CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS OF LIFE HISTORY DATA
SECTION 2: FIRST LEVEL ANALYSIS - THE RESEARCH STORIES
5.2 Introduction
5.2.6 ANNA'S STORY
1 a/fended Jabavu High School in Soweto. This school was a fore-Font[or the Sow eto riots ofJ976.Many pupilsfrom this schoolplay ed a significantrole in thepupil boy cott s of1976. Jabavu Secondary is steeped inpupi lresistance politics and history is a popular subject at schoo l. At secondary schoo l 1was inspired to choose history up to Grade J2 because 1was moti vated by my father and a velY dynamic history teacher who both influen ced my decision to a large extent. 1enjoyed history because MrD L Dube, my history teacher,couldconvey his lesson across properly and he enco urage d discussion in class. Mr Dube believed that learners must to he a part of the learning process by becoming actively involved in class discussions so that learning has more value and purposein their lives.
1 rememb er my secondary school as being larg ely in the "look and listen" mode. This dominated the strategies used by the teachers. They would simp ly stand in Font of the class with all the pupils seated in rows facing the boar d. The teacher would talk for the most of the time telling us the kind of knowledg e that they would be testing in the examination. The classes were largely textbook bound. We would onlydisc uss issu esthat were in the textbookwithout any analy sis ofwhat the textb ook autho rs' biases were. Our job was to be passive learners,to developour memoryskills.
Mr Dube was different. He used to help us develop our memory skills, by writing our responses to his questions on the board. Wewere expected to copy down thesesummaries on the board. These summaries were useful when learn ing for the examinatio ns. J rememb er in my matric examination 1wrote five pages on a history essay hecause J rememberedthosenotes that the teacher used to jotdown on the board.
I always wanted to become a teacher; many peop le in my community became teachers and they regarded teaching as a good career. I was accep ted at the University of the North-West where I pursued a Psychologyand History majors. The history curriculum at university was very different from that which is taught at school. At university the history curriculum focused on critical analysis, making infe rences, doing project work and conducting research. These aspects of the history curriculum were not taught at both
primary andsecondary schools. They madehistory come alive andinsp ired us to want to study it. They did not speakdown to us. They spoke with us.However,I soon reali zed that university taught little I did not already know. That which they wanted me to know , I knew could not work in the 'real'classroom situa tion.
During my professional training years, I always though that it was easy to become a teacher, but it most certainly is not. It is an extremely taxing anddifficultjob, especially to motivate children. What 1 though about teaching bef ore I becam e a teacher is not exactly in keeping with what I'm doing now, because I alway s though that it would be easy to lead children to think along your lines.
1 started teaching history at Daveyt on Secondary School in Dave yton, an Afri can township, about 18 kilometers from Johannesburg, where poverty, crime and ills of society thrived. Before 1 went out to teach Ifelt thatI wasfairly confidentabout what was expected of me as a teacher of history. Nevertheless, there was still a degree offear, anxiety and unpreparedness because 1 did not know what Davey ton Secondary School waslike and whetherthe new teachers wouldbe welcomedattheschool. Myfirstyearof teachingwas just survival andfiguring out how things worked.
Jthoroughly enjoyed my teaching at this school and 1 attribute much of my success to my Head of Department and mentor, Mr F Chonco. For me the first two years were very crucial, and especially teaching history , which is very strong on content. I learnt more about thesubject and its content from my mentor than 1didfrom the history lectur ers at university. As a novice teacher, mento ring, proved most valuable as it provided me the supportfor the ideas and viewsthat / wantedto initiatein my history classroo m.
At the beginning teaching was very exciting, but very tryin g, especially since in my third year of teaching / was left in the deep end with a matric class because I was the only history teacher at the school at the time. As a new qualified teacher it is important that one gains the support and guidance ofpeers and colleagues at school. There is, therefore,a needfor peer support and induction structures to be put in place at schools.
At the end ofthefirst year of my tea ch ing, the school managem ent team organi zeda live- in workshop exp erienc e for the educators in whic h we discussed the new Curriculum 2005. We focusedon organizing and designing curriculum programm es according to the principles of outcomes-based education. The course was held ata chalet. It provedto be a most enriching experience both personally and professionally. I found that we were discussing in a very relaxedatmosphere,the complex issues ofthe new learning areas in the new curriculum. There was no pressureof time constraints as we have inschool. The various head of departments who attendedwere fully involved in the prep aration of this entire two-day workshop and all of us were committed to making it a worthwhile experience.
We engaged in numerous games, design activities and presentations about curriculum development. The facilitator was able to demonstrate how learning can be both entertaining and educational. The weekendfocused on developing learners ' experiences with the change In the curriculum in a holistic way, integrating allfour skills ofreading, writing,speaking and listening.
We rummaged through several exemplars of curriculum proj ects of teachers who had designed materials to support teaching and learn ing within specificschool environments.
We spoke about what were ourfears about the Outcomes- based Educat ion programme, which 'we were about to embark on. Tea chers offered each other suppo rt and advice about the issues they saw as problematicabout school.
Jfound the experience enriching because it dealt with specific issu es that were close to my heart at that time. Since we ate,partied and worked togetherfor twofull day s, Ifelt thatJgot to more personally thepeoplewith whom I work as a team in the school. I also learnt further how to deal with people with different pers onalities. One of the major results of the weekend was that I was able to reconcile with one of my colleagues with whom Jhad a longstanding disagreement .
I lef! Johannesburg to take up a teaching post at the current school in Kwa'Zulu-Natal.
My teaching at this school is an exciting experience. Iactually underwent a personality change.I becam e a very caring and understanding teacher andthat wassome thing that I was pleased with. I felt, in order toprepare our high schoolstudentsfor university , we really have to movefrom this spoon-feeding method. I'm tryin g to build confidence so that they can be proud.
Furthermore, teaching History at Jupiter Secondary is an exciting expe rience. The History curriculum adoptedin Grades8and9are very fluid and dynamic. Theteach er is allowed to "exp eriment" with new topicsand teaching strategies. Ienjoy teachin gat this school and I have great admiration for the kind of suppo rt that I received from my principal, in allowing me the space and time to initiate new ideas. I find this very comforting because I always consider being a teacher a developmental
craft,
more especially because the learnersare changing allthetime.The present curriculum is somewhat relevant anddated (Appendix M). It has changed in order to incorporate current issues such as politics oftheworld and current events with which we are confronted. However,it must be noted that many teachersseem tobeusing the same traditional methods of teaching based on a teacher-centr ed approach to teaching.
Resources are an important part ofplann ing meaning fullearning activities. !believethat there is a needfor learners to be actively involved in the learning process. Due to financial constraints the school has only thebasic teachingresources such as textbooks, a globe of the world, maps,poster and overheadprojectors. Since most of the learners come from a lower income group,many ofthemare unable to purchasebasic instruments requiredfor map work and this makesteaching ofthis aspect diffi cult.
I believe that the large class sizes impacts negativ ely on the availability of resources, since often learners have to either share resources or do without them. In order to overcome this problem I arrange the learners into groups so that they could share the
resource s within their groups. Large class sizes affected thequality ofteaching because as a teacher you cannot concentrate on so many learners at the same time. In order to keep track of current events in education, I encourage learn ers to read the newspaper and to beawar eofwhat ishappeningaroundthem.
The schoolpopulation is madeup ofdiverselearnersinterms oftheir ability andgender.
I,therefor e, enco untered a problem withaddressing the diversitybecause I havenot been adequately trained to deal with multicultural learners in my class, which points to the gap between theory and practice in my training years. Ithink I've erred in that because I haven'tadapted my style to the changing environment that weareplaced in. I tendto do an 'across-th e-board ' lesson, so I think that I need to change my style ofteaching to adapt to the new types of learners in terms ofrace and so on. Ifollowe d the criteria embeddedin theofficial curriculum toalarge extent and I amfamiliar with the contents ofthecurriculum.
There is velY littlechanges made to the curriculumas such, with minor changes madeto history content. Curriculum changes arenecessary becaus eweneed more life skills:we need to make history something that you can use when you finish school. With the changing curriculum, my teaching methods are basically the same, excep t Ifeel more confident over the years and I have leant how to incorporate learners into the lesson. I use the group method of teaching more often so that learners can become involved in class discussions.
My own experience resonates with the new appr oaches to teaching and I do not see the need for change in my teaching strategies. I am not worried about the fact that history loses its name in the new curriculum. Itwon'tbe called history but that doesn 'tmaller to me at all. I don'tmind whether it's been left outat all. I don't mindwhether it actually gets called something else. I see substantial concepts being covered across the curriculum.
Some ofthe assessment techniques used include testing, assignment. and projects. The introduction of continuous assessm ent had brought in a whole new dimension 10
assessm ent. This method of assessm ent requires the child to be assessed on an ongoi ng basis through out the year and theref ore enabled the consistent learner to pass his grade well at the end ofthe year. This assessm ent strategy is a change in my pedagogi cal approach (Appe ndix 0).
Although J initially resist ed the whole idea of continuo us assessment and Outcomes- basedEducation, theneedto be "accountable and out oftrouble " compe lled meto read the documents.I'veheardfrom afairlygood source that it's not working inNew Zealan d at the high er level. That's why they 've thrown it out. Theysay itlends to work very well at the lower levels- it doesn 't work at higher levels. Similarly, some Europe ans OBE consultants were reported to have said in four years time you'll be back 10 the old system-it's not going to work. Continuousassessment was somethingJhad been exposed to "when we were kids ". J believe that these initiatives lend themselves to the professional growth iof the teacher by way of encourag ing them to becom e more committed and accountable. When properly managed it gives teach ers self-co nfidence and thekidsbelieve in their cap acity to do things for themselves.
Although Jtried to share with the other teachers my ideas for managing the Outcomes- based Educati on, Curric ulum 2005 andcontinuous assessment, veryfew have expressed any "des ire to change". Jfound collaborating with leachers from other neighbouring schools most helpful. When Jexperienceproblems in aspectsofthe history curriculum J calledon Mrs Mkize for help,and now work collaboratively, attimes sharing on teaching on our resp ectiveareasofexpertise.
With themoraleofteachingso low at this time,Jwonder ifteaching is evergoing to bea success. Jthink motivation is onething we all musthave, andwe must show thelearn ers that we have the drive to get ahead, and J think with the changes taking place with Outcomes-based Educationand Curriculum 2005;Jbelievethat the style ofteaching will change.
For History teaching to be successful, the curriculum needs to be more relevant to the current climate in South Africa. The Department of Education and Culture should assist schools by providin g resources,which will enable learners toprepare for thefuture and to become technologically advanced. Basically the whole system has to be changed. In fact, I believe it hasto be changed drastically in order to fu lfllltheneeds a/the oppressed people. Thebest wayto fix education was toforce the government to comp letelysubsidize our education.
Anna can be seen as breaking free from therigid stereotypes of work and family and thus testing out other ways of being and doing teacher. These moments through which teacher is redefined against the traditional static definitions ofwhat teachers do are powerful. In these spaces meanings are created that havethe potential to recast teach ers' identities.