The High Competency Award

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taken from nywcc.org

As many of you will already know, I am a teacher trainee currently undergoing practicum.
Every teacher trainee in practicum will have to be supervised by a lecturer.
These supervisors will surprise teacher trainees once in a while with visits to check on the trainee & observe his/her lessons.
Near the end of practicum, supervisors can nominate any teacher trainee they think deserves recognition for being outstanding in their teaching.

Soon, a team of secondary observers will be assembled & appointed by the practicum committee of the university.
They will be given the task of scrutinising every nominated trainee to determine whether he/she deserves the 'high-competency' grade.
They meet the trainee, talk to him/her about his/her thoughts on teaching, read his/her lesson plans+reflection+portfolio & they will also observe one of his/her lessons.
If trainees are able to impress during the tough reevaluation, their names will be recorded in the exclusive 'High-Competency' list.
They will also receive a certificate of recognition by the institute.

I was nominated for this award this week.
It came as a complete surprise.
I do not believe in creating a 'beautiful' lesson just for observations so I never went the extra mile when my supervisor told me that he would visit me soon.
I did just what I would do on normal days.
I'm glad my supervisor liked it & saw it as worthy of recognition.

I was scrutinised today.
A team of 2 observers observed my lesson with 1 Maju.
1 Maju was awesome as usual.
They were very sporting & accomodating with the extra observers & they also put in extra effort to be at their best for my sake.
Thank you, 1 Maju!

After the observation, the team & I had a post-mortem.
The feedback I received was very positive.
They did not have much to object of in the lesson.
And they expressed pleasure at what I did today.
They even encouraged me to stay in the teaching profession & move on to teacher training.
My favourite line from one of the observers, "you're an easy one."

Everything looks good for me but I will not put my hopes too high.
Their impressions of me will still have to be put through another round of consideration with the practicum committee.
However, it is a great boost to my confidence to be nominated & so positively commented on by some of the most tedious people in my institute.
I will continue to improve myself in this profession.

To all those who encouraged me & said a prayer for me...
Thank You!
=D

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