Today I taught a lesson to my Year 10s on coastal management. Normally I wouldn't spend a blog post talking about a specific lesson but what I learned today I think can be applied to education enlarge.
Today I taught my students about swash (when the wave washes up on the beach) and backwash (when the water retreats back to the ocean following a swash). I also taught them about constructive waves and destructive waves. I decided that after some basic vocabulary word instruction that we would head out and actually act out swash, backwash, constructive and destructive waves. After some prep about what I expected of behavior, I escorted my students out to the Quad and had them line up in front of me. I told them that when I said 'swash' they all had to move forward as if they were a wave. Then when I said 'backwash' they were to move back to their original place. I continued the lesson with the different types of waves (destructive and constructive) and had them 'deposit' leaves on one side or pick them up depending on the type of wave they were. So what's the problem and how does this relate the bigger picture of education? Well I'll start by mentioning that this lesson was a big deal for me. It was my first time trying to do something with this class that met their learning needs (many are kinesthetic learners) while also hitting content in a subject area completely new to me. What surprised me was that an activity that I thought they'd be all over only had about 75% student buy in. About 25% of the kids were sitting on the bench with their phones out or full on rough housing off on the side. No matter what I said, I couldn't get them back. The kids that stayed with me, on the other hand, were... with me. After going through some cycles of waves, I decided to introduce destructive waves. "What should we do if we are going to try to imitate destructive waves?" I ask. "Run!" a student says. (Sweet! He gets it!) I said, "Exactly! So swash down and collect your debris and go deposit it!" Now.... Was this lesson successful? That is the ultimate question that I have been asking myself since starting school here. Part of me says 'yes' because it achieved what I wanted - students moving the replicate aspects of coastal erosion. But did it for all students? And is that my fault? What could I have done differently to have a higher engagement rate? I stewed on these questions until the end of the day when I asked one of my coworkers what he does to engage students that don't participate. He wanted to know more about my experience and so I explained it to him. His response was that I should feel pretty good about 75% participation. He said that there are just some kids that aren't going to respond no matter what you do (those of you from Seward, please know that these kids are really different (yet the same in some ways) to our kids) and some aren't going to respond at all. He said that sometimes you just need to teach to those kids that want to learn. This brings me to some really important questions I've been contemplating since being here. I feel that in the US, if a student doesn't succeed, somehow it is our fault as teachers. We didn't prep enough. We didn't have engaging enough lessons. We didn't meet their learning needs. Somehow, our classroom environment or our lesson style failed that student. Now, I ask myself why I have that impression about the American school system and I realize it is the evaluation process. I've had principals come into my classroom to evaluate me and make a map of my student seating and make marks every time students are off task or are not actively participating. I get it. It is a valuable tool for gauging engagement. But the end result is that if students aren't 100% engaged, there is something wrong that you did as a teacher (classroom management, engaging lessons, etc.) It is also about professional development. So much of it is directed towards meeting every student's needs (which isn't bad, don't get me wrong) that by default a disruptive student is a student whose needs weren't met. I've brought that mentality here to Australia. And.. it is killing me. For those of my friends out there that are teachers, imagine your first year of teaching. That's what this is. The only difference is is that I know what I'm capable of and I can't replicate it here. Well, at least not yet.... This brings me to the philosophical education theory that I'm chewing on. How do we support teachers and help them deliver quality instruction (without expecting a perfect performance) and also encourage them to take the educational risks necessary to continue to enrich the classroom experiences of their students? Here are my thoughts (and these thoughts aren't school, state, or country specific. They are general reflections of teaching overall):
That's it. Simple. Consistency, lighten the load, and don't make all the 'failures' of a classroom the teacher's fault. Some are beyond their control. Swash, backwash, swash, backwash, swash, backwash.
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Today I learned about the fantastic tradition of carnivals in Australian schools. Every term Narara Valley High School holds a carnival which is a series of competitions between different houses in the school. Narara is divided into four houses based on the last names of the students. The house names are famous Australian athletes and each house is assigned a color. The houses at Narara are Kelly (blue), Gardner (green), Makay (red), and Saxby (yellow.) Teachers are also clumped into the houses and serve as supervisors for those houses at the carnival. I'm in Gardner. (Think of it like Professor McGonnagal from Harry Potter is in Gryffandore.)
This term's carnival was a swimming carnival. The entire school spent the day at the pool where the different houses competed by age and gender against each other. It was super fun to see the kids dressed in their own clothes - as they could be out of uniform as long as they were wearing their house colors. There were Year 11 Saxby boys wearing yellow fairy wings, Makay girls with red hula skirts, and Kelly students with blue face paint. It was self expression in students that I haven't seen since I was back in Alaska. I had supervisory duties all day, which allowed me to be right down amongst the students. It was so nice to see them happy and positive. I noticed that there was almost no swearing by students at the carnival and was told by another teacher that most of the kids with the bad mouths skip this day of school. Kids brought water guns to school but only the Year 12 students got to use them. As I was down amongst them all I ended up being showered a few times by stray streams. It was a good cool down in the hot sun! I also noticed that if you raised your cell phone and said "I have a phone" you could avoid being hosed. The many uses of these grand digital devices. Something I experienced which I definitely think needs to be brought back to Seward Middle School is the student catering. Students walk around in pairs with lunch trays of fruit like grapes and watermelon, coffee and milk, cakes and cookies. At one point they even brought around ice blocks (popsicles)! They go to each teacher and ask them if they want any - just like tea time in a aristocratic British movie! Like I said, I think we need to start this up at Seward Middle! Monday was an OK day at work. Some classes went well, and some not so much. I'm still getting use to the uncomfortable feeling when walking into a classroom knowing that it is a crap shoot on whether or not things will go as planned and the students will be willing to learn. My Year 7s and 8s are pretty predictable. My Year 8s definitely need a seating plan which I will give them tomorrow. Be damned with the ten different classrooms I have them in. They need a seating chart and I will make it work. I really like my Year 10s. They are rough, and there are definitely some ring leaders, but they are likable and we are getting to know each other. A bright note on that class is that I only have to teach them Coastal Management for another 10 or so lessons and then I get to move onto global issues like human rights! Yes!!! My year 9s are my challenge. After talking with a couple other teachers that have them as well I have learned that I just need to be really strict. Being strict isn't fun.. but either is a dysfunctional class. I'll give it a try. Important things to mention 1. It is starting to become autumn here. The mornings are crisp and the evenings have that late summer feel 2. Olin stayed home sick today 3. Olin and Alta had soccer try outs on Sunday and played some of the best soccer I've ever seen them play. Alta has such good movement on the field, and Olin had his debut performance as a goalkeeper. He looked amazing! 4. Mom and Dad left for Darwin today. They will likely head to Tasmania from there. 5. I'm in week 4 of the 10 week term and then I get two and a half weeks off. Looking forward to that. 6. My exchange partner in Seward is getting a right classic Alaskan winter. Lots of snow, moose, and... more snow! 7. I will have a sub for the first time on Friday. I'm heading to Sydney for a Teacher Exchange Conference. Walk to Work Tally - 106 miles
As we move into our 4th week of school I'm discovering that it is more and more difficult to find time to write in my blog. It has been about a week since I wrote last, and so much has happened. I'll do my best to include as much as possible here.
My last post was on Friday of last week. I was scorching hot and I later discovered that it was indeed 46C (114F) and some people said that it even got as high as 47 (117F) towards the end of the school day. Australians themselves are talking about how hot this summer and that it is really abnormal to be getting so many high temperature days like this. This week it got to 41C (105F). It is so hard to teach when it is this hot. The kids just really don't care about anything we are learning and I feel like I have to work extra hard to try to entertain them. People have said that February is often the hottest month here, so hopefully things will start to cool down soon. Mom and Dad arrived safely late Friday night and we have been enjoying them completely. Dad bought the kids a soccer ball and kicked it around with them in the backyard. Mom and Tom have joined forces and are making the most spectacular meals. We went to the local farmers market on Sunday and bought fresh bread, freshly made noodles from a handsome Italian man, beautiful veggies, and Greek olives. Alta has been considering buying a sheep skin from a man selling skins at the market. She has been frugal with her money up until now, but really seemed to like the skin. Mom and Dad have been enjoying the animals here. We have a possum living behind our house that has gotten pretty brave. It walks around the yard while we are sitting on the back deck so they have been able to get a real good look at what Aussie possum look like They also are enjoying learning about the birds here. Tom made a bird feeder and mounted it to the deck so that we can feed the rainbow lorikeets and other birds that come to visit. They walked home from school with me one day and I showed them where all the different birds hang out on the walk - sulphur crested cockatoos, corella, galahs, and rainbow lorikeets. One evening we even saw a Tawny Frogmouth. My classes have been slowly getting more consistent and I'm feeling more confident. One of the problems that I think I've had is that I'm treating these students like I treat my Alaskan students. This week I've learned that even though they speak English and there are things about them that are similar, they are not American kids. I've found that the kids here do really well with structured note-taking (something I don't do a lot of in Alaska) and I have found that I have a lot more behavioral issues when I allow them to do paired or small group work (which is something I love to do.) My classes are running a bit more smoothly now that I have discovered that. I've also noticed that kids here respond really well to narrative teaching. As soon as I start telling them stories I know I've got them. Even the most challenging of kids are watching me with that little-kid-at-story-time look on their faces. Then I'll ask them questions and those that are usually too cool to answer, pipe right up. They are moments I cherish and they are also moments that I can't count on to last. The story has to end sometime and then they have to work. Another observation that I've made is that swearing is more accepted here. As long as kids are not directing their foul language at the teacher, it isn't bothered with. Another teacher explained to me that it is just a part of their normal way of speaking so unless it is directed disrespectfully towards adults or is really super bad, we just ignore it. Olin and Alta seem to be totally settled in. Olin has another friend that he just discovered lives in our neighborhood so they were out scootering in through the post-thunderstorm puddles on the street last night. Olin has also finally been accepted into the handball group and even got to the 'ace' position which is the highest position on the handball grid. Alta's teacher said she's a leader at her table at school and seems to be making friends too. She also just got her first pen pal letter from a friend in Seward. She felt so special opening it up and answering all her friend's questions on the question/answer paper he sent her. It's nice to have these connections with home. Yesterday I joined Tom when he went to pick up the kids from school. This was their last day being picked up because on Monday they will start riding the bus home. I want to mention the pick-up process because it is really different from the states. All kids are kept down in a courtyard by the building, and parents line up their cars in front of the school and down to the road to pick them up. As we made progress in the line and our car got closer to the school, Tom pulled out a rectangular piece of cardboard that had Olin and Alta's names on it and put it in the front windshield of the car. When we were the next car up, a woman (teacher) in a reflective vest spoke Olin and Alta's names into a microphone that broadcast to the students waiting in the courtyard. Our kiddos left the group, ran up the stairs and climbed into the car as the teacher read the names for the next car in line. The line was long. It took us about 15-20 minutes to get to the front of the line. Starting Monday the kids will ride the bus. It isn't a yellow school bus like ours at home. Kids here ride the city bus. Tonight Tom and I are going to get take-out Thai and go have an anniversary dinner at the Gosford waterfront. Fourteen years of adventures with that wonderful man. Walk-to-work Tally: 94 miles I'm not sure if that's actually how hot is was today, but that's the high according to an app on Tom's phone. So far we've found that it is pretty accurate.
This was my first day of teaching 5 classes. The morning was beautiful. No cobwebs across the path through the woods on the way to school, dew on the grass, chirping birds... it was perfect. The morning classes started off great. I had my Year 8s twice and then my Year 7s once all before lunch. It is such a pleasure teaching them. I'm supposed to be starting the creation of the universe/world with my 7s and decided to begin with a look at non-traditional creation stories. I used the Maori and Lakota creation stories and the kids seemed to enjoy them. My 8s have been studying prejudice and so just finished a movie (Remember the Titans) and will be doing all kinds of analysis now that it is over. Right before lunch I also had my Year 10s. This is when things started getting tough... and hot. Their class is right around noon which means that the temp is just starting to get rolling. We had class in a room I hadn't been in before and it didn't take long to learn that the projector projected weakly and with a yellow tinge. Imagine 106°F (ish) weather (it just kept getting hotter as the day went on), two ceiling fans, no breeze, about 16 fifteen-sixteen year old boys and 10 fifteen-sixteen year old girls in a classroom learning about.... drum roll.... waste management and sewage treatment from a projector screen you could barely see. I don't think I've ever tried anything more ridiculous. They definitely did not want to be there (one kid told me that "this class is waste management"), and to be honest, I didn't really either. It was so damn hot. After lunch we were supposed to have a whole-school assembly to talk about House competitions (yes, just like in Harry Potter), but it was cancelled at the last minute because of the heat. Which means.... That I had another class that I had to teach, and it had only gotten hotter. Luckily it was my Year 8s again. I have them three times on the second Friday of my fortnight schedule. They showed up, and knew that the next thing we were going to be working on was writing. They just looked at me in agony and said "Please miss. Can we just sit here. We can't write anything. Our skin is sticking to our paper and desks. We just can't do it." And neither could I. So while they were reading (first 10 minutes of class is silent reading because it is a Humanities class and has an English component to it) I listened to the class next door to see what they were doing. What do teachers do when it is this hot? I wasn't about to make the same mistake that I had with my Year 10 and actually try to teach a lesson. Soon the whole class was listening to the class next door and we all realized together that they were playing a game. "Miss, can we play a game too?" And so we did. They taught me how to play silent ball... which wasn't very silent as everyone was a bit crazy with the heat. With about 20 minutes left until the end of class I told them it was my turn to teach them some games. So in scorching heat and all of us dripping with sweat, I told them about Native Youth Olympics and taught them how to do the kneel jump, scissor broad jump, and seal hop. It was great watching year 8 boys seal hop across the classroom floor and to watch whole lines of girls and boys doing the scissor broad jump in the hallway outside our class. Other students came to watch and my students seemed to have a blast telling them about it and trying to see who could jump further. It is something that I don't think I will forget. Just after I left the school for the evening Tom called and asked if I wanted him to pick me up. There was no question in my mind. I needed a ride. It was way too hot to walk home. So he and the kids picked me up, we went home for some popsicles (which I've been told are called 'ice blocks') and then packed up dinner and swimming stuff to head to the beach. We spent about 3 hours grilling, sitting, swimming, catching crabs, and reflecting. What I've observed or learned 1. In Alaska you start the car and warm it up before you get in. Here, I saw someone start their car and wait outside so that the AC would cool it down before they got in it. 2. One tip people had to cool off was to put a dry towel in the freezer. When you get hot, just pull it out and drape it over you. 3. In Alaska we go outside as a treat when you are taking a break from instruction (like we did today during 5th period). Here that would have been absolute torture. 4. Even the toothpaste was hot when I brushed my teeth this evening. 5. After Tom picked me up on my way home from school I leaned my arm against the closed window of the car (from the inside) and the heat from the outside of the car on the window nearly burned my arm. I had to jerk my arm away quickly. 6. Something I noticed when I first came to Australia was many people here wear scents (perfume, cologne, etc.) especially compared to Alaska. I couldn't figure out why but now I have an idea. We sweat all the time and that probably leads to concerns about body odor. Not sure on this one... I'm still observing. 7. That when it gets super hot like this Sydney can get electrical black-outs because everyone is running their AC Today I'm thankful for: 1. Tracy. My co-worker and new friend is lending me her guitar for the year. Her son has also said that my kids can borrow his mini soccer goals to set up in the backyard. Thank you Tracy! 2. Moon-shine from a full moon on the ocean. 3. That my kids like to play together. Watching them play at the beach was calming. 4. I finished my first fortnight! I have four more fortnights to go until the end of Term 1 and then we get a two week break. 5. That Tom planted a garden. Gardening is his happy time. 6. That my parents are in Australia, and will be at the Gosford station in about an hour. Walk to Work Tally: 67 miles It has been a number of days since I've posted, so it's about time I sat down and got to it. On Saturday we went to Sydney for a Exchange Teacher's picnic. We were contacted by an older gentleman named Graham who offered us a ride. We originally had planned on taking the train, but jumped at the chance for good conversation and to meet someone new.
The picnic was well organized and well attended. We met a lot of different exchangees. It seems a large number are from Canada (Canada advertises their exchange program really well.) There has been talk of a Central Coast exchangee get-together soon. We look forward to that. The kids and Tom had a good time at the picnic. Tom got to meet a lot of other spouses and share stories and the kids hunted for shells on the beach and learned some of the basics of cricket. Sunday was hot. It got to about 104F. Not checking the weather before we planned our day, we decided to hit the Reptile Park again. This time not only did they have kangaroos out that you could pet, they also had emus! We watched a few of the shows (Tasmanian Devil and Crock), watched a man walk a Komodo Dragon on a leash, and by about 2:00 we were sitting in the shade eating popsicles wondering why we had no energy. It was great to be at the park with so few people there, but not so fun to be there when it was so hot. Tom took me home so that I could lesson plan for the week and took the kids to the beach. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week has basically been me trying to figure out my Year 9 class. I had them once on Monday, twice on Tuesday, and once today. They are tough. I'm hoping they are like my Year 8s. They were tough too, and now I look forward to class with them. Time will tell I guess. Olin and Alta are settling into school. Alta seems to be doing just fine. We aren't sure she's being super challenged, so are trying to supplement with some work at home. Olin is having a bit more rough of a time. Lunch is only 10 minutes long, and then lunch recess is 30 minutes. If you don't eat all your lunch, you can stay back from recess to eat it. But (as you might guess) Olin is NOT going to miss recess. So he doesn't get enough to eat and then is a mess when he gets home. Also, kids here play a game called "handball" during recess. It is kind of like 4 square but played with a racket ball and only your hands. Well apparently Olin isn't very good at it yet (poor kid has only had 2 weeks to learn while all the other kids have been playing for years) and so kids won't let him play (which means he won't get better.) He's also been told that he can't play because he's a girl (for those of you that don't know him, he has long blond hair.) He's having a tough time with it. I'm proud of him, though. He's been tough about it. We decided as a family that he had too many things on his plate: Eating all his lunch, doing his homework, learning to skateboard, learning handball (after school with us - and he's teaching me!), parkour, getting used to a new school and making new friends. After a really long conversation, he decided on his own that he would not do parkour anymore. It was hard for him because he really wanted to learn, but he decided instead that he just wanted to focus on handball and skateboarding. It was good to see him make that decision on his own, and also to verbalize how he was feeling at school. My high points of today were two great quotes. One of my Year 8 students (great girl!) came up to the staff room this morning to let us know that a sheep had gotten loose. I spent the minutes before the first bell watching Aussie boys and the custodian wrestling and then carrying a big dark sheep back to the pen. I was so impressed that they knew how to carry a sheep! I can just imagine my Alaskan boys. They would have had no idea how to carry it. The other quote was from Alta. Here's how her and Olin's conversation went: "Look at that bug!" - Alta "Oh cool it's a centipede." - Olin With total dismissal in her voice "Oh, no, it has way more than a hundred!" - Alta. I love my entomologist. Today I'm thankful...: 1. For little pink and white feathers discarded by galah parrots. 2. That there wasn't a spider on the HUGE web I walked into this morning. 3. For empathetic, supportive and awesome coworkers. Thank you to all of you that helped me by offering advice, tools, and tips that work for you. Thank you to those that offered to take kids that I ejected from my class. 4. That I'm learning and I'm growing. Back in Alaska that growth had slowed way, way down. It feels good to be uncomfortable again. As weird as that sounds. 5. That I didn't go to camp. I needed to meet my Year 9s. 6. For Tom. Every morning he gets the kids to school with uniforms on and lunches packed. He got some PT done with his arm today. He made dinner, AND he vacuumed out the car. Love that man! 7. For sheep. 8. That classroom B3 had a TV!!!!!! With Volume!!!!!! and working Internet!!!!! Yay!!! 9. That I'm on this grand adventure with my family. 10. That my Mom and Dad will be here on Friday. I did it! I finished my first week of teaching in Australia. Talk about a whirl wind crazy experience. Tom used the phrase "consistently inconsistent" which my Aussie co-workers thought was a pretty good description of things. Yesterday was a little tough. 7th grade has a 3 day camp next week that I got invited to go on, but then was told yesterday that they overbooked on staff, and so I would be staying back. That made me a bit anxious, as I knew I would have to sub in the classrooms of the other teachers that were at camp. All I could imagine was class after class of kids chewing me up and spitting me out - putting me through their test. I am going to sub in those classes, but now that my week is over and I think I've got the hang of this I'm not stressed at all. I also had the interesting experience of a state-wide internet shut down right as I was about to teach my internet-based lesson. Augh! Luckily I can think on my feet and played a silly name-game which my 10th graders seemed to think was hilarious.
Today was AWESOME!!! I had two classes of Year 7 (the same class twice in the day) and two classes of my Year 8 (same class twice in the day.) Teaching today was like teaching back in Alaska. Everything wasn't so new, I can understand the kids' accents better every day, and I know their personalities and names better too so I was on! I had one kid (one of my main Year 8 stinkers from Tuesday) that said wide-eyed, "You need to be a motivational speaker!" (We were discussing stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.) His collaborator in stinker-behavior in the same class saw me with his mates later in the common area and said, "Hey Miss!" and then told his friends, "She's my favorite teacher!" When I walk through the halls I hear "Hi Miss!" like birds chirping all around me. Kids smile. They want to come talk to me. Two of my Year 7s spent their entire recess (20min) standing with me while I was on supervision duties and told me all about their parents, and getting their ears pierced, and just all kinds of stuff. I think I passed some kind of test, and teaching is starting to have that same good feeling is has back in Alaska. So I've mentioned a couple times now the "Miss" thing. Students here call their teachers their names (most call me Mrs. Lil or Mrs. Liljemark), but I'd say about 70% of the time they just refer to women teachers as "Miss" and male teachers as "Sir." It felt weird at first because "Miss" feels informal and young. Especially when compared to "Ma'am." It kind of reminds me of the German "Fraulein" instead of "Frau." I'm getting used to it though, and now respond almost immediately when I hear it. I think it will become one of those things I will remember fondly about my Aussie students when I leave. Olin and Alta have also had a great week. They both are enjoying school. Olin came home today and said he wants to join the school band and the chess club. They both are meeting kids and making friends, and both say they like their teacher. The kids had their gymnastics and parkour lessons this week. Alta's gymnastics was an hour and a half. She said they did a lot of bar work and that it was fun. Olin's parkour was about an hour and he come home sweaty and happy. Tom has been keeping busy. Yesterday he drove out to the beach and did some open sea swimming while we were all at school. Today he made salsa! Today after school he picked me up about halfway home from my walk and we all went to the beach. The kids and Tom played in the surf, and I .... slept on a beach towel. It was exactly what I needed. Some important milestones. 1. We have officially been here for 1 month. 2. The kids and I finished our first week of school, and Tom rocked it as a stay at home dad. 3. I had my first dream last night where everyone in the dream spoke with an Australian accent. For those of you that have learned another language you know that it is a big deal when you start dreaming in the language. (I know it is still English... but it was cool.) Walk-to-Work tally: 40 miles. |
AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
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