Day 10

And the teaching continues!

Today my teacher supply package arrived!! I was SO excited. I was worried it might not make it or might break on the way over (which it almost did!). In this box I had a lot of text books I've used throughout the education program, children's books I thought would be useful in the classroom, and random materials and supplies I wasn't sure I would find over here.

During period 1 today the director's assistant came up to me with two of the schools blue sports jackets since my roommate and I had expressed an interest in buying our own. I did not think they would arrive for another two days so that was exciting as well! They are so warm which is really nice. I find I am always cold over here, and apparently the other teachers noticed it too; my roommates cooperating teacher lent me some of her warm clothes to stay warm! I was so touched. Everyone at the school is unbelievably willing to give and help. This would not happen in the states. When we were having problems exchanging our money earlier last week, the director withdrew $5000 of her own money and loaned it to us so we could buy groceries. When we thanked her she said she was just doing her job. No, she has gone way above and beyond her required duties I am sure. We are so incredibly grateful for everything everyone at the school has done and are trying to think of an appropriate way to show that gratitude.

This morning, the students teachers had a discussion on what constructivism is so they understand what we have learned through out our education and what we will be implementing to the classroom. For student teaching we have to write a two page commentary on what was said during this discussion. It lasted about 45 minutes just talking about different strategies and what we are allowed to do. I found out I can rearrange the desks if I want to and I am allowed to bring the students to the floor for read alouds, but since they have never done that before I should teache the speicfic behavior I expect to see before I have them do it.

As my teaching continued, after lunch I co-taught a lesson with one of the English teachers. This lesson didn't go as well as I would have liked because he changed the lesson on me while I was teaching. I did get part of this on flim because I have to do a video critique for student teaching but I will upload the video for you. After the lesson was finally over, I debreiefed with my supervisor since he was doing an informal observation while I was teaching. During the debrief, he provided me with plenty of tips, tricks, and pointers to help me become an even better teacher. Some of his suggestions included "hands on top, means I stop", learning to be firmer with the students since they are used to extremely strict teaching and I am used to being warm and fuzzy, and using the Interactive Magic board as a tool for students who have been demonstrating good behavior to go up to when called on. We ended up talking for about an hour on different techniques and strategies I can use in the classroom to ensure success for both my students and me.

Something I have been noticing about the teachers here is that they don't have strong classroom management techniques. They have the right idea, and you can tell they want to control them, but they arn't going about it quite right. It's really friustrating to watch because I am not sure if they would like suggestions from us. On the other hand, when we do start teaching everyday and start implementing our management techniques, if/when they are successful, they will more than likely start to implement them as well.

After debriefing, I went to observe a class for the last period and then went back to my office (yes, I have an office... well a cubicle) and continued grading some worksheets the math teacher had given me earlier. I was happy to be able to help with something! When I finished the grading, I quickly typed up the summary of constructivism and had my cooperating teacher sign it so I could turn it in when I come back tomorrow.