TEACHING PRACTICE AT THE PADRE MANJÓN-ELDA SCHOOL
Despite the difficulties in this course due to the pandemic, we have continued to accept teacher trainees at our educational centre – it is one of the centres with the highest demand for student teacher internships in our city. In fact, by the end of this course, we will have a total of twenty-one teacher trainees.
The practicum is a time of discovery for teacher trainees – in some cases, it is their first real experience of the profession they wish to pursue in the future.
Our main goal is to supervise students’ learning to complete their training as well as possible. To do so, students observe different levels and groups during their internship so they can get a broader perspective and have access to the training, resources, and all the management and organizational meetings that the other teachers hold. We also organize special sessions with the management and guidance teams. The selection of the tutor who will supervise the student is also important. We always start with volunteer personnel, and although we take on many trainees, there is always someone on the ‘waiting list’. The centre’s staff are used to seeing internship students during different stages of the course and working and collaborating with them.
Tutor and trainee co-tutoring.
Participating in activities to apply new methodologies (ABN Mathematics).
students during different stages of the course and working and collaborating with them. The centre is large with numerous students, a significant proportion of whom are those with special educational needs; hence, having an extra set of hands and eyes in the classroom always helps. We try to ensure that the internship students take on a semi-teaching role, advising them in the development of their activities.
The following photos represent some examples of a regular day’s activities where both the trainees and tutor are encouraged to play an active role in teaching the students.
Trainee applying PBL with the students in the school garden.
Tutor supervising the trainee’s performance with the group.
The management team meets with the trainees at the start and at the end of the internship. We are keen for their assessment and thoughts about their experience at our centre. As a reminder, we give them a personalized letter (sample provided below), which they value as it gives them a greater sense of belonging to the centre.
