I’m back in Chicago.
After a few long plane rides and many unforgettable memories my time in
South Africa has come to a close. I had
hoped to reflect more in depth via this blog and my other blog, but rather have
found personal reflection time to be more beneficial. I want so badly to share my experiences with
others and help others understand all the intricacies of my last
placement. This, however, seems to be an
impossible feat, often resulting in frustration and “Africa-sickness.” Rather I
have come to realize I just need to take this one day at a time. My experiences in South Africa have shaped
the way I think, process, view situations and approach teaching. Now is the time where I figure out how these
experiences will shape my teaching practice and worldview.
For the next 9 weeks I will be teaching at Kolmar School in
the Developmental Learning Program (DLP) associated with Spalding and the
Eisenhower Co-op. My classroom consists
of 7 boys. Two students are in Grade 6
and the other five are in Grade 8. These
students function at very different levels and represent many different
disabilities and nationalities. The
diversity of the group excites me, and I look forward to exploring various
types of teaching to see how I can benefit the group as a whole while
addressing each individual need as well.
Last week I put in four days at this school. My teacher welcomed me in and I enjoyed
observing and watching how she runs the classroom. There is one Paraprofessional in the classroom,
so there are 2 adults for the 7 students. Much of the instruction is done split
in groups to give the students more individual attention. The use of technology is fairly minimal, but
it really doesn't seem too necessary with these students. A few times a week the students have access
to a smartboard, participate in group speech, library, PE, and Literacy
groups. Art has been cut from the
program along with music, which seems to be fine with my classroom
teacher. The day is very scheduled out,
which is nice for the students. Much
time is also spent transitioning, having them use the bathroom, clean up the
room, prepare for lunch, etc. The pace
of the class is much slower than I had anticipated, which is a change from my
previous placement. This may turn out to
be an okay difference though.
On Tuesday I plan to take over full time. While this feels a little soon, I think it
really is best that I just get thrown into the swing of things to keep me
going. I am confident in my ability to
handle the classroom, I am just a little wary of returning to a slower paced
“Americanized” educational environment.
But the comforting part is that I am here to learn, and here to help
students. The students really make
teaching worthwhile, so I look forward to getting to know these boys on a
deeper level. I am not sure how to
describe all of my feelings about this transition, so I will leave it at that
and take it one day at a time!
Found your blog and here I am. It has become part of my own routine to go through the blogs of the 6 student teachers that I am making visits to while my SPED 216 student works on completing an activity for the newspaper (remember doing that Kelly?). I look forward to keeping up with your blogs and making three visits to observe you at Kolmar. I'm thinking that you will also be doing your TPA taping at Kolmar and I just sat through a 1 and a 1/2 hour webinar on how this is to be done in special education. One of the main points that was made is that this is to be done with at least 2 students unless very good rationale can be given for showing only 1. I anticipate that you will be discussing this in seminar on Mondays as well. One of the other difficulties I also see in this process is trying to show progress with your students as you have already seen that such progress comes slowly. But I am confident that you can choose an area in which to show your teaching techniques and competencies.
ReplyDeleteI also believe you will begin responding to chapters from the book by Schmidt in your blog. So many things to keep straight. Feel free to stop at my office any Monday and perhaps we can schedule my first visit for next week Wednesday. See you later (I wonder how you say that in South African - might it be possible to have your new students learn a little about South Africa - possibly even set up a skype?).
I'm glad you are off to a good start. It seems as if you are being thrown into the mix right away. However, this is a great way to learn.
ReplyDeleteTake advantage of being asked to teach full-time as this will be value added and important to a future employer.
I hope you have a great first week.