SBE/ROS - Journal Writing

   Some of my juniors are currently doing their SBE/ROS at school, and a few inquired about what they were supposed to do during this course. Since most teacher trainees are, as far as I know, required to undergo SBE/ROS at school as part of their training, I thought I might as well share some information that I have based on my own experience. By saying that, I also mean that other programmes may carry out their SBEs differently, and if anyone would care to share, it'd be really good.

   Probably the main difference between SBE/ROS and teaching practice or practicum is that during SBE/ROS, you don't have to teach. Instead, you go to school to get yourself in touch with the school environment. Basically, you have to make observations and reports which have to compiled and submitted.

   For my SBE, I made a daily journal for the whole month I was at school (yes, that means 20 entries) and a +-300 pages of portfolio. There's no need to look stunned, let me explain. In this entry I'll explain about the journal writing. I hope it helps!

       Daily journal

Journals are useful- even if they're not the easiest things to write in!
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       Basically, what you have to is write a daily account of your experience in school. Since a lot can happen in one day, what you should do is choose one particular incident that particularly made an impression on you. This can be anything- ranging from your first experience attending a meeting, filling in for an absent teacher and others. In fact, I remember the lecturer who briefed us for SBe giving a rather comical example of an experience that we could write about. He said that say a bull comes into the school compound and turns the school into an uproar, we could write about what the teachers or staff did to solve the problem.

   So, if you encounter a pupil who throws up in class or whatever, you can write about that too (but it probably won't be a very pleasant thing to describe, haha). Your written account should be formal, just like how you write your assignments. It's not exactly easy to be formal, I suppose, because journals are meant to be like diaries, and diaries are personal. You write what you feel and stuff. It's okay to do this, I guess- just don't get too personal. Remember, you lecturer's going to read them!

   Always start with a short introduction of what you're going to write. Then, describe the event that you're focusing on. Maybe write a bit about the strengths and weaknesses if it's relevant. Finally, write a conclusion to the entry, as in what you learnt from the experience and so on.

   I'd include an example if I could, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to since they were submitted as reports. Besides, they were not that good and were probably written without following the guidelines above. BUt I'll think about it. It might be useful for anyone who needs to see it, so we'll see. If you like though, you could take a peek at some of my earliest entries which were written based on my own SBE. They're pretty long, and not what I submitted as journals, but you may get the basic idea of what it's about. you can check them out here: Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Entry 4.

   You can either type or write your journal entries down- but of course it depends on what your lecturer wants. Be sure to ask.

Given the choice, I definitely chose typing- saves time plus my handwriting's not worth speaking about
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   Oh, and I have a short piece of advice that I'd like to give. Yes! Follow this advice if you know what's good for you- I didn't, and had to suffer because of it! Haha! Make sure you start writing from the very first day. In fact, write them down everyday before you go home, if possible. Write when the experience is still fresh in your memories- it'll be easier to analyse and think over things. If you leave them until the last minute... well, like I said, I suffered. Like this:

You definitely don't want to end up like this! Haha
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   That's it for today. I thought I'd write about the portfolio, but nah... i'm pretty much done for the day. Hope this little bit of info helps!

p.s - I do apologise for my rather meager efforts in putting up pictures! The truth is they are too much of a bother, and I don't really care because I feel that it's my writing that's important, not the pictures. However, I noticed that I like looking at pictures when I visit other people's blogs, though of course what they write appeals more to me. So I put some pictures up- so that you won't turn cross-eyed after you finish reading!