Wednesday.
I walked out of the full classroom and turned left, so the students wouldn't see me. The noise grew louder with each step I took away from the classroom. I ran away from the windows, laughing now, as I met my classroom teacher, and two supervisors on the stairs. I waited four minutes before I entered the classroom again, and I was greeted by chaos....
Before the class began, I put potato chips and skittles in bowls, and set these on the student's clusters of desks.
I turned my camera on, hid it in a desk, and put it into video recording mode.
I wrote the "Do Now" on the board. #3 was to NOT TOUCH THE FOOD.
I greeted the students at the door. After the students entered, most shouting about the food, I pressed the camera's record button, then announced I had to run to the copy room. "I'm sorry I put the food out" I said apologetically, "I shouldn't have done that in the beginning of the period, it is for you all at the end of class".
While my feelings on teaching Bible remain mixed, I set up a memorable (at least for me) social experiment.
Before class, I found four of my students outside, and told them they could have a mission, if they accepted. Their mission was to: eat the food I put out on the table, no matter what I or others said. They could start to eat the food, and try to get the other students to do so once I left the room. Some of them were "good kids", so I thought it would be interesting. They weren't allowed to tell anyone else about their "mission".
We had been learning about temptation, and to spice things up, the 6th grade teachers and I thought of this activity.
...As I entered the room after the 4 minutes, I first expressed my shock at the situation, then admitted to setting them up, and recording the audio of the class. (I gave the rest of the students who had figured out it was a set up permission to eat the chips and skittles). The students were in an uproar for the next two days about the whole experiment; their reactions to it were only fed by being able to listen to themselves the next day. Despite the difficulty I had getting their attention for the rest of the week, I believe that they did indeed learn the objectives of the lesson-- strategies to deal with temptation, what it can look like, etc.
I am so glad I was able to do this. One of the unique aspects of teaching at Dalat is that we can do things like this, and build on them. I actually did this during a formal lesson in which I was being formally observed, I am grateful that my supervisors were on board with the activity. It made teaching Bible more fun for me, and hopefully more fun for the students to learn. It let the students see I love to laugh and have fun, and gave them an opportunity to laugh with me, something that I think doesn't happen often. While "having authority" in the classroom is important, I want them to see that the "authority" in the classroom is a human too.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
catching up
the speed of light is sometimes how I feel things change in my life.
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!)
I'm planning on writing more, and more often so stay tuned!
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!)
 |
| Did I mention my Thanksgiving was also spent on a sailboat? |
I'm planning on writing more, and more often so stay tuned!
Monday, November 14, 2011
A Day in the life of ME, at Dalat
Despite the fact that I'm living on beachfront property for the next six weeks, I am not at Dalat International School for a vacation.
Most of the classes I will be teaching are ESL. In the morning, I get to school at 8am, or a little before. SAT time starts at 8:15. SAT is not a test from CollegeBoard, but is a short time that is part of the middle school concept here at Dalat. SATs are small groups that meet daily that are lead by each middle school teacher. Having a small group allows students to be more vulnerable as they set goals, and explore emotional, spiritual, and practical life issues during this low pressure, early morning group time. I think it is fantastic.
Classes start promptly at 8:40am. The first class time, A block, is Bible. During B Block, Language Arts is taught. 7 ESL students from the two sixth grade classes are pulled out during that time, and go to a separate ESL classroom. I go with them.
Social Studies is taught during Block C. This is another class I will eventually be teaching. This makes me a little bit nervous because it is not a dedicated area of expertise or study for me; but I am up to the challenge! Preparation will be key for this subject.
Now, this is where things get complicated. The mainstream 6th grade teachers have a large block of the afternoon for prep time and lunch, from about 11 o'clock to 12:40. ESL does not. On MWF, from 12:05-12:40, 3rd graders have their ESL pull out time. I do some of my copying and prep during the in between classes time. On T and TR, admissions testing and interviews take place. ESL teachers are a part of that, which means that I will be taking a role (tbd on how much) in testing, interviews, and admissions meetings.
Sometimes for lunch, I will walk across the street to SAB, an Indian restaurant and get "carry away" (how they say take out). I am LOVING the Indian foods here! Roti canai anyone?
7th grade ESL is at 2:20, and ends at 3:05.
While the rest of the students have what is called "X-block" time, (Elective classes on T/TR, Study hall on Wednesday, Group activity on FR), 7th and 8th graders have what is called "Word Study". Word Study takes place on MW, and is largely dedicated to vocabulary building. 9th grade ESL students have ESL class on T/TR.
Since last Wednesday, the 9th of November, I have been am teaching and preparing for all of these classes (except A and C block. But I will be taking over those at the end of this week).
"It is very easy to become consumed [by preparations and school]", one of my teachers warned me. The fact I am writing this at 7pm and am still at school is evidence of that. There is a danger here, certainly not danger of a lack of energy, but a danger of giving too much, and lacking boundaries between your job and the rest of your life. I suspect the rest of the staff has already learned this. Burning out can happen, and quickly. And within my first week of taking over classes, I am beginning to. Despite my need for success in student teaching, I need to set appropriate boundaries and goals for myself and this job.
Most of the classes I will be teaching are ESL. In the morning, I get to school at 8am, or a little before. SAT time starts at 8:15. SAT is not a test from CollegeBoard, but is a short time that is part of the middle school concept here at Dalat. SATs are small groups that meet daily that are lead by each middle school teacher. Having a small group allows students to be more vulnerable as they set goals, and explore emotional, spiritual, and practical life issues during this low pressure, early morning group time. I think it is fantastic.
Classes start promptly at 8:40am. The first class time, A block, is Bible. During B Block, Language Arts is taught. 7 ESL students from the two sixth grade classes are pulled out during that time, and go to a separate ESL classroom. I go with them.
Social Studies is taught during Block C. This is another class I will eventually be teaching. This makes me a little bit nervous because it is not a dedicated area of expertise or study for me; but I am up to the challenge! Preparation will be key for this subject.
Now, this is where things get complicated. The mainstream 6th grade teachers have a large block of the afternoon for prep time and lunch, from about 11 o'clock to 12:40. ESL does not. On MWF, from 12:05-12:40, 3rd graders have their ESL pull out time. I do some of my copying and prep during the in between classes time. On T and TR, admissions testing and interviews take place. ESL teachers are a part of that, which means that I will be taking a role (tbd on how much) in testing, interviews, and admissions meetings.
Sometimes for lunch, I will walk across the street to SAB, an Indian restaurant and get "carry away" (how they say take out). I am LOVING the Indian foods here! Roti canai anyone?
7th grade ESL is at 2:20, and ends at 3:05.
While the rest of the students have what is called "X-block" time, (Elective classes on T/TR, Study hall on Wednesday, Group activity on FR), 7th and 8th graders have what is called "Word Study". Word Study takes place on MW, and is largely dedicated to vocabulary building. 9th grade ESL students have ESL class on T/TR.
Since last Wednesday, the 9th of November, I have been am teaching and preparing for all of these classes (except A and C block. But I will be taking over those at the end of this week).
"It is very easy to become consumed [by preparations and school]", one of my teachers warned me. The fact I am writing this at 7pm and am still at school is evidence of that. There is a danger here, certainly not danger of a lack of energy, but a danger of giving too much, and lacking boundaries between your job and the rest of your life. I suspect the rest of the staff has already learned this. Burning out can happen, and quickly. And within my first week of taking over classes, I am beginning to. Despite my need for success in student teaching, I need to set appropriate boundaries and goals for myself and this job.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Compare and Contrast: The Python Story
Here are some of my observations from the first few days I have been in Malaysia. Dalat School is very unique, and quite different from the American public school system. It is not ruled by state and federal standards, teachers have much more freedom to explore subjects and certain topics with their students.
A glaringly obvious example of the differences between a private school in Malaysia and a US public school is an event that happened my first day here. An 11 foot python that had ingested a goose was found, somewhere off campus. The snake (actually small for a python) was gravely injured, and someone brought it to school. It died, and all the students were allowed to see it. Pythons aren't a common occurrence here on school property, but I suspect that the ability to take advantage of rare and exciting teachable moments such as these are more common, and encouraged. The high school biology classes got to dissect it the next day. That in itself was a marvel to me. It wasn't ordered from a lab, or snakery somewhere where the animals are prepared for dissection, it was fresh out of the jungle. No formaldehyde. No nothing. The lesson and preparation for the dissection were mere hours old. Everyone in the school, staff and students, were psyched about the opportunity. Nobody blinked an eye. It was a learning opportunity for the film classes too, they are going to make a video of the dissection and put it on youtube.
I mentioned the event to my dad in an email, commenting that this would probably never happen in the USA. He replied comically, saying "…you are right about it never happening in the USA. We would have had some bizarre animal rights group protesting the dissection, and lawsuits from the ACLU asking if the python’s rights had been violated. Meanwhile no one is protecting the rights of the goose (hopefully not the one who lays the golden eggs)".
In short, there are many opportunities here that would not be able to happen in the US.
Like I previously mentioned, Dalat is a private school. This means students must apply and interview in order to even be considered to study here. Students here want to be here. They want to be challenged, they want to learn, and are eager to explore different subjects. Their advanced curriculum sticks out to me, especially in 6th grade science. They were looking at basic chemical reaction equations. They were looking at them, not solving them by themselves, but they were still there. I don't know about you, but I don't recall doing those in 6th grade. It is only an introduction to them, and students are not expected to master them but the fact that they were on the board was a bit of a shock to me. Even in the ESL class, the ESL students are high intermediate to advanced. As a class, we went over a students' creative writing. Dare I say there was more interaction and constructive criticism than in my college writing class? Perhaps it is because of the age, nature, or comfort level of the students, but I was also surprised at the quality of the writing.
These will most certainly not be my last surprises, but I look forward to more!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Penang Arrival!
Quick update, more details and thoughts to follow later, along with photos!
I have arrived safely in Penang, Malaysia! I got here Sunday night, spend Monday fighting jet lag, and had my first day in the classroom today. Working on internet access.
Coolest thing of the day? Seeing the last part of a dissection of an 11 foot python that had swallowed a goose. I also learned that there are many, many more bugs in the world that I had originally thought.
I have arrived safely in Penang, Malaysia! I got here Sunday night, spend Monday fighting jet lag, and had my first day in the classroom today. Working on internet access.
Coolest thing of the day? Seeing the last part of a dissection of an 11 foot python that had swallowed a goose. I also learned that there are many, many more bugs in the world that I had originally thought.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Kids Say the Funniest Things
I dearly love to laugh. And honestly, on the occasion I can't really take everything seriously. Even if a student has a wrong answer to a question they should know, the wrong answer can be hilarious. (I hope I won't get in trouble for saying that in relation to teaching, but sometimes one of my students will say something, and I will have to turn around and laugh silently and shortly while writing on the board, or smooth out the smile that quickly spreads across my face.)
Here is where it gets real. While laughter is good, I fully realize that laughing at someone can be very damaging. May I even say that we can all remember a time that someone laughed at us when we were trying our hardest and were very hurt by the laughter? However, laughing while learning is essential, and encouraging students to take ownership of their language and use it as much as possible is one of my goals. Encouraging laughter in a general sense can help create a safe environment where the student can be encouraged to learn from their mistakes, and even eventually, laugh with their adventures in language and content.
Here are some of the funniest moments so far:
--I showed a picture of a bowl of oatmeal. Me: "Can you tell me what this is?" student-"A meal nobody likes!"
--We were working on synonyms, and a student wanted to know how to use the word afraid in a sentence. My quick example was "I'm so afraid of tigers". As a quick afterthought I said, "That's just an example you know. I'm not actually afraid of them". Immediately, the student emphatically exclaimed, "I AAAM!". Another student walking by quipped, "but we're supposed to be afraid of all dangerous animals!". I affirmed this to both students.
Silly Miss Rachel. I let my own ego get in the way of teaching. It is okay, and natural to have a fear of dangerous animals. Thank you for humbling me a little, 3rd graders.
--I showed a picture of an owl. Student response: "When him see a zombie, him fly away! *flaps arms and runs off...*" Not only has the consistent use of the pronoun"him" instead of "he" started to make me laugh, but the zombie reference was so irrelevant to anything we had learned.
--I pointed to a picture of a giraffe. "Can you tell me what animal this is?" Student response: "A MONGOOSE!". How did that word get in their vocabulary?
-- Kindergarten Student A: "ouch!" Kindergarten Student B's instant response: "What's happening girrrlfrraaaaaind??"
Coming from a 5 year old English Language Learner's mouth, this was hilarious.
Again, while many of these quotes are funny, especially in context, it is important for me to realize the real people I teach.The students are real people, not just robots who I have to teach. They too have their own lives, feelings, families, emotions, loves, and struggles. Listening to what they're saying when they're not giving me an answer to the hundreds of questions I ask per day can help give me insight into their personalities and lives.
I too, am a student. I too, am learning, and am learning to laugh at the mistakes I make while teaching. =)
Here is where it gets real. While laughter is good, I fully realize that laughing at someone can be very damaging. May I even say that we can all remember a time that someone laughed at us when we were trying our hardest and were very hurt by the laughter? However, laughing while learning is essential, and encouraging students to take ownership of their language and use it as much as possible is one of my goals. Encouraging laughter in a general sense can help create a safe environment where the student can be encouraged to learn from their mistakes, and even eventually, laugh with their adventures in language and content.
Here are some of the funniest moments so far:
--I showed a picture of a bowl of oatmeal. Me: "Can you tell me what this is?" student-"A meal nobody likes!"
--We were working on synonyms, and a student wanted to know how to use the word afraid in a sentence. My quick example was "I'm so afraid of tigers". As a quick afterthought I said, "That's just an example you know. I'm not actually afraid of them". Immediately, the student emphatically exclaimed, "I AAAM!". Another student walking by quipped, "but we're supposed to be afraid of all dangerous animals!". I affirmed this to both students.
Silly Miss Rachel. I let my own ego get in the way of teaching. It is okay, and natural to have a fear of dangerous animals. Thank you for humbling me a little, 3rd graders.
--I showed a picture of an owl. Student response: "When him see a zombie, him fly away! *flaps arms and runs off...*" Not only has the consistent use of the pronoun"him" instead of "he" started to make me laugh, but the zombie reference was so irrelevant to anything we had learned.
--I pointed to a picture of a giraffe. "Can you tell me what animal this is?" Student response: "A MONGOOSE!". How did that word get in their vocabulary?
-- Kindergarten Student A: "ouch!" Kindergarten Student B's instant response: "What's happening girrrlfrraaaaaind??"
Coming from a 5 year old English Language Learner's mouth, this was hilarious.
Again, while many of these quotes are funny, especially in context, it is important for me to realize the real people I teach.The students are real people, not just robots who I have to teach. They too have their own lives, feelings, families, emotions, loves, and struggles. Listening to what they're saying when they're not giving me an answer to the hundreds of questions I ask per day can help give me insight into their personalities and lives.
I too, am a student. I too, am learning, and am learning to laugh at the mistakes I make while teaching. =)
Sunday, October 16, 2011
StrengthsFinder 2.0
At first, I was happy to take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 inventory. Most Nyack College undergrads take this bestselling strengths inventory their freshman year. I am in honors, so I didn't have to take it. Until student teaching...
So according to this inventory, my strengths are:
Input
Connectedness
Intellection
Ideation
Adaptability
I find that these are good representations of some of my strengths. Nothing really surprised me. However, my results guide warned me that my results may not be as accurate as they could have been because I picked in the middle ("neutral") for almost everything. (This is where I start talking about how much I disliked taking the test.) I only had 20 seconds to answer each question. That made me anxious and didn't help at all for the questions I could not decide on.
Some of the questions absolutely baffled me, because to me the two options, of which I was supposed to pick one, were one and the same. Often both were immediately instinctive to me. Ex. I often: 1. Encourage others. 2. Strengthen others. For me there is no difference. So I had hoped that by picking the neutral option (between the extremes), that I was telling the computer who I really am. It didn't get it. So while I feel my results were accurate, I wonder what they would have been if my true answers were taken into consideration. I would much rather sit down with a counselor or verbal test administrator and do this inventory a different way.
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