Wanted #1... John Naiker

Wanted: 2^nd year teacher to teach an asylum of children. Must be as mad as our clients. Complete and utter abolition of memory at day end a necessity. Deranged flashbacks of moments of lunacy may occur but should not be the norm. If grudges, vendettas and resentments are not washed away by the rolling tide of enlightened amnesia, imminent and irreparable insanity will take root.

Clients, while mad, are still cunning. Friendships may be forged but may well reveal themselves to be shackles rather than cuff links.

Teacher will have to apologise often. Both to clients and self and God.

Sickness  of body is acceptable, sickness of mind is not.

Preparation of temporary bouts of lucidity (aka teaching) an explicit requirement. Preparation of preparation an implicit requirement.

Teacher will need to know what he is talking about. This appears trivial, but it is not.

Please apply to the spirit of Classroom 14. Attach recent photo of self and R 500 personal burial money. 

A day in the life of Richard Sibeko

It’s not about the income – it’s’ about the outcome!

Dear reader,

Congratulations! I am glad that you’ve made it this far.

Others started the journey and missed a turn somewhere and have ended up sitting in a fancy office doing some mind numbing-number-crunching job. They’re most probably envious of all the time we get off during the year. Well, good luck to them!

I am typing this at home (avoiding my marking) after a long day at work; this is most probably my tenth attempt at writing this. Yes, I know what you’re thinking; this should be very easy for me because I am an English teacher. You’re most probably expecting a lucid piece of writing with “perfect” grammar and stuff… well I can assure you that this will not be the case…

I started my journey as a young teacher at St Stithians Girls’ College as a Teacher Intern in 2010 at the age of 19. Attempting to juggle work and being a full-time student at Wits was challenge at times, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this! This was a familiar environment in which I was very comfortable to be in ( I am past St Stithians pupil ’08) . I managed to lean a lot while I was there (classroom management and dealing with 25 hormonal teenage girls at the same time) and this has definitely helped me and prepared me for my big move to “The Burg”. I also realised that being a teacher also meant being a “father figure”, disciplinarian, lawyer, psychologist and in some cases, a shoulder to cry on.

Living and working in Rustenburg is very different from the lifestyle I have in Johannesburg. If you had told me that I would be working here a while back, I would have laughed in your face! I mean who moves to Rustenburg…

This realisation came with one of many lessons I have learnt thus far; the first being acceptance. I’ve had to accept the fact that I no longer live and work in Johannesburg and that Rustenburg has become my new “home” for the next few years. This realisation has yet to sink in; however, it’s a work in progress.  I’ve also had to accept and understand the new rules and ways of doing things here and to accept the fact that the two (Johannesburg and Rustenburg) are very different. I’ve also had to accept the fact that I could not change the world and have the kids calling me “Oh Captain, my Captain” after the first lesson.

Another challenged thrown into my direction was trying to find a balance between being “Mr Sibeko” and “Richard”. As a young teacher, the kids in your class can smell your “fear” from a mile away and they can often take advantage of your being young. Numerous attempts of threatening their lives do seem to help, however, I strongly advise you to stay away from the Doom; they’re immune to this!

This past year has been both rewarding and challenging. I developed as a person and as a young professional and I am looking forward to the challenges coming my way in the New Year.  

Enjoy your journey!

PS: I strongly advise you make friends with the finance, IT , kitchen, admin  AND security departments in your first week! You will thank me later…

This is my story... Thapelo Masemene

I will always cherish my last parting words from my last year’s Mentor, Mrs Frankiskos.  She said, “Thapelo, I’m releasing you to the sharks.  I've equipped you with skills to help you to snorkel your way to success.  Like an eagle that’s pushing its eaglet out of the nest to learn how to fly, it’s time for you to fly.  I’m so proud of what you've achieved in such a short space of time – you’re a gifted, powerful and intelligent African lady, there is no doubt that you will be successful.  Go out there and make me proud!”.  Fly like an eagle – that is the phrase that keeps me going.

“A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree” – Proverbs 11:28.  

My name is Thapelo Masemene, and this is my story... 

I am a spiritual being, therefore it made perfect sense to me to dedicate my career to the Lord.  The reason for this is that it’s not about me; it’s about living a purposeful life based on the will of God – to be where God wants me to be.  I want a career based on Education and working with young minds; to mould young minds into something great.  It made perfect sense for me to go into the teaching field.  It’s not that I never tried the corporate environment; I did and I hated every moment of it.  I explored the corporate world while doing my students jobs back in university.  The job entailed a whole lot of routine, it lacked challenges and I did not see myself there.  Then I started to question what my true purpose was.  What on earth am I here for?  In the book of Colossians 1:16 we read that “Everything got started with Him (that is God), and finds its purpose in him”.  Therefore, basing my career in the Education field felt right; I found my true purpose. 

Each and every single day of my life this year had so much meaning.  It’s not that life in the classroom went by smoothly all the time. There were instances where I felt that I did not have everything under control.  My main problem was dealing with behaviour and classroom management.  I taught three classes, namely Grade 7, 9 and 10 Mathematics.  My Grade 7s were my little angels!  They were little sweethearts who I always looked forward to teaching.  My Grade 10s were more mature and generally easy to work with.  Then there were the Grade 9s – little boys with tiny horns!  My Grade 9s always tested my patience – they were little Godzillas!  I tried my level best to get the discipline on track – on some days I would be successful and on some days my efforts would fall flat.  I guess that the one thing that helped, to some extent, with instilling discipline was my big voice and “the look”!  It got better as the year went by and they are much better now.  In fact we get along very well, and it is such a breeze to teach them.  Finally, I really got the hang of them.  However, my Grade 7s are now starting to develop tiny horns and all the innocence and our pink “lovey-dovey” aura is getting lost.  Well, I guess that this is in fact a cycle.  Like Mrs Frankiskos used to say, it always gets better by the day. 

Over and above the teaching, I had my PGCE to complete.  Now that was a mission!  For the first time in my life I found myself having to juggle school and work, and it was not easy.  There were moments where I felt that I was totally loosing it, where I found that I was now becoming all emotional when something went wrong.  It got worse when instead of getting some support and understanding from some of my fellow colleagues about what I was going, some people were judgemental.  (It was a small fraction though, and not in the Maths Department).  They did not understand!  What I needed was support and an understanding of what I was going through.  As I went through this phase in my life I realised that it is not about pleasing other people, it is all about achieving my goals and ensuring that I do my best in everything I do.  The main thing that kept me sane was prayer and knowing that God will not let me do something that was impossible to accomplish.  In my moment of weakness I knew that God was carrying me through, for we read in 2 Corinthians 13:4 that “We are weak... yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you”.  This scripture says that in your weakness there is the presence of God’s power, for His thoughts are higher than ours.  We also read in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that the Grace of the Lord is sufficient and that his power is made perfect in weakness.  Rick Warren in his book The Purpose-driven Life he mentions if God only used perfect people, nothing would ever get done.  To live with a purpose is, in itself, living life to the fullest.

At the beginning of the year I planted some good seeds, now I’m harvesting good fruit.  I worked really hard, and it feels really great to see good results coming out of my hard work.  2014 is going to be an even better year – I know what to expect and like Auntie Hettie said, it gets better with experience.  To everyone that made this year possible – Mr Thomas, Mr Morake, Mr Harris, Mr du Toit, the Mathematics Department, Mr Reynolds, Mr Ryan, Mr and Mrs Prins, Pastor Kgabo Nyikiza, Apostle and Prophetess Tshehla, Richard, Charlene, Mme Masala, Mme Tshweu, Elias, my friends, my family... thank you for believing in me.  

My Second Year at Lebone College: This is my story... Caitlin Mason

This year has been one hundred times more successful than last year. I think that this was due to a different bunch of children, but also, more importantly, it was due to the way I handled and owned my classroom from the very beginning.

I went into this year knowing that I was going to be a whole lot stricter and more confident. I started this on day 1. As soon as someone started turning into a monkey I jumped on this, and then on the next thing and then...on the next thing. My class is not perfect. They do not always keep quiet. They don't always pack up in their allocated 5 minutes. They think they’re on holiday if I'm not speaking at that moment. Some hardly ever do their homework.  But if I glare at them, they keep quiet. And this, is a GREAT victory for me!

I don't shout as much as I did last year. I had to actively work at this. Now it is very rare, and if it does happen I am usually pretty aware of it. I realise that it’s because I'm in a bad mood, or that it’s important that I shout right now! There are still some of those awful banshee-throat-screaming moments, but when they happen I try not to take them too seriously and laugh at the way my throat hurts!

I love the way I can sit or stand in front of my class waiting for them to keep quiet and that it doesn't take them too long to get the message. I don't have to shout to get this to happen. Folded arms and a bored look will do! I love the way my students sit on the carpet and can (usually!) be quiet and listen to the other children. Even if they’re not listening – at least they are quiet!

My success stories of this year: 

• Going to a Whole Brain Teaching Workshop and learning about the Super Achievers Board, where individual kids can get recognised for anything they do. This has been great for me and my kids!
• Timing EVERYTHING they do on the Promethean board. I am structured and so are they. And I can tell them how long they've been doing NOTHING for. Or celebrate how quickly it took them to do a task.
• Doing a ‘pack-up’ competition that encouraged them to pack up quickly. At the end of it, the classroom looks spotless too!
• Morning Meetings. Every morning we meet as a class for about ten minutes, some days are longer as we discuss issues that have been brought to the ‘agenda’. This has been a wonderful time where the kids get a chance to be heard - “what if your friends says she doesn’t want to be your friend anymore”, or I get a chance to tell them if the routine is interrupted in some way or if there are certain classroom things that I'm not happy with. There is also meeting protocol, everyone must sit up straight, be quiet and no fidgeting! I always ask the person who is messing around to remind us of all the rules!

Things that were difficult for me: 

• Teaching maths. A big challenge. I have many different levels in my class and I find it so hard to juggle all these. I also find it difficult to get kids to understand things that I find so easy!
•  Monitoring homework! Following up on the sneaky ones.
• Losing my temper without thinking first (screeching-banshee moment!)
• Battling with kids who have emotional issues. Trying to get them to behave, care about their work, make an effort to listen and understand.
• Letting go of the things I can't change and not being so hard on myself. Sometimes a child won't change (yet) and doesn’t realise that he or she is just making it worse for themselves.

I have endeavoured the whole year to keep getting better. Through the year I started to realise, however, that being a teacher, or at least being a grade 5 teacher, is not the best thing for me to do. I realised that in the moments when I wasn’t as patient as I could have been or while I was standing at the board battling through division with my class. Children deserve teachers who are passionate about what they do. Being just less than passionate about teaching is not going to help the world in the way I want to. I love the kids and I love being loved by them, but I'm not sure I want to make them do their homework!

Through all this though, when I look back at my year, I am overwhelmed with love for the children in my care and wish that I could see where they’ll go in their lives!

And... this is my story!

This is my story... Portia Mahuma

Hooray it's the end of my final year at university!! I can't wait for my graduation day, to finally become a teacher and have my own classroom to decorate, and most of all have fun with my kids. Wait a minute where did I apply?

"I have decided to place you at Lebone college where you are going to be teacher interns. You will gain more knowledge and experience  there. That will be part of paying back your bursary. At the end of the year you will be  placed at one of the Royal Bafokeng schools to change the way they approach teaching."

''Oh well, that's not a problem I'm up for it I'm sure things will be sooo easy!"

My first day at Lebone, I was introduced to my HOD and my mentor and went through all the important things that  needed to be completed. Then the journey began. I started to open my eyes and learn the Lebone way of teaching. Where I learned that classroom routines are taught, that we praise good behaviour and turn a blind eye on negative behaviour, no corporal punishment and sending children outside the classroom. There is a different way of teaching learners to become independent thinkers and always think about their behaviour and being responsible for their own learning and behaviour. I started to see the worth of being a teacher intern at Lebone when I started seeing the different or rather unique style of teacher or their approach to teaching, seeing passionate teachers. Then I realised that actually being a teacher is far more than just decorating the classroom. I attended different Continuous Professional Developments that gave me more opportunities to grow as a teacher. For instance, Professor Shayer's "Let's Think" lessons believe that the focus should be on what the learner achieve more than always focusing on the teacher.

I learned different teaching methods and techniques. To top it off I had to attend New Teachers' Cafe which is a platform for new teachers to share their teaching experiences and how they are adjusting to the new space of Lebone, I learned more techniques, heard different teaching experiences and met older teachers in the profession. Who would know that Mrs Reynolds would still be a teacher now after all she went through? I remember her sharing about the past years (1990's) when they sat and taught under trees. I don't know if I would have coped. Mrs Roberts who was assigned a little corner as her own space. I look at them now, still passionate and loving every single moment of their calling.

Through all of that I learned to become passionate, learned to accept my strengths and weakness as a teacher, learned to comply and complain later, not that I will complain. I learned to be a long life learner and most importantly to learn from my colleagues, share ideas and support one another.

I'm learning from the best and I believe that this space (LEBONE) has offered me the best experience ever!

Letter for New Teachers' Cafe... Sarah Taylor

I really enjoyed re-reading my letter to New Teacher Café from last year. I think it really sums the year up for me from a first year teacher’s perspective. I think we should make a rule that, no matter where we are in our career, we always write a letter at the end of the year to solidify any problems and any progress in the year. Re-reading my letter means that I don’t forget the lessons I learnt so consciously last year; there really is value in recognising the growth that we make and codifying it, rather than leaving it to dissolve in our minds over the years. This is reflection; it is the most useful tool to me, one I have not used enough this year. When I re-read my letter from last year, I realise that there are lessons that I learnt about myself, really valuable lessons, which I have already forgotten simply because I haven’t been teaching the same age group. I will be so grateful to have those reminders in the future.

When I think back onto my 2013 year, I realise that it was defined a lot by my being a house director. I am pleased with myself because I think I managed to complete the task fairly well, despite my inexperience. There were challenges and things that I learnt about myself through the process.

As a leader, it is necessary to give instructions. By virtue of us being placed in the position of being a teacher/house director, we are bestowed with a certain authority. I do think that discipline and respect are some of the most difficult things that new teachers struggle with, and I was placed into a situation where I had to learn strategies quickly to be effective. I think that if we approach situations with a belief that we have that authority, then students will respond to you in that way. And so, as we mature into our positions, we start to believe that we have that authority, and as such, students respond to it. On the whole, if we expect students to behave in a certain way, and communicate that to them clearly, then they will behave in that way (there are obviously some exceptions to that!)

Another thing I learnt while in my role as a house director is that it is not the role for me right now. I enjoyed parts of it, but I feel like my career path needs to go in a slightly different direction. I feel relief when I consider that I won’t be the house director of Mokgatle next year. This has nothing to do with the job, but rather a lot to do with my personality fitting in to the job.

On the note of considering careers, another existential crisis I had this year was that I was forced to give my teaching career path some serious scrutiny this year. I was not always going to be a teacher, but these 2 years at Lebone have given me the freedom to realise that I actually do really love being a teacher (although, all I really know is that I enjoy being a Lebone teacher). When I sometimes doubt that it is what I want to do, I have to remind myself of the parts of being a teacher that I enjoy; my job is heavily dependent on human relationships, I am touching so many young lives, I enjoy getting to know young people and telling them the stories of my subject. I enjoy the challenge of making abstract and complex topics understandable and accessible. I enjoy being the boss in my classroom and having the idiosyncrasies and silly rules that apply in my classes only. I enjoy the academic and intellectual pursuits, I always have. Anyway, after these considerations, I have decided to stay a teacher at the most appropriate time in my life to stop being a teacher (as I am moving cities) which means I will always be a teacher. In some form or another, I think that I will always be a teacher. 

New Teachers Cafe - Final Year Reflection... Colleen Knill

When I decided to take a post at Lebone for 2013, I was filled with a mix of excitement and intimidation. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to stumble across a school with such beautiful facilities, passionate teachers and clever students- and that they also wanted me! Yet at the same time, I was intimidated by the challenges that lay ahead. I had had a variety of short-term teaching experiences at different schools in recent years; however, the context of these schools was very different. Each of these experiences landed me in inner-city or township locations; the schools were low achieving with very few resources, very little school culture, and comprised of students who were years behind academically. The challenges in these schools were plenty, but they were very rarely “academic.”  Daily hurdles ranged anywhere from school being cancelled due to service delivery protests, to helping the Philadelphia police break up fights in the hallway, to pregnant girls throwing up from morning sickness in your Grade 9 English class, to a mere 3 out of 20 students present in your lesson (a different 3 from yesterday’s register, and surely not the same 3 that will be present tomorrow).  I learned a great deal about discipline, the challenges faced by low-resource schools, and general chaos through these experiences, but I realized upon taking the job at Lebone, that I had never really been challenged academically by students or co-workers as a teacher, and I was scared. I always did well in school, and I knew in my head that I was “smart,” but I had never really had the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice in my teaching because of the context of the schools I had worked in. What I loved about my visit to Lebone was the way the students challenged each other and their teachers- it was so clear that they were taught to think critically and to question. But it was this same excitement that caused my anxieties. I hoped I could rise to the occasion of preparing content, lessons and standards that were challenging for them, while still having some fun (or “organized chaos”) in the classroom.  Additionally, I never held the role of a “proper class teacher” in any of these past positions, so in January of this year, I walked into Lebone as a wide-eyed first year teacher.

I could not have done this year without Sarah and Caitlin. The housing/Rustenburg/Lebone gods were on my side when they kept that third bedroom available for me in Platinum Place no. 8. The two of them took me under their wing from the moment I arrived in just about every way imaginable. In my first few weeks, they helped incorporate me into the Lebone staff- they introduced me to a flood of new faces, then subsequently had to remind me who was who and what role they played. They answered all my questions about Lebone and the South African schooling system in general. They taught me about Rustenburg- where to go to eat (it’s usually in the mall), the best way to navigate town (including the fact that stop streets are usually optional), and the fact that there’s not much more to know about Rustenburg. They corrected my sloppy American table manners and I can proudly say I now hold my fork and knife properly and eat even difficult dishes such as salad and scrambled eggs as the South Africans do. Caitlin and Sarah showed me the importance of not only friendship, but of having young mentors when moving to a new space. Without any sort of “organized” mentorship, and without ever once complaining, they walked me through all the same pleasures and pains of their first year of teaching, and I am beyond grateful for the dear friends and role-models they have become.

I also could not have survived this year without the support of my fabulous English department. It’s hard for me to believe that I was ever scared of teaching in a school like Lebone after working with such a wonderful group this past year. The constant collaboration, sharing of ideas and regular encouragement made it easy to work hard and as a result, to grow professionally. I felt the perfect balance of support and challenges this year- for example, I was given a lot of help, advice, and past papers when setting my June exams (I had never done anything like this before). By December, I was on my own, partially because of the chaos at the end of this term, but also because I felt I had the skills and confidence to set my papers on my own. While there were weeks that felt overwhelming, I more often felt my challenges were manageable, and I think I would have felt far deeper underwater if it wasn’t for the “happy family” of our English Department.

What I think stands out most to me, and this is not limited to my department, is that the teachers of Lebone are cared about as people first. It is incredibly comforting to know that your department, co-workers, and administrators have your back when you need it. The fact that New Teacher’s Cafe even exits says a lot about the school and its attitude towards its teachers. While I learned a lot this year about lesson planning, classroom management, and Teach Like a Champion techniques, what I learned most is that a school is a school because of the people inside of it. I have many areas to improve on when it comes to my teaching methods. I could pass back papers more efficiently, I could improve on my classroom management, I could differentiate my lessons more; but I have faith that all of this will come with time. Being surrounded by such positive, passionate people allows me to be a happier, more energetic teacher, and as a result, to improve on these smaller teaching techniques daily. I am so grateful the support I have received this year, and look forward to next year when I can return the favour to new teachers, as well as continue to grow and develop in my own classroom.