WEEK #6 (22-26 August 2016)

My last week before going on maternity leave! At Luckhoff the painting is going really awesomely, I am enjoying it immensely. I am saddened that I won't be able to complete the project myself as I am in my 38th week of pregnancy and about ready to pop. Everyone is really worried about me still being so active, all I tell them is I can't chill yet I am not done with my student teaching practical!

At PJ Olivier on Thursday I had like an extra curricular DAY as I helped out from 9:30 AM until about after 10 PM with the Bloemhofbond Old Girls Exhibition and Auction held at PJ Olivier. It was a lot of fun helping out with the event and just doing whatever the organisers Santie and Maryna needed help with. At least there was chairs and I could sit often in between!

For my theory lessons I used the advise the learners had given me the week before plus some other tricks to keep their attention. I had them come sit in front with me, with just their chairs and a pen and paper. I gave them posted notes (a technique theorised in our digital pedagogy class), and told them to write key notes that stood out about the Renaissance period. Sadly the lecturer walked in late and then told me to turn off the slide in which I just started to introduce the elements of the Renaissance, and then commenced to quiz my learners about something I still had to start with. With a few other interruptions from the lecturer and the learners leaving early again for the bus, I did not get to the part of my lesson which I was most looking forward to. I had the learners put up the posted notes on the wall, and I meant for us to go stand by them and have them read the posted notes out loud and lead a discussion as a summary to see if we can get a clear picture of the Renaissance. Over all though, this lesson was a lot more successful than the previous theory lesson in that they all were more involved and aware and actively payed attention. Everyone seemed to enjoy the posted exercise. I did however get a note that I was going too fast, I fear this was because I knew the time limit and hopefully it is something I can avoid in future when I am in charge of my own lessons and have my own classes.