I feel like we've been here for much longer than a week and a half. We are definitely getting used to life on the island and everything is getting a little easier as our familiarity grows. We've found some good local spots to eat and met some cool people as well. We see our students around town all the time and they want to talk and give us hugs. It's another tropical paradise that I am liking very much.
This past weekend we didn't do much but relax and try to get our heads straight after our first week at Holy Cross. We had lots of lesson planning to do as we are now teaching much more. The first week was all about getting used to our classes and everything and now it is time to get in there and do lots of teaching.
Back to school on Monday brought a bit of anxiety for me. We are formally observed by our university supervisor once a week, which means she comes into the class and watches one of our lessons and then we have a chat about it afterwards where we get evaluated and she gives us feedback. My observation for the week was on Monday afternoon during a lesson in which I had to teach the students how to track hurricanes. I am in a standard 4 class, which is about the equivalent to a grade 5/6 back home (although my youngest student is 10 and the oldest is 14). Being with the older kids you have to know your stuff! You know the game - are you smarter than a 5th grader? Well, you better be on top of what you are teaching because they are already turning into mini-adults and are very smart. So, I had to teach myself how to track a hurricane and how that process works and then turn around and teach it to a class of students that live in a region that has a hurricane season! Overall, the lesson went well and the feedback was positive and constructive but there are lots of areas to work on as well. I felt better having done my observation for the week. Our supervisor is around the school all day so she is seeing us teach and interact with the students and teachers all of the time anyways though.
Then came Tuesday, which was an interesting day because my teacher didn't come to school until 1030am. So, when I arrived in the morning I was informed that she would be late and to take care of the class until she arrived. Since we've arrived I have been carrying around a book called 'Have You Filled a Bucket Today?'. It's a cute story about being kind and respectful and treating others as you would want to be treated. I whipped that out and did an activity around it and ended up learning more about my students than I could have imagined. I can't say that they were all kind and warm to each other afterwards but maybe a seed was planted about the importance of treating others nicely just because it is a nice way to live life.
After the bucket filling activity I started my science lesson that I had intended to teach in the afternoon. Shortly into the lesson the students were really acting out and I was having a hard time getting them to focus. I thought that this might be a good time to build on the bucket filling exercise and talk about them and their dreams and school and get into who they are as people and why they put on their uniforms and come to school everyday. Why? What is the point of all of this? Why do kids go to school all around the world? Why would education be important? As we started talking I sure got some interesting answers - it was eye opening though and I'm glad that we stopped the science lesson to just talk. I would have liked to continue on and do some team-building exercises with the class but it was snack time and I'm sure you can imagine that they were not going to miss out on eating for a conversation as deep as we were having. So, we stopped. While the students were taking a break my teacher arrived and everything returned to 'normal'.
I taught again in the afternoon. This time is was a science lesson on plant responses and tropism. Yikes! How do I explain that in a fun and engaging way. We did a KWL chart (what they already know, what they want to know and at the end they will fill in the L for what they learned). We then went over what is tropism and they did a crossword puzzle. The teacher in the room next door also teaches standard 4 and I saw that he was doing a cool science experiment with plants growing in a box (there's more to it than that but I won't get into the details). So, I am going to do it with my class on Thursday. I think they need more hands-on type stuff to really comprehend what is being taught to them. Even while teaching at home the students love to 'do' stuff and they usually end up understanding the concepts much more easily when they can see it in action. It's time to get creative. I'm not gonna lie though - hands-on stuff here scares me a little because when you let the class get out of their seats and work with their peers and actually do activities they can get out of control and it's really hard to reign them back in.
After science we then went outside and played softball. They don't really have a great spot outside to do PE so we went to the front of the school where there is sort of a parking lot (although cars/golf carts don't park there) and they played in that area. We were rushed for time so I didn't go over expectations before leaving the classroom and that was a mistake on my part. Given what I have learned and experienced this past week and a half you would think that - obviously - I would review expectations before going out but there can be so much going on in the moment that you forget. So, I learned my lesson there. Once we got outside and finally got somewhat of a system going (there isn't much equipment so sharing is interesting) then it was all good. I played softball for many years and know the sport and the technique and so on, so I felt completely in my element trying to teach the students a sport. The surprising thing was that no one really knew how to play at all. It was super fun and chaotic and crazy at the same time. It was also insanely hot and sweaty and I was wearing a skirt!
Now, it is Wednesday morning and I am up early. Wednesday is a short day at the school. The students leave at 1:45pm (rather than 2:45pm) so that the teachers can plan for the following week. All of their lesson plans - as in every single one of them - have to be turned in to the Principal for approval. Our plans have to be turned in as well while we are here. We have done a lot of formal lesson planning at home so we are definitely used to it so it's not a big deal to have our plans look over.
We are also starting a sort of after school homework/help/tutor session twice a week to help students that are having a hard time with their work. There is no extra support here so it is up to the teachers to get their students to understand what is being taught. The classes are pretty big and the resources are limited so it is hard. Hopefully we can help in some way alleviate some of that stress by just being an extra set of eyes and hands to go around. We'll see how many of the students actually show up for the help. It's a good idea in theory!
So, that's that. Be in touch again soon.
