Happy St. Patricks Day!
After exploring Hong Kong until the wee hours of the morning, I did not roll out of bed until close to noon. Once I got up my roommate and I just stayed in our jammies and watched a movie on TV. When I finally decided to motivate I took a shower, did my laundry, and cleaned my room a little bit.
Later that afternoon we planning on going to a piano concert that one of the other student teachers had discovered. I thought the concert started at 6:30, my roommate thought it started at 8, but it actually started at 4pm.. oops! Guess we missed that one. Probably a good thing we didn't go since we were so exhausted. My roommate and I decided to lay low and have a nice St. Pattys Day celebration of pizza, beers, and milkshakes with coco, baileys, and ice cream. We invited the boys to join us but I think they had other plans since they never made over. After the movie was over we both crashed and went to bed at about 10:30. It was nice having a relaxing day and not really doing much.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Day 27
This week my weekend started early because we all needed to go to Hong Kong to get our passports stamped.
We got to Hong Kong by taking the casino shuttle to the Taipa ferry terminal and then bought ferry tickets to Hong Kong. The tickets were only about $140 MOP which isn't that bad. The entire ferry ride took an hour which was really nice. When we arrived in Hong Kong it was 1pm and we decided to figure out how to get to one of the male student teachers cousins. We took the subway to get there which was really fun and then walked a short ways. Once we met up with his cousin she showed us to a traditional dim sum restaurant. Unfortunately she did not have time to stay and eat with us so we ate lunch and made plans to meet up with her after she got off work. Dim sum was so good! I think we had about 8 dishes to share between the four of us. It was really good. One of my favorites was a steamed bun with pork and broth inside. We had three orders of those alone haha. Delicious! After lunch we started to make our way to the Hong Kong park, however, as we were walking we ran into a group of college students who were conducting a survey and asked each of us some questions. I thought it was a lot of and they were able to give us directions to the park which was great. This park is huge.. As American when we think of park we normally think of a decent sized grassy area with some play equipment, benches, and water fountains. Well this park was huge and absolutely beautiful. The first place we went to in the park was a Tea Ware Museum. This displayed the progression of tea sets through various dynasties. It was really fascinating to read why they had changes and the symbolism behind the colors in some of the tea pots. In addition to tea ware, this museum also show cased Chinese seal stamps. These are stamps that have calligraphy carved into the bottom and then that is pressed into ink so it can be stamped on paper. Some of these were very large and so intricate. I can't imagine how long it would take to make one. Once we finished looking around, we went to another tea ware museum around the corner. There was a gift shop there so I explored and looked at some of the tea pots. I really wanted to buy one and bring it home but I was worried it may break.
The next place we went to was the plant conservatory. This was next to an Olympic stage. Not really sure what it was for because it was pretty small but it had the Olympic rings. In the plant conservatory we went through different rooms that had a collection of plants from different climates around the world. It was to go from dry and arid to wet and humid. Once we left the conservatory, we wanted to go to the building in the Dark Knight where batman jumps off it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uI9tBS_1C0) but decided we didn't have enough time as it would take us twenty minutes to get there and we were meeting with the other student teachers cousin in forty minutes. We will have to go next time! On our way meeting up with his cousin, we walked by a cathedral that was really lovely. I'm not sure what religion it was but the stained glass windows were so pretty! We stayed for a few minutes and listened to the music and then headed on our way. When we got to the building in which his cousin worked, I was thrilled to find a Starbucks. They served red velvet cake! I was very happy. Before we were allowed to go up the 47 floors to where she worked, we had to screen our bags and go through a security check and then were given a visitors pass. When we finally met up with her, we headed back down to the bottom floor and decided on a place to have dinner. We ended up going to a food court place that had burgers and pasta! I found a grill that had a pesto and salmon sandwich only their grill wasn't working so I couldn't get it :(. Instead I got a burger and a FRESH cucumber salad. I was super excited to have fresh vegetables, that is one thing we are not getting here.
After dinner we said headed bought tickets for the tram and headed up the peak. This is a lookout that is taller than all of Hong Kong. It was so cool. The tram ride was about a 60 degree incline.. eek! Once we got to the top we were able to go outside and see the city. Unfortunately the fog was starting to roll in so we weren't able to see that much for too long. As we waited in line to head back down, we talked about how this was similar to a ride at Disney Land. We waited in line for forty minutes! After we got the bottom it took us 5 hours to get home. We tried to take a different ferry than the one we rode over on but there was no-one selling tickets so we had to take a cab to the other ferry terminal which was a lot further away than we though. Once we were there we encountered a man who was being extremely rude. We were all waiting in line buy our tickets and this man had already cut in front of someone and then kept hitting my roommate with his bag and tried to cut in front of her. She and the other male student teacher called him out on it and said he was being rude and that she was there before he was and he swore at her in response. I think we were all ready to go home by that point. It had been a very fun but very long day and we were tired. When we got to shore, we had to figure out how to get home since we were in Macau not Taipa. I thought the casino shuttles would be there to pick us up but they were not so we had to take a cab again. It took a while to explain to our driver where wanted to go but he got us to the casino which is fine, its only a five minute walk from our apartment anyway.
We ended up getting home at 3:45 and probably walked near 6 or 7 miles. It was such a fun day but my bed never felt better!
We got to Hong Kong by taking the casino shuttle to the Taipa ferry terminal and then bought ferry tickets to Hong Kong. The tickets were only about $140 MOP which isn't that bad. The entire ferry ride took an hour which was really nice. When we arrived in Hong Kong it was 1pm and we decided to figure out how to get to one of the male student teachers cousins. We took the subway to get there which was really fun and then walked a short ways. Once we met up with his cousin she showed us to a traditional dim sum restaurant. Unfortunately she did not have time to stay and eat with us so we ate lunch and made plans to meet up with her after she got off work. Dim sum was so good! I think we had about 8 dishes to share between the four of us. It was really good. One of my favorites was a steamed bun with pork and broth inside. We had three orders of those alone haha. Delicious! After lunch we started to make our way to the Hong Kong park, however, as we were walking we ran into a group of college students who were conducting a survey and asked each of us some questions. I thought it was a lot of and they were able to give us directions to the park which was great. This park is huge.. As American when we think of park we normally think of a decent sized grassy area with some play equipment, benches, and water fountains. Well this park was huge and absolutely beautiful. The first place we went to in the park was a Tea Ware Museum. This displayed the progression of tea sets through various dynasties. It was really fascinating to read why they had changes and the symbolism behind the colors in some of the tea pots. In addition to tea ware, this museum also show cased Chinese seal stamps. These are stamps that have calligraphy carved into the bottom and then that is pressed into ink so it can be stamped on paper. Some of these were very large and so intricate. I can't imagine how long it would take to make one. Once we finished looking around, we went to another tea ware museum around the corner. There was a gift shop there so I explored and looked at some of the tea pots. I really wanted to buy one and bring it home but I was worried it may break.
The next place we went to was the plant conservatory. This was next to an Olympic stage. Not really sure what it was for because it was pretty small but it had the Olympic rings. In the plant conservatory we went through different rooms that had a collection of plants from different climates around the world. It was to go from dry and arid to wet and humid. Once we left the conservatory, we wanted to go to the building in the Dark Knight where batman jumps off it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uI9tBS_1C0) but decided we didn't have enough time as it would take us twenty minutes to get there and we were meeting with the other student teachers cousin in forty minutes. We will have to go next time! On our way meeting up with his cousin, we walked by a cathedral that was really lovely. I'm not sure what religion it was but the stained glass windows were so pretty! We stayed for a few minutes and listened to the music and then headed on our way. When we got to the building in which his cousin worked, I was thrilled to find a Starbucks. They served red velvet cake! I was very happy. Before we were allowed to go up the 47 floors to where she worked, we had to screen our bags and go through a security check and then were given a visitors pass. When we finally met up with her, we headed back down to the bottom floor and decided on a place to have dinner. We ended up going to a food court place that had burgers and pasta! I found a grill that had a pesto and salmon sandwich only their grill wasn't working so I couldn't get it :(. Instead I got a burger and a FRESH cucumber salad. I was super excited to have fresh vegetables, that is one thing we are not getting here.
After dinner we said headed bought tickets for the tram and headed up the peak. This is a lookout that is taller than all of Hong Kong. It was so cool. The tram ride was about a 60 degree incline.. eek! Once we got to the top we were able to go outside and see the city. Unfortunately the fog was starting to roll in so we weren't able to see that much for too long. As we waited in line to head back down, we talked about how this was similar to a ride at Disney Land. We waited in line for forty minutes! After we got the bottom it took us 5 hours to get home. We tried to take a different ferry than the one we rode over on but there was no-one selling tickets so we had to take a cab to the other ferry terminal which was a lot further away than we though. Once we were there we encountered a man who was being extremely rude. We were all waiting in line buy our tickets and this man had already cut in front of someone and then kept hitting my roommate with his bag and tried to cut in front of her. She and the other male student teacher called him out on it and said he was being rude and that she was there before he was and he swore at her in response. I think we were all ready to go home by that point. It had been a very fun but very long day and we were tired. When we got to shore, we had to figure out how to get home since we were in Macau not Taipa. I thought the casino shuttles would be there to pick us up but they were not so we had to take a cab again. It took a while to explain to our driver where wanted to go but he got us to the casino which is fine, its only a five minute walk from our apartment anyway.
We ended up getting home at 3:45 and probably walked near 6 or 7 miles. It was such a fun day but my bed never felt better!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Day 26
Hello!
Sorry I skipped Wednesday.. I cannot remember what I did but I'm fairly positive I did not teach that day so you didn't miss much. Anyway, here is Thursday.
Today I led my first literacy lunch. About a week ago I went to the director and talked to her about my idea to lead a literacy night with the students and their parents so they could all learn some fun and simple at-home literacy enhancing games. However, she and the staff decided that it would be best to do this during the students' hour and a half lunch because the parents usually work late and have babysitters pick the students up from school. I wasn't picky when the literacy games happened so I thought that was fine. I was hoping to interact with the parents and share some games with them, but maybe that can happen at a different event.
At 12:45 I went to the lunch room, or the canteen, and pulled the fifteen students who were assigned to come play literacy games with me. I had two of the student teachers helping out, so that was really nice since I had no idea how this was going to go. Since all the other students were taking their rest time, I was given an empty room on the top floor that no one uses. Before I went downstairs to pick my kids up, I organized everything and prepared for them. I had different games spread out over 4 hexagonal tables and one rectangular table. I brought phonemic BINGO, sight word memory, word strips to write their name in English and Chinese, creating a grocery list, and drawing a picture and writing a story about it. When the students saw that this was supposed to be fun, they started to relax. As they entered the room I told students to sit down at any table and wait for directions. At that point the students dispersed around only three of the hexagonal tables so each of the student teachers somewhat took over the table they were next to. Since I hadn't formally planned exactly what was going to happen, we all just let the students choose which literacy activity they wanted to participate in. There were a few boys that I was playing what who really got into the Phonemic BINGO and sight word memory. It was really fun to watch them play. That went until 1:15 when we put the room back and headed back to our respective classrooms.
Immediately following the literacy lunch, I taught my class' phonics and handwriting lesson alone. My cooperating teacher had forgot to run an errand for our Fruit Day that afternoon and was heading to the store with another teacher so I was in charge of the lesson, which I was totally open to. However, once I came back from my literacy lunch all the students have their ten minute break and getting them to sit down after that is nearly impossible. It seems to me that having their break in the classroom does not help them mentally differentiate where they can be rowdy and where they should be quiet. I spent about 5 minutes just trying to get my students to listen and sit in their seats. I had students saying the F word and shaking their booty at other students, completely inappropriate. However, I did the best I could to manage them. I was able to get them to sit down and stay quiet, not silent, but decently quiet. It just took some time. Then I had to start the lesson since we only had 15 minutes left (the two lessons directly after lunch are two 20 minute lessons with no break in between). The way the phonics and handwriting lesson is taught is by focusing on a specific letter in their handwriting book and feeling in their throat how it is different from other sounds. In this lesson I had students feel how F was different from V and had them feel their necks as they said it. After they said each sound I told them to start writing their sentences in their book which has F alliterations. Once they finish that they are supposed to copy them into another book. Unfortunately many of my students did not get to this part because they were not listening and kept getting off task. When one of my co-teachers came in for the second twenty minute lesson, I told him I could not help teach it because I needed to recompose myself. We had just planned a review game for their test next week and I needed to get my head on straight before I could go back in and teach. I was really unhappy with how my lesson went and how my students walked all over me. When I was teaching, the assistant director was watching and even pulled some students out. When I returned to class I apologized profusely because I felt like I should have had better control of the class and he then apologized for how poorly behaved the students were. As I re-entered my class, I worked on sorting the two books my students were supposed to finish during my class. For the students who did not finish their work, I gave it back to them and assigned it as homework. Many of them were shocked at this as they have never gotten homework in this particular class before. Mind you they do receive homework! They get homework in about 5 different subjects a night.
After my class finished the review, my co-teacher and I went back to the office and I told my cooperating teacher that I had given their work as homework since they did not finish it and she appreciated that.
It's really hard for me to not take what happens in the class personally because it's my class for the next three months; they are my responsibility. I guess you never stop trying new techniques and strategies until you find one (or five) that work!
After the second to last period, all the P1 classes went down to the canteen (lunch room) for their fruit day. They have recently been learning about fruits in their English classes and this was their final activity. Every student brought a bag of fruit with them and all of the teacher worked to prepare it. There were apples, bananas, dragon fruits, grapes, and oranges. They were all mixed up with Miracle Whip which was not what I was expecting. When I was helping to peel the apples, I was having a very difficult time using the peeler they had since it was different from what I have used at home. I tried many times but still had no success. As I was struggling to get the hang of this, the doctor (instead of a nurse they have a female doctor) watched what I was doing and then showed me the correct way and then let me try again. Even after she had showed me how to peel it correctly I was still having trouble. Since she saw this she took the peeler from me, put it in my hand, and then put her hand over mine and helped me peel the apple. She told me how I should feel it and the angle the peeler should come in contact with the apple. After this I was finally able to peel the apple by myself!
This goes to show that there is not one way to teach students, everyone learns differently. The doctor realized that and instead of peeling the apple for me, she helped me learn by teaching me in a way that made sense to me. To that I was greatly appreciative.
Sorry I skipped Wednesday.. I cannot remember what I did but I'm fairly positive I did not teach that day so you didn't miss much. Anyway, here is Thursday.
Today I led my first literacy lunch. About a week ago I went to the director and talked to her about my idea to lead a literacy night with the students and their parents so they could all learn some fun and simple at-home literacy enhancing games. However, she and the staff decided that it would be best to do this during the students' hour and a half lunch because the parents usually work late and have babysitters pick the students up from school. I wasn't picky when the literacy games happened so I thought that was fine. I was hoping to interact with the parents and share some games with them, but maybe that can happen at a different event.
At 12:45 I went to the lunch room, or the canteen, and pulled the fifteen students who were assigned to come play literacy games with me. I had two of the student teachers helping out, so that was really nice since I had no idea how this was going to go. Since all the other students were taking their rest time, I was given an empty room on the top floor that no one uses. Before I went downstairs to pick my kids up, I organized everything and prepared for them. I had different games spread out over 4 hexagonal tables and one rectangular table. I brought phonemic BINGO, sight word memory, word strips to write their name in English and Chinese, creating a grocery list, and drawing a picture and writing a story about it. When the students saw that this was supposed to be fun, they started to relax. As they entered the room I told students to sit down at any table and wait for directions. At that point the students dispersed around only three of the hexagonal tables so each of the student teachers somewhat took over the table they were next to. Since I hadn't formally planned exactly what was going to happen, we all just let the students choose which literacy activity they wanted to participate in. There were a few boys that I was playing what who really got into the Phonemic BINGO and sight word memory. It was really fun to watch them play. That went until 1:15 when we put the room back and headed back to our respective classrooms.
Immediately following the literacy lunch, I taught my class' phonics and handwriting lesson alone. My cooperating teacher had forgot to run an errand for our Fruit Day that afternoon and was heading to the store with another teacher so I was in charge of the lesson, which I was totally open to. However, once I came back from my literacy lunch all the students have their ten minute break and getting them to sit down after that is nearly impossible. It seems to me that having their break in the classroom does not help them mentally differentiate where they can be rowdy and where they should be quiet. I spent about 5 minutes just trying to get my students to listen and sit in their seats. I had students saying the F word and shaking their booty at other students, completely inappropriate. However, I did the best I could to manage them. I was able to get them to sit down and stay quiet, not silent, but decently quiet. It just took some time. Then I had to start the lesson since we only had 15 minutes left (the two lessons directly after lunch are two 20 minute lessons with no break in between). The way the phonics and handwriting lesson is taught is by focusing on a specific letter in their handwriting book and feeling in their throat how it is different from other sounds. In this lesson I had students feel how F was different from V and had them feel their necks as they said it. After they said each sound I told them to start writing their sentences in their book which has F alliterations. Once they finish that they are supposed to copy them into another book. Unfortunately many of my students did not get to this part because they were not listening and kept getting off task. When one of my co-teachers came in for the second twenty minute lesson, I told him I could not help teach it because I needed to recompose myself. We had just planned a review game for their test next week and I needed to get my head on straight before I could go back in and teach. I was really unhappy with how my lesson went and how my students walked all over me. When I was teaching, the assistant director was watching and even pulled some students out. When I returned to class I apologized profusely because I felt like I should have had better control of the class and he then apologized for how poorly behaved the students were. As I re-entered my class, I worked on sorting the two books my students were supposed to finish during my class. For the students who did not finish their work, I gave it back to them and assigned it as homework. Many of them were shocked at this as they have never gotten homework in this particular class before. Mind you they do receive homework! They get homework in about 5 different subjects a night.
After my class finished the review, my co-teacher and I went back to the office and I told my cooperating teacher that I had given their work as homework since they did not finish it and she appreciated that.
It's really hard for me to not take what happens in the class personally because it's my class for the next three months; they are my responsibility. I guess you never stop trying new techniques and strategies until you find one (or five) that work!
After the second to last period, all the P1 classes went down to the canteen (lunch room) for their fruit day. They have recently been learning about fruits in their English classes and this was their final activity. Every student brought a bag of fruit with them and all of the teacher worked to prepare it. There were apples, bananas, dragon fruits, grapes, and oranges. They were all mixed up with Miracle Whip which was not what I was expecting. When I was helping to peel the apples, I was having a very difficult time using the peeler they had since it was different from what I have used at home. I tried many times but still had no success. As I was struggling to get the hang of this, the doctor (instead of a nurse they have a female doctor) watched what I was doing and then showed me the correct way and then let me try again. Even after she had showed me how to peel it correctly I was still having trouble. Since she saw this she took the peeler from me, put it in my hand, and then put her hand over mine and helped me peel the apple. She told me how I should feel it and the angle the peeler should come in contact with the apple. After this I was finally able to peel the apple by myself!
This goes to show that there is not one way to teach students, everyone learns differently. The doctor realized that and instead of peeling the apple for me, she helped me learn by teaching me in a way that made sense to me. To that I was greatly appreciative.
Day 24
Tuesday
Today I made my classroom expectations clear. I started the day by writing my rules on a poster I created while my students sorted their homework. When I finished writing the rules, I passed out rule sheet for each of my students to copy the rules down on to. This way they would always be able to refer back to them. After my students wrote down the first 4 rules, I had them read each rule aloud with me and help me to understand what they mean. The first rule was "Be NICE all the time". One of my students raised his hand and said it means to always be good, don't be mean. That was exactly what I was looking for. After he explained what this rule meant to him, I asked the class if pushing my friend would be nice or if helping my friend would be nice. They said helping would be nice. Since it seemed like everyone understood the first rule, I moved on to the second which was "RAISE your hand". I had the class show me what this looks like and everyone raised their hand in the air. I asked them if its okay to yell out or if its ok to raise my hand. The class said it is ok to raise your hand. I explained that if everyone yells out at the same time its too loud so we all need to raise our hands. To support that, I went into the third rule "Talk with an INSIDE VOICE". The concept of inside/outside voices is very foreign to these students. They have never heard it before and are allowed to yell in class. I demonstrated the difference of inside and outside voices by yelling and then talking quietly and asking my students which sounded better. They said the the quieter voice was better. I then called on a student to explain what quieter voices are better and this student said that if everyone yells it will get too loud. I said she was exactly right and went on to the fourth rule, "LISTEN to the teacher". For this rule I explained that no matter which teacher is leading the lesson, they must always listen to that person. I asked them who they should be listening to now and they pointed to me and said "Ms. Maddy". After we discussed that rule I asked them to think what they think of one more rule that they would like to make for their class. After my students thought about it, one little girl raised her hand and said the last rule should be "do not run". I asked the class to raise their hand if they would also like this to be the last rule. Everyones hand was in the air. Since they had decided what the last rule was I wrote it on the poster and had them copy it and write their name on the bottom of the paper where it says they will always follow the rules. After they wrote their names one of my students asked me why my name wasn't on the poster. I asked the class if they would like me to write my name and everyone said yes! So I signed my name and explained that now everyone in this room-me included- must follow the rules all the time. After I signed it I had students come up and sign it as well.
Throughout the day I continued to refer back to the rules and remind students that everyone is held accountable to them. When a student would break the rule, I would have him/her walk up to the poster with me and tell which rule was broken. I'm hoping that the rules will form a sort of consistency with my students.
After I taught my rules, I led another lesson following The Important Book. In this lesson I reviewed what important means and gave examples of various things that are important to me. When I opened the lesson I had students share with me what they remember about the word important and what is important to them. After that I pulled out different items that I brought with me in my bag and we discussed how each item was important. While we were doing this, I pointed back to the word strip I had created of "important" on the chalkboard. After we discussed how the different items I brought were important, I held up the pictures of fruit I brought in and for each picture had the class tell me what it was. Since we have tried the worksheet a few times now with no success, I thought I would try again from a different approach. This time I put the worksheet under the document camera so it was visible to the whole class. As I went through the worksheet, I explained what should be written on each line. After I passed out their worksheet and walked around monitoring their work, I realized they were not ready for it. Almost everyone was still making mistakes with how to write the worksheet. Even though my students weren't successful with the worksheet I still feel the lesson was successful; they were able to talk with me about what important means and describe how various items are important. I think I'm approaching this lesson way differently than anyone else would because instead of choosing a camera, phone, or laptop as important items, I chose every day items and had my students seek out the importance in each. For example, some of the items I brought into this lesson were a water bottle, tissues, a pencil, and a chair. I want my students to be able to understand what important means and be able to identify what is important about any given object.
I think with time they will be able to do that more easily instead of being prompted by me.
Today I made my classroom expectations clear. I started the day by writing my rules on a poster I created while my students sorted their homework. When I finished writing the rules, I passed out rule sheet for each of my students to copy the rules down on to. This way they would always be able to refer back to them. After my students wrote down the first 4 rules, I had them read each rule aloud with me and help me to understand what they mean. The first rule was "Be NICE all the time". One of my students raised his hand and said it means to always be good, don't be mean. That was exactly what I was looking for. After he explained what this rule meant to him, I asked the class if pushing my friend would be nice or if helping my friend would be nice. They said helping would be nice. Since it seemed like everyone understood the first rule, I moved on to the second which was "RAISE your hand". I had the class show me what this looks like and everyone raised their hand in the air. I asked them if its okay to yell out or if its ok to raise my hand. The class said it is ok to raise your hand. I explained that if everyone yells out at the same time its too loud so we all need to raise our hands. To support that, I went into the third rule "Talk with an INSIDE VOICE". The concept of inside/outside voices is very foreign to these students. They have never heard it before and are allowed to yell in class. I demonstrated the difference of inside and outside voices by yelling and then talking quietly and asking my students which sounded better. They said the the quieter voice was better. I then called on a student to explain what quieter voices are better and this student said that if everyone yells it will get too loud. I said she was exactly right and went on to the fourth rule, "LISTEN to the teacher". For this rule I explained that no matter which teacher is leading the lesson, they must always listen to that person. I asked them who they should be listening to now and they pointed to me and said "Ms. Maddy". After we discussed that rule I asked them to think what they think of one more rule that they would like to make for their class. After my students thought about it, one little girl raised her hand and said the last rule should be "do not run". I asked the class to raise their hand if they would also like this to be the last rule. Everyones hand was in the air. Since they had decided what the last rule was I wrote it on the poster and had them copy it and write their name on the bottom of the paper where it says they will always follow the rules. After they wrote their names one of my students asked me why my name wasn't on the poster. I asked the class if they would like me to write my name and everyone said yes! So I signed my name and explained that now everyone in this room-me included- must follow the rules all the time. After I signed it I had students come up and sign it as well.
Throughout the day I continued to refer back to the rules and remind students that everyone is held accountable to them. When a student would break the rule, I would have him/her walk up to the poster with me and tell which rule was broken. I'm hoping that the rules will form a sort of consistency with my students.
After I taught my rules, I led another lesson following The Important Book. In this lesson I reviewed what important means and gave examples of various things that are important to me. When I opened the lesson I had students share with me what they remember about the word important and what is important to them. After that I pulled out different items that I brought with me in my bag and we discussed how each item was important. While we were doing this, I pointed back to the word strip I had created of "important" on the chalkboard. After we discussed how the different items I brought were important, I held up the pictures of fruit I brought in and for each picture had the class tell me what it was. Since we have tried the worksheet a few times now with no success, I thought I would try again from a different approach. This time I put the worksheet under the document camera so it was visible to the whole class. As I went through the worksheet, I explained what should be written on each line. After I passed out their worksheet and walked around monitoring their work, I realized they were not ready for it. Almost everyone was still making mistakes with how to write the worksheet. Even though my students weren't successful with the worksheet I still feel the lesson was successful; they were able to talk with me about what important means and describe how various items are important. I think I'm approaching this lesson way differently than anyone else would because instead of choosing a camera, phone, or laptop as important items, I chose every day items and had my students seek out the importance in each. For example, some of the items I brought into this lesson were a water bottle, tissues, a pencil, and a chair. I want my students to be able to understand what important means and be able to identify what is important about any given object.
I think with time they will be able to do that more easily instead of being prompted by me.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Day 23
Week 3
And the teaching continues!
I think this is the first day every single one of my students is here for the whole day. I'm a little surprised at this actually. I think I forgot to mention it in an earlier blog, but at one point last week six of my students went home sick throughout the day! It was so bad they moved my class to the library and sanitized the room. Thankfully I did not get sick!
Today I taught an English game with one of my co-teachers. Since the students were starting a new chapter called "what's in my bag". I had planned an activity where I show them things in a school bag and talk about what they are and then show them things in MY bag and talk about what they are. For the purpose of this class, I created a Venn Diagram for the students to use as they talk in pairs about what is in their school bag. However, when this lesson started, my co-teacher took over and didn't actually let me teach the lesson I had planned until the students already had their Venn Diagram sheet. When he handed it over to me I did my best to teach what I planned, and it worked slightly. My students were interested to see what I items I brought from my bag, and were especially interested when I pulled out a picture of my boyfriend and me. One of the boys asked if he was my dad which I had to chuckle at.
By the end of the lesson, my students had still not been able to complete the Venn Diagram because they were unable to focus which made me feel extremely defeated. I still tried to find what went well and what I can improve on, not only what went wrong. In this lesson what went well was grabbing their attention by pulling items out of my bag, reminding them that I will call on them if they are quiet, and writing a sample Venn Diagram for them.
And the teaching continues!
I think this is the first day every single one of my students is here for the whole day. I'm a little surprised at this actually. I think I forgot to mention it in an earlier blog, but at one point last week six of my students went home sick throughout the day! It was so bad they moved my class to the library and sanitized the room. Thankfully I did not get sick!
Today I taught an English game with one of my co-teachers. Since the students were starting a new chapter called "what's in my bag". I had planned an activity where I show them things in a school bag and talk about what they are and then show them things in MY bag and talk about what they are. For the purpose of this class, I created a Venn Diagram for the students to use as they talk in pairs about what is in their school bag. However, when this lesson started, my co-teacher took over and didn't actually let me teach the lesson I had planned until the students already had their Venn Diagram sheet. When he handed it over to me I did my best to teach what I planned, and it worked slightly. My students were interested to see what I items I brought from my bag, and were especially interested when I pulled out a picture of my boyfriend and me. One of the boys asked if he was my dad which I had to chuckle at.
By the end of the lesson, my students had still not been able to complete the Venn Diagram because they were unable to focus which made me feel extremely defeated. I still tried to find what went well and what I can improve on, not only what went wrong. In this lesson what went well was grabbing their attention by pulling items out of my bag, reminding them that I will call on them if they are quiet, and writing a sample Venn Diagram for them.
Day 22
Well I have officially been here for 3 weeks... wow! That went fast!
My Sunday is here and I am not motivated to do anything.. so what do I do?
I go to Cuppa Coffee and skype :)
I not only had a wonderful cup of coffee there this morning but I also had a wonderful ham and cheese danish. They make everything from scratch by the way. I stayed there for about 4 hours. It's really easy to do! When I came home I started planning what I was going to cook for our potluck dinner tonight, however, I wasn't sure it was still happening since I hadn't heard from either of the boys about it yet. Oh well! One of the student teachers was going to teach me how to make Chicken Adobo so I took my chicken out of the freezer and put it in the fridge so it could thaw.
While I was waiting for it to thaw, my roommate and I found Minority Report on TV in English. I'm liking that I have been successful with the TV lately, hopefully my luck continues.
Around 4pm I decided I should probably shower and get dressed, just in case we are having a potluck.
About a half hour later, one of the male student teachers came over and said he was just going to make some soup since his roommate was still visiting family in Hong Kong. We were all agreeable to taking it easy instead of doing a pot-luck, especially since my roommate was still getting over being sick.
I ended up making chicken fajitas.. except without the fajitas seasoning. I forgot to get some and was too hungry to care. On top of my fajitas, we found Moulin Rouge on TV (yes, in English!). I was thrilled! Definitely a wonderful way to end my relaxing weekend.
My Sunday is here and I am not motivated to do anything.. so what do I do?
I go to Cuppa Coffee and skype :)
I not only had a wonderful cup of coffee there this morning but I also had a wonderful ham and cheese danish. They make everything from scratch by the way. I stayed there for about 4 hours. It's really easy to do! When I came home I started planning what I was going to cook for our potluck dinner tonight, however, I wasn't sure it was still happening since I hadn't heard from either of the boys about it yet. Oh well! One of the student teachers was going to teach me how to make Chicken Adobo so I took my chicken out of the freezer and put it in the fridge so it could thaw.
While I was waiting for it to thaw, my roommate and I found Minority Report on TV in English. I'm liking that I have been successful with the TV lately, hopefully my luck continues.
Around 4pm I decided I should probably shower and get dressed, just in case we are having a potluck.
About a half hour later, one of the male student teachers came over and said he was just going to make some soup since his roommate was still visiting family in Hong Kong. We were all agreeable to taking it easy instead of doing a pot-luck, especially since my roommate was still getting over being sick.
I ended up making chicken fajitas.. except without the fajitas seasoning. I forgot to get some and was too hungry to care. On top of my fajitas, we found Moulin Rouge on TV (yes, in English!). I was thrilled! Definitely a wonderful way to end my relaxing weekend.
Day 20
Last day of the second full week :)
Today I had a chance to teach another lesson from The Important Book. This didn't go so well.. I taught two lessons back to back (in different classes mind you) and they were in the afternoon. The students were extremely rowdy and I could not get them under control.
In my lesson that revolved around The Important Book, I brought in pictures of things that are important to me and things that are important to my students. I used the pictures to prompt them to tell me was important in each and how the specific item is useful to us. After this introductory review of what "important" is, I had my students move to small groups and I gave each group an index card with a different thing written and drawn on it. I instructed the groups to discuss how the thing on their card is important and talk about how they use it. Some of the things on cards were a house, a dog, a pencil, and a book. This activity did not go so well because my students have not worked in small groups very much and did not know what was expected of them.
After the school day was over I went home and crashed. I was so exhausted (mentally, emotionally, and physically). I just wanted to sleep. A few hours later one of the other male student teachers and I went to a Thai restaurant near Cuppa Coffee. I really enjoyed this place, the food was really good. I got a seafood noodle dish that had a lot of things I recognized-- including squid. I did try it but I did not like it very much.
Living here is teaching me how I need to continually look at the positivity in life and appreciate everything I have.
Have a goodnight!
Today I had a chance to teach another lesson from The Important Book. This didn't go so well.. I taught two lessons back to back (in different classes mind you) and they were in the afternoon. The students were extremely rowdy and I could not get them under control.
In my lesson that revolved around The Important Book, I brought in pictures of things that are important to me and things that are important to my students. I used the pictures to prompt them to tell me was important in each and how the specific item is useful to us. After this introductory review of what "important" is, I had my students move to small groups and I gave each group an index card with a different thing written and drawn on it. I instructed the groups to discuss how the thing on their card is important and talk about how they use it. Some of the things on cards were a house, a dog, a pencil, and a book. This activity did not go so well because my students have not worked in small groups very much and did not know what was expected of them.
After the school day was over I went home and crashed. I was so exhausted (mentally, emotionally, and physically). I just wanted to sleep. A few hours later one of the other male student teachers and I went to a Thai restaurant near Cuppa Coffee. I really enjoyed this place, the food was really good. I got a seafood noodle dish that had a lot of things I recognized-- including squid. I did try it but I did not like it very much.
Living here is teaching me how I need to continually look at the positivity in life and appreciate everything I have.
Have a goodnight!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Day 21
I love Saturday!
Today I went back to Cuppa Coffee and skyped family and friends for a while. It's nice to get away and out of the apartment and just relax. My favorite coffee I get there is called a coffee toffee. It has coffee, vanilla flavoring, and toffee flavoring. SO good!
When I came home I was in a cleaning mode since my roommate was sick and I did not want to risk catching her bug. I sanitized everything and washing my sheets. As I was waiting for my things to dry I was able to Skype my boyfriend which was really great :)
After we talked for a while, I headed over to the casino so I could exchange some traveler's checks. I realized the reason they do a 7.5% exchange instead of 8% is they exchange to the Hong Kong dollar, not the pataka. Very interesting. Doesn't make too much of a difference and I really don't have anywhere else that will cash them, so I guess 7.5% exchange it is!
On my way home I went exploring in little neighborhoods that I had never been in before. It was really cool to be in part of the local part of town. Once I found my way back to the main strip I popped into a souvenir shop and got some gifts for a few people back home and continued on my way. I decided to take the back way to my apartment and got some food at a street vendor.. However, I had absolutely no idea what I bought. The man didn't speak any English and I obviously don't speak any Chinese.. oops! The way it worked was you took a tray and selected your food from a cooler that looks like an ice-cream cooler and then the man put it in a deep fryer and gave it back to me when it was done. Only problem was I was not able to identify any of the food items! Since I wanted to know at least one thing I was eating, I bought an ear of corn from the vendor next door. At least I know I like corn!
The next stop I made before coming home was to the bookstore and grocery store in my building. I bought Mercy by Jodi Picoult. It sounds pretty good, a little sad. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will be as good as my last book.
When I got home, one of the male student teachers came over and invited me to go over to the Hard Rock Cafe with him and listen to some music. I decided I could just eat the food I just bought for tomorrow's dinner and joined him. It was a lot of fun. I had never been to that part of town and it was really beautiful, sorry- I forgot to take pictures :( The band wasn't a big name, but they were singing popular music like Jason Mraz, Lady GaGa, P!nk, and other big names. It was so nice to have American food! I had a honey mustard chicken sandwich with coleslaw. It was delicious! I saved half for my lunch the next day. I don't think I will be eating there very often, however. My meal was about $200 Pataka.. Yikes! I knew it would be expensive since it was inside the casino, but still... that translates to about $20 USD.
After we returned for the evening, I was lucky enough to find Eagle Eye on TV and in English! I thought that was pretty awesome. Nice way to relax and enjoy my Saturday :) Hope you enjoyed yours as well!
Today I went back to Cuppa Coffee and skyped family and friends for a while. It's nice to get away and out of the apartment and just relax. My favorite coffee I get there is called a coffee toffee. It has coffee, vanilla flavoring, and toffee flavoring. SO good!
When I came home I was in a cleaning mode since my roommate was sick and I did not want to risk catching her bug. I sanitized everything and washing my sheets. As I was waiting for my things to dry I was able to Skype my boyfriend which was really great :)
After we talked for a while, I headed over to the casino so I could exchange some traveler's checks. I realized the reason they do a 7.5% exchange instead of 8% is they exchange to the Hong Kong dollar, not the pataka. Very interesting. Doesn't make too much of a difference and I really don't have anywhere else that will cash them, so I guess 7.5% exchange it is!
On my way home I went exploring in little neighborhoods that I had never been in before. It was really cool to be in part of the local part of town. Once I found my way back to the main strip I popped into a souvenir shop and got some gifts for a few people back home and continued on my way. I decided to take the back way to my apartment and got some food at a street vendor.. However, I had absolutely no idea what I bought. The man didn't speak any English and I obviously don't speak any Chinese.. oops! The way it worked was you took a tray and selected your food from a cooler that looks like an ice-cream cooler and then the man put it in a deep fryer and gave it back to me when it was done. Only problem was I was not able to identify any of the food items! Since I wanted to know at least one thing I was eating, I bought an ear of corn from the vendor next door. At least I know I like corn!
The next stop I made before coming home was to the bookstore and grocery store in my building. I bought Mercy by Jodi Picoult. It sounds pretty good, a little sad. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully it will be as good as my last book.
When I got home, one of the male student teachers came over and invited me to go over to the Hard Rock Cafe with him and listen to some music. I decided I could just eat the food I just bought for tomorrow's dinner and joined him. It was a lot of fun. I had never been to that part of town and it was really beautiful, sorry- I forgot to take pictures :( The band wasn't a big name, but they were singing popular music like Jason Mraz, Lady GaGa, P!nk, and other big names. It was so nice to have American food! I had a honey mustard chicken sandwich with coleslaw. It was delicious! I saved half for my lunch the next day. I don't think I will be eating there very often, however. My meal was about $200 Pataka.. Yikes! I knew it would be expensive since it was inside the casino, but still... that translates to about $20 USD.
After we returned for the evening, I was lucky enough to find Eagle Eye on TV and in English! I thought that was pretty awesome. Nice way to relax and enjoy my Saturday :) Hope you enjoyed yours as well!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Day 19
A day off school!
I spent my day enjoying my new coffee house. They have amazing coffee, fresh pastries, and free wifi. I love it here! I was here for easily 5 hours until I came home for dinner. While I was enjoying my coffee, I got my classroom characteristics done for the TPA and started another lesson plan for Friday. Pretty successful! Not too much to share about my day off. I was supposed to meet up with the two boys and go exploring around Coloan, the third island, but I got caught up with my stuff at Cuppa Coffee. Besides, there will be plenty of time to explore before I leave!
I spent my day enjoying my new coffee house. They have amazing coffee, fresh pastries, and free wifi. I love it here! I was here for easily 5 hours until I came home for dinner. While I was enjoying my coffee, I got my classroom characteristics done for the TPA and started another lesson plan for Friday. Pretty successful! Not too much to share about my day off. I was supposed to meet up with the two boys and go exploring around Coloan, the third island, but I got caught up with my stuff at Cuppa Coffee. Besides, there will be plenty of time to explore before I leave!
Day 18
It's the middle of week two!
Today I did not get to teach very much but rather assist in the class as a para pro when I'm needed. However, since Thursday is International Women's Day, my school gave out scarves to the women and the PTA brought pastries from Bravo Cakes! to all the women staff (although the men did have some too). I had a slice of blueberry cheesecake and it was delicious!
After school one of the other male student teachers went with me and three other staff members to the middle school in Macau for a celebration of a teacher program. The celebration sounded like a sort of inauguration for new members of a teacher association. It was a ton of fun! When we got to the school, there were plenty of outside games to play and earn a stamp. When you had 6 stamps you could go redeem your card for a prize (a bath towel). In order to win my towel I did 10 sit ups, 3 push ups, jumped rope for 1 minute, lifted weights 10 times, and made 3 free throws (took me SO long!) It was a lot of fun! After the festivities died down, everyone moved inside for the celebration. As we were moving venues, I asked one of the teacher whom we came with if she could teach me how to write my name in Chinese. She replied by asking me what my Chinese name is. I guess I didn't realize I needed a Chinese name in order for it to be written in Chinese. She said she would think of the perfect name for me.
Once we found our seats, the other student teacher and I were talking to the teacher in front of us who had a Chinese name, but no English name. Later on he found her English name: Rhea which mean goddess of the ocean. He chose this for her because her Chinese name means ocean.
As the evening progressed, I asked one of the teachers where the restroom was and she went with me to she me where it was. This was a very interesting experience.. the toilet was a porcelain hole in the ground. Very strange. It didn't (and still doesn't) make sense to me why the schools would give the students a hole in the ground for a toilet but give staff members a sit down toilet. This is extremely bizarre to me. Must just be a cultural difference.
When the ceremony was over, the other student teacher and I took the city bus home with two other teachers who live in our building as well. It was really fun taking the bus! When we reached our stop, one of the teachers, Bella, showed me where a coffee shop is because she knows I love coffee haha. This place is called Cuppa Coffee and is about a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment, very reasonable! Once we got home, we proceeded to go wandering around old taipa with the other student teachers.
I had such a blast out with the teachers on the middle school campus and now I know where I can get coffee other than at McDonalds.
Tonight was a success!
Today I did not get to teach very much but rather assist in the class as a para pro when I'm needed. However, since Thursday is International Women's Day, my school gave out scarves to the women and the PTA brought pastries from Bravo Cakes! to all the women staff (although the men did have some too). I had a slice of blueberry cheesecake and it was delicious!
After school one of the other male student teachers went with me and three other staff members to the middle school in Macau for a celebration of a teacher program. The celebration sounded like a sort of inauguration for new members of a teacher association. It was a ton of fun! When we got to the school, there were plenty of outside games to play and earn a stamp. When you had 6 stamps you could go redeem your card for a prize (a bath towel). In order to win my towel I did 10 sit ups, 3 push ups, jumped rope for 1 minute, lifted weights 10 times, and made 3 free throws (took me SO long!) It was a lot of fun! After the festivities died down, everyone moved inside for the celebration. As we were moving venues, I asked one of the teacher whom we came with if she could teach me how to write my name in Chinese. She replied by asking me what my Chinese name is. I guess I didn't realize I needed a Chinese name in order for it to be written in Chinese. She said she would think of the perfect name for me.
Once we found our seats, the other student teacher and I were talking to the teacher in front of us who had a Chinese name, but no English name. Later on he found her English name: Rhea which mean goddess of the ocean. He chose this for her because her Chinese name means ocean.
As the evening progressed, I asked one of the teachers where the restroom was and she went with me to she me where it was. This was a very interesting experience.. the toilet was a porcelain hole in the ground. Very strange. It didn't (and still doesn't) make sense to me why the schools would give the students a hole in the ground for a toilet but give staff members a sit down toilet. This is extremely bizarre to me. Must just be a cultural difference.
When the ceremony was over, the other student teacher and I took the city bus home with two other teachers who live in our building as well. It was really fun taking the bus! When we reached our stop, one of the teachers, Bella, showed me where a coffee shop is because she knows I love coffee haha. This place is called Cuppa Coffee and is about a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment, very reasonable! Once we got home, we proceeded to go wandering around old taipa with the other student teachers.
I had such a blast out with the teachers on the middle school campus and now I know where I can get coffee other than at McDonalds.
Tonight was a success!
Day 17
Day 2
Sorry it's taking me so long to update last week!
Today I taught two lessons, my third Important Book lesson and the oral English lesson. In the oral English lesson, we focused on getting the students to talk about the story we have been reading for the past few weeks, Ten Little Ducks. To review their comprehension of the story, I created a short worksheet where they match the selected vocabulary word from the story to its meaning and then, with their partner, select one word and illustrate it. Below the picture the students had lines where they were supposed to write a sentence describing the picture.
When I taught this lesson, it did not go as well as planned. I used "hands on top" a lot because they could not focus their attention for very long and that is a tool to remind them all eyes should be on me. In addition to using "hands on top" I taught them the difference between inside and outside voices, however this is a strategy I will need to teach again because I think they got overwhelmed with both techniques being used. Another strategy I used was calling on students who were raising their hands quietly to share words they remembered from our "what's in my bag" lesson yesterday.
What I need to work on improving is to model exactly how they should turn and talk with their neighbor instead of telling them who is going to be talking with whom. I forget that since this is a different situation, I need to remember they have never encountered many of the strategies students in the states may have. I will also need to work on guiding my students' talking with prompts and questions instead of just telling them to talk about a specific topic. After letting my students talk in pairs, I will need to learn how to bring everyone back to a whole group setting more smoothly. When the students were working on the assignment together, I went around the class and gave awards to the students who were behaving.. I have decided that instead of doing this at the end of the period, I will do it at the end of the day. My awards are not just stickers, but rather a small piece of paper that may say something like "WOW!" "You're doing great! Keep it up!" "Good Job! Next Time lets work on_____" I found this was a huge distraction for the students since they needed me to tell them what they said and then compare with their peers.
In my Important Book lesson, I brought in pictures of important things (police officer, school, and home) to lead a discussion of what IS 'important' before reading the book. My hope was that the images and discussion would help the students create a basis of the word before I read the story. In addition to using pictures, I also wrote 'important' on a word strip and put it on the chalk board for the students to refer back to whenever I read the word 'important'. In this lesson, I was pleased with how my students came to the floor. They were able to continue doing this in a slow and quiet fashion instead of everyone running to get a good seat. While I was reading the words, my cooperating teacher was sliding the book under the document camera so I could literally point to 'important' every time I said it, both on the page and on the chalkboard. After I read a page I would explain why the object I just read about is important and then I would prompt the students to read the line with me. By the end of the book the class was chanting the pages with me in a very rhythmic pace.
What I feel I need to work on include better instruction for the Thinking Pad and more concrete practice of what 'important' means. I chose to use a Thinking Pad because I thought this would be a good way for the students to practice actually writing their thoughts down, however, I forgot again that they have never done this before and so they didn't know what to do. Next time, I would model writing my thoughts on the pad and explaining what the Thinking Pad means. In the lesson I did write my thoughts on the chalkboard (this was when we were looking at what the three images have in common) but I think it may have helped them more if I wrote my thoughts directly on the Thinking Pad. On the other hand though, I am worried that by modeling any activity this way they won't learn what I want them to do but just copy exactly what I do. I think something else that contributes to that is their limited English. Hopefully I'll figure something out!
Overall both lessons were fairly successful seeing as I'm still learning how to teach this class effectively!
Sorry it's taking me so long to update last week!
Today I taught two lessons, my third Important Book lesson and the oral English lesson. In the oral English lesson, we focused on getting the students to talk about the story we have been reading for the past few weeks, Ten Little Ducks. To review their comprehension of the story, I created a short worksheet where they match the selected vocabulary word from the story to its meaning and then, with their partner, select one word and illustrate it. Below the picture the students had lines where they were supposed to write a sentence describing the picture.
When I taught this lesson, it did not go as well as planned. I used "hands on top" a lot because they could not focus their attention for very long and that is a tool to remind them all eyes should be on me. In addition to using "hands on top" I taught them the difference between inside and outside voices, however this is a strategy I will need to teach again because I think they got overwhelmed with both techniques being used. Another strategy I used was calling on students who were raising their hands quietly to share words they remembered from our "what's in my bag" lesson yesterday.
What I need to work on improving is to model exactly how they should turn and talk with their neighbor instead of telling them who is going to be talking with whom. I forget that since this is a different situation, I need to remember they have never encountered many of the strategies students in the states may have. I will also need to work on guiding my students' talking with prompts and questions instead of just telling them to talk about a specific topic. After letting my students talk in pairs, I will need to learn how to bring everyone back to a whole group setting more smoothly. When the students were working on the assignment together, I went around the class and gave awards to the students who were behaving.. I have decided that instead of doing this at the end of the period, I will do it at the end of the day. My awards are not just stickers, but rather a small piece of paper that may say something like "WOW!" "You're doing great! Keep it up!" "Good Job! Next Time lets work on_____" I found this was a huge distraction for the students since they needed me to tell them what they said and then compare with their peers.
In my Important Book lesson, I brought in pictures of important things (police officer, school, and home) to lead a discussion of what IS 'important' before reading the book. My hope was that the images and discussion would help the students create a basis of the word before I read the story. In addition to using pictures, I also wrote 'important' on a word strip and put it on the chalk board for the students to refer back to whenever I read the word 'important'. In this lesson, I was pleased with how my students came to the floor. They were able to continue doing this in a slow and quiet fashion instead of everyone running to get a good seat. While I was reading the words, my cooperating teacher was sliding the book under the document camera so I could literally point to 'important' every time I said it, both on the page and on the chalkboard. After I read a page I would explain why the object I just read about is important and then I would prompt the students to read the line with me. By the end of the book the class was chanting the pages with me in a very rhythmic pace.
What I feel I need to work on include better instruction for the Thinking Pad and more concrete practice of what 'important' means. I chose to use a Thinking Pad because I thought this would be a good way for the students to practice actually writing their thoughts down, however, I forgot again that they have never done this before and so they didn't know what to do. Next time, I would model writing my thoughts on the pad and explaining what the Thinking Pad means. In the lesson I did write my thoughts on the chalkboard (this was when we were looking at what the three images have in common) but I think it may have helped them more if I wrote my thoughts directly on the Thinking Pad. On the other hand though, I am worried that by modeling any activity this way they won't learn what I want them to do but just copy exactly what I do. I think something else that contributes to that is their limited English. Hopefully I'll figure something out!
Overall both lessons were fairly successful seeing as I'm still learning how to teach this class effectively!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Day 16
Day 1 of Week 2.
Today I was not directly in charge of any lessons, however I try to help whenever I can.
After the morning reading I graded three large stacks of homework which wasn't too bad. The lesson I helped in was in the class called "English Games" which is exactly what it sounds like. The students play games to further develop their English skills, oral and written. Today they were doing a crossword puzzle with images of things that could be found in someones school bag. My co-teacher chose this activity because their next unit is "What's in my bag" and he thought this would prepare them for that. What I did in the lesson was immediately teach the students "Hands on top". This is a management technique where the teacher says "Hands on top" and everyone puts their hand on their head and the students call back "Means I stop". We practiced this for a while and I anticipate that it will take them a quite a bit to become automatic.
After I taught that management technique, I introduced the game by putting it under the document camera. For some of the images on the sheet, I was able to bring an artifact to represent it. For example, instead of just looking at a stapler, I brought in my mini stapler and showed it to them. As I was showing and explaining each item on the list, I was also writing them on the chalkboard and having them read the words with me. I did this for each image to make sure they understood what they were. After reviewing the images, I demonstrated how to fill in the crossword squares with one across and one down then I let them do the rest individually. My co-teacher designed the lesson, I just delivered it. We're working more on this lesson tomorrow during their Oral English period.
At the end of that lesson, I went back to the teacher office and finished writing my third lesson plan. Tomorrow during my students' English period I will re-teach The Important Book. I am planning to bring in images of things that are important to each of our lives. I have a picture of a police officer, a home, and a school. The police officer is important because s/he protects us from bad people, a home is important because it keeps us dry and warm, and a school is important because it helps us learn! In this lesson I am integrating think-pair-share and thinking pads. I'm excited for this, it should be great. After my lesson last time, the students didn't want to stop working on their "important" sheet :) I am supplying them with a new one, however. I realized I could have made the lines clearer. If I don't finish my lesson in the 35 minutes I have, that's ok. I'll just do it another time. It's not like I'm rushed for time with my student teaching over here. We have 5 extra weeks compared to what we would have had if we student taught in winter quarter.
Well I am going to head to bed! Have a good evening, or morning I suppose :)
Today I was not directly in charge of any lessons, however I try to help whenever I can.
After the morning reading I graded three large stacks of homework which wasn't too bad. The lesson I helped in was in the class called "English Games" which is exactly what it sounds like. The students play games to further develop their English skills, oral and written. Today they were doing a crossword puzzle with images of things that could be found in someones school bag. My co-teacher chose this activity because their next unit is "What's in my bag" and he thought this would prepare them for that. What I did in the lesson was immediately teach the students "Hands on top". This is a management technique where the teacher says "Hands on top" and everyone puts their hand on their head and the students call back "Means I stop". We practiced this for a while and I anticipate that it will take them a quite a bit to become automatic.
After I taught that management technique, I introduced the game by putting it under the document camera. For some of the images on the sheet, I was able to bring an artifact to represent it. For example, instead of just looking at a stapler, I brought in my mini stapler and showed it to them. As I was showing and explaining each item on the list, I was also writing them on the chalkboard and having them read the words with me. I did this for each image to make sure they understood what they were. After reviewing the images, I demonstrated how to fill in the crossword squares with one across and one down then I let them do the rest individually. My co-teacher designed the lesson, I just delivered it. We're working more on this lesson tomorrow during their Oral English period.
At the end of that lesson, I went back to the teacher office and finished writing my third lesson plan. Tomorrow during my students' English period I will re-teach The Important Book. I am planning to bring in images of things that are important to each of our lives. I have a picture of a police officer, a home, and a school. The police officer is important because s/he protects us from bad people, a home is important because it keeps us dry and warm, and a school is important because it helps us learn! In this lesson I am integrating think-pair-share and thinking pads. I'm excited for this, it should be great. After my lesson last time, the students didn't want to stop working on their "important" sheet :) I am supplying them with a new one, however. I realized I could have made the lines clearer. If I don't finish my lesson in the 35 minutes I have, that's ok. I'll just do it another time. It's not like I'm rushed for time with my student teaching over here. We have 5 extra weeks compared to what we would have had if we student taught in winter quarter.
Well I am going to head to bed! Have a good evening, or morning I suppose :)
Day 15
Hello there!
Yesterday was a nice calm and relaxing Sunday in Taipa. I got to Skype with my family and boyfriend which was really nice :) I really wanted to Skype out at the park since it has free wifi but I couldn't connect and when I went to ask for help, the man at the help desk didn't speak English. Go figure! Oh well, I went back to the Portuguese restaurant I went to on the first few days.
After I returned home, I decided I would completely organize my room. I love it now, no clutter. Everything has its place and it is very relaxing for me. I do wish there were carpets though. The entire apartment is hard wood floors. Oh well, makes it easy to clean up I guess.
Once everything was organized, one of the other male student teachers came over to talk about our lessons and how everything was going for us. We eventually ended up at their apartment and decided that a "family" pot-luck would be really nice. We had dinner at about 7. I brought a red wine and some rolls. My roommate made some pasta salad, and the boys made a Filipino soup (which was amazing) and some pork dumplings. It was fun to start the week over a nice meal. I think this will be a weekly thing, alternating the apartment where it is held each week.
This was a very relaxing way to end my weekend.
Yesterday was a nice calm and relaxing Sunday in Taipa. I got to Skype with my family and boyfriend which was really nice :) I really wanted to Skype out at the park since it has free wifi but I couldn't connect and when I went to ask for help, the man at the help desk didn't speak English. Go figure! Oh well, I went back to the Portuguese restaurant I went to on the first few days.
After I returned home, I decided I would completely organize my room. I love it now, no clutter. Everything has its place and it is very relaxing for me. I do wish there were carpets though. The entire apartment is hard wood floors. Oh well, makes it easy to clean up I guess.
Once everything was organized, one of the other male student teachers came over to talk about our lessons and how everything was going for us. We eventually ended up at their apartment and decided that a "family" pot-luck would be really nice. We had dinner at about 7. I brought a red wine and some rolls. My roommate made some pasta salad, and the boys made a Filipino soup (which was amazing) and some pork dumplings. It was fun to start the week over a nice meal. I think this will be a weekly thing, alternating the apartment where it is held each week.
This was a very relaxing way to end my weekend.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
My Apartment
Here are pictures specifically of my apartment
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| View from my windom, 12 stories up |
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| Another view |
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| My closet |
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| My desk |
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| There is a nice coat hanger on the back of the door and a table to hold my things next to my desk |
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| My bed, I only sleep on half of it haha |
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Day 14
Welcome Saturday! The weekend is here.
Last night the four of us went exploring around Taipa and found a couple local bars which was pretty fun. It was good to get out and have fun with out worrying about the TPA.
Today I happily slept in until I was awoken by a dog barking loudly around 10. The residents here don't seem to notice that letting their dogs park is disturbing to other people. Especially since this is a densely populated area and everyone lives very close together.
Once I was up I decided to take it easy and just relax for a while. While I was having breakfast, my roommate and I found "Lair Liar" on TV and watched that. It was exciting to have a show on that was in English =]. I think there was a movie marathon going on that channel because after "Lair Liar" it was "Mrs. Doubtfire" and then "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". However, I left just as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was starting. I headed down to McDonalds and started to read through all my TPA materials while I enjoyed some fries. From McDonalds, I headed to the teacher supply store around the corner just to explore it and see what was there. They have a lot of stationary, pens, notebooks, and toys. Just a little bit of everything really but I didn't get anything, just looked. As I was heading back home I went into a bookstore near the grocery store in our building and browsed for a good long while. I found a collection of Jodi Picoult books which were really tempting! I love her style of writing, it is so hard to put down. But instead of getting one of her books, I ended up getting A Stolen Life, Jaycee Lee Dugard's memoir of being a prisoner for 18 years. I saw an evening show talking about what had happened and ever since then I've wanted to read her book. I'm anticipating that I will finish this book fairly quickly since it grabs you by how awful a situation it is.
After I got my new book, I browsed around some more shops in the building. I went into a plant store that smelled so good! There was a lot of bamboo plants and Orchids. They were beautiful. Then I went into a pet store just to see the puppies there :) Today there was only one, but he gave me a lick through the cage. So cute! Before making my way home, I went into the park right across the way and started to read my book. I got about thirty pages into it before I decided I was too cold to stay out any longer. What I read so far was both gripping and infuriating at the same time. As I was leaving the park, I saw one of my students and I think he was startled to see me which was cute.
When I got home, I steamed some frozen pot stickers I bought earlier... and then realized I had no dipping sauce for them :( oops! Oh well. They ended up tasting alright. While we were having dinner we found another movie playing on that same channel, "Mission Impossible". I actually ended up falling asleep during this one and it was only 7pm haha. I was just really tired I guess! Thankfully the movie after that was more interesting, "Meet Joe Black". I had never seen it before tonight. It was amazing. I think that is my new favorite movie. We were both crying at the end though. It tells such a sweet story, I think everyone should watch it. It has Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt in it. Very well done.
I am happy with how I spent my Saturday, I started working on my TPA and ended up walking around my neighborhood for about 4 hours.
Last night the four of us went exploring around Taipa and found a couple local bars which was pretty fun. It was good to get out and have fun with out worrying about the TPA.
Today I happily slept in until I was awoken by a dog barking loudly around 10. The residents here don't seem to notice that letting their dogs park is disturbing to other people. Especially since this is a densely populated area and everyone lives very close together.
Once I was up I decided to take it easy and just relax for a while. While I was having breakfast, my roommate and I found "Lair Liar" on TV and watched that. It was exciting to have a show on that was in English =]. I think there was a movie marathon going on that channel because after "Lair Liar" it was "Mrs. Doubtfire" and then "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". However, I left just as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was starting. I headed down to McDonalds and started to read through all my TPA materials while I enjoyed some fries. From McDonalds, I headed to the teacher supply store around the corner just to explore it and see what was there. They have a lot of stationary, pens, notebooks, and toys. Just a little bit of everything really but I didn't get anything, just looked. As I was heading back home I went into a bookstore near the grocery store in our building and browsed for a good long while. I found a collection of Jodi Picoult books which were really tempting! I love her style of writing, it is so hard to put down. But instead of getting one of her books, I ended up getting A Stolen Life, Jaycee Lee Dugard's memoir of being a prisoner for 18 years. I saw an evening show talking about what had happened and ever since then I've wanted to read her book. I'm anticipating that I will finish this book fairly quickly since it grabs you by how awful a situation it is.
After I got my new book, I browsed around some more shops in the building. I went into a plant store that smelled so good! There was a lot of bamboo plants and Orchids. They were beautiful. Then I went into a pet store just to see the puppies there :) Today there was only one, but he gave me a lick through the cage. So cute! Before making my way home, I went into the park right across the way and started to read my book. I got about thirty pages into it before I decided I was too cold to stay out any longer. What I read so far was both gripping and infuriating at the same time. As I was leaving the park, I saw one of my students and I think he was startled to see me which was cute.
When I got home, I steamed some frozen pot stickers I bought earlier... and then realized I had no dipping sauce for them :( oops! Oh well. They ended up tasting alright. While we were having dinner we found another movie playing on that same channel, "Mission Impossible". I actually ended up falling asleep during this one and it was only 7pm haha. I was just really tired I guess! Thankfully the movie after that was more interesting, "Meet Joe Black". I had never seen it before tonight. It was amazing. I think that is my new favorite movie. We were both crying at the end though. It tells such a sweet story, I think everyone should watch it. It has Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt in it. Very well done.
I am happy with how I spent my Saturday, I started working on my TPA and ended up walking around my neighborhood for about 4 hours.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Day 13
Success!
Today I taught my students how to come to the floor for a read aloud, how to behave in a read aloud, and what the word important means. They did it!! The first thing I did in this lesson was tell my students I have a surprise for them and showed them the grocery bag that was concealing The Important Book. I had a few students guess what was in the bag and then I told them I would take two more guesses and that was all. After the last student guessed, I told them we were going to move to have class on the floor today and, as expected, they were surprised. I told them that, when I tell them to, they will stand up, move into the aisle, come to the floor, and sit down with their lips zipped. After I explained the steps and used gestures to show what I meant, I had a student model it for the class. Then I had row 1 do it, then row 2, row 3 and finally row 4. They were able to understand what I was having them do, do it, and stay quiet throughout the whole process! I was thrilled! When I finished reading the book and reviewing 'important' I sent the students back to their desks to create their own important sheet. On this sheet they selected a fruit of their choice to talk about. Here they will write what is important about the piece of fruit, three things that are also important, and then come back to the initial important piece they started with. This part of the lesson needed a little more instruction.
When my supervisor and I debriefed my lesson, he told me he was so proud that I had such a huge success with them; they came to the floor and listened during a read aloud. They did it! Now that I have that basis, it will be easy for me to jump into re-reading the book and spending time on the vocabulary. It didn't occur to me that the book was not culturally relevant to the students: it talks about spoons, snow, and grass. They haven't experiences those things. I completely overlooked that, but now I know what I should bring in next time I read this. I want to re-read the book next week sometime because I feel I didn't reach the students the right way because of their limited English. They are able, they just need more from me in order to be successful. The next time I teach this, I will be very specific about the word Important and make it clear that that is the word we are focusing on. I will write it on the board and refer back to it while reading the book. In addition to modeling how to think about what important means, I will model saying what I am thinking so my students can hear my thoughts.
While I was teaching there were four staff members watching the new strategy I was doing with the students. I was not expecting an audience! It was kind of exciting to have them taking pictures of me teaching. I will try and get ahold of them next week so I can post them.
Later in the day, my supervisor and I had a conversation that was really inspirational for me. He was telling me how much he believed in my ability to overcome any difficulties in my path and succeed. He told me that in my lesson he saw me have a huge success and knows that it is possible for me to do that in the future again. He encouraged me to focus on the positive (graduating soon, finishing my course work, working with my students, teaching interesting lessons) and not the negative. He told me that he believes there is huge success in my future and he believes in my ability to get there. Now I just need to listen to him and believe in myself and focus on what I want. I want to finish student teaching successfully and graduate on June 9th. I WILL do this! I can do this. It was endearing to hear what he had to say about me and my teaching ability. I think I needed to hear that. Actually hearing that someone believes if your ability AND you, is so powerful. I am very glad he shared his thoughts with me.
Today I taught a lesson to my students and I found what I need to focus on in order to be successful. Over the next four months I will be working on making my lessons better and focusing on graduation. It is so close! I can't mess it up now.
Today I taught my students how to come to the floor for a read aloud, how to behave in a read aloud, and what the word important means. They did it!! The first thing I did in this lesson was tell my students I have a surprise for them and showed them the grocery bag that was concealing The Important Book. I had a few students guess what was in the bag and then I told them I would take two more guesses and that was all. After the last student guessed, I told them we were going to move to have class on the floor today and, as expected, they were surprised. I told them that, when I tell them to, they will stand up, move into the aisle, come to the floor, and sit down with their lips zipped. After I explained the steps and used gestures to show what I meant, I had a student model it for the class. Then I had row 1 do it, then row 2, row 3 and finally row 4. They were able to understand what I was having them do, do it, and stay quiet throughout the whole process! I was thrilled! When I finished reading the book and reviewing 'important' I sent the students back to their desks to create their own important sheet. On this sheet they selected a fruit of their choice to talk about. Here they will write what is important about the piece of fruit, three things that are also important, and then come back to the initial important piece they started with. This part of the lesson needed a little more instruction.
When my supervisor and I debriefed my lesson, he told me he was so proud that I had such a huge success with them; they came to the floor and listened during a read aloud. They did it! Now that I have that basis, it will be easy for me to jump into re-reading the book and spending time on the vocabulary. It didn't occur to me that the book was not culturally relevant to the students: it talks about spoons, snow, and grass. They haven't experiences those things. I completely overlooked that, but now I know what I should bring in next time I read this. I want to re-read the book next week sometime because I feel I didn't reach the students the right way because of their limited English. They are able, they just need more from me in order to be successful. The next time I teach this, I will be very specific about the word Important and make it clear that that is the word we are focusing on. I will write it on the board and refer back to it while reading the book. In addition to modeling how to think about what important means, I will model saying what I am thinking so my students can hear my thoughts.
While I was teaching there were four staff members watching the new strategy I was doing with the students. I was not expecting an audience! It was kind of exciting to have them taking pictures of me teaching. I will try and get ahold of them next week so I can post them.
Later in the day, my supervisor and I had a conversation that was really inspirational for me. He was telling me how much he believed in my ability to overcome any difficulties in my path and succeed. He told me that in my lesson he saw me have a huge success and knows that it is possible for me to do that in the future again. He encouraged me to focus on the positive (graduating soon, finishing my course work, working with my students, teaching interesting lessons) and not the negative. He told me that he believes there is huge success in my future and he believes in my ability to get there. Now I just need to listen to him and believe in myself and focus on what I want. I want to finish student teaching successfully and graduate on June 9th. I WILL do this! I can do this. It was endearing to hear what he had to say about me and my teaching ability. I think I needed to hear that. Actually hearing that someone believes if your ability AND you, is so powerful. I am very glad he shared his thoughts with me.
Today I taught a lesson to my students and I found what I need to focus on in order to be successful. Over the next four months I will be working on making my lessons better and focusing on graduation. It is so close! I can't mess it up now.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Day 12
Oh boy.. today was such a long day.
Yesterday I was telling you about the opportunity I had to observe the English test. Today I had the opportunity to observe a Chinese test. Since I do not speak Chinese, I was unable to help other than redirecting students' attention. It was interesting to see the different testing styles between the two teachers; the teacher who administered the test yesterday was the home room teacher and followed the time exactly whereas the teacher today felt bad that the students had to do so much work in such a little amount of time so she let them stay and work during their 10 minute break if they wanted to. During the Chinese lesson, one of the students was playing with his ruler again (this has been an on going problem) and I took it away from him and told him if he behaves in the next class he may have it back and if not its mine until the end of the day. The next class came and he did not behave so I told him at 4pm he will get it back. His reaction was really interesting; he said but you're not Ms. Sam. I told him, you're right, I'm not; I'm Ms. Maddy and I'm in charge too. Surprisingly he did not fight that he just nodded like I just told him 3 + 2=5.
After the Chinese class, the students went to PE and I had planning time which was good for me to work on my reflective essay. I was going to try and finish it tonight but I am way to tired to think about doing work. Just about everything I need to do for tomorrows lesson is ready. In tomorrows lesson I am reading The Important Book (thank you mommy!) as a read aloud. However, since my students have never had a read aloud with a real book and with them sitting on the floor before, I will have to teach them how to come to the floor and how to behave during a read aloud before I start reading. While I'm reading the book I will teach my students what important means by first making a guess what it means, then having the students think about what it means, then talking about what it means, and then having the students tell me what it means. After I'm done reading the story I will send the students back to their desks and have them create their own important page, but, since they have been focusing on fruit lately I will have them choose a fruit and write about it. On the important pages I have created, it has one line that says "the important thing about_________ is ______________. Three important things about ______ are: 1.... 2....3.... but the most important thing about________ is _____________." I'm going to print the words on colored paper tomorrow morning and then hopefully turn it into a teacher made big book. I'm expecting to not get through all of this tomorrow since I only have a twenty-five segment to work with and that's fine. I can always come back to it next week.
Later on in the day I got to observe the computer class. This was so neat! There is a designated computer teacher who is teaching the students which fingers reach to what keys and then giving them laptops to practice on in the classroom. In addition to practicing on laptops, the students have an educational typing video game they play on the laptops. I thought this was such a good idea, especially with students so young!
When the day was finally over, the other students teacher, Dr. Ballou, and myself went to Pizza Hut to celebrate Dr. Ballou's last night in town until he comes back in May. The pizza here is so much better than the pizza back home! There is one kind of pizza that is amazing! It has an herb crust, 1000 Island dressing, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, cream cheese and Parmesan cheese toppings. It was so good! A very satisfying way to end the evening.
I am really excited for my lesson tomorrow. I have no idea how my students are going to respond, but I think that's the point. This is a completely new activity for them and strategy for the teachers; hopefully all of us will learn something from it! I will let you know how it goes!
Yesterday I was telling you about the opportunity I had to observe the English test. Today I had the opportunity to observe a Chinese test. Since I do not speak Chinese, I was unable to help other than redirecting students' attention. It was interesting to see the different testing styles between the two teachers; the teacher who administered the test yesterday was the home room teacher and followed the time exactly whereas the teacher today felt bad that the students had to do so much work in such a little amount of time so she let them stay and work during their 10 minute break if they wanted to. During the Chinese lesson, one of the students was playing with his ruler again (this has been an on going problem) and I took it away from him and told him if he behaves in the next class he may have it back and if not its mine until the end of the day. The next class came and he did not behave so I told him at 4pm he will get it back. His reaction was really interesting; he said but you're not Ms. Sam. I told him, you're right, I'm not; I'm Ms. Maddy and I'm in charge too. Surprisingly he did not fight that he just nodded like I just told him 3 + 2=5.
After the Chinese class, the students went to PE and I had planning time which was good for me to work on my reflective essay. I was going to try and finish it tonight but I am way to tired to think about doing work. Just about everything I need to do for tomorrows lesson is ready. In tomorrows lesson I am reading The Important Book (thank you mommy!) as a read aloud. However, since my students have never had a read aloud with a real book and with them sitting on the floor before, I will have to teach them how to come to the floor and how to behave during a read aloud before I start reading. While I'm reading the book I will teach my students what important means by first making a guess what it means, then having the students think about what it means, then talking about what it means, and then having the students tell me what it means. After I'm done reading the story I will send the students back to their desks and have them create their own important page, but, since they have been focusing on fruit lately I will have them choose a fruit and write about it. On the important pages I have created, it has one line that says "the important thing about_________ is ______________. Three important things about ______ are: 1.... 2....3.... but the most important thing about________ is _____________." I'm going to print the words on colored paper tomorrow morning and then hopefully turn it into a teacher made big book. I'm expecting to not get through all of this tomorrow since I only have a twenty-five segment to work with and that's fine. I can always come back to it next week.
Later on in the day I got to observe the computer class. This was so neat! There is a designated computer teacher who is teaching the students which fingers reach to what keys and then giving them laptops to practice on in the classroom. In addition to practicing on laptops, the students have an educational typing video game they play on the laptops. I thought this was such a good idea, especially with students so young!
When the day was finally over, the other students teacher, Dr. Ballou, and myself went to Pizza Hut to celebrate Dr. Ballou's last night in town until he comes back in May. The pizza here is so much better than the pizza back home! There is one kind of pizza that is amazing! It has an herb crust, 1000 Island dressing, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, cream cheese and Parmesan cheese toppings. It was so good! A very satisfying way to end the evening.
I am really excited for my lesson tomorrow. I have no idea how my students are going to respond, but I think that's the point. This is a completely new activity for them and strategy for the teachers; hopefully all of us will learn something from it! I will let you know how it goes!
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