My love for Newlands Rugby Stadium

Newlands Rugby Staduim As many important historians and people have noted, I, Warren Damons am possibly the worst English person in the world. The love of Rugby is something that is generally built into all Afrikaans-speaking people but somehow, somewhere, I manage to love this game more and more when i attend Newlands Rugby Stadium probably inheriting the passion for the sport.

Basketball,Tennis etc is not something that I despise; I just don’t really get it. I do watch it from time to time with my mates but it is not something I would go out of my way to watch. I’ve only been to Newlands Rugby stadium 4 times before and Wednesday 8 June 2016 was probably my 5th time there and i just cant get enough of this place even if there is no supporters, the vibe of just being there is something i really treasure.

Recently there have been some rumours saying WP Rugby will soon have to move to Cape Town Stadium due to some health and safety issues at Newlands. This has obviously been greeted with some hostility from the Newlands faithful; something I can absolutely understand and respect. The fans claim that this is their home and this is where their passion is. Moving to a new stadium would break the tradition and passion that’s been built up through the years.

What struck me was when I went to Newlands on Saturday 28 May 2016 was that there so much passion from fans myself of course. For most parts of the match, the crowd was up on their feet with cheers.

The Stormers weren’t at their best, due to injuries of course, and apart from the odd big tackle and knock-on the game seemed fairly average. But this was not my biggest problem with my Newlands experience, my main concern was the passion from the fans they have so much as if they will fight with their team to defeat the enemy.

Another part of the stadium i love is when the fans let the opposition know that they have entered Newlands…home of THE STORMERS. Home of South Africa’s most passionate fans. And I think that type of support will go a long way in showing WP Rugby that a move away from Newlands would be a bad idea.

Throwback to last year at my internship by Atlantis Secondary School

This post has been the hardest to write for me by far. In part, the challenge stems from trying to sum up months worth of experiences is just a few paragraphs. Even more challenging, this post marks the end of my internship at Atlantis Secondary School. I can remember those last few days, I have been preparing myself for my departure an internship i really enjoyed.
My internship at Experience has taught me more than I could have imagined. As a Sport Management Intern at a school, I feel my duties were diverse, and ever-changing. Sometimes it’s tough to recall everything I have taken over the past months, but I feel that these are some of the most beneficial lessons I have learned.

What I’ve Learned:

• I’m not alone: Coming into this position, I felt that I had no idea where my career was going and I lacked confidence about what I could do and what I am really good at. My internship has definitely given me a better understanding of my skill set and where my career may take me, but most importantly, I’ve come to learn that I am not alone. This job has taught me that almost everybody is in my same position. Very few University students know what they want to do, and it is something that is simply not worth worrying about. Thanks to the support i got I now know that if I continue to work hard things will fall into place.

• To keep dreaming: This was huge for me. I have always enjoyed dreaming, and always felt that I was pretty good at it. Yet, what this position at the school taught me is that I really didn’t have to dream to achieve things but actually make it happen myself. 

• How to behave in the office and school premises: This being my first position in an office/school atmosphere, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The environment here at Experience is quite relaxed, yet it taught me how to behave in the workplace. Simply working in the office and getting used to everything here has definitely prepared me for whatever my next position may be. Just observing the everyday events has taught me more about teamwork, and how people can come together to get things done. Although sometimes I have to remind myself to use my inside voice, I feel I’ve adapted to the office life relatively well.

• How to build my skills: Like I said, this internship has improved my skills a ton, both off paper and on paper. I didn’t realize it all of this time, but this position served not only as a positive learning experience, but a resume builder as well. I came into this with a resume that was basically naked, now I am leaving and I have lots of updating to do. My resume doesn’t need a makeover, it needs to be restarted from scratch, and that’s a good thing! I underestimated how much work I did that actually translates to my resume.

As I close of this post in my blog, I want to everyone who has been reading my blog, and I’d also like to thank everyone at Atlantis Secondary School who helped me out and gave me the advice. That was truly a great learning experience and I’ll be forever indebted to those who gave me a hand there. As far as your internship goes, remember to always be friendly, work hard, and ask questions. Always ask questions. Hopefully you come away from your internship with as much as I did. Thanks everyone, and enjoy your summer!

Teaching Practice at Bloubergrant High school

My student teaching experience has been incredibly rewarding! I have been able to apply much of what I have learned as an Life Orientation and Business Studies education student at Bloubergrant High School and develop effective and engaging teaching strategies in those classes. The areas of success within my experience involve creating a safe and welcoming classroom environment, positive rapport with students, individualization of instruction, knowledge and application of the new state standards, and practicing multiple modes of instruction.

Throughout my student teaching experience, I had to design lesson plans based on a daily basis.I frequently spoke with learners one-on-one, fostering a caring and welcoming environment while at the same time discovering individual learning needs and styles. The students were comfortable approaching me as well as one another for help and input, an essential element to any successful learning environment. 

All my evaluated lessons i managed to get more then 73% which was a real bonus for me as i didn't expect it to go that well.

Practicing multiple instruction has been another element of success within my student teaching experience. I have been able to explore various methods of teaching and facilitating student learning, including lecture, demonstration, skill and concept building, inquiry activities, and technology-based activities. The students I had the privilege of teaching this past term were not robots and therefore responded well to the differentiated instruction. For example, I handed out handouts for each lesson taught at the school. I gave students the content and information verbally as well as in written form; I also demonstrated expectations whenever possible. 

What did I learn?

• Classroom management must begin from day one. Providing clear guidelines and expectations for behavior on the very first day is crucial in setting up a successful and productive classroom environment. Enforcing those expectations on a regular basis and following through with disciplinary action is just as important. I experienced working with a challenging student at the high school level whose actions constantly required displine. 
• What would I do different
  Given the opportunity to retain what I have learned and experience student teaching a second time, I would do a few things differently. First, I would communicate more frequently with staff and parents. Second, I would facilitate more discussions and critiques throughout assessments lessons. Third, I would break down demonstrations and instruction into appropriately manageable parts. Lastly, I would practice observing the room as a whole even when speaking with students individually.
   Here are some images of Bloubergrant High school's 10th year anniversary where all the classes had to bake a cake as well as the hockey team i coached them for one training session.
  
  

  

  
  

  

  

The lost town where i grew up

Atlantis is a town in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality in the Western Cape, South Africa. Atlantis is 40 km north of the Cape Town Central Business District (CBD)^. As of 2011, it has 67,491 residents. Unemployment, lack of housing and crime are major challenges in our area.

Atlantis was established during the 1970s by the apartheid government as an industrial center and as a community for Cape Town's Colored population. The government attempted, in anticipation of the influx of people, to provide an employment base by instituting a program to encourage industry, through subsidies and other inducements, to locate there; this effort was not particularly successful. Several factors, including the Six Day War between Israel and Arab nations, forced the government of the day to rethink its strategy in terms of subsidization of industries located in the town.

The withdrawal of subsidies meant that many factories found themselves having to foot bills not formerly anticipated, including high transportation costs. This led to the migration of businesses closer to and into the Cape Town CBD, in order to be closer to means of transportation, including Paarden Island, Killarney and Epping, and the airport and harbour.

I was born in Atlantis on 28 July1994, the year most people will argue apartheid ended so i never experienced apartheid. I started creche at Reme Kleuterskool in 1998, i then later went to Primary school at Park-view Primary and that was in 2000 till the year 2007.

My high school career started in 2008 at Atlantis Secondary School and ended in 2012 when i finished my Matric, for someone to complete their matric in my community is a big deal considering all the challenges we face as youngsters going to school. After matric i then started my life on University, at CPUT where i have completed my National Diploma in Sport Management, and are currently busy with the course PGCE to be a teacher in the future.

 This was a short introduction and story about my life in Atlantis, as well as my education life and experiences in a short span. It gives me great pleasure to talk about my life and where i grew up, because if i can inspire another young person in Atlantis to follow the route i followed they might not have to deal with the challenges we face in Atlantis as previously mentioned.

 Despite the challenges and crimes this town has we still have the dunes and this is one of the most beautiful sites in the world to come to, i will always love this town.

Life Orientation lesson plans

Today i submitted my life orientation lesson plan first draft only to find out that i have so many edits to do before submitting the actual lesson plans,that will be then assessed for marks. I have so much homework and assignments now that's a bummer and a real pity.

However I did finally hand it in but the marks were not what I expected I wanted a distinction but only got a 70%. My effort and work definitely need to improve for me to get that distinction so back to the drawing board for me right now.

   
And now I'm on my way to yet another teaching practice at Saxonsea Secondary School, where it is required that i must complete 30 lessons meaning 30 lesson plans that i need to compile. I must probably get used to this the life of a teacher.
However i am  excited about the future and also excited about the four weeks at Saxonsea Secondary School just to be able to make a difference in someone's (learners) life even though you have so many lesson plans to prepare for makes it worth the effort!
Looking forward to meeting these educators and learners.
Saxonsea