The end of the Week

                The end of week two of teaching has come.  It’s been a week full of ups and downs, but I was able to end on a pretty high not today, which I was very thankful for.  Here are a few bits of information about the school side of things this week.

                This week, grade 1 students were still a part of the class.  This has been an adventure with much tension and misunderstanding coming between my teacher and I as a result.  Today, the grade 2 teacher did not come to school, so they joined as well.  The more, the merrier, right?  

                But my relationship with my teacher is going well.  We are slowly beginning to understand each other more and more.  Despite the differences we have, we still share lunch every day, share stories, hugs, and joys of each day.  I am learning so much about professional communication and creating beneficial working relationships.  That may be a focus of the next blog post.  

                 I wrote my first examination for the students this week. I began the week by introducing spelling words that they had struggled with during some times of writing last week, so I tried to introduce them to the students.  We focused on soft and hard c sounds, as well as soft and hard g sounds.  This concept was new to them, so it was fun to be able to work through it with the students.  I had planned on giving a spelling test to them come Friday.  I mentioned this to my teacher, and in her mind she assumed test meant a big time exam.  So come Thursday at the end of the day, she asks if I have the exam written.  I did not, since to me a spelling test is simply having the students spell the words correctly, possibly define them, and use them in a sentence.  She quickly told me a list of everything I must include on the test.  It must be 100 marks.  It must be this, that, and this other thing as well.  The school is pushing the upcoming ANA assessments, so I took sample questions and tried to recreate those for the exam.  Then I come to school Friday, ready to print it off.  It turns out there is an understood rule that you must submit a document for printing 1 to 2 days in advance.  The test is now postponed until Monday.  

           I am not sure if I have stated this yet in this blog, but here, the scores for passing and failing are a little different than back home.  Students are pushed to receive “distinctions” in all of their subject areas.  This means that they receive above and 80% in their overall total.  This is a difficult thing for many students to achieve.  80% is an A, 70% is a B, 60% is a C, 50% is a D, and anything below a 40% means being held back for another year.  The national rule is 30%, but this school is trying to raise the standard.  This being stated, when it comes to grading papers, I have much to change.  A red mark is given for every correct answer, and the marks are counted, and that is the score.  There have been assignments where a student has written 6 correct sentences, receiving 6 marks, plus one mark for punctuation, and still they receive a 7 out of 10.  I am trying my best to understand how this all works, its just taking a bit of adjustment for me.

                Grouping in the class is also quite an issue.  Students are seated in groups ranging from 4 to 7 students.  They are grouped by gender and ability level, which makes many of the behavioral issues only become worse.  This seating is something that is not to be changed, so it is difficult to work through unnecessary behavior problems.  Today, however, I was able to split the class in half, trying my best to split up and diversify my groups based on gender and ability level.  If the seats cannot be changed, then we might as well get up and out of the seats to help, right?

                Today, I took one half of the class outside, while the other half stayed in and wrote 4 creative math story problems utilizing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  These students need a great amount of help with creativity in their writing.  Currently, they only know how to write one sentence per line, not using conjunctions or varying sentence structure whatsoever.  Verb tenses are wrong, spelling is difficult, and ideas do not come across very clearly.  This is no surprise, however.  Students are learning in their second language, it must be so difficult to master a new language while learning a hundred other new concepts at the same time.  Combining the creative writing into math makes many of them not realize that we are focusing on writing, so the stress and pressure to perform is no longer there.  Students were very into their problems, which helped me be able to spend much time outside with the other group.  While outside, we created story problems with new characters and plots, included actions into the stories, and sounds and snips of songs as well.  Then, using stones outside on a bench, each student solved the story problems.  This allowed me to watch their thought process, talk to them one on one, and praise them individually when they were correct.  One student who gives me more grief than I can explain and never seems to know what is going on completed the problems in his own time and own way, but he had them correct.  I loved being able to see his thought process and give him a reason to be proud.  The smile melted my heart. 

                But, to keep this from simply being a log of my experiences, I want to share my thoughts this week about combining subject areas and fine arts. Going off of the story from earlier, I find great success in the classroom when I incorporate reading, writing, math, dance, singing, and movement into each lesson.  I understand that there is a time and a place for fine arts, but here at this school, there is no PE class, no art class, no music class, no computer class, no extra class at all.  The life skills portion of the curriculum is to make up for this.  I understand that in this situation and culture, the ability to understand music or to draw a picture pale in comparison to the ability to read and compute problems, but I believe we would all argue the fine arts will benefit students in these areas. 

                The incorporation of multiple subject areas and fine arts into a single lesson is nothing new to many new teachers.  However, I would argue that few teachers truly understand how necessary and beneficial this truly is.  My students can move, make noise, run around, jump, talk, play the drum, and do flips in the courtyard all while relating these movements and songs to new material and concepts.  The best part is they often don’t realize how much they are learning.  I taught the students a “multiples of 3” song two days ago.  Monday through Wednesday, my teacher had been complaining about their ability to count by multiples.  After they learned this song and added some clapping, every child has learned these multiples.  Now, when they were creating their charts, I heard quite a bit of singing, but the point is that the children learned.  This may not be “by the book” teaching, but the learning that results from this is wonderful.  Fine arts transcend cultural and language barriers, all the while being beautiful displays of culture as well.  I learn so much about these students whenever they sing. 

             This being said, I am still far from being a master of teaching.  I still plan lessons where I realize I am talking way too much and losing student attention.  But the important part to me is that I am coming to understand that classes like “Fine Arts in Education” and “Reading in the Content Areas” are not a waste of time.  There are real-life, applicable strategies and knowledge that I gained from those classes.  Creating an environment open to this sort of collaboration in the classroom may take some time, but it sure makes lessons more fun for me as well!

            Sorry for the lengthy posts, there is simply too much to reflect on!  I love hearing responses from anyone reading, your support is so appreciated!  To all my fellow student teachers as well, keep me posted on your experiences as well.  I wish the best for every one of you!

Week 2

Week 2 is well under way, and much has happened.  It is Tuesday, August 28^th today, and I am sitting in a storage closet after school.  The school day finished at 1:30 for all learners except grade 12.  Last week I had to leave exactly at 1:30 with the other students in order to find transportation back to the house where I am staying.  This week, I was able to organize transportation for 4pm, the time that the grade 12 learners are dismissed.  This time has been so good for me.  The emphasis placed on planning throughout the education program was not taught solely to give us more work to do, but rather because it is truly vital to successful teaching practices in the real world.  Being at school, surrounded by papers and supplies makes planning and idea-generating much easier.

Without the internet, I realize my resources are very limited.  Teachers truly need to have a supply box filled with strategies and ideas for times when they are stuck without technology.  However, because I feel like I am still working to fill my teaching tool box, I’m having quite an interesting time planning.  I have been learning to use my students creative minds as resources as well as other faculty members in the school.  

So far this week, my mind has been focusing on assessment.  Teaching is meaningless if there is not some goal in mind.  My students need to be aware that what we are doing is leading towards something that there is purpose to everything we are doing.  Here, the only guidance as to what to teach is a grid with information on the questions that will be asked on ANA, the Annual National Assessment that every school must give their learners.  Yes, even in South Africa teacher find themselves frustrated with having to “teach toward the test.”  But I have found that this limits teachers so much.  They don’t push the limits with creativity or incorporate multiple learning styles into their teaching.  My teacher does try and motivate her students through physical movement, which is well taken by the students.  But especially in older grades, the teaching style tends to be very much a lecture style. 

I have been trying to figure out how I can take the topics included in ANA and turn them into units, or big ideas for my time teaching here.  Last week, while I was still able to teach some successful lessons, I neglected to step back and see the big picture.  I also neglected assessment.  I can attribute most of this to the shock and stress I felt from the craziness of every event and change that came last week.  But so far this week, I have been keeping scratches of assessment notes in my binder, and am learning so much simply through observation.  Now that I have the students names down, it is much easier to figure out who is lacking in what areas.  I have begun today by giving students a spelling list. We are focusing on soft g and soft c sounds, as well as 5 extra words that were frequently misspelled in their writing activity from Monday.  They have had 1 spelling test before, and they aren’t to excited about this second one.  But here I am, thrilled to think that I have an assessment in place and now have tons of ideas of how to use these words to enhance my teaching and their learning in the next 3 days.  Assessment is continuous.  I am learning that it is so beneficial to always be thinking about the progress of each student.  Many bits of progress slip by unnoticed, but having a mindset of looking for every sign of progress or struggle will help make my teaching more beneficial and tailored specifically to my class.  I know this sounds like something that should be obvious, but after really diving in to a classroom like this as an actual teacher, it finally seems to be real.  I understand the benefits and hope to become more skilled at teaching this way.

Preperations

It is Sunday evening, and I have been trying all weekend to balance helping in the house where I am now living, getting some fresh air, and planning for the coming week.  I was hoping to have a strong plan going into this week.  As it stands now, I do have a plan, however I am unsure of how strong it actually is.  I have lessons planned out for this week in reading, writing, and phonics.  This is supposed to make up ½ of the student’s day, so I placed my focus here to begin.  I have lesson plans written for Monday, and will work to get Tuesdays done soon.  The biggest question now is how the relationship with my teacher will play out for Monday.  She is very strong willed and will walk into the classroom and take over without a moments notice.  So despite how prepared I feel , I know there is a very good chance she may take over and my plans may be for naught. 

On Friday, she came back in the room right as I was beginning a lesson I had spent quite a bit of time planning.   She came with all the grade 1 students and decided to start teaching them all together.   For the first 2 ½ hours of the day, she had the students in grade 3 make a number chart, writing down as many numbers on a piece of paper as possible.  Then the grade 1 students sat for that entire time doing absolutely nothing but staring at the wall, while my teacher and I wrote out number charts from 1 to 100 for them.  It was such a waste of their time.  Not having access to technology makes things like this take much longer, but there is a reason we plan in advance! 

However, teachers take public transportation to and from school.  Like every other teacher, I arrive in a taxi at the same time as all the students and have no morning planning time.  Then, right as the final bell rings, I must rush out the door to catch my taxi again (which is more like an oversized van).  So figuring out planning time is difficult.  And much time is spent travelling.  Things are just so different here, and finding a balance to everything is quite the challenge.  

Week One

Week one of student teaching is well under way.  It is Wednesday, and much has happened this week.  The grade 1 teacher for the school has been out sick for a month now.  Teachers are hard to find here, and the school is struggling for money, so a substitute is not an option.  I have now become full time in grade 3 while my teacher spends her time in grade 1.  We start the morning all together and then split for the rest of the day.  Lunch break we spend together, but other than that, it is me and the students.  I was informed of this come the beginning of the school day on Monday, so I have had a quick lesson in improvisation.  Thank you to all of my professors, past teachers, and classmates for every teaching strategy you have helped me commit to memory, because I am searching as much as possible for ideas of what to do!

As of now, I have been able to collect stones and leaves to do a few lessons with numbers, counting, and “greater than and less than” concepts.  I labeled different items in the classroom with various weights in grams and kilograms, and students had to race to see who could grab and organize the items from least to greatest the quickest.  Then in reading, I had them work on comprehension by telling a story and making them draw a picture of  the main idea of the story, including 3 opposites in their picture, and describing their picture using 3 rhyming words. 

So far, the lesson creating has been fun.  However, with the way life is going right now, there is no time for planning.  I do my best to fill out a planning chart each night before school, and then quickly scratch out an anticipatory set idea, along with the main goals I want the students to achieve.  I try and create ideas of how to informally assess, but because I do not yet have the names of the students memorized or have access to their grade books, I can’t really complete this part. So I am slightly overwhelmed trying to figure out how to formulate complete lesson plans for this in the future.

Another issue has been the idea of discipline in the classroom.  Everything I have been taught in school is counteracted in this part of the world.  In this school, if I child misbehaves, they are verbally punished, and even beaten on the backside, the face, or the hand.  My teacher does not necessarily use this route unless the case is extreme, but some teachers in the older grades are quick to give beatings to students who do not come with their work done on time.  If a student in my class does not complete work on time, they must stay in and not eat any food during the break until their homework is completed.  This often means students go without food until the second break.  Also, when a student is misbehaving in the class, whether that be not listening, goofing around, falling asleep, or any other various misbehavior, the teacher calls them to the front of the class.  In front of everyone, she makes demeaning comments about their behavior, how the student should just be sent back to grade 1, how they will not make a good husband or wife, or how they are unintelligent, lazy, and ignorant.  Many times already, my teacher has turned to me during the punishment, and asked me what I would do to a learner like this.  I sit quiet, because I feel strongly that this is not the time and place for me to give my thoughts.  And then I talk to her about it later, how I feel uncomfortable in those situations, but not much seems to change.  She often looks at me also and says, this child has no parents, or this child’s father is in prison, or this child is too rich for his own good, or this child can’t even afford lunch; she says this loud and clear for everyone to hear, and right in front of the face of the student.  I cannot punish students like this, I just can’t.

  So then when the time comes for me to be alone, I work as hard as I can to establish a positive classroom environment, where punishment looks a little differently. This, however, may not be the best route either.  The students love their teacher, and she loves them.  It’s not a matter of her being a bad teacher who detests her students, rather it is just the way things work in South Africa.  To work against that and try and recreate my ideal classroom situation is unreasonable.  So my biggest issue is how do I work with this situation?  I am left with no answer, and often end up having to yell to gain student attention.  I have had many conversations with them about respecting their classmates, teachers, and parents.  At this point, that is the one main thing I am trying to get them to grasp.  I am in the dark in this area right now, so any thoughts or ideas are definitely welcomed!

A New Horizon

Student teaching has now begun.  The final step of my journey towards becoming a teacher is taking me places I have always dreamed of going.  I am excited to complete this semester, knowing it will be difficult, tiresome, worthwhile, and very rewarding. 

Today, I was able to visit my school and students for the first time.  Being that it was a Friday, the students were very energetic and ecstatic about meeting me.  To begin, I will explain a bit about the school itself. 

Upon entering the gate of the school, there are 5 brick buildings, each long and rectangular consisting of four classrooms and a small office area.  Four of the buildings are arranged in a square shape, while the fifth sticks off the side.  In the center is a courtyard, partly covered with ripping tarps, with a brick water area, with 2 spickets for water.  When students need a drink, they run outside and get one from the spicket.   Now everywhere you look is brown dirt, so dry and dusty since no rain has come to the area since January.  Behind one building there are some tires, and a few toys built.  Behind another is a garden area with many vegetables growing.  The gardener has a fulltime position at the school, as well as a few women who work in the “tack” shop.  This is a little shack where students can come and buy traditional food for lunch, or buy some snacks that are supplied to them.  Behind another building is the cooking hut, where women build fires and cook the traditional food in pots outside.  In this building there are 2 toilets.  The fifth building has some classrooms, but also has a second story build for the library, computer center, and offices.  There are also boys, girls, and staff bathroom on the first floor. 

Inside the classroom, there is a chalkboard, a teacher’s desk, and chairs and tables for the students.  The floor is old tile, and is very slippery to walk on.  I actually on this first day, it caused quite the laughter, but thankfully I was able to laugh, too.

By the end of this first day, I’m tired.  I’m pretty overwhelmed and nervous about what is going to come.  So many things are different here.  The behavior management is nothing like in the US.  In fact almost everything I observed today goes against anything we have been told in class.  Planning seems to be nonexistent, supplies are very limited, and teachers are content if their students are just keeping busy.

I am curious to see how this all plays out in the next few weeks, but I am excited to get to know more about this school and learn more about my students!