Day #17

S today I went in for an extra day.  I taught two lessons and I have definitely learned a lot form this placement.  The lessons I have been teaching have improved and I have learned a number of management techniques and ways to get student's attention.  I have truly enjoyed working with the students.
The lessons today went really well and I really wish I could continue to teach and work with this group of students.  They are just absolutely lovely and fabulous.  They are so into their learning and it's great to see. I think their love for learning and enjoyment of learning comes from having an excellent teacher as well as excellent parents that encourage learning.  The students' parents also all seem to be really involved in students' learning from working on their child's learning at home or coming in during the day and helping out for an hour or two.  I really wish to see more of this in the American school system.   Parent interaction is barely present in the American school system (at least not that I can remember).   I think the American mentality is that all teaching goes on in school and not at home, but this is completely wrong.  So much learning goes on at home and outside of school and parents being involved in their child's learning is essential to a child's success and growth.
I really loved my experience here in Australia and I hope that I will be able to continue working in other Australian schools as well as schools in Taiwan (since I will be there for three months).  I think that all these international experiences are really great for me to see especially when I go to Taiwan to see how different schools are there from the Western style of teaching.  I am excited to continue my international teaching experience and I hope to learn lots.