Fieldwork

Last March 25, we had our fieldwork where we were assigned to teach a certain audience using our own instructional design. We were assigned to teach proper hand washing to the children in the community. We expected at least more than 10 learners but only a few showed up so we had to modify a some plans.

It was good that we were able to change plans quickly to adapt the situation and to match it to the learners’ interest. It was good that we started the session by building rapport through introductions and dancing activity. We made sure to have enough activities so the learners would not get bored. Instead of having a discussion, we had an interactive story telling. We also had visual aids. Through this strategy, we were able to make the learning interesting for them as well as encouraged them to participate. We also demonstrated and provided step-by-step instruction of the steps in proper hand washing. We asked them to follow while one of us demonstrated. We were able to focus on each child and individualize the teaching to facilitate better learning. It was also good that we made them perform the steps by themselves with actual water and soap and only provided instructions when they needed it. We also gave them stars and commended them for doing good. It was also good that we provided them handouts so they could practice at home.

Since we had to change some plans, we somewhat became unorganized on some things. We weren’t able to follow the original plan where each of us was supposed to be assigned to a group of children. Also, we weren’t able to properly sequence the activities because towards the end, they started to lose focus.

Our session would have been smoother if we were able to organize ourselves and assign each one of us to a child to better focus on them. We should have arranged the activities where the most interesting ones are done at the end. Also, it would better if we were able to think of other activities where they could learn without them realizing we are teaching them. And the way we handled their behavior could still be improved.

I felt more of a learner than a teacher as we were teaching the children in the community. I learned a lot from the experience and at the same time the children learned something from us too. I never thought I would have so much fun teaching others because I was always anxious about speaking in front of an audience but during the fieldwork I was happy. The fieldwork was tiring, but I had so much fun.