This is my first week completely in charge of the class, and it's going fairly well so far. I'm realizing how challenging it is to keep the whole class active the whole time. On Monday, I introduced a couple new things. When I was looking for something to make a sound that I could use as a classroom management tool over the weekend, the only thing I could find was a baby rattle. It doesn't look too much like a baby toy to me, so I figured I could at least try it. It helps some, and I prefer it to shouting above the volume of the students. I also introduced Sudoku puzzles and the 5 chapter books I brought along with me as things to read/do during extra time. The students seemed very interested in these. I also still have my "mail box" in which students can leave me notes. There's a few students who seem to enjoy writing me notes as they wait after school.
Balancing time has been a bit of a challenge. I'm just about done with the February book, and I need to start March. I've also been squeezing in time for reviews for the English exams next week. Today, I realized that most of the students didn't really understand the homework I assigned in grammar, which my cooperating teacher wants to count as a quiz. I had to take time today to go back and explain the content again in a different way with more examples and ask the students to look back at their homework to make sure they did it correctly. The students seemed to understand it better after this. I think when I'm pressured to go quickly through the content, I take less time explaining content or checking for understanding. I find it so hard to teach this way. My cooperating teacher told me today that teachers at Varmond are always expected to cover content very quickly and perfectly while filling in all the pages, so they're always working under a certain level of stress from these high expectations. I think high expectations are good, but there needs to be some wiggle room to allow for the needs of individuals. Many times, I can tell that some students do not understand the content sufficiently based on their homework, grades, etc., but there's always very little time to go back and teach for mastery or allow individuals to re-do their work for better grades.
This week I'm mostly trying to get completely comfortable running the entire day and keeping everything moving along. In the following several weeks, I want to figure out how to keep everything moving while making it more engaging. I'm trying to at least include more student participation in a large class discussion format for now. I can tell I need to vary my instructional methods more though, since some students look completely zoned out when they're just listening to lecture regarding content.
I'll close for today. Here's a couple cultural tid bits:
- Baby showers here are called "Baby Showers," but with a Spanish pronunciation. I went to my host cousin's this weekend, and it seems similar to ours...with games, food, all women, and gifts.
- If you ever come here, here's a couple basic things to know: "Con permiso" (with permission) is used to pass by someone on the street or in a room or when getting off of public transportation. "De nada" and "por nada" (the response to "Thank you") are interchangeable. I first thought that people were saying "por nada" (for nothing) as in "Thanks for nothing"...as if they hadn't helped me. Since this would be rude to say in the U.S., I was really confused...until I realized the two were the same.
- They eat pizza here, and it's pretty much made the same way. BUT...ketchup is the condiment of choice. They pour it all over the top of their pizza slices before eating. Ketchup packets even come inside the pizza box! My host dad told me that pizza isn't pizza without ketchup. I tried a slice like this. It was okay, but I think I prefer my pizza plain.
No comments:
Post a Comment