A Peek into the Life of a Student Teacher

 Finally, the day is here. We've been scheduling the sports meet for quite some meet. It had to be postponed due to unexpected rains and finally, it was conducted on Sep 12 and 13 soon after the Onam holidays. We had shotput, javelin throw, 50m, 100 m etc. The involvement and participation in the second years were a little low compared to the first years. Events like shot put, javelin throw, 50 m race etc had good participation. The selection of students for the finals of each event was done on the first day. The finals followed by prize distribution were done on the second day. I was supposed to run the100m race but had to pull out due to previous complications in my leg injury. But I got to participate in the march past which was totally unexpected. By the end of the day, we were dead tired from the scorching sun, but it was all worth it.

 And we are back at MTTC after a month of the internship. We had a small discussion on our experiences at each school. Two or more representatives from each school came forward and shared their views on the experience. While some had some bitter experiences, everyone liked the overall teaching experience. We had our Onam celebrations on 12th September. This was the perfect way to end the college before the college closed for the Onam holidays. The day was packed with events. There was a Mega Thiruvathira which included students and teachers. Then we had cultural events at the auditorium followed by the most anticipated 'Onam Sadhya'. The items for the sadhya were prepared by the different optional classes. Later, after lunch, we had the Onam games which included musical chairs and tug of war (my team won 😃). I think our return to college couldn't have been grander.

 23 August 2022 This is the last week at St Goretti's HSS. Today was the last class before the Onam exams. I conducted revision classes for 9C and remedial class at 8D. Also, I had first period at 10C where I completed some of the pending problems in chapter ' Second Degree Equations'. 24th August 2022 Today the Onam exams have begun. We were given relieving duties for the invigilators at various classes. I had lunch and relieving duty. Also, we had discipline duty at the auditorium. 25th August 2022 Today, I had invigilation duty at 8A along with Febi ma'am. Students from 9A , 9B and 10 A were seated in the room and they had their English exam. Both the classes had doubts regarding the questions and meaning of certain words. 26th August 2022 Today was our last day at St Goretti's HSS. Before we bid farewell, a small meeting was conducted in the HM's office to formally thank the teachers, staff and the HM for supporting us throughout our internship period. As a ...

  15th August 2022 We were instructed to arrive at school by 7.30 AM to dress up the students for various events before the flag hoisting at 8.30 AM. There were students dressed up representing different states for the program 'Unity in Diversity' and students dressed as freedom fighters for the program 'With the Leaders'. Most of them showed up late at 8 AM and all of us our efforts with the timely help from the parents made it possible to start the rally on time. After the rally, students assembled at the auditorium for the scheduled program. Dr Saju of the Chemistry department of Mar Ivanios College was the chief guest. All the planned programs went well, even though it was planned at the last moment. 16th August 2022 It has been a while since we have come to school on a Tuesday. HM has allowed us a few more days to complete our pending work. This news came as a relief as I had a few more problems to finish at 9C. Also, we have our conscientization program pending to...

 8th August 2022 We are back at St Goretti's after a short weekend. Today, Joju sir visited us for class observation and gave us instructions on how to control mass answering in class. Also, we are supposed to complete all our portions by this week, so that teachers can conduct revisions for the students for the Onam exam. As usual, I had classes at 8D and 9C 10th August 2022 Tuesday was a holiday due to Muharram. Today I taught multiplication of surds using the constructivist model. I was worried about its execution but the class went quite smoothly. At 8D, I'm almost done with the portions and I'll be conducting the achievement test on Friday. 11th August 2022 Today, we were given the responsibility of conducting the Independence Day programs at the school on the 15th of August. The teachers at the school gave some ideas on what the programs could be and suggested names of the students who would be apt for each program. We had planned 7 programs in total and 14 of us were...

1st August 2022  We are back to St. Gorett's for week 4 of INTENSE TEACHING PRACTICE. Today Benedict sir and Joju visited us. Joju sir observed some of our classes while benedict sir checked our records and gave us necessary corrections. Those who were free guided Joju sir to the classes that were to be observed. Later, Joju sir shared some of the common mistakes we tend to make while teaching.     4th August 2022  We had an unexpected holiday for 2 days due to heavy rains. These holidays will further delay the portion completion. We were asked to complete all our Lesson Plans by 15th August, which seems to be farfetched with these unanticipated breaks. Today Deepthi ma'am had come for observation. As usual, I had classes at 9C and 8D. 5th August 2022 We made plans to conduct extra classes for students of 8B,8C,8D,9B,9C and 9D on Saturday to complete the portions. Also, I utilized my free period to observe Sr Jeena's class at 8D. I've previously observed Sr Jeena's...

25th July 2022 Third week at St Goretti's has began officially. Today few of the teachers were on leave due to COVID, so many of us got extra periods at our respective classes. I had classes at 8D and 9C. 26th July 2022 Today we had a visitor at St Goretti's HSS, it was none other than our very own Joju sir. Sir, was invited to give a class for the boys of class 9. The class was really good and the techniques sir used to calm them down was really noteworthy. 27th July 2022 Today I had classes at XA, 8D, XC and 9C. There was a program by Deepika publications to promote leadership qualities among students. It was an interactive session and there were various programs put up by the students representatives of the DCL. 29th July 2022 Today was Bethany feast day. We, the teacher trainees from MTTC sang a song for the sisters and gifted them with red 🌹s. The songs were taught by Sr Jeena and Georgia. Everyone loved the roses and the songs.  After school I had...

 18th July The midterm exams began today. Two exams were conducted per week. Also, today the last two periods were used for decorating classrooms for 'Literary week'. The language teachers amongst us were the judges for the event.  19th July  Today also there were two exams. One in the mornong and the other in the afternoon. The time in between was used to celebrate the last day of the 'Literary Week'. Students from various classes had put up dance, mime and varioys other programs. 20th July Today was a busy day, I had classes and invigilation duties. Many among us had invigilation duties. The difficult part of the invigilation duty is writing the question paper on the blackboard. Fortunately  for hindo exam the question wss projected on the screen. 21st July Today was the last day of midterm exams. The exams were conducted in the morning and afternoon. I had invigilation duties at X-C and IX -C. I had the last period at 8D. Although none of them wanted to study, I r...

13th July 2022 The first day was nerve-wracking. It might be the fact that all of us haven't taught a large group of students. During the first internship, most of us had only 8-10 students in a class due to COVID and the idea of teaching a room filled with 50 students seemed to be a challenge. But after meeting the students, eveything seemed to go smooth and it calmed the nerves. The duties were assigned to us by our leader Sreevineetha. I had evening duty, along with Jis and Georgia. We had to make sure that every student gets picked up from school. 14th July 2022 Everyday the teachers have a prayer at the HM's office at 9.10 am. I had lunch duty along with Rubeena, Deepa and Jis.  Today I had to go for substitution at 9A, 10 A, 10 C and 9C. 9A which is an all- boys class with 56 students was difficult to manage. They settled down after I managed to divide them into groups and give them equation related activity. Rubeena and I had gone for substitution at 10 A (all-boys) and ...

 This week we welcomed the newly selected college union. The inauguration was on 22nd March 2022. The special guests for the day were Abhilash Mohana of Mathrubhumi News and Aswath Lal, the actor who brought the character Antony Thadikaran to life in the movie Hridayam. The morning sessions included the official revealing of the union logo and name and the evening session was filled with cultural programs. Both the second-year and first-year students had programs and each one was better than the other. In the end, there was a semi-dance-off between the two batches.  Rest of the week we were busy with project topic finalization and camp report submissions.

 14th March 2022 - 18th March 2022 This week we had our 5-day camp. Due to COVID restrictions, it was non-residential but we made the most of our situation. We were divided into three groups and they were named after KPAC Lalitha's movies to honour her memory. They were, Pavithram, Keli and Amaram. I belonged to the Amaram group led by Sukanya and Albin Brother. On the first day, we had our inaugural ceremony followed by an ice-breaking session by Dr, Sibin Antony. It was fun and interactive. Group 1 had the complete responsibility to conduct the first-day program. On the second day, we had two classes. The first class was by Reni Antony Sir who enlightened us on the several laws for children. Later we had a class by Vijay Vikramadithyan sir, SI  and former student of MTTC. It focused on drug abuse which was infused with anecdotes from Vijay sir's police career. On the third day, we had a refreshing one day trip to Kuthiramalika and Veli. We were accompanied by Ancy ma'am a...

 7th March-11th March 2022 This week will be remembered as the week of our very first one day trip. Though we had classes from Monday to Thursday, Friday was the most important day of all. All of us with our beloved teachers including Maya ma'am, Ancy ma'am, Joju sir and Nadhanine sir had joined us for the trip. We began the trip at 7 am and came back at 11.30 pm. It was a well-planned trip. First, we visited the Padhmanabapuram Palace then we went to Kanyakumari. My favourite part of the trip was the sunset at the Kanyakumari beach followed by a stroll along the beach. No matter what, the sea has a magical power to lift your spirit. Few among us had managed to shoot a few Reel videos at Vivekananda Rock and beach.

2nd March 2022- 5th March 2022 I had to take a week-long leave from college due to a medical issue. But I'm back to college and ready for classes. But this week we had our international conference for three days which was held completely online. We had several distinguished speakers and paper presentation competitions with good participation from students from within and outside the college. It was conducted via Zoom and just as how an offline conference would work, the meeting was divided into several virtual rooms where each optional class was assigned for each room. Each session was assigned for each faculty and each faculty had a group of students to conduct the seminar. The whole program was well planned and executed without any time lag.

Just like that teaching practise has come to an end. 7 weeks just flew by with works and more importantly experiences. Since, I had a ligament tear in my knee, I went to the school only on Friday (18th Feb). Friday was the last day of our teaching practice. Since, 9th standard students were following a special timetable I thought I wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye to my students. But luck was on my side and I got almost 2 hours at the class. Only the first batch had come in but we did a few problems, discussed the diagnostic and achiement test questions and gave them remedial teaching. In the evening at 8 I had online class and I got to say goodbye to the rest of the students. Also, today Benedict sir had come to visit us at school, but few of us had substitution class and we couldn't take a picture with sir. Before leaving, Fr Babu, the principal, and headmaster Bijo sir gave us wished us all the best and we presented them with gifts to show our gratitude. We all left afte...

 Its been six weeks since we've started our teaching practice. It has almost come to an end. This was supposed to be our last week, but we got an extra week to complete our works. 11 Friday 2022, As usual I had my class in the evening at 8pm. I started a new chapter called Circle measures. Online classes help in covering portions in less time, but in terms of ensuring the involvement of students offline classes are the best. 12 Friday 2022 Today I had class from 6- 7.30pm. I used the time to cover most of circle measures. There were only 11 students in total, while yesterday there were 40 students.

 Out of all the weeks, this was the most eventful one. This week again I had a class on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, we (Revathy and I) had our conscientization class on "Planets & Plastics" for classes for 9D and 9O. The program went well and it focused on the 3Rs of plastic. Even though it was a Sunday, the turnout was good. Students responded quite well. 4/02/2022 Today, there was a slight hiccup at the beginning of the class due to students joining in late. But it was resolved quickly. We continued with the polynomial chapter and did a few problems on how to find the polynomials based on the given set of conditions. Then I used the time to give instructions on how to attend the achievement test conducted the next day.  5/02/2022 Today I conducted the achievement test using google forms. Some of them had trouble uploading the answer sheets, those students were asked to send the answer sheets via WhatsApp. After the test, we had class for 1 hour and almost fi...

 Can't believe it's been already 4 weeks since our teaching practice has started. The idea of online classes sounded very simple and convenient. But it's challenging. Moderating it, trying to understand the emotions of the students through their voices,  students not replying to your questions etc., the challenges list can go on and on. But in this day and age, a teacher must know how to handle online and offline classes. This week I had 2 classes. One was on Friday and the other was on Saturday. Since both 9I1 and 9J1 had to be combined and they had completed different portions of similar triangles, I had to start a new chapter, Polynomials. 28 Jan 2022, Today was my first online class and there was a total of around 40 students in attendance. Today Joju sir and Deepthi ma'am had joined us for observation. I began the chapter Polynomials. One thing I found difficult to do was finding the names of the students from the participant list while I'm presenting my ppt. T...

 This week saw fewer students compared to the other weeks. The dwindling student population might be due to the news of school closure from the 21st of January. This week I had afternoon duty. I had to make sure that students got out of their classes in a single line without causing a stampede.  17th January 2022, Today I got two periods at 9I1 and got to complete a theory and its related problem. There'll be usually eleven students in this batch but today there were only 6. But the response from students made the low attendance seem like nothing. This batch was lagging behind but now they are with the other batch. 18th January 2022 Today again I got two periods at 9I1. I used to give group activities but due to new rising COVID cases, I was instructed not to make them sit in groups. So, now I just make them sit where they are and divide them into groups as they are seated. 19th January 2022, I was free until 5th period, so I used my time to observe Sr Jeena's class. The class...

 10th Jan 2022, This week started vibrantly with morning duty at St Teresa's block. We had to make sure that students sat in their respective classes with their masks on and were socially distanced. I had classes at 9I1 and 9J1. Students seemed to be interested in scoring points and I tried incooporating ppt in the class.  11th Jan 2022 Today the second batch came in and the students were responding better today. Group division helps in elliciting more answers from students. Moreover, the initial activity to check previous knowledge has helped in carrying out the subsequent activities of the class. 12th Jan 2022 Today again the first batch had come in and I did a few problems on parallel lines. Stude ts were active but seemed to have trouble with some basic concepts in maths. 13th Jan 2022 The second batch seems to be more keen at winning the group activities. This has helped me in conducting the class. The responses helped me in understanding the thought processes of students...

 This week marked the beginning of teaching practice. St Mary's, Pattom is the school assigned for me. It's going to be a great opportunity and experience for all of us.The internship was supposed to start on 5th January but it was delayed by a day due to an unexpected holiday.  6th Jan 2022, It was the first day of our internship and to be honest I was excited and nervous at the same time. I had the first hour at 9J1 which was utilised to show a video on 'Social Media and its Effects'. The video was shot and shown as a part of a government initiative to create awareness of the positive and negative effects of social media. I couldn't take a class, but I got to be the tech support for the teachers. This helped me get rid of that unnecessary stress. But I had another period at 9I1 and I used this period to get to know the students, their previous knowledge etc. and also brushed some of the previously taught topics. 7th Jan 2022, Today the second batch attended school...