Today I was able to sit in on a staff meeting on report writing. I was also able to go to the Preps Picnic. It was really great. Sadly I wasn't able to take any pictures. I also taught two reading lessons today and it went quite well.
The staff meeting on report writing was quite interesting because it was on report writing. It was interesting to see how the report cards are here in Victoria, Australia. There is a dot system where students get a dot on a number line. The numbers on the number line represent grade levels and the student is given a ranking based on what grade level they are at or performing at in different areas of learning. It is seems like quite a nice system because you can really see where each student is in comparison to where he or she should be, but then it can be quite embarrassing for some students to see. If all of a child's friends were above grade level and that student wasn't, he or she may feel embarrassed about his or her grades even if he or she is on target. It was also interesting at the staff meeting because we were told a few figures of where the children were at in terms of grades. A majority of the 3rd and 5th graders were above their grade level. This is really good and also good for me to know. I knew that the students at the school were quite smart but I did not know they were that much smarter. However, I have not had a close look at what the standards for each grade are so the standards could be really low.
The Preps also had a picnic today and it was really great. Although I was unable to stay for the whole thing, it was great to see all the students together with their parents and having a good time. It's also really nice to see how so many parents are interested and want to be involved in their child's learning. In the Boston schools I've been in, this is not very apparent. Parents are not very involved in their child's learning and it really hinders the child's learning. These parents also don't seem to have a strong value on education like the parents at this school do. It is quite upsetting to see and I think I will be talking to my Cooperating Teacher (CT) about ways to get parents involved.
Today I taught two reading lessons. It was really great and students were engaged. My supervisor also came in and observed and she gave me some really great comments and feedback on what to improve upon and what I was doing well. It was really nice to get a formal observation form someone since my CT and I have mainly just been verbally talking about my lessons. Today my supervisor wrote notes as I was teaching and it was really great because she was able to keep track of exactly what I did and what I can do to improve upon my teaching. I think that being able to teach so many lessons and work with a great group of children is really helping me to learn about teaching and how to better improve my teaching.
I am absolutely loving it here and my teaching experience here is just wonderful. Sadly, it is coming to an end in two days. However, I will be in Australia for another 3 weeks and I hope to visit the school again since I have nothing planned. This would be a great way for me to continue my teaching experience and learn more about teaching.
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