A drastic change occurred in my student teaching experience at Dalat when my cooperating ESL teacher resigned. That occurred in the beginning of my second week here. Today marks the third week of me teaching the ESL classes with a long-term substitute. The day she resigned, I took over the ESL program for the rest of the week, and a bit of the subsequent week until a long-term substitute was found. That time was very stressful, I was not supposed to have taken over yet, and did not know much of what the curriculum was, or the ongoing assignments that were left behind. I was at school late every night, trying to continue in the curriculum path I knew little of. The rest of the staff were incredibly supportive during this time, and still are. They helped make what could have been a tumultuous, awful time very bearable.
Some changes in the subsequent weeks have been made, and I am (thankfully) no longer teaching the 7th and 9th grade ESL classes. The 7th graders were the most effected by the resignation, and were quite resistant to a new, green student teacher taking over their comfortable classroom and curriculum. They were my most difficult group. When it was time for me to give a few ESL classes over to the substitute, they were my first choice. In the beginning of my education classes, we had to observe 10 hours of a class. I had middle school, and it was AWFUL. It takes a special person to teach middle school, and that person is not me!
Along with teaching Grade 3, 6, and a 7-9 Word Study program, I am independently teaching Bible, and Social Studies to a mainstream class of 20ish students. While it is a "mainstream class" , most of the students speak English as at least their second language, and the official ESL students are also in the class. Teaching Bible is difficult. I don't like grading spiritual things, even though there is an academic side to Bible. I would much rather it be a pass/fail class. Social studies is easier to teach, content-wise. Though I am encouraged to "make my own style" of teaching these classes, I find it difficult. I have a slightly different teaching style than my cooperating grade 6 teacher, and I don't want to give the students whiplash with different rhythms. Stepping in halfway through a semester is more artificial, and I do not want to step on toes of routines that are already in place.
However, there is a bright side of those already in place routines! I have been introduced to the concept of a "Do Now". This is a little activity or task I write on the board before class starts. The students come in, and instead of me waiting for them to get settled, then getting them quiet and beginning class, they begin to complete the "do now" as they enter. This little thing has been excellent for the larger mainstream classes I have been teaching. It gets the students ready to learn, and gives me a little more breathing room to begin the lesson.
In summary, these events happened so fast, it has taken me this long to process, hence the lack of updates. I spent the 3 day Thanksgiving weekend in Langkawi, with my great aunt and uncle. This time was refreshing and exactly what I needed (if only it were a bit longer!)
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| Did I mention my Thanksgiving was also spent on a sailboat? |
I'm planning on writing more, and more often so stay tuned!
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