BIS #2931 NEW PRACTICAL TRAINEE'S LEARNING

BIS Mumbai                                  

BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE #2931

NEW PRACTICAL TRAINEE'S LEARNING

Cl. Romero D'Souza sdb

 

LONAVLA, MAY 17, 2012: The New Practical Trainees meet was held in the residence of Don Bosco, Lonavla. There were seven clerics (Denver D'silva, Mario D'Couto, Rudolf D'Souza, Michael Gaikwad, Rohan Pinto, Sunil Pinto, and Romero D'Souza) that were attending this meeting, a two and half day programme from May 15- 17, 2012. The input given was by two well-experienced and versatile Salesians, the Vice-Provincial of the Salesian Mumbai Province Rev. Fr Ajoy Fernandes sdb and the Principal of St Dominic Savio School, Andheri – Fr. Crispino sdb.

 

DAY 1
We began the day with the Eucharistic Celebration wherein Rev. Fr. Fernandes sdb was the main celebrant and Fr. D'Souza sdb was the con-celebrant. During the sermon Fr. Ajoy spoke of the spirit that we need to have and live in our day-to-day lives, in our apostolate. Therefore, we need to make practical this spirit in a more concrete way by living it out.


In the morning session we had brain storming of sharing our experiences with concrete pointers given to us by Fr. Ajoy. We had our brothers sharing their experiences based on the guidelines presented to us by him. He went on to conclude this session by asking us to attune ourselves with a certain perspective that will help us in our vision and mission. Later on, we had a PowerPoint Presentation on Salesian Youth Ministry inviting us to situate ourselves in and with a perspective that will make and bring alive the Four Dimension – "Me" Qualified aspect according to our Father and Founder Don Bosco of – Home, School, Church, and the playground (Art. 40). This is to qualify us the unqualified in this field of Practical Trainee. A parallel thought can be actualized in the four L's – to live, to learn, to love and to leave a legacy. This was supplemented with another PowerPoint Presentation on Salesian Youth Spirituality and Football emphasizing on the role and responsibility of the four dimensions which are all interrelated and interlinked in order to achieve one goal, one vision, and to have an overview of the whole reality.


After the break we had a session on Tips for Practical Trainee. The climax here was that of the "Animating Presence" which brings to light: the role of the assistant, the duties and responsibilities of the assistant, vision and goal of the community, the relationship in the community, and importance of Time and Event management.


The afternoon session was taken charge by Fr. Crispino wherein he highlighted the importance of being a well-planned, well-executed, along with it being a keen observer and prudent Salesian by taking us to places of high and dutiful care to be taken while assisting. Places such as the Chapel, Dormitory, Study Hall, and Refectory. After the exercise of jotting down things necessary for pre-planning of these places we had a fruitful group discussion.


In the evening we had a session on the pre-planning of the entire year 2012-2013 in order to enhance the idea of planning and have a comprehensive view as a Practical Trainee. Later on we had a visual presentation on the topic, "Do You Believe in Me" taken by Fr. Crispino as in to have belief in oneself and the mission we are assigned to, that is, in the setup we are placed respectively. In the latter half of the meeting we had a session on Class Management and Handling Reactions with Emotional Imbalance of Self as well as of Students. This concluded with adequate steps to be a successful teacher and have a successful classroom.


The day come to an end with the screening of an educational film entitled, "Front of the Class." This added a lot of insights and inspirational learning that could be taken for self growth and helpful ideas to live by as an educator.


DAY 2
We began the day by picking out learning's that could be appreciated positively from the movie that we screened on the day one. There were a lot of suggestions that came from the participants which were very helpful to each one of us. Fr. Crispino invited us to focus on the two main pillars that of understanding and of love. Followed by this we had the presentation on Positive Discipline and having positive approach toward life and teaching. For this we had an exercise of putting down all the negative baggage's that we see in our institutes being carried and came with positive applications as to how we can prevent them from happening.

 

After this we had a session taken by Fr. Ajoy on the follow-up of the running of the institute, in a special way that of, study. The sub-headings on which he elaborated were on: Rationale, Motivation, Skills, and Emotional Balance.


In the afternoon, we had the spelling out of our group discussions on the positive discipline and the details marked for the yearly plan which was incredibly summed up by Fr. Ajoy in giving a concrete structure to the raw and foundational work laid by us in our sharing. 


A practical implementation of preparing the blue print for the main events of the year such as Annual Day, Sports Day, and Catechical Day for which we had to make a detailed plan of the event (why), time (when), venue (where), person responsible (who), things to be done and required (what and how) was conducted in the evening.  Pre-planning and post-planning were also the points that were taken into consideration.


We ended the day by watching another educational film called the "Safe Harbor". A decision on the same topic was conducted in the morning. This showed the importance of being an educator with the quality of love and understanding. After the film followed a discussion on the duties and responsibilities of the practical trainee that needs to be kept in mind as well as commit oneself to the action.


In the concluding session we had chalking out the monthly as well as the yearly plan for 2012-2013 in order to be pro-active and well planned to get started the right and spiritual manner. As one has rightly said, "Well begun is half done" we the new practical trainee had a fruitful learning which will surely help us to complete the next half keeping in mind the "Why am I doing what I am doing?"

BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE (BIS) MUMBAI

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