Md. Jalal Uddin Rumey :
Teaching is one of the most difficult jobs in the world because it is tough for one to handle many students with different mentalities. Therefore, teachers need to take good preparation before entering into the classrooms for teaching. Before entering into teaching professon, they need proper training that can empower them; make them confident for teaching.Bachelor of Education (hon’s) is a professional degree program which is designed to prepare better teachers for the country. Teaching practice (TP) is an integral part of the Bachelor of Education (hon’s) program.
The importance of teaching practice for becoming a teacher is immense. Undergoing TP is very important for a teacher to be a perfectly prudent and professional. In Bachelor of Education (hon’s) program, we have to study different schoo teaching subjects such as Bangla, English, Bangladesh and Global Studies, Maths, etc. alongside methods, approaches,techniques, learning theories, assessment for learning (and assessment of learning), etc. What we learn theoretically in the classroom until the 6th semester, we have to practise those in the 7th semester. We have to go to the schools to implement the theories we learnt theoretically. However, before going to schools, we have to take part in the simulation where the trainees (7th semester students) take part in teaching in an artificial arrangement where one trainee teaches and others take part as students.
This kind of teaching practice is called simulation. One or two teacher educators observe the teaching activities of the interns and provide positive feedback for development. Teacher educators write comments in the trainee’s notebook and after completing the class the teacher educators provide feedback face to face. Other trainees are also welcome to make comments on their friend’s teaching. In this way, through recurrent practices and feedback, the interns become skilled teachers. A trainee teacher decides from their experiences in schools and from simulation, what behaviour in the classrooms is expected and which is not.
How secondary school teachers are developed at Teachers Training Colleges? Not only the 4 years Bachelor of Education students, but also the 1 year B.ed.students have to take part in TP. Teaching Practice is a kind of practical activity that a trainee teacher undergoes to ensure the development of his/her teaching and assessment skills. Here the trainee teachers are taught how to make teaching-learning student-centered; how to write on the white/black board; how to draw the students’ attention; how to handle the naughty students; how to deal with the weaker and the extraordinarily meritorious learners.
Pedagogical aspects of teaching are practiced during simulation and TP. For example, the future English teachers improve their English communication skills through TP. Recurrent teaching and micro-teaching sessions followed by constructive feedback from the experienced teacher educators make the trainee teachers confident in teaching and assessment. Making mistakes and getting corrective feedback gradually improves the trainee teachers’ teaching skills.
What the interns have to do is- making lesson plans on the textbook lessons, gettingthem approved by the teacher educators, and then they have to execute the lesson plans in the real classrooms. During the Covid-19 pandemic, all the trainees had to simulate in front of classmates as the schools remained closed for the last two years. During TP the trainee teachers also learn how to manage the different caliber students and their learning; how to make the class inclusive and interactive.
These trainee teachers when recruited in secondary or primary schools, they can teach confidently and methodically.
As a Bachelor of Education student, I completed my TP in last January 2022. I did not have opportunity to teach the real students in schools due to Covid- 19 pandemic; I did simulation at the college. Having completed my TP program, I learnt many important things that will help me to be a better teacher. What I learnt include- lesson planning; setting learning outcomes; deciding appropriate activities to achieve the learning outcomes; time management; students’ behaviours management; assessment of students’ learning; how to provide feedback positively, monitoring while students are working in pairs or in groups, etc. And I have enjoyed some of the most beautiful things in my life during TP. My esteemed teachers have cooperated with me with enough sincerity. And I’ve been able to minimize my weaknesses through reflectiong on my teaching as well as from the feedback of my teachers and classmates. So, would like to express my gratitude to honourable supervisors Associate Professor Dr Ranjit Podder and Nafisa Begum for their supports to improve my English language teaching skills; and Assistant Professor FarhanaTanjim and Ms Rabeya Sikder for providing support in Bangla subject. Immense gratitude to the Almight because we have been able to complete our English and Bangla Teaching Practice (TP) Internship in the midst of Covid-19 epidemic.
In the end, I would like to ask everyone willing to be a teacher to undergo this kind of internship. I believe that Govt. Teachers’ Training College is a factory for making good teachers. Therefore, the administration of the college should take it more seriously so that no one can pass the course without being successful in TP.
(The writer is a 7th-semester student at Govt. Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka. He can be reached at: email: [email protected])