I was about to start writing my post about ten minutes ago, but I had to take care of a lizard that was sitting on our couch. Now that he is outside where he belongs I can talk about my last two days and my experience so far at The Montessori Centre. When Morgan and I arrived on Monday we were given a tour of the toddler and pre-primary building and then the elementary building. We were then introduced to all of the teachers and other staff that works at the school. Once we finished our tour we were able to watch the students have their morning assembly. Every Monday the students gather in the courtyard, sing songs together, and are welcomed back to school. Morgan and I were then introduced to everyone. After a quick meeting with the directors we were off to our classes! I am in a grade 6 class. There are 16 children in my very small classroom. One of the big differences from teaching in Wisconsin is that the students at my school refer to their teachers as "Teacher," so for the next 8 weeks I will be Teacher Rachel. My cooperating teacher is Teacher Gayle. She is very energetic! When I got into my classroom I was able to introduce myself. The kids had a lot of questions for me and they liked learning about snow! I learned that a lot of my kids like to play football (soccer) and draw. They are a great group of kids! For the rest of the day I observed my cooperating teacher teach. Next week I will begin to teach science.
Over the past two days I have noticed many differences between my school here and schools in the US. One big difference is technology. Our school has internet, but it is not strong in each classroom. The teachers write everything on either a white board or a chalk board. Some other differences are that the classrooms all open to the outside! This could never happen in Wisconsin! Our school is also not air-conditioned, but there is always a wonderful breeze that comes through the classroom. The students here do not use text books, but usually copy what is on the board or they glue pages of information into their notebooks. A lot of the instruction here has been very teacher directed so far. The teacher teaches while the students sit, listen, and take notes. There has not been much student directed learning yet. One of the things I love seeing here is how the students interact with each other. They are physical with each other (pushing, rough playing) but the teachers rarely stop it. It never goes out of hand to the point where a student gets hurt. I like seeing that the students know their boundaries with each other. It is also fun to watch the kids climb trees on the playground and swing from tire swings that are attached to the trees! These kids really get to be kids!
This week is a short week for us because the students have off on Thursday and Friday for a mid-term break. The teachers will be going in for training though, so I will be in school yet. This is also a special week because on Sunday is the celebration on Jounen Kewyol. Tomorrow (Wednesday) my school will be celebrating all day. We have an assembly in the morning that parents can come to watch, and then there will be food for sale after. I am excited to try some local foods. This weekend we will also be participating in some local Jounen Kweyol celebrations.
Thanks for keeping up with my blog!!
Over the past two days I have noticed many differences between my school here and schools in the US. One big difference is technology. Our school has internet, but it is not strong in each classroom. The teachers write everything on either a white board or a chalk board. Some other differences are that the classrooms all open to the outside! This could never happen in Wisconsin! Our school is also not air-conditioned, but there is always a wonderful breeze that comes through the classroom. The students here do not use text books, but usually copy what is on the board or they glue pages of information into their notebooks. A lot of the instruction here has been very teacher directed so far. The teacher teaches while the students sit, listen, and take notes. There has not been much student directed learning yet. One of the things I love seeing here is how the students interact with each other. They are physical with each other (pushing, rough playing) but the teachers rarely stop it. It never goes out of hand to the point where a student gets hurt. I like seeing that the students know their boundaries with each other. It is also fun to watch the kids climb trees on the playground and swing from tire swings that are attached to the trees! These kids really get to be kids!
This week is a short week for us because the students have off on Thursday and Friday for a mid-term break. The teachers will be going in for training though, so I will be in school yet. This is also a special week because on Sunday is the celebration on Jounen Kewyol. Tomorrow (Wednesday) my school will be celebrating all day. We have an assembly in the morning that parents can come to watch, and then there will be food for sale after. I am excited to try some local foods. This weekend we will also be participating in some local Jounen Kweyol celebrations.
Thanks for keeping up with my blog!!