Today was yet another rainy day. However, the kids were much more behaved and a lot more calm than they were two days ago. It was also nice because today was a pretty calm day in terms of work wise. I also learned more about the school and the different things my teacher has set up. It's quite nice to see how she involve parents in her student's learning also.
Today during break and lunch, I was able to talk to the Music Specials and they were able to tell me a little about how the music system works in the schools. Students are asked to take a test to evaluate their level of skill and ability. These tests require students to know their scales, play a few pieces to show variety, and sight reading. This is similar to the tests in Nassau County, NY, but the tests in Nassau County only require students to prepare one song.
During break and lunch, I was also able to talk with a couple of other teachers. Many of the teachers had been to the States and it seems to be a discussion topic a lot of times. It's nice because I get to talk to these teachers about their experiences in the States, which is familiar to me while I can talk to them about Australia as well. Many of the teachers have also had previous teaching experience in England and I can talk to them about the education England as well, which would be quite interesting to hear about. I hope to talk with these teachers more about their experiences.
Today my teacher was telling me about the different assignments she gives students. There are four different things that she has students do on a daily or weekly basis. The students have "readers", which are bags that have reading books in them. Children bring them home every night and each day they come to school, they change their books. Students are supposed to read the books they bring home every night. This is an excellent way for students to get reading practice. I remember that my brother had reading bags when I was in Kindergarten and it encouraged him to read and made his love for reading grow even fonder. The students also have a Math Share Folder, which is due weekly. In the Math Share Folders, students are given a different real life math problems to do with their parents for the week. This is a way to involve parents in their children's learning and for them to see that math is in everyday life. The students change their problems every Friday and it is based on the honor system that students have done the problem by Friday. Students are also given library bags where students are allowed to go to the library on Fridays and check out a book that they like. They will return the book the following book and check out a new one. This helps to encourage reading and many time the books the students choose are too challenging for them to read by themselves so it encourages parents to read to their children. There is also a writing backpack that goes around to everyone in the class. One person will bring the backpack home one night and complete an assignment and then the net night someone else will bring it home and complete an assignment. This cycle continues until everyone in the class has had a go and then it will start again. This is a great way to encourage writing in a way that gets the kids excited about it. The kids look forward to being able to bring the backpack home and do a writing activity. This is similar to my previous CT's idea of having a stuff animal that the class would name, which would go home with a different student every night or week and the students would write in a communal journal. I hope to implement some of these ideas in my own classroom because it makes learning fun and interesting. It also involves the parents in their child's learning, which I think is extremely important.
The school also encourages parents to be a part of their children's learning by sending out weekly newsletters to parents updating them on what is happening at the school, what the different classes are doing and how parents can help to continue learning at home, and different highlights from the week. Teachers will include ways parents can help children to continue school learning by suggesting possible activities or questions they can ask their child. This is great because parents will get to see what their children are doing and learning. It also informs parents of upcoming events such as fundraisers and field trips.
I am really excited to teach the students. I cannot wait to be able to teach them about things that I know about and I think it would be really cool to incorporate some of my own knowledge and American and Chinese culture into their learning. There isn't much cultural diversity in the school and I think that it is important that students learn about difference at a young ages because it allows them to be more accepting in the future. I get made fun of my accent by one girl who continues to mock me. I try to tell her that people are all different and they have different accents. However, she continues to mock me and make fun of it and pretends that she doesn't know what an accent is. I do not know how to address this problem and I hope that she will just come to her senses and grow up. However, right now she does not seem to be doing that and she has been getting others to join her mocking of my accent. I think that she may be making fun of my accent because she hasn't been exposed to difference and now that she is exposed, she doesn't know how to deal with it. It is quite an interesting problem and I still have not thought of the best way to go about solving the problem.
I cannot wait to figure out what I will be teaching on Tuesday. I'm so excited to be able to work with such wonderful kids that are for the most part very respectful and knowledgable. It's sad to say but the students in this class are just as smart if not smarter than some of the 2nd grade students I taught last semester. I am trying to figure out how it is that students in the States can be so far behind. I think a lot of it may have to do with teachers teaching only to the test or the No Child Left Behind Act, where children are just getting passed along in the education system even though they should not be.
On a happy note, today I was able to witness "puppy love" in my classroom. Two boys were talking about how one of the other boys in the class likes one girl and that girl was right there in front of them. The boys then started to say no you like her and it went back and forth and they were saying things like, "You like her" and "You want to marry her". It was so cute and the girl was just sitting there not knowing what to say. Kids are so interesting.
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