If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and

some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist,

without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have

some conception of the classroom teacher's job.  ~Donald D. Quinn

Teaching is leaving a vestige of oneself in the development of another.  And surely the student is a bank

where you can deposit your most precious treasures.  ~Eugene P. Bertin

INTRODUCTION

In the month of December of 2009, Samtse College of Education sent the trainees to various

schools for teaching practice till mid-term examination. I got the placement at Peljorling Middle

Secondary School, which is in Sipsu, Samtse dzongkhag to teach the students to get experiences

in teaching field. Our government considers the education as an important root for the

developmental activities. If we ask ‘What is school?’ to anyone, the answer would be definitely

‘school is the place where the learners come to learn and teachers teach them. But I would say

that it is not only that but they to learn how to interact and participate in the co- curricular

activities where they learn the whole some education. Teaching as a profession is precious to

every individual because it is updating the knowledge in every second.

Teaching practice (T.P) gives us an opportunity to explore and experience real classroom

situation, under the guidance and moral support of the principal and an associate teacher. During

the six months of teaching practice we experience so many things which are important in our

teaching profession and also got lots of benefits from the school learning many valuable

moralities.

Therefore, I enjoyed every second of my teaching practice. It is we, the teachers’ responsible to

educate the learners (tomorrow’s nation builder) and glorify the future of nation builders in our

country. So from here I will talk about what I taught, how I taught them and what are the

experiences and contributions to the school.

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Brief History of my teaching practice school

The present Peljorling Middle Secondary School is located on top of a raised land of Pinjuli

village of Sipsu Gewog under Sipsu Dungkhag. It is connected by a 250 meter feeder road from

Samtse-Tendu highway.

The school was first established on January 15, 1959 as a community private school. It was run

in a hut in Pinjule. Sipsu Junior School (locally known as Gola) is a bit far away from Pinjuli

Village. It was difficult for children to attend school. So, the community people arrived at a

common agreement to established school.

This school was shifted to the present location in 1960 with classes from Lower Kg to class II.

The school was further upgraded to a fully-fledged primary school in 1962 with the initiative of

Lyonpo Dawa Tshering. The government then appointed teachers to the school.

The school has to close down in 1990 due to the political unrest in south. However on April 4,

1992 the school re – opened as a primary school. The school was upgraded to Lower secondary

School in 2003.

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The first head teacher/teachers at the time of establishment of the school in 1959 were Mr.

Laxmin Prasad Ghimirey, a resident of Ghumaney. He was appointed by the community. The

Community paid him in cash or kind monthly.

The first head teacher after reopening of the school in 1992 was Mr. Tadin Dorji. He served

school till1996. He was succeeded by Mr. Jamyang in 1997. He served for two years till 1998.

He was again succeeded by Mr. Bumpa Tsheriing who joined the school in 1997. The present

principal is Mr. Sonam Jamtsho.

The school is benefiting the village of Pinjuli, Girigoan, Belbotay, Hangay, Sabbotey and

Jogimara.

In 1992, there were 98 students and 6 teachers. Since then, the student and teacher strength has

grown drastically. Today there are 1900 students and 54 teachers. Besides school has 12

supporting staff. The school greatly benefits the children of RBA, RBP, Civil servants, re-settlers

and three large gewogs of Sipsu, Biru and Lhareni.

The school over the years has developed good infrastructural facilities. It has permanent or semi-

permanent buildings. The three gewogs have constructed two-three unit semi-permanent

structures between 2000 & 2004 on cost sharing. This is to ease class room shortage in the

school.

VISION OF THE SCHOOL

The school has a vision to ensure quality wholesome education through optimum utilization of

resources available to produce responsible citizens.

The school shall strike to impart education relevant to the needs of our times and equip our

learners with knowledge, skills and values prepare them for the service to the king, country and

the people (Tsawa Sum).

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MISSION OF THE SCHOOL

The school strives in pursuit of building a school culture that has at its core, academic

excellence, and value education system, professional and collaborative leadership.

FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL

We arrived at our placed school before 10th February, 2010 to settle ourselves. It was two hour

journey from Samtse town to Sipsu. The journey was very interesting, in fact, it was quite fun to

travel with friends.

The very first day at school on 10th February, we went to Principal’s office and the day started

with welcoming three of us to Peljorling Middle Secondary School. After having introduced with

him, he introduced to our focal person Mr. Karma T. Gyal and then he escorted us into the staff

room and asked about our subjects. Then he introduced us to our Associate Teacher and I talked

with my AT about my elective subjects and help needed from them. Then, the next day on 11th I

started making the yearly plan with the guidance from my associate teacher and in the afternoon

we attended the short teacher’s meeting about time table and school rules and regulations. On the

15th February , students reported to school and in the gathering, principal welcomed all the

students and teachers irrespective of new or old teachers to the new academic session 2010 and

also we were introduced to the students and teaching faculty. When I saw about more than one

thousand and nine hundred pairs of eyes staring at us, hungry for knowledge, and my heart beat

became faster. But I took it as a challenge. It was a battle I had to fight and win by any means.

We could not start our teaching until the end of birth Anniversary of 5th King, Druk Gyalpo

Jigme Kheser Namgay Wangchuk. Only on 25th February our teaching started. In the very first

class as a saying goes, prevention is better than cure I told them some ground rules and to get the

cooperation from them I told them “I am a simple, friendly and frank teacher, so feel free and be

open in my class. Never hesitate to raise any questions and clarifications in the odd hours. If I

know I will clear you then and there but if I don’t know I will ask some other teachers and help

you. To make our teaching and learning meaningful and effective, your cooperation and

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participation is very essential”. This indeed had a great impact on the students and paved the way

for the success of my teaching practice. At first I was nervous and quit excited to face the

challenges of teaching life. I feel that teaching practice is the motivation for the trainee teachers

where we could experience real classroom situations and we get the chance to practice the

teaching skills, teaching methods, and teaching strategies that we had learnt in the institute. I felt

that more than the problems, it was a benefits and rewarding experiences to us.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As someone has rightly said “The teacher is the role model for the students” and I worked hard

to prove this statement true. Right after the arrival to the school I eased the burden of my

Associate teacher as I was taking his subjects and also some other works like collecting the fee

and filling up the form. Since I was shouldering the responsibilities of subject teacher and it was

a sincere challenge because I was responsible for every success and failure of the students. Since

I taught his subjects and took over his half of responsibility, in every field I was guided and got

due moral supports from him. Beside this I was also a subject teacher of class VIII A teaching

Science and Physics in three sections IX A, IX B and IX D.

I also enjoyed being myself a assistant house master of Tango House. There were many co –

curricular activities coming up since it was the first half of the academic session. Being a

assistant house master I showed enthusiasm to take part in every bit of activities held in the

school, that is I steered and guided my house members with the help of my house master Mr.

Nima Tshering. I supervised the morning cleaning work. I geared every morning for this work

and made sure that the area under my share was kept neat and clean. Besides that on Saturday’s

right after 3rd period we are supposed to do the social work in our respective areas, there also I

supervised the work.

During the club hours, that is every Wednesday from 3: 15 pm to 4: 30 pm, since I was a club

coordinator of cross – stitch and knitting club. I and two other senior teachers go there and

whatever we knew we taught them and I feel that I have imparted some knowledge other than

bookish knowledge.

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On April 25th the cultural night was held in the school, it was not exactly a cultural night but it

was an awareness of some health issues. It was a colorful event and those times provided me the

opportunity to handle the cheerful crowd in a convenient manner. Thinking of that merry

moment and the sound of the clapping hands from the crowd are the moment to be cherished in

future because those times taught me how linked is the school administration with the

community.

Apart from those mentioned above we also carried out the roles of teacher on duty. The very

first T.O.D in the school is carried out by Principal, vice principal and followed by teacher

colleagues. The very first role of T.O.D amongst the trainee teacher was carried out by our friend

Mr.Sonam Tobgay, followed by myself and the last roles was carried out by our friend

Ms.Kunzang Wangmo. Being a T.O.D we have to look after all the matters that are happening

for the whole day. That is from morning assembly till evening prayer and when there are co-

curricular activities.

Not only these we also played a role of permanent teachers like we attended the meetings, helped

serving during the school Rimdro, in the school sport day and so on.

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EXPERIENCE FROM TEACHING PRACTICE

I felt that teaching Practice is the most important practice that trainee teachers required to

undergo in real classroom situation before becoming a full- fledged teacher. Although we had

very little experience of teaching that was gained during our apprenticeship but I came to know

that wasn’t enough. We learn and become expert through our experiences. So, during this six

months period of teaching practice I learnt many things, in particular teaching methods, teaching

strategies and dealing with the students. In the beginning, I was quite afraid and nervous to

introduce myself to the senior teachers and to face the crowed and teach in the class. Later on as

we mingled with the school staff and shared our enthusiasm in the work we do, we are in general

very proud our profession. Sharing our views and seeking help from the senior teachers really

helped me to arm and equip me with various Strategies and measures to take myself into this

profession.

To be frank, I felt like crying when students performed very low in the Physics test. At that time,

I felt that work of teacher is not an easy job. It required all the good qualities in front of the

students and need to know all the things that students expect. Sometime even though I knew, I

got confused in front of the students when there was observer and felt so much embarrassment,

and again not to happened same things I used to prepare a lot. Sometime I felt satisfaction when

students understood the lesson, if not, I used to teach again. Even though I faced lots of

difficulty, I took it as a challenge in developing my career. I enjoyed every moment with the

students teaching them and learning myself from them as well as from the senior teachers.

In the beginning, I felt lots of problems but later on I could do away with all these teaching

barriers-shyness, stage fright. Thought it is very difficult to justify how far I have been

successful in the work I did but those days which I spent with the students were meant to be

counted. From them I learned the concept of friendship between students and teachers. One

important lesson I learnt was that methods and strategies for teaching lower class and higher

classes is different.

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This teaching practice gave me the kind of satisfaction and confident. It leads me to think

positively whether it was good or bad situation, it was my part of learning experience in the

journey of teaching career.

This five months teaching practice prepared me to become a confident teacher and I got full

satisfaction in teaching practice that I underwent. I made best use of available teaching resources

in the school to teach the students effectively and also got good support from Principal sir

Mr.Sonam Jamtsho, Focal person Mr. Karma T Gyal ,my associate teacher Mr. Dawa Tshering

and Mr. P.I Raja and other senior teachers and non teaching staff. They provided me teaching

materials and guided me to become a good leader in the future times to come.

All in all, I feel my teaching practice had been a very successful, a very meaningful and

productive one. To be frank, by the end of the teaching practice, I felt I have been in the teaching

profession for several years in the terms of confidence and experience. I didn’t regret joining in

the teaching profession which was a great blessing because I felt that I have chosen the right

career.

PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL QUALITIES

As a teacher, what I felt the most important things was that teacher should be creative, active,

patience, confident, and knowledgeable in front of the students in different fields. Teachers not

only influence the students in and around the school but also to the society. So I was very

concerned and always aware of the words and action used within the school or outside the

school. I avoided the use of unhealthy words among the people and always kept myself

conscious and alert about the usage of those things.

Teacher should have teaching materials needed for the particular activities to make our teaching

effective. Teachers should study the social background and their abilities in learning of the

students. Everybody wants to be friendly with everyone and this should be more applicable to the

teachers because he/she must keep relation from the low to high level people or should keep

contact within the staffs and with outsiders. I asked help from the staffs and also I corporate with

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them. I use to make discussion about the academic or non academic topic like sharing our own

feeling and views during the free time.

I was sociable with the students but to some degree of extend. Sometimes in the middle of our

lesson I use to enlighten them by telling stories and had pleasant talk with them. This was done

just to arouse interest and to refresh their mind and creating a good learning environment in the

class room as well as outside the class. To motivate the students in learning, teacher should

conduct unit test and give the feedback of their work. In order to rate their ability in different

level of learning, I conducted block test and it was easy for me to teach the lesson according to

their level.

While in the school, I wore very decent dress that is national dress. Our school starts from 8:00

am and gets over by 3:30pm. I attend the school at 7:45 am. Before I entered into the staffroom I

go to vice principal’s office and get signed in the attendance register. I was everywhere at every

time and I never go late to the class. Besides, l guided the children to be punctual in every

activity.

I like this School because school runs with good administration. The principal sir was so nice,

understanding and had all the leadership’s qualities. I am proud to be a T.P teacher of this school

because each and every teacher was good and all most all of them helped me when I faced the

difficulties in terms of teaching and other activities.

As I experienced we should be friendly to the students as each individual in the class are

different. They come from different social background and we need to deal accordingly.

Start of my lesson

In the beginning I requested my associate teacher to observe few lesson of his and then only I

have started teaching. So the next day I went with my associate teacher to observe his classes.

With the other students, I took a seat and observed the techniques used in delivering the lesson

by my associate teacher. Likewise I observed several lessons and practicing of the skills were

discussed with him. After that I started taking the classes of my associate teacher but for few

days I did not call him for observation as I was not confident enough. However after that I have

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called him for observations and received sufficient support. Each lesson was prepared as per her

direction and the skills were incorporated according to the topic of the lesion.

Sometimes the planning of lesson with the incorporation of the skills was challenging. So I have

to adopt different means to deliver my lesson, and also I used to discuss it with my associate

teacher. But after preparing so many lessons, I was able to do it easily.

My lessons and observations

I was given 22 periods in a week. Science in one section i.e. class VIII A and Physics in three

sections i.e. in class IX A, B and D. I used to discuss the lessons with my associate teacher, Mrs.

P.I Raja and Mrs. Dawa Tshering. And also sometimes I used to ask some senior teacher about

the subjects. With their support I devised teaching aids and made pragmatic approach in the

lesson.

The classes were interesting and I liked the way everything moved smoothly. I built up a closer

link with the teachers teaching my subjects in other sections and often discussed my progress

with them. I never took the lessons ahead. I just followed what had been done to the other

classes.

Every time, I go to the class with a prepared lesson and begin my class with the recapitulation of

the previous lesson. First I usually throw the questions to the whole class and volunteer to

answer the question by raising their hand. Sometimes I also pinpoint them to tell the answer.

When the students gave me the correct answers I felt satisfied and it also convinced that the

previous concept is in the mind of most of the students and then I used to introduce the day’s

topic.

Then I used to explain the concept followed by some activities which is related to the topics.

Lastly, I would summarize the lesson taking out the gist of the lesson and assigning them to

make necessary notes from their text books and submit to me in the next lesson or sometimes

some questions to be answered by them.

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I often called my associate teacher for observing my lesson. I would provide him with the forms

of different skills and request him to fill up with necessary comments on form and moreover, I

will never forget to request her to point the language error that I have made during every lesson

observation. As the time passed by, he made me realized the possibility of having a room for

improvement. He always had a word of praise and yet encouraged to adopt ways to improve my

professional growth.

I also invited other subject teachers to observe my lessons whenever they are free. Their verbal

comments would last long during the post conferences, discussing about the teaching styles of

the lesson. Sometimes I took my focal person for observations. In general their feed backs had

been very useful effective for me and had been tools for improving my teaching skills. At the

same time I had to reflect each time on my teaching on daily basis which really happened in

realizing and correcting my mistakes and weaknesses. With these four months of teaching

practice experiences I had gain enough confidence in taking up regular classes from now

onwards. When there was an observation, for the first time I was nervous and has lost confidence

most of the time. But as the time passed by I have gained full confident without many problems

besides some.

Classroom management

Classroom management takes a vital role in learning process. No matter how our lessons were

planned well by using right skill with the topic and strategy that we focus with teaching aids, it

become useless unless we manage the classroom well. Through management, we can shape and

nurture the future of our upcoming generation. Learning simply cannot take place by the end of

the period just by teaching whatever is there in the book. To make the learning take place we

should manage the classroom well.

During my teaching practice, the class moved along smoothly without confusion, dead spot,

irrelevancies, sudden shifts in direction and inappropriate behavior. Students actually know what

they are supposed to do and do it because from the very first day I have carefully mapped out the

ground rules of the behavior and the consequences of inappropriate behavior, set up definite

routine for classroom procedures and made clear assignments pointing out what they are

supposed to do while they are in my class.

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CONCLUSION

With all those experiences, I have learnt more than what I have taught to my students during my

teaching practice. The six months teaching was really an important event in a teacher’s life,

especially for me. I learned lot from the school that I practice and their support will never vanish

in my life. We get chance to learn from our mistakes, reflect and analyzed our teaching with the

help of our observer. In this regard I would like to thank my associate teachers. Teaching

practice prepared me to face the challenge and made me strong person which I was not before.

Much had been already said about the benefits gained from teaching practice in Peljorling

Middle Secondary school. It also taught me the values of student teacher relationship and teacher

as role model. I would like to say that teaching practice is responsible for immense growth of

student teachers personally and professionally. The continuous feedback after the lesson

observation from my associate teacher made me realize in which part I am lacking and got

chance to improve in the next lesson. As a teacher, I realized that it was important to know each

and every individual in the class to rate their ability in learning and also to guide them to bring

improvement in their learning so that they will know how they are learning.

Time has passed without notice. By then our teaching practice was to the end. I know that

teaching is a noble profession as it helps the very innocent children to make them the leaders of

tomorrows. Though it was a challenging but it was very interesting to deal with the new students

and learning ourselves. So whatever I learnt so far I will implement while teaching in future and

I will go on improving. Last but not the least I would like to thank all the family of Peljorling

Middle Secondary School and the supervising lecturers for their help rendered during my six

months of teaching practice.

Signature of Focal person signature of Mentor

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