A PERSONAL REFLECTION PORTFOLIO FOR CURRICULUM STUDIES IN HISTORY

 

 

UNIVERSITY OF ESWATINI

BONGANI MHLANGA

BACHELOR OF EDUCATION SECONDARY

145650

 

PORTFOLIO FOR CURRICULUM STUDIES IN HISTORY

EDC 476

 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Bongani Mhlanga is a Bachelor of Education 4^th year student at the University of Eswatini. I possess an International Diploma in Computer Studies and have a vast working experience with Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) like the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA). I fell in love with teaching while doing my day to day duties especially when dealing with community Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) and realized I had to jump in to the teaching profession to impart and transform the lives of the young minds in schools. This is because education is seen as a fundamental instrument for societal transformation in any country. 

Having done my Degree programme, I have been totally transformed and I am going to bring a portfolio of my experiences, the skills and capabilities that I have harvested from the course, Curriculum Studies in History throughout my degree journey. I will include some tangible examples as evidence of the achievements I got from the course.

                                          

A PERSONAL REFLECTION

The course Curriculum in History has been so helpful in transforming my career. It has greatly influenced the way I think and understand about the 21^st teaching and learning. I have greatly harvested many skills from the beginning of the course in year two until final year. Skills include the self-understanding of a History teacher, the art of teaching the skills needed in in History, the way to do lesson plans and scheme of work in the subject. I have also learnt to handle sources, to use teaching aids and student involvement methods.

The use of sources in History is a fundamental aspect of it that forms a bigger portion of teaching and learning of the subject. I have learnt in the course series, the importance of using sources in History and the art of selecting the best sources for a particular topic. For example, the use of journals when teaching about the history of Eswatini, and other sources rather than relying on the limited sources that are available. In this piece of work, I will be presenting a portfolio of skills and experiences in the course with tangible evidence to most of my shared experiences and skills.

 

WHAT IS IT TO BE AN EFFECTIVE HISTORY TEACHER?

Research offered a plethora of definitions of an effective teacher. Clark (1993, p. 10) wrote that, “Obviously, the definition involves someone who can increase student knowledge, but it goes beyond this in defining an effective teacher.” Being a history teacher is not as easy as one may think. It is a very complicated and sensitive subject. There are skills that a history teacher has to acquire before going out to teach the subject in schools. Doing the course has greatly empowered me with a variety of such skills. I have learnt to understand my strengths and weaknesses.

Collins (1990), while working with the Teacher Assessment Project established five criteria for an effective teacher: is committed to students and learning, knows the subject matter, is responsible for managing students, can think systematically about their own practice, and is a member of the learning community. In the series of courses in Curriculum in History, I have been well equipped to be competent enough to become effective history teachers. Content knowledge is a requirement for every history teacher; this is made possible by employing a lot of strategies that we learnt in the course. The key one is being up to date with knowledge and this is through reading books, journals, articles and daily newspaper publications. I have set my phone to a mode that enables me to read a series of daily publications which I make sure I read every day to keep myself updated with current affairs.

Another skill I have learnt is that of being reflective as a history teacher. After every lesson, it is expected that an effective history teacher reflect on the lesson he/she was facilitating on. This is because it enables them to do introspection and see where a lesson went wrong for a more refined next lesson or even a re-approach to the same lesson. Personally, I have learnt to be reflective beyond the academics, but to reflect from all that I did in every particular day and that helps me to grow in understanding my strengths and weaknesses. 

Coming to the teaching of History, I have learnt to use other teachers where I identify some limitations in addressing a particular topic. As I am new to the profession, I invited the Head of Department (HOD) to address issues about the art of answering History topics. I realized after giving them a test that they were listing and making some bullets and few had a clue about concepts of describing, explaining, and evaluating a question. It was through a personal reflection after getting the nature of responses that are not required when answering History test questions.

THE ART OF TEACHING HISTORY

Moreover, the teaching of history goes hand in hand with some expected skills that need to be developed in the learners. As I an new to the profession, the course has empowered me with skills to teach the subject effectively. History can be an inspirational and rewarding subject, yet in others it can seem dry and of little relevance. Learning to teach History in the Secondary levels helps teachers to learn to teach History in a way that pupils will find interesting, enjoyable and purposeful.

I have learnt a lot of student involvement methods of teaching History in a way that will captivate the interest of the learner. These include student involvement methods which enable the learners to feel so relaxed and free while learning because learners learn easy when the mood is so relaxed. There is a method that I have attached to my portfolio which was marked by the course lecturer. It was designed to involve learners during a lesson. The student involvement method was tried in a classroom situation and it was so effective.

 

PREPARATION OF A LESSON PLAN AND A SCHEME OF WORK IN HISTORY

Teachers begin planning a lesson by considering the context of teaching and the learning situations most likely to interest their pupils (Taylor, 1970).  Lesson planning is one of the key skills every teacher should have. Lesson plans differ from subject to subject. The history format of planning a lesson is so simple and easy to master while communicating to the teacher about the steps he/she will be following as he/she deliver the lesson. It is also informing and constructive in making sure that as a teacher, I do my best in teaching the History subject in the classroom situation.

A lesson plan comes from the scheme of work which is another complex teaching tool where topics are broken down to small chunks of teachable items. It also set the target dates of teaching those topics. On that regard, a scheme of work is as helpful as a reference point for a history teacher. It is not easy to do but so helpful to organize the way to teach the History Syllabus. The course has fully equipped me with a comprehensive knowledge of formulating a good scheme of work with all the components of it and the art of managing it. The scheme of work that I have attached as evidence in my portfolio is a design that is ideal to History and that I have learnt during the course of the program. It was checked by supervisors during teaching practice and the more I was getting feedback from them, the more improvement I saw in my scheme of work development skills as well as my teaching skills.

Mr Bongani Mhlanga