It's that time of year folks. The end is near and to be honest, it can't come quick enough. It's my first year at this school in Egypt and it has been very intense and tiring. The students have been very demanding and with the way the school is set up, everything is done at 100mph. Also, living in Egypt is demanding too with it's craziness but it is something I have got used to now, which has allowed me to enjoy it more.
Successes:
One of the things that excited me the most about coming to this school was the facilities. The facilities at my previous school were not great and we were not well resourced. However, in this school, we have great facilities and we are well resourced, which allows you go that 'extra mile' in your teaching.
My classroom management has definitely been tested this year. Compared to my previous school, these students were definitely more demanding. The main aspects to manage were their constant talking and the amount of arguing when playing games. I had to reiterate 'sportsmanship' constantly where we started and finished our games with handshakes. With the younger ones, we used 'conflict corner' (thePEspecialist) to solve any small conflicts, which is like a magic trick.
I actually enjoyed teaching primary this year. Currently I teach Grade 2 - 10 and usually I do not enjoy teaching the younger students (grades 2/3), but this year, they have been my favourite. I think it's mainly due to the fact they hang on to every word that you say, which means they implement it straight away. Their confidence has grown throughout the year, which in return has shown immense improvement in their ability.
I know it's not specifically teaching related, but I'm happy with the progress of my website. I have been working on this for over 2 years, making very little progress, but this year I ensured that I spent one day a week on my website, which has allowed me to blog regularly and add resources. I'm happy to say I have completed all the unit plans for primary.
Areas to improve on for next year:
I will be the head of department next year and I have already started planning for next year. The major changes I have made is that our curriculum is more 'physically literate' compared to a curriculum which was very teacher dependant. This will allow students develop different skills for lifelong learning. I have also ensured that assessment is standardised and that we all have a clear goal to where students should be.
Another change I am hoping to make is to create a 'sporting' atmosphere in our school next year. This year, we have played a few fixtures for football and basketball only. Next year, we will be in a league with several sports, which will hopefully get more students involved in extra curricular activities.
I will only be teaching secondary next year, which will mean I have control of all the classes, thus allowing me to standardise the whole secondary phase. This will allow me to focus on the secondary resources for my website too.
I will be teaching IGCSE PE for the first time next year, being thrown in the deep end with the last year cohort. This is going to demand a lot of time from me because I am going to have to revise the content for myself and create/steal resources, but it's an experience that is going to allow me to grow as a professional.
The major aspect of my teaching I am going to focus on is getting students to reflect and evaluate effectively. I did try it this year, but generally, they did not understand how to do/use this effectively. I am hoping I can integrate technology (still waiting on if they give me an iPad) into my lessons, with emphasis on video feedback, as it is instant.
I am still finding it difficult to get involved in professional development online, so I am going to revise my strategy on how best to do this, with my time constraints.
As you can see, there is enough for me to work on for next year. I'm really excited on taking on these challenges and hopefully when I review next year, I can share these as success stories. One thing I have promised myself is to be more conscience of my work/life balance, so having said that, I have a very promising adventurous summer ahead of me, which will hopefully revitalise and inspire me for the academic year ahead.
This is me signing out for the summer. Hope you all have a great summer and will see you back on here on thePEbuzz in September. Peace out x
Picture taken from http://febiassessment.com/febi-learning-lounge-4/