Name: Salma Varachhia Hosein

Date: 16th October 2015

Field Day Journal Entry 3 ASJA Boys College Charlieville Hosting Day

Today was my turn to host field days. This is the third on the list of South field
visits. I had been preparing for this day for a while. Everything was in place and
ready to welcome my visitors at my school. I had great support from my
husband, administration, ancillary and staff members in the organisation of food
and venues. I decided to have two venues as to make my guests comfortable.
The first venue was the Computer Lab where the actual teaching practice was
carded to take place. The second venue was the hospitality area where the AV
Room at the library was used. The reason for having two venues were that upper
forms had practical classes later that day and I thought a change of ambiance
will be nice where we can have evaluation without being interrupted.
As I arrived at school, I was busy in preparing the final touches and making sure
equipment and venues had everything in place. My guest started arriving and
they were greeted by either staff or myself where possible. They were escorted
to the hospitality area where they were offered refreshments and any questions
they may have had were answered. As we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I
was busy ensuring that the students were lined up and ready to begin promptly
at 8:30. While that was happening, I received a call from Vicky, who informed me
that she was running a bit late due to traffic. Observers were asked to be seated
and the class filtered into the lab quickly. All teachers would be teaching a form
three class according to section one of the CSEC syllabus.
In order to start promptly Yavani went first, teaching the topic of Hardware
Specifications. She used comparison of two laptop specifications to obtain from
students which of the two may be a better to purchase and why they chose their
answers. She then went on to show the meaning of every line of specifications
presented so that students can make informed decisions when purchasing a
laptop. I noticed that the students were a bit quiet and few were responding to
questions posed. Students were placed in groups consisting of two to three
persons for group activities, however, they were not able to complete all of the
assessments as time ran out. This was because not enough were given for the
second activity. I found her content relevant and interesting. They can now relate

and

appreciate

those

random

numbers

or

abbreviations

in

hardware

specifications which now has some sort of meaning.

The next teacher that followed was Ian, teaching about Operating Systems. He
used the board to draw a diagram showing the relationship between the O/S and
the users. Again group work was employed using the same technique as Yavani
where they were placed in groups where they sat. Even though by now there was
a bit more participation, most of the boys still seemed quiet and some responses
were difficult to hear. I found that both Yavani and Ian still had a more teacher
centred style. Ian was able to get some of them to open up about the technology
that they use and its interface. The functions of the O/S were explained to them
using their interaction with their smartphones as an example. He was able to
complete all of his assessments.
The last teacher was Vicky our visitor this time from the north group. Her topic
today was on output devices Printers. As she began, both Ian and I assisted her
with sticking of her charts on the wall. She as well used group activities and had
greater class participation by providing group work where students actually had
to move in order to fill the charts. I was not able to see Vickys entire lesson since
I had to organise a projector for the evaluation session which would be
happening shortly. Out of the three teachers, I saw Vicky was walking around the
class and was using some sort of affective checklist. Vicky was not able to
complete lesson on time and had to take an extra five minutes to wrap up. At the
end of the lessons some students asked if they can stay if we will continue to
teach them. I then instructed that unfortunately their time was up and they have
to return to their regular classes. I made arrangements to have them get extra
time for their break. I thanked them for their participation as they exited the lab.
As we made our way to the hospitality area, a snack consisting of a ribbon
sandwiches, samosa and a piece of cake as well as muffins and fruits were
provided. We sat and chatted a bit informally before actually beginning the
evaluation process. Carla made mention that it was the first time she had
samosa and she really enjoyed it. Dr. Kamalodeen and Pat said next time they
would want a fruit bowl as well since they saw Meeras one since she was on a
fruit fast. Dr. Kamalodeen was very disappointed with how the lessons were
taught as the emphasis the day before was teaching boys. She said that she
would call this field day The silence of the lambs as the teachers managed to
silence the boys. As we continued to analyse todays classes, the guests

commented that the boys were quiet. They are a good class, but not normally
that quiet. I wondered if it was because they were nervous having so many
teachers in one room looking on. When I return to school I must find the answers
to these questions and feedback as to how they thought the lessons went.
We then started evaluating an article, which was a journal dealing with multiple
intelligences and genders. This journal went into some detail of identifying
various intelligences and how genders learn differently given preference to
certain types of intelligence. We also were made aware of a tool most people
used called VARK to assess learning styles. I found this useful as it gave some
insight into planning and catering for not only differentiated learner but also in
teaching boys.

The

main theme

of

this weeks field

day focused on

Assessments. All teachers were asked to critique their lessons and then they all
held up their relevant assessments where we had to compare them. Each
teacher used different types of assessment strategies from short answers, MCQ
or charts. This brought us to the first point that assessments must be
measurable and in line with the objectives. They must line up and match both
forward and backward within a lesson plan. With Ians assessment as an example
we went through in detail how to start this process and what is expected
concerning assessments. It was also noted that there should be different types of
assessments not putting all the emphasis on written. At this time lunch had
arrived, I excused myself to collect it with the aid of one of my colleague who
also assisted me in setting it up. I then quickly re-joined the discussion, where we
were asked to rewrite a better question in one of his MCQ. It was also noted that
the time given to take assessments should be adequate for students, as well as
provide feedback to teachers to see if learning has occurred. Another important
thing that struck me is that at the end of the lessons, all students must be able
to fulfil all objectives and far too many times we are only able to cater for most.
What becomes of the rest who were not able to understand the objectives do we
move on or think of ways which we can capture the entire class and include all
students in the learning process?
After the detailed evaluation, we finally had our lunch, which consisted of rice,
herbed chicken, potato and cheese with salad. Everyone enjoyed the food,
especially the pepper sauce. After everyone ate we started to discuss our
Christmas lime. We narrowed it down to the date which would be at the end of
November and sometime around lunch. The venue is yet to be decided. After this
it was time to leave. It was a very long and exhausting day for me, but I was

really glad that my guests felt comfortable and catered for and it was a
pleasurable experience to showcase my hosting talents. We then said goodbye to
each other. Unfortunately, there is one regret about this whole experience, I was
sad that we were not able to take out a group photo for my portfolio of my
hosting day.