WEEK ONE OF STUDENT TO TEACHER TRANSITION

After around a year of classes in the stately general hall, rushing with works to teacher's cabins, the hesitation at the Principal's office-door — asking for leave and the rest, and the joyous days of programmes, field visits and everything merry and worry at GCTE, Thiruvananthapuram, here we are, all 53, separated to different directions of Thiruvananthapuram City for the upcoming 10 weeks of Teaching Practice, the TRANSITION. 

Day 1

 So, today (17/07/2025) marks the beginning of a hopefully exciting journey in our B.Ed life ~ Teaching Practice Phase 1. 

The teaching practice had formally begun yesterday (16/07/2025), but since my optional mates and I had a PSC exam, we were exempted for the day. 

So, on the first day we, a group of four — Arya and Anju of Malayalam optional, my optional-mate Aswani and I reached at around 9 am at Chinnamma Memorial Girls HSS, Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram, which is the school allocated for our first phase. We marked our attendance in the register and moved to the space allocated for us. 

The first and foremost thing that captured my heart is the beauty around each corner of the school.. the school classrooms surrounding the central area which is no less than the traditional Naalukettu style.

The bell rang at 9.15 am and the prayer song commenced. With that the school hours began!

Soon after the prayer, Aswani and I met our subject teacher, Geetha Ma'am and she informed us regarding the portions and other things related. 

Since today was my first day, there was a sense of tension and anxiety before my class hour. My class hour, which was the fourth period of the time table began at 11 am soon after the small break. The students were well disciplined and were well attentive in class. Although I was initially tensed, as the class continued, I felt better. In between Geetha Ma'am came to the class and introduced me to the students. The class hour period ended at 11.40 am and I concluded the class. 

Then, at 12.15, when the bell rang for lunch break, we rushed to the lunch hall, where we served the mid-day meal to the children. Then, we had our lunch and since we did not have any classes post lunch, we sat back doing our work – lesson plans for the upcoming days!

Day 2

Another beautiful day at Chinnamma Memorial! Well, day 2 began equally beautiful as day 1, but without the tension of class, since I did not have a period that day. We reached there at around 8.45 am and since there was a PSC exam, we were asked to stand by the gate for morning gate duty (sighs). Then, after that we got to our space and engaged in our own works. 

After lunch break, we were asked to manage a class for two periods as substitution duty. It was 8th grade students and we began our session with them by introducing ourselves and also asked them to introduce themselves. We asked them to sing and they sang several songs, whole class in unison, which was beautiful indeed! 

We were invited to the fresher's day programme organized by the 12th grade students to the 11th graders. The cultural programmes by the 12th graders, the dances, songs and also the way they organized the whole programme was good!. As a teacher trainee, who is honestly wearing a mask at this initial transition period, and who is still a student at heart, was tempted to groove to the tunes. 

And with that second day ended as well! 

Day 3 

Monday blues are real! The desperate need to take a leave but the reality of not able to hit really bad! But still managed to wear the Teacher tag flawlessly! 

At around 11 am, we were asked to manage few classes for substitution, since staff meeting was going on. And the staff meeting lasted for around 10-15 minutes and the teachers were back to the classes and we went back to our spaces and continued with our works. 

Day 4

Yesterday, 22/07/2025 was declared as public holiday regarding the death of the legend, Sri. V S Achuthanandan, Former Chief minister and Revolutionary Communist leader. 

So, Wednesday (23/07/2025) marked our fourth day. 

Since I lost my class period yesterday, I asked my subject teacher and borrowed her hour for the day. It was the fourth hour, from 11 am to 11.40 am. Chithra Lekha Ma'am, from college came to the class for General Observation from the General Teachers side. In between, Geetha Ma'am also came for observation.  

The class began well, where I was able to do my best on the introduction part, and paid well attention to each student, and scaffolding part was also done in a good manner. After concluding the class, Chithra Lekha Ma'am shared her comments on my class, where she highlighted the need to increase my sound to convey the portions to the whole class more effectively. 

My class for the day ended and got back to my work. 

And that is how, first week — the first week of transition concluded!