Second Day of School

Today was our second day of practicum. It was a great learning day for me, though the day was extremely exhausting. My class (5C as they are called in the school) was not on its best behavior and there were lots of behavioral issues today. Plus, I think Emily, the teacher, was very stressed out. That didn't help matters. My day went like this:

1) Assembly with the school. Today's themes were being thankful and the coming of spring. Angela, the headteacher, read a poem thanking the sun and then asked everyone to silently thank whoever they wished for something good in their lives. Good message, for sure.

2) 5C had maths (maths is not a typo..that's what they call it here) first. They did multiplication of longer numbers. I got to help a table that was struggling a bit and by the end they were doing really well. I was pleased!

3) After maths was a short break followed by literacy. I can't say the lesson was too much fun, but I got to help my table again. The kids were being pretty good for me, so I was happy.

4) Lunch came next. I spent lunch in the teacher's lounge eating with Jordan. We had a nice little chat. It's been fun going to practicum with her and Stephenie!

5) After lunch was guided reading time. I got to work with one group for a tiny bit because their teacher was late. Unfortunately, my kids were so talkative and had so much to say (so loudly) that we kind of got in trouble and had to read silently for the rest of time. When their other teacher came, they did some reading and writing. I have to say, though, that I was fairly unimpressed. They could have done so much more with the book and the time allotted for guided reading. I just think the kids had so much to say, why stifle their thoughts by never getting to share them?

6) Next came science. 5C started a new unit on the life cycle of a plant. We didn't get past much more than the introduction, but it should prove to be a fun unit overall.

7) Packing up time came at the end and all the students left. I talked with Emily a bit after class so we could figure out what I will be able to teach or who I will be able to work with while I'm here. I get to sleep on it and come back next week with all kinds of ideas. So fun!

All in all, my day was pretty good, though really tiring. I didn't have too many fun stories with my kids, though a couple asked me if I was an American and told me they could tell by my voice. They had a hard time understanding some of my accent. I also thought it was cute that my table got very tough on themselves with their work. They constantly called their work "rubbish," even when it wasn't. Poor kids. I'm excited to go back next week - they're rehearsing more for The Tempest. I hope you all are having a great start to March!