My Internship Experience As A Student Teacher
My Internship Experience
Teaching practice is compulsory for all students of Education in Nigeria before they can achieve and be awarded the certification be it B.Ed, B.Sc Ed, or N.C.E and rarely does anyone have a perfect student teaching placement.
I never found teaching interesting until I understood it real delineation, meaning to educate, motivate, instruct, tutor, and train someone so as to acquire knowledge, competencies or value. Although, I wasn’t planning to become an educationist, I later loved it by discovering the beauty of the profession that highlights why teachers should be respected like other professions too such as Lawyer, Engineers, Medical Doctors, e.t.c.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Immediately after the completion of the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, (W.A.E.C, G.C.E, N.E.C.O, N.A.B.T.E.B) some students go for teaching in other to earn some money rather than staying at home. I didn’t! and that got me baffled to how I would cope while teaching.
Before my internship, I preferred being posted to Private School where I can have full control of the students, but “unfortunately,” I found myself in Public School: Big Boys and Girls that were even Scarry, taller, huge, and older than me.
After they all greeted when I entered their class the first day, I humbly and calmly introduced myself to make the whole class quite (and later become lively). Therefore, any student preparing for teaching practice should consider;
- Establishing Student-Teacher relationship to avoid shyness, disrespect, and distractions.
- Understanding that poorly designed lessons and uninteresting learning materials disorganized classes
DRESS SENSE
As dressing reflect the personality and ones taste, it should be noted that people slightly judge others from their physical appearance. Even when some tried to dress corporate as a student teacher, others dress shabbily in my school and complained most times that their class is always frustrating all because the students might make gest of them with their appearance. The first impression on a person matters a lot if not absolutely.
TRAVIS BRADBERRY said “To boost one confidence, one must dress well”. Therefore it is advisable for students to choose clothing that reflects who you are and the image you want to project. We don’t need fashion models for our students, we just need to communicate with them through our appearance that we care
CONFIDENCE
Whilst it seemed uncomfortable in the first week, I prepared and practiced whatever I wanted to teach well at home before going to school. It sounds funny, right? Sometimes my colleagues would abuse me but all I did was to ignore and stay focus because I wanted my internship experience to be great.
It is great and delicious when you have good knowledge of whatever the topic you’re teaching, especially when one meet challenges and questions from the intelligent students. There is an immediate boost of confidence, and you’ll explain better to their understanding. But if the reverse is the case(having no knowledge), Nigerian public school students will find a way to discourage and embarrass such student-teacher.
[irp posts=”1847″ name=”6 Signs That You Will Succeed At A Job”]
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION – REWARD
By reflecting on ones teaching strengths and active participation in the school curricular activities, positive reinforcement of good behaviour is being awarded by the management. When you’re friendly and also socially active to both the students and the teachers, your presence would be highly recognised.
Teaching practice as said earlier is a compulsory course for all education students. I had a fun-filled experience (both in my first and second teaching practice at ANSAR-UR-DEEN COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL, IKOLE EKITI and DOHERTY MEMORIAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL, IJERO EKITI) ranging from supervisors challenges, classroom management, an avenue to meet new friends, self confidence, dress sense and rewards from students and teachers.
My last day as a student teacher was quite disappointing because those students who fully prepared to give a surprise gift were sent home for tuition fee. But, in summary, BE THE BEST VERSION OF YOUR SELF WHILE INTERNING.
Here’s my internship experience. Pls share how yours went in the comment section below
