shared about their parents/grand-parents' struggles.

This week I booked a trip to Victoria Falls the first (long) weekend in August with Ben and Rob (the Pretoria Fulbrighters). We will fly into and stay in Livingstone, Zambia and then also travel to the Zimbabwean side of the falls as well. It will be an incredible experience.

A relaxing weekend - spent time catching up on reading and working on a few projects. On Sunday afternoon, I went to Marlize's Sister's house (the same family that I went camping with a few weeks ago) for a Mother's Day lunch. It was great to see Marlize's side of the family and we had a wonderful time (ate traditional South African dishes - babotie, pumpkin tart, et cetera).