The first week of my Practice Teaching

April 8, 2023. Saturday. 

I have finished my first week as a ST or Student Teacher and I can say that the first week alone is really tiring.

When I was in OJT, I really wanted it to end so I could go back to school to teach. When we were deployed to schools again, I was very excited because we were finally back, I was also excited about what new experiences I would have.

• Deployment Day

My first day as ST was fine, I wasn't too tired because my CT or Cooperating Teacher hadn't required me to do anything yet. I just watched and observed her class from morning to afternoon. But before I went home, she told me that in the next day I will be the one to teach and discuss in her class. She also immediately ask me to made me a lesson plan and taught me other things that I needed to do. That's why my second day as an ST was really tiring and as the days went by, my tasks increased more and more.

On my third day, I was told that I will not only handle the subject of Foods/Cookery because I was given another subject which is ICT or Information and Communication Technology and the next day I will start entering the ICT class of Grade 9 students. So my fourth day were very tiring. From 7:30 am to 11:00 am I was in the ICT class and at 11:00 am I started discussing in the Foods class and that lasted until 3:00 pm. So overall I have 6 periods taught in one day, 3 classes of ICT and 3 classes of Foods. From morning to afternoon I just stood and walked. From morning to afternoon I talking in class. So who doesn't get tired of that?

• My first day as an ST

Yesterday, Friday and my fifth day, I was really tired. I've been really sleep deprived for a few days now, I only get 5 hours of sleep every time. Of course, when I come home from school, I take care of the lesson I will discuss the next day, I also make visual aids and study the lesson carefully so that I can deliver my discussion to the students properly. And that's not the only thing I take care of when I get home from school because I also wash my uniform every day. I only have 1 pair of uniform and it is required that we wear a complete uniform every day, so I have no choice if I don't do laundry every day.

So to be honest, I'm having a bit of a hard time right now with what I do every day. I also find it difficult to adjust the things I do. Even my sleep, because I'm really sacrificing it. As in every day when I come home from school, I feel like I just want to lay in bed and sleep all night and not think about or forget about the things I have to do.

But will I give up now when I will finish my last year as a college student in just a few months?

I'm fine with being tired every day. I'm fine with making a lesson plan and visual aids every day. I'm fine with talking and walking every day. I can do those things even though I complain constantly, I still do what I have to do.

The only thing I really don't want is to run out of budget. Because when that happens, I will really stop studying even though I want to finish it.

Just now and just a week ago, I spent a lot of money, for food, fare, buying necessities, and most of all, printing every day and buying things for my visual aids. Those two are really the very expensive type that scrape the contents of my wallet. Because my CT requires that I use visual aids in my lesson, so even if I don't want to, I can't do anything, because I have to follow the order from the principal. So right now I'm really struggling when it comes to money.

And even now I'm already having problems with my expenses for the next few days and weeks. I have no resources but myself. It's good that before my turn as ST started, my scholarship assistance arrived so I was able to spend somehow. So now that the money is gone, I'm thinking about where I'm going to get the money for my expenses in the upcoming days. That's why even though I'm busy, I still write or I still make articles and I published them to the different blogging platforms that I have because even though I only earn a little there, it still helps me.

• I made it with Canva.

Thank you so much for reading this article of mine. See you again on my next blog.

God bless everyone.

This article was first published in my Hive account.

All images used in this article including the lead image are mine.