7 Jan 2020

Today reminds me of the time when I worked as a preschool teacher. The routines are almost
the same except we asked our children to start scribbling on paper and holding a pencil to write
letters. Children in kindergarten class that I observed today did things according to their age
such as playing, eating, singing songs, listening to stories and napping. The teachers only
guided them, watched them as they played and monitored their process of growth. The new boy
called Issac didn’t cry much, so I didn’t have a hard time watching over him. He would follow the
teachers during the circle time if he was asked to. Since it’s his first day today, we led him be
and observed other children. He helped himself to wear his own shoes and finished his bowl of
noodles.

8 Jan 2020
One thing that I learnt today is that the teachers teach a new song or tell a new story repeatedly
for about 3 weeks. It’s not about telling the story and getting it done by telling the moral lesson,
but it’s about getting into their hearts. The teacher also didn’t read the story from the book, but
she told it by heart without any materials also. Children were not forced to listen and the teacher
corrected their behavior only when they become distracting. Issac didn’t cry today and he
seemed happy to come to school. He played with others but quietly. When he was playing car
with Moe Shwe Zan, he sat as a passenger and did what Moe Shwe Zan asked him to do.

9 Jan 2020
I can see that that children are taught to wait. During snack time and lunch time, the teacher
would ask the two children to help her deliver the plates to the other children. Children who are
sitting down responds to the teacher when they were asked if they would like yogurt and fruits.
They learnt to wait to eat only after everyone has got the food in front. It happens during lunch
time as well. Children can only start eating when everyone’s got their food. Issac became more
open and he would boast about what he has at home to the teachers. He played well with
others but it seems like he blended in quietly.

10 Jan 2020
Issac started to respond to the teacher’s questions in English during snack time. He watches
what other children do and he would follow them. He doesn’t talk much except during meals. He
expresses himself more during meal time and expresses what he likes and dislikes about the
food he has on his plate.
13 Jan 2020
I like that children learn the routine in songs. Each song gives a cue to a routine such as tidying
up after playing, praying before meal and holding hands to make a circle. The teacher doesn’t
need to shout or ring the bell but just sing the songs and children immediately know what they
are supposed to do.

14 Jan 2020
Children learn songs in different languages such as Chinese, English, Burmese, Japanese and
Hindi. It’s nice to see them singing songs in different languages very well. I noticed that Issac
started to sing the songs in Burmese. He finished his chicken first before rice and asked for
more chicken. But I heard from the grandmother that he doesn’t eat meat that much at home.

15 Jan 2020
I enjoy holding small hands as we walked into the nature. I think it’s a brilliant idea to have a
walking day. In the modern world where screen time has taken over the play time of the
children, it’s important to help children aware of their neighbourhoods and the different lifestyles
as they walk through the village. It also helps them appreciate nature more and connect with it
physically and emotionally. Issac enjoyed the walk and he was mentioning a few things he saw
on the way while walking.

16 Jan 2020
Today, I asked the children to take off the shoes nicely in the kitchen because usually they
would kick off carelessly, and they did very well. Children are so eager to help, especially when
they find the interest in what the adult is doing. Two girls from Star Jasmine came to me and
offered to help me when I was tying the yarn from Poung Poung. A girl named Wint Han Chel
really tried her best to learn to tie the yarn. She did it patiently and it was cute to see that.
Issac wet his pants and in bed today.He has frequent urge to pee and he would drink a lot
during the snack and lunch time. He started to smile more and talk more. But he would suddenly
and quietly snatches toys away from others during play time. Others would tell him on the
teacher that Issac took their toys.When he was told to ask for the things he want nicely and to
give things back, he gave it up easily without getting upset.

17 Jan 2020
As always, some children didn’t want to sleep during nap time. So the homeroom teacher took
out bee wax clay to let students make a circle shape. So I was curious to know why they don’t
use the normal clay and the teacher said that the clay has a cold energy and it usually sucks out
the warmth from the children which is not good for the development of their internal organs. This
is also the reason why the teachers ask the children to change their clothes when their sleeves
are wet especially at the wrist.
20 Jan 2020
Today’s classes were really interesting since the actual learning took place. The teacher told a
story and the story was used to teach the alphabet. The song during the circle time was also
about the story. There was a big drawing of a house where the door is in letter “D” shape which
was the focus of the lesson today. Then the students drew the picture of the house with curved
rooftop and D shape door. The teacher gave students a break from drawing by doing “Give and
take” small bags using right hand and left hand interchangeably with their friends.

21 Jan 2020
Students recalled the story they learnt yesterday and they were asked to give a word that starts
with letter D. I wasn’t expecting that they could give the words but they really surprised me.
Today, the children went outside and used the sticks with ribbons to draw letter D in the air.
They also used their body by walking in “D” shape and their fingers by drawing on the sand.Only
after that, they drew D on the blackboard and book. It is a great technique to teach letters to
young children which will help them remember the letters with their whole body, rather than
repeatedly writing in the books.

22 Jan 2020
I really liked that the teacher used songs and actions to help students remember the timetable.
The actions are also the modern dance moves that are popular among the children such as
Dab. So the students really enjoyed singing the multiplication table while doing the moves that
they liked.

23 Jan 2020
The teacher plays the recorder while students set the tables and chairs. Everything should be
done by the time the music ends so there was no time for the students to talk. I noticed that
students in class 2 were really chatty. It could be because of the number and also because of
their age. During English class, the teachers read a verse and led students identify the I sound.
She already told what she was expected from students so they listened carefully when the
teacher read the verse.

24 Jan 2020
I like the technique of whispering to the students who are loud. Students in class 1 learnt letter
C today and just like the other day, the teacher told a story. What’s fascinating is that the
teacher used the same protagonist and each plot was in sequence and is linked to the lesson
that she was going to teach.

27 Jan 2020
There were no posters about the classroom rules in the class but the teacher already set certain
rules using action and words. When the students are being too talkative, the teacher counts
from 5 to 1 and students must stop talking before getting to 1. If not, the consequence is
reducing break time or going for snack/lunch last. I would say that it doesn’t matter whether or
not the rules are posted on the wall, as long as the teacher reinforces them with the rewards
and consequences.

28 Jan 2020
Here in this school, students need to help themselves cleanup, set the tables and wash their
dishes after eating.Each class takes responsibility for setting up the table alternately. The main
teacher of the class who’s taking charge of setting up the table would take 3 students from her
class and set up the table. They are also responsible for singing blessing before meal. But no
matter whose turn it is to set up the table, all students must take their dishes and clean them
after eating. It teaches them about responsibility. They are also encouraged to eat everything on
their plate. When I have a school of my own, I will apply that in my school.

29 Jan 2020
All the materials and the resources used in this curriculum are kinda old fashioned such as
blackboard and chalk and I don’t see any modern technology devices such as projector,
computers and speakers. It’s not because the school has limited resources but because of the
curriculum they are using. Waldorf curriculum encourages everything to be natural and makes
students get closer to nature as much as possible. It has both benefits and drawbacks. Since
they don’t rely on any technology devices, some things are slower than it’s supposed to be. For
instance, for visual aids, the teachers need to draw on the blackboard ahead of time and he/she
must possess drawing skills. So for those who are really bad at drawing like me, find it hard to
find visual aids for the students. So I use less visual aids since i couldn’t draw and visual
learners take it hard to digest the things they learnt. But then, this could become a benefit if I
push myself to learn how to draw.

30 Jan 2020
The teacher prepared verses for each child based on their birthday and their characters.
Children learn the verses and recite them in front of the class each morning on their birthday.
Those who were born on Saturday recite on Friday and those who were born Sunday recite on
Monday. This activity boots the confidence of the children to stand up in front of class since at a
young age. Children are also encouraged to watch their classmates carefully and give feedback
on what they like and what needs to be improved when standing in front of the class.

31 Jan 2020
Children from class 7 and 8 presented their science project which is modelling lava flowing out
of a volcano. Children found it fun and many asked to repeat the process again. This was a
good activity for both children and the teachers. Children got to observe what the older children
were doing in their classes and they will be motivated to learn. The teachers from other classes
especially lower classes also got to observe the lessons being taught in the higher grade and
this will help them prepare the lessons for the students for their future learning.

3 Feb 2020
Before learning the metric system, students learnt the measurement system that were used in
the past such as fathoms, cubits. It was a good technique to explain how the measurements are
formed. The teacher also told a story about the conflicts that happened in the past because
there was no standardized system for the measurement. Students were asked to go out and
measure things (basketball court, the school) like in the past using their bodies (fathoms, digits).
Students enjoyed it a lot and they got hand on experience about how it feels and how hard it is
to measure things like in the past.

5 Feb 2020
The teacher taught sign language for the alphabet letters associating them with phonic sounds.
The students caught up the signs really fast and in no time, they were trying to spell the words
the teacher showed. Students remembered it fast because they could associate the sound with
the signs.

6 Feb 2020
The teacher’s job doesn’t end in the classroom, but also outside the classroom. There will
always be complaints and telling on the teacher who’s done what. It’s never ending and the
teacher always have to become a judge, listening to both parties and trying to compromise. I
sometimes find it hard to make a fair judgement or decision for both parties. But usually, when
arguments and complaints happend, I try to make sure that both parties understand what’s the
root of the problem and what could be the solution. They come up with their own solutions which
i think is fair and which I think that students would feel that too.
7 Feb 2020
Students did a spelling test today. It seems like many of them are having a hard time spelling.
They know the phonic sounds of each letter when asked them separately. But they are having a
hard time putting them together to make a word. Some are brilliant at it but many are still
struggling. The teacher said that she will try to reduce the words from 7 to 5 and see if the
students can get them. It sounds easy but the students must get all the words correct.

10 Feb 2020
It’s been a week since I’ve started doing the phonological test to the students. I would take an
hour each day for a student and point the phonemes to see how much they know and what are
the sounds they are having difficulty pronouncing mostly. The homeroom teacher came up with
an idea to make a program where the students spend an hour with me to help them with the
sounds because many students can speak very well but they can’t seem to spell nor read very
well.

11 Feb 2020
It’s my first day of teaching and I taught 9 times table. I wasn’t satisfied with how I explained
how multiplication works so I was giving myself not a very good grade. But the homeroom
teacher was pleased with me especially how I engaged the students in the lesson and how I
had control over the classroom. But I could have explained them better. Instead of calling out
one student to write on the board, it would be better if I could get everyone to write the equation
on their blackboards. This is what I’m gonna do on Thursday.

13 Feb 2020
I introduced the maze game to the students for the lesson today and most didn’t get it.Not
everyone was able to participate also since the time was up. Students understood the
multiplication better than the last time. I must make sure that I allow more time for the game so
that the students could enjoy and practice their 9 times multiplication. I wasn’t able to access
whether or not everyone could skip count by 9. Since I needed to draw the game, the students
had to wait. I need to plan the time carefully and prepare the game in advance. Overall, I was
satisfied with the explaing part but wasn’t quite satisfied with the game part.

14 Feb 2020
It’s important that the class had a good rhythm or flow of the lesson. The rhythm includes the
active time, quiet time and active again time. I found this technique helpful as I applied that in
my lesson today. Students listened better and they paid more attention to the tasks they were
asked to do. Also, when the students are disruptive, it’s not always their fault. It could also be
because of the teacher who is failing to meet the needs of the students. Since I didn’t prepare
extra work for class 3 students, they were wandering around and disturbing other students when
they finished fast.

17 Feb 2020
I like how the teacher puts the things they learnt in measurement into a song. “ Inches feet,
yards and miles, guarantee to bring you smile…..” The tune is catchy and the moves are also
easy. It’s an excellent way to recap or to review the lesson they learnt. Through the song,
children remember the measurements they used such as inches, feet, yards and miles.

18 Feb 2020
I like today’s lesson. The lesson was prepared well and the pace was good. It had a good flow
from one transition to another. The paper and string are used again as visual aids to recall the
concept of multiplication. It was effective because the students are familiar with it already and
they were able to demonstrate their understanding through either grouping them and working on
the multiplication problems on the board. Grade 3 students were asked to solve more
challenging questions.
For practice, students were asked to model the multiplication table using stones and fill
the answers in the multiplication table which was not in order. After that, they were asked to
arrange the 12 times table in order.

19 Feb 2020
In this school, they care about the birthdays. When it’s the birthday of a student, the teacher
prepares a cake, a card and some flowers for the birthday student. Everyone in the class would
gather around and sing birthday song and say their wishes for that student. It’s a nice way of
showing love and care to one another and students learn to take care of each other in a way.
Students are given special favor by the teacher and their friends on their birthdays.

20 Feb 2020
Today’s lesson included variety of movements and children loved it. Continuing to the last
lesson, student were asked to arrange the 12 times table in order in their notebooks. I randomly
called out the equation and students were also randomly selected to give the answer. After that,
I taught them 12 times table song with the trending moves which the boys liked. Children loved
the song as well as the movements. After that, we played the maze game. Children are divided
into two groups and two teachers, my homeroom teacher and I, assisted the children. As they
looked to the correct steps to go, I sang the song for them to boost their memory as well as for
them to remember the song better.

21 Feb 2020
The homeroom teacher taught about weighing to the students and like how she did the
last time, she told a story first about how things would be messy if there are no weighing scales.
I also learnt that viss is used in Myanmar for measuring weight and it’s based on the weight of a
single copper coin called a tical. The weight of 100 ticals equals one viss. This is a real
demonstration of how teachers never stop learning.

5 Mar 2020
The teacher’s comment on my lesson today stuck in my head and it’s a great feedback which I
will always keep in mind when preparing for the lessons. She said that “Sometimes when a
teacher knows a lot about a particular subject that she is teaching, she becomes a bad teacher”.
It applied to my lesson today. I understand very well about the place value-ones and tens and
because of that, I didn’t think of explaining the lesson at the level of the students which made
the students. I had good visual aids and a good story which I was sure the students would catch
at once and make today’s lesson easy. But I caught myself being frustrated and tired of
explaining over and over again. I thought today’s lesson wasn’t bad but I wasn’t satisfied either.
When the teacher gave me feedback on my performance today and told me that saying, only
then I realized that I was being a bad teacher who know the subject very well but wasn’t
explaining very well at the level of the students.

6 Mar 2020
I could see that the teacher prepared extra activities for the grade 3 students which I keep failing
to do so. She asked grade 3 students to read a book each week and make a book report while
she focused on spelling for grade 2 students. A student asked me today what to write in the
book report. So I told her to summarize the story in the first paragraph and to write about how
she felt or learnt in the second paragraph. I am waiting to see how she would do it. The lesson
today was not that great and i was not satisfied with it. I spent a long time asking for the ee
sounds that the students know and writing them on the board.

10 Mar 2020
Since the homeroom teacher wanted the weighing stones which are used in Myanmar, I went to
the market to buy them. Children had fun doing weighing using different weighing tools. They
did it in groups and rotated around the tools to measure different things. One thing I would
improve the activity is to specify 3 or 5 things that everyone should measure using different tools
to know the difference in different scales.

11 Mar 2020
Since they did the activity outside, today’s activity for the weighing was to draw in their main
book. They drew the things they measured and the tools they used for weighing. A lot of
children in this school are good at drawing because they have learnt to draw since from the
beginning. It’s nice to see children’s drawing and I wish I had learnt to draw when I was a child.
Because I didn’t learn to draw, I had program

12 Mar 2020
I liked my class today. Students were attentive and children enjoyed the activities I prepared
today. I read them a paragraph and asked them to figure out what sound they hear mostly. That
feeling when they shouted the correct answer, “O sound”, couldn’t be described with words
because that feeling filled me up as a teacher and imagined how great my lesson is gonna be
today. I changed the activity from individual work to group work and I needed some help from
the homeroom teacher because students were so enjoying the activity that they became hyper. I
was shouting over the class and the homeroom teacher, who was observing me, reminded me
that children were being noisy.

13 Mar 2020
It’s been many weeks already that children didn’t get to go for a walk to the forest. It’s because
the teacher wanted the students to finish the work that they’ve been doing such as sanding the
ruler and knitting a gnome. Also, when the teacher feels that children are not behaving well for
the past days, she would refuse to go for a walk in the forest as a consequence of children not
behaving well. But today, they were given a favor to go for a walk in the forest. It it necessary to
practice “give and take” with the children. They learnt tat in order to have their favor of going to
the forest, they need to behave well. That way, children learn to value something they earned
because they have given up something for it, which is misbehaving in this case.

16 Mar 2020
My objective was to teach hundreds and ten thousands but I could only do up to thousands due
to limited models. I’d say I organized the class well with appropriate intervention and classroom
rules. The last number standing game was quite effective for the students to recall the ones and
tens place value. The explanation was also quite alright with the use of manipulatives. I had
wooden beads and sticks to demonstrate the hundred place. The group work was also quite
effective because all the students were engaged in counting either the beads or sticks. They
demonstrated their understanding through grouping them into ones, tens and hundreds. The
class rhythm was also good with moving time and quiet time.
17 Mar 2020
For the lesson of occupation, children went to a shoe shop to observe how handmade shoes
are being made. Children asked many questions to the workers there because they were really
curious about the tools and the process being made. Field trips are always fun but the teachers
also have to make sure that we meet the objective of going there. To make the field trip
meaningful, the teacher asked the students to remember at least three essential tools for
making shoes and their functions. Today is the last day of school and starting from tomorrow, all
the classes will be stopped due to Covid.

19 Mar 2020
We went for a field trip to the Shan village and observed how they do broomsticks. It was for the
lesson of occupation. First they just watched and then they were given a chance to make their
own broomsticks. Some children loved doing it and some disliked it saying they had many of
them at their house. I found it quite funny when some of them were struggling to tie the brooms
together and when they were complaining about the dust from the broomstick plant falling all
over their body. However, they appreciated their own broomsticks once they were done. Field
trips are always the best way to teach a lesson because they get to experience things for real.
Aside from the classroom lesson, they also learnt valuable life lessons on their own through field
trips which can’t be taught in the classroom. For example, many children learnt the different
social status of people in a society today as well as how hard work pays off.

20 Mar 2020
The classes already stopped but the homeroom teacher wanted to finish the gnome and the
rulers which the class have been doing since the start of the semester. She also wanted to do
some review of the lessons they have learnt throughout the semester. I was there to assist the
teacher and before everyone went back, she made a small farewell for me by having students
say the things they like about me. The things I heard from the students is that I was helpful, kind
and was a good teacher. It made me happy to hear such words and made me emotional at the
thought of not having a chance to see them anymore. I learnt that part of being a teacher is to
hold them when they are with you and to let go of them when it’s time. Children will always see
their children leaving their classes and going to other classes for higher grade once the term is
over and as teachers, they need to prepare their heart for this also.

26 March 2020
We had our class’s first teleconference today. It was an experience of having a class or meeting
online which was given only because of Covid-19. But I found it very useful and I would
recommend using it for internship classes like Professional Experience 2 even when the
situation finally gets back to normal. The instructor can give the information about the tasks to
resolve the confusion some students might have over the assignments and also a good way of
gathering and checking up on each other of how each one is doing. It’s very useful especially
when students like us who went to far places for internships and couldn’t join any meeting in
person to know what’s going on.

2 Apr 2020
The connection was still not good and I was not able to catch up some of the words that the
teacher said and it frustrated me. So I suggested to him to make a summary of what he said so
that those who were not able to join know what is said in the meeting and those who were able
to join but had bad connections also could catch up what they missed.

5 Apr 2020
I watched two videos today for replacing my personal recording. I only did them for the sake of
completing the assignment but I don’t find it meaningful to replace my personal recording.
Unfortunately I didn’t have any recordings so I had to do it. Instead of observing other’s
teaching, I would rather do the demonstration of how I would teach to replace my actual
teaching video. That sounds more meaningful to me.

6 Apr 2020

7 Apr 2020
The two videos I watched today were about cooperative learning and how to teach vocabulary
to replace observation 2. They seem interesting and I found the “how to teach vocabulary” video
to be useful. It came across to me that not only I can look up for the resources online, but also
how to teach something to come and will find a variety of interesting ways to teach something.

8 Apr 2020
Students were not able to do the introduction and when asked to remember basic words such
as name and age, they were not able to do well. They pronounce N-a-m-e as age or like or
however their lips move. I believe they need to learn phonics first to be able to read and
pronounce the words. I will teach phonics to them starting from tomorrow.

9 Apr 2020
Students cannot recognize the phonic sound of each letter and today’s lesson is like a very new
lesson for them. It was hard at first but they got better. They are now able to recognize the
phonic sounds of each word.
10 Apr 2020
An sound seems very easy to make and the students are able to pronounce it.

13 Apr 2020
They have started to understand how the cvc words work and spell. Since their English level is
low, it takes time for them to catch the concept.

14 Apr 2020
I did a bit of a spelling test today and they didn't get it as much as I expected. May be they need
more practice during class and as individual.

15 Apr 2020
A second spelling test today and they did better than yesterday. One student got everything
right and the others scored more than half.

!6 Apr 2020
The game today was fun and students enjoyed it. I’ve noticed that they love competition and
once I ask them to compete against themselves individually or in pairs, they pay attention to the
lesson better. I need to make some of the pictures clearer and include the pictures for some of
the words.

17 Apr 2020
I did the final evaluation of myself through the link that was sent which was good because I
preferred doing it online rather than on paper. It’s easier to check and send it which is
convenient whereas without the link, I’d have to create a copy, print it, fill it and scan it to send it.
It don’t like evaluation myself though because I find it hard not to give me high score because I
really do think that I am a good teacher in general.

23 Apr 2020
Zoom conference today was short. The negative point of this online conference is that it
requires electricity and internet to make it happen. Many classmates were not able to join today
as there was no electricity in the campus. So this is a negative point of online meeting to take
note of when considering to use it as a tool for the internship meeting in the future. But when the
instructor make minutes of meeting to recap whatever important thing is said in the meeting,
those who were not able to join could still catch up.