There's all kinds of different magic that takes places in classrooms. Some is on a personal level when you make a good connection with a kid. You get them, and they know it and they feel good and safe when they are in your class. Sometimes magic happens when students that struggle suddenly grasp the concept. They feel smart and it radiates into their smile, posture, and confidence in your class. I enjoy both those types of magic immensely. There is another type of magic that I want to write about today, though. It starts in program, curriculum, or unit design, and continues through the teaching of each lesson. It is the type of magic that brings significant meaning to what I (and many other teachers do) in the classroom. It centers around making what students learn matter to them.
When I was in middle and high school, I didn't really find a lot of fulfillment in my history classes. I learned the stories, but had difficulty connecting many of them to my world. We learned things for the sake of learning them. Finding the meaning and the connection to our everyday lives wasn't something built into the unit and lessons. It was something that happened on the side. As a history teacher, I ask myself, "Why is what I teach important for these kids to learn?" "What am I preparing them for?" I'm preparing them for their adulthood where they will navigate political worlds, where they will watch the news and try to interpret international affairs, and where they will have conversations with people from all over world and will need to have some sort of understanding of basic aspects of human systems and life. Conveniently, all the themes of human existence are repeated throughout history. We can safely predict that they will continue into the future. Let's use history to help our students understand the world around them - in the present, and future. What brings me great joy is designing lessons that connect these timeless human themes from across the eras, thereby making what we learn matter. I almost never get the question from students, "Why do we have to learn this?" If I do, I can tell them. I can tell them in a way that communicates that it is critical that they learn it because they are going to need it when they go out into the world either that very day, or in the future. What they learn will help them understand the world they live in a little more. So why this long discourse on educational theory? I've suddenly realized something today. I realized that that connection is missing in a lot (though not all) of the lessons that I teach here. It isn't built into the program. It isn't on the assessments. It isn't in the final exam at the end of the year. I realized it today when I found myself wanting to take my class on a journey of understanding cadaver donation as a present day solution to increasing medical understanding of the human body - something that had its origins with body snatching in early Renaissance times, the topic I was supposed to be focusing on. (Well actually I was just supposed to focus on the Renaissance, but I focussed more specifically on dissection in the Renaissance!) I've looked back at the term that I've been here and realized that there are so many topics that lend themselves well to connection to the present, but the program had me teach them in historic isolation. For example: I was supposed to teach about Middle Ages castles and castle defense. Some teachers had students make their own castles, others had them analyze castles for defense weaknesses and strengths. They are using good analyzing skills, but what does it have to do with today? I would loved to have taken a parallel approach and analyzed how military defense has changed between Middle Ages and today. How have we changed our defense systems because of the types of war being waged? That matters. That is information the kids can use when they turn on the news. That's just an example. Now I will mention that I've been told I can approach all of the program topics from any direction that I want, but I just don't have the time to do it right as the program is full and there aren't any resources. Besides, modern defense isn't part of the program. They won't be assessed on it. This kind of thing has to be built in to the approach of the unit. On Wednesday, my TAL staff had a curriculum building meeting after school. It was quite impressive, as far as how much work got done in such a small amount of time. Our goal was to incorporate geography standards into the Year 7 Humanities program for Term 2. Having been a part of our curriculum committee back home, I was really interested to see how it all unfolded. We all sat around the center table in the faculty room. One person had the geography standards, another typed the new info into the program , and another person looked at the history and english components to see how we could marry geography with them. Everyone else offered ideas, suggested changes etc. It was very efficient in that we got a lot done in a small amount of time. What I noticed, though, is that the question of how and why did what we were having kids learn matter to them today. Surprisingly, the one class that I have felt the most fulfilled on this topic is my Year 10 Geography class. We spent the first 8 weeks learning about coasts and how erosion and deposition forms our land. That is totally relevant today! This week and next week I'm teaching about urban growth and development. What a cool topic! I'm learning so much and am having so much fun helping students to understand how cities like Sydney developed and how Gosford is a part of the whole picture. Next week we'll be talking specifically about urban decline here in Gosford. How relevant! This matters to kids. This concept of connecting the past to the present isn't totally foreign here, though. When we first got here, I received an email from one of my Head teachers about a new approach she wanted to take with the program where we look at movement of people today as an avenue of helping us understand movement of people in the 1600-1800s. I wrote back and told her that I thought it was a great idea and that I was all for it. Later, I found out that the approach had been scratched as there wasn't enough buy in from the rest of the faculty. I was genuinely bummed. That would have been so fun to teach and would have brought a little more meaning to the topic for the students. In reality, though, it takes a lot of work to develop this kind of approach in lessons - a lot of work. If given the time and freedom to steer from the program and approach it this way, would I? Would it be worth it? I'm here for a year, and I'm so stretched between trying to be a good teacher, learning new classroom management techniques, trying to help my own two children adjust (Olin still struggles a little at school), and experiencing random moments of non-school Australia that I just am not sure I'd have enough left to get that creative. Besides..... because it would be a new approach, I'm not sure how my students would respond. There are lots of types of magic. I think maybe I'll just try to aim for them all around as best I can and see what I get.
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Earlier in the year the principal at my school asked me how things were going. I gave him a description and he said, "Three steps forward and two steps back, hun?" That about summed it up.... and still does.
My Year 7 and 8 classes are fantastic. Is it because I normally teach those grades in Seward? I"m not sure. Is it because I see them about 15 times over the course of two weeks. Maybe. We have gotten to know each other. We've spent a lot of time together. My Year 10s are a class with tough (in a street smart kind of way) personalities but I really enjoy them. When all the tech is working right and all of them are in good moods then things go great. We have fun. I have one boy from that class (who has a really rough background) that always pokes his head into my other classes when he passes them on his way to the toilet and says 'hi.' Today he came and found me in the library (he saw me through the windows and came in) to tell me all about his day and the casual teacher he had in his math class. Those moments really make my day. My Year 10 class doesn't run as smoothly as my 7s and 8s but I think it is mostly because I don't see them everyday. My Year 9 class is another story. I thought I had them. For the last two weeks we've been working on their Assessment task in class and everything was going well. Yesterday and today I had tech issues (turns out the C9 projector is mounted, but isn't plugged in or working, and you can't use the iPad mini's in the Connected Classroom) and the kids were totally checked out. I found myself saying quietly to myself as I stood in front of a class that just wouldn't stop talking "Just let me teach." I think I need to ask for help. I haven't had to have the Head teacher come into the class yet, but I'm about at that point. I'm going to give it another period this week and see if things get better. I see them three times a week and sometimes a big break (I won't see them until Thursday and Friday next week) reboots them. On another note, I helped coach Olin's soccer team tonight. He is on the U10D team and Alta is on the U8D team. Olin's first official practice was today. Alta's will be tomorrow. I help out on Alta's team too but am not an official coach. I'm the assistant coach for Olin's team. It was a good night. They turned the lights on so we played in the dark under the big field lights. They call the fields we practice on here "ovals." and I didn't really figure out why until today. I think it is because cricket pitches are oval and we practice on cricket pitches. The kids participated in a school carnival today. They each competed for their house and seemed to have a really good time. They are in the Laver House (Aussie pronunciation: Leva) and came home chanting all kinds of cheers that they learned at the carnival. It was a cross country carnival so all the students at the primary school participated in track and field events. Olin came in 3rd in the 100 meter finals for 10 year olds and 3rd in discus for 10 year olds. He was pretty proud of himself. Alta did a hula hoop relay, a been bag hopping activity, discus, and shotput. To end my post I'll mention a small thing we have experienced since living in Australia - stubbed toes. Growing up in suburban neighborhoods in the states, Tom and I were quite familiar with toes stubbed on cement sidewalks and streets. We both spent a lot of time outside and barefoot. In Alaska, our kids can't stub their toes because our neighborhood doesn't have paved roads. Now that our kids are playing with the neighbor kids everyday out in the street we have experienced every kind of stubbed toe possible - and skinned knees. We have gone through a couple boxes of bandaids - and that doesn't count the bandaids the neighbor parents apply to our kids' owees. We all doctor up each other's kids! Oh... and another kiddo has come out of the woodwork so now there 7 kids total (including Olin and Alta) biking, scootering, and running between all the houses: Four boys ages 9,9,9, and 5, and three girls ages 8, 7, and 6. Walk-to-Work Tally: 264 miles (425km) Closer to the start of the school year, when things were still so new and I didn't feel that it was my place to ask for anything special, I was approached by one of the deputies who said, "Just let us know if there is anything we can do for you." Fifteen minutes later I was in her office letting her know that I had thought of something. My Year 9 class needed a seating chart, but unfortunately I had them in 5 different classrooms for the 6 times a fortnight that I saw them (which makes a seating chart challenging.) "When we reschedule the timetable, is there a way we could arrange for some consistency in their classrooms?" I asked. She said she'd see what she could do, but that scheduling rooms was pretty complicated. Then, the timetable came out and (drum roll!) four out of the six classes were scheduled for classroom C9. Sweet! I thought. That will definitely help. Except... for two things... (which I discovered within the week). C9 doesn't have a projector, and a teacher with seniority who also teaches in that classroom and didn't want me to move the desks. (They were arranged in groups, which meant my students would be looking at each other - talk about major distractions for them.) I worked with it, though, as I was immensely grateful that the deputy had helped me and I'm sure she didn't realize the room I had been scheduled to didn't have a projector. To adjust to the challenge, anytime I had my Year 9 class I looked around and found open rooms and did room swaps. Sometimes it was great and I get the Connected Classroom or Library which both have AC! Not a bad deal!
So why this story about C9? Because I went to C9 on Friday and what did I find? A mounted projector! I need to check it out still and see if it works, but I'm thrilled! As I reflect so far on things I'm feeling like C9 is a good representation some of my experiences. There have been challenges, but I feel like things are running so much more smoothly. I look back at my first week, which was full of anxiety and stress, and compare it to this last week and am blown away. Kids that used to challenge me to my face, now genuinely smile when they see me in the hallways. Working with students one-on-one or in small groups has been wonderful over the last couple weeks because I can get to know each one and find that they really do want to learn. They really do want my help. We laugh. They make progress. It is a good feeling. I have one Year 10 student (at-risk boy) who worked on his Term 1 assessment last week and really seemed to struggle. He crumpled up his paper, said he couldn't do it, pouted, and shut down. By Wednesday, with a little scaffolding help, he had the written part done. Friday morning, the day it was due, he found me in the hallway and said "Miss, I have it" and handed me the drawing part. He had that look kids get when they come home from school and show their mom their art project or their test they aced. He looked so happy with himself. It was great to be able to tell him I was proud of him and to have him walk away with his head held high. Soundbites:
Note to self. All exchange teachers need to be told to give themselves all of Term 1 to adjust to teaching in a new country and school (and that week 6ish can be especially bad.) It takes that long, but adjustment will happen, and it is totally worth it. I remember being hard on myself at week 2 because I hadn't figured it out by then. That makes me laugh now. Walk to Work Tally: 253 miles (407km) (I'm going to have to start taking the bus in the morning because of daylight savings time. It's too dangerous to walk through the bush part of my walk in the dark, so my mileage will start to change a bit as I will walk to the Gosford train station to catch the bus (about 1.5 miles). I will still walk home from school (about 3 miles). What a great weekend. One of the last things one of my co-workers told me upon leaving the school Friday, was "Enjoy your weekend. Have some fun." So we did. On Saturday, Tom, the kids and I hopped the train to Sydney to see the exhibit at the Powerhouse Museum that had travelled from the British Museum. It was all about Egyptian mummies. There were 5 mummies total and it was so cool to be able to look at them, analyze the art on their wrappings, and to check out all the other antiquities included in the exhibit. While in Sydney we also visited China town which is a whole lot smaller than Portland's China town. We stopped at a Japanese restaurant for a bite to eat before the museum and a Turkish kabob join for dinner. It was nice to spend the day in the city.
Sunday was relaxing. Tom and Alta went to the farmers market which is held every Sunday at the horse race course. We go every Sunday to get loaded up for the week on fresh bread, veggies, and home-made pasta (sold by a beautiful Italian man.) This Sunday Olin and I didn't go. Instead he and I walked to the Wyoming Shopping Center (Wyoming is a city adjacent to Gosford.) He scootered the whole way (about 2 miles) while I walked behind him. I realized something as I watched him ride his scooter up and down the sidewalk in front of me past grocery store parking lots, McDonalds, and over cross walks. I realized that my kids have grown up so much in the last 3 months. Three months ago I never would have felt like he could safely ride his scooter on Pacific Highway very far from me. He and Alta have learned how to function safely in urban environments. They no longer pick up trash and think it's treasure. They're understanding when to go and stop based on the crosswalk signs and sounds. People with noticeable and prominent characteristics are no longer met by two staring Alaskan children. My kids glance, see them, and keep going. Even our trip to Sydney was less stressful in that regard than it has ever been before. They weren't bothered at all the different looking city-people, the crowds, the train station, or crossing busy streets. They weren't country kids in a big big city. They weren't really city kids either, but they did a great job managing themselves. In the evening Tom and I took the kids to a skate park in Narara (a few minutes drive from our house.) I put my running shoes on and did about a 25 minute run around a nearby trail - my first run in over three months. It felt really good. I've been doing a lot of walking but it felt nice to get my heart rate up. Alta and Olin rode their wheels at the skate park while Tom watched. I was so proud of Alta. Of all the kids skating she was the only girl - and she was completely fine with that. Olin has been developing his scooter and skateboard skills and is keeping up with the the other kids out there his age. It has taken me much too long to begin this blog post. There are so many reasons for the delay. How do I explain the last few weeks in a way that makes sense to those living outside of Australia, in a way that explains with clarity the 'jungle' that I have been lost in, and in a way that portrays my experience without judgment? Before I go on, though, I need to make something clear. For those that don't know, I'm keeping this blog for three different reasons. First, many family and friends want to follow our adventures and this is a good way. Second, I like to keep track of all that we do so that I don't forget any of it and so that my kids can look back at our experiences from a 'grown up perspective.' Third, reflection on the Australian education system is part of my teacher evaluation for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years. I'm on a two year special evaluation system. I have to write about and reflect on my experiences at school. I mention this as a disclaimer. For my Aussie friends and colleagues please know that this blog is 'me processing the system', and forgive me if I in any way offend.
So, honestly, I feel like I've been been on a roller coaster. I've been struggling since the first week of school with all the different ways that this school system functions and the differences from what I find to be the 'norm' (by American standards.) The last two weeks have been especially tough - so much so, that I knew I couldn't write because anything I would have said would have been no fun to read. Without going into too much detail of how I learned all of this, here is what I have learned in the last couple weeks.
So, I'm sure there is more, but that is what I can remember so far. I feel like I have grown so much over the last couple weeks. It's a feeling similar to one you get when you suddenly start really understanding a foreign language. Before, I just couldn't figure this all out. Now.... cautiously... oh so cautiously... I'm starting to think that things are going to be OK. And with all this hurt, learning, and growth, I need to make sure that I acknowledge those people in my lives that are helping me through this. I have so many teachers at Narara that check in on me. Some all the time, others when they see me at the copy machine or in the hall. I am tickled every time someone pulls over on the side of the road to offer me a lift (today it was Larry, yesterday it was Tracey). I always decline but I'm touched every time. Walking is my meditation. My head teachers Nat and Di are patient, supportive, and never seem to judge even though what I'm going through might not make a lot of sense to people familiar with the system. Leslie - for Life Support. Need I say more. :) And to my Mom and Dad. They couldn't have been here at a better time. I needed experienced teachers as sounding boards. During their last week here, Dad woke up every morning at 6:00 to walk with me. We walked in the rain, and sometimes it didn't rain. Two fast walking Americans under umbrellas on a palm and gum tree lined drive. It was great. Then he and mom would meet me at the end of the Community Center green by the school and we'd all walk home together. Thank you to Tom for always making sure there was a cold bottle of white wine in the fridge and for making wonderful meals with mom. Oh... and to mom and dad again for making sure I had good yummy coffee in the morning (I'm finding it really hard to find good Aussie coffee.) This world I'm living in is consistently inconsistent. So I will end this reflection celebrating the consistencies in my life. 1. My school keys always work. 2. The big black umbrella Bron left is sturdy even in a strong wind. 3. My Bob's shoes that a co-worker in Seward recommended are great here. Simple. They can get wet. (We walk in the rain between class because there aren't really any hallways here.) They were light to travel with. And my feet don't hurt at the end of the day. 4. I can bound up the steps of my faculty "Barn" two at a time and make it in about 5 bounds. 5. The ibis are always in the fields around the school as I start my walk home. 6. The school cow always moos. 7. Each day comes and goes and each day I learn so much. 8. Tom keeps the fridge stocked with popsicles (Ice blocks) and I have one (or two) every day. 9. The walk to work is always better than the walk home. (less traffic) 10. I am reminded daily why I never want to be a 14 or 15 year old boy... you know.... in my next life. 11. My family is here every day when I get home, full of stories of their own. Walk to work tally: 211 miles This post is not shared on Facebook, as it isn't something that will be interesting for people to read. I'm supposed to post weekly in my blog as part of my two-year teacher evaluation. This week I have not posted at all, and that is because I"m not ready to. I have been working through too many things, and have not emerged from the depths of contemplation. I want to portray a balanced and non-biased impression of my perspective and experiences, but am not able to right now. So this post is simply to .... post. To say that I haven't come to a definitive understanding of what is happening, so I can't write in a clear way. I will when I've figured it out.
Somethings happening. It is subtle, but it is definitely there - a change with my year 9s and 10s. After yesterday's paper throwing and clay sculpting lesson, today they came into class. They sat down...and they listened. Then, I passed out textbooks... and they worked. They asked questions, and... They all finished the assignment! I was able to move around the room and talk to every single kid to make sure they understood the main concepts. I'm cautious to believe that maybe they beginning to be 'good' with me.
And then for the last period of the day I had my Year 9s. I have taught them the least out of all my classes because their's is always the one that seems to always fall on a day where there aren't classes like the swimming carnival. I will miss them again in two weeks for the cross country carnival. So I haven't had the mileage with them compared with my other classes. Today they were loud, but they all wrote down information. One girl who was always the most challenging, worked ahead and got the whole reading done on her own! The boys, when not on task responded well when redirected. I caught one boy who looked like he was up to mischief with an "I see you" glance. He gave me a fun smile and a wink like "It's alright miss, I wasn't really going to do it." It was a good interaction. Right before we left for the day we had a couple minutes to spare so I had them clean up the room a bit. As they were picking up pieces of rubbish from the floor one boy (the first one I had ever kicked out of this class back at the beginning of the year) said "Miss, you're a good teacher." I let him know that I appreciated it and he said "Well you are." I find that my exchange experiences has often been that I take three steps forward and two steps back. Maybe tomorrow will be my time for some back steps, but I'm cautiously optimistic that things will start getting easier. If I can just pass these kids' test. If they can just trust me. I think it is starting to happen. Walk to work Tally: 145 miles Stories from the classroom:
Starting a lesson on primary and secondary sources last week, I decided to make sure that they knew what the very basic concept of a source was. "What is a source?" I asked my dear sweet Year 7s. One boy's hand shot straight up. "It is a kind of topping that you put on sandwiches" he announced proudly. I didn't know what to say. Usually I know what to say when a kiddo throws me a curve ball like that, but I really had no idea how to respond. "Um, source?" I hesitate. "Ya, "soace" he responds. That's when I, and a few other students in the rest of the class realized, that Aussies say sauce and source pretty darn near identically. We had a good laugh about it and my students prodded me into trying to say it their way (which I couldn't properly), and we continued on with our lesson. Today, I really struggled with what to teach my Year 10s in Coastal Management. I needed to go over erosion and the role erosion plays on coastal landforms. What has been especially difficult prepping for this class is that there are no engaging classroom activity lesson plans online, and only textbooks and powerpoints available via the department. I knew these kids would hate me for throwing a powerpoint and textbook at them for 5th period (the last period of the day) so I decided to try a couple new activities (I don't know why I always do my big experiments with them.. but I do!) With the first one, for the concept of corrasion, I had them wad up paper into balls. First I had them throw the balls of paper at each other (because that's what I knew they really wanted to do). After a 30 second paper fight in the classroom I had them recollect their paper balls. I told them that they needed to pretend that they were a wave, just like we did in the last lesson. That when I said go, they would throw their paper balls at the front wall of the classroom as if it was the coast. I said "go", they threw, and I suddenly had all the paper in the whole classroom in my control! Perfect! After explaining to them about how those balls of 'sand' eat away at the coast, I told them about how when I was in Czechoslovakia a few months after the Velvet Revolution. I went to a place where protesting young people had been cornered in a cemented corridor and shot. I tried to paint a picture of what the wall looked like where the stray bullets hit the cement wall and chipped away at it. That is corrasion. I then started the next section of the lesson which was to create clay models of the coast and the impact of erosion on the coast. That's when something I didn't expect happened. I passed out the clay and....What do you think happened? What do think you might get when you give 10th grade boys a bunch of clay (I only had about 3 girls in the whole class of 22 - some students were absent). Yep. There were clay penises hitting desks. There were clay penises on top of the bills of hats. One boy tried to put a big orange clay penis down his pants. I had another boy pretending to give oral sex to a yellow clay penis. This, of course was not all at once (I know your imagination must be just running at it's max now). No, it was over the course of about a half hour, as I walked them through how a coast becomes a headland, and then a wave-cut notch becomes a cave, and a cave into an arch..... and so on. .... As I'd introduce another vocabulary word, I'd look over and find a penis quietly being formed on another student's desk in the guise of a coastal landform. To be honest, if you look past the penis stuff, it was a really successful lesson. Kids were engaged. And they were actually building arches and other geographic landforms through their desk-top penises. I don't know..... This is a really really rough class that is hard to engage. One part of me says that this whole thing was really inappropriate. I would never have been quite this flexible in Alaska (besides, the Alaskan girls in the class would have totally chided the boys into respectable behavior.) Another part says that it was a great opportunity to teach them the vocabulary word "phallic" (though I know it isn't necessarily a coastal management vocab word) and to have them actively engaged in creating coastal landforms (which most of them did.) In then end, they had to write a paragraph, using all the vocab words we had learned and modeled (except phallic... I didn't make them include that one) and I had 98% participation. Only one kiddo didn't write, and he drifted towards me casually while everyone else was writing to let me know that he didn't understand what he needed to do. I had him just explain to me how all the landforms were made as a result of erosion. I wish I could walk away from the lesson feeling great. Unfortunately, one student, right at the end said something that just shot me down in one stroke. It was something that just simply hurt my feelings - especially after how hard I worked to have an engaging lesson.. I won't get into details here because they aren't important. I just know that these kids are... kids... and they have a lot to learn. One final note that I have before I end this blog is about Olin and Alta and our neighborhood. Do you remember in the Wizard of Oz just after Dorothy's house stops crashing about in that tornado? She comes out from a world of black and white into a world of color. (No, that isn't my teaching experience here quite yet... but I'm working on it.) After a bit of walking around this new land (Munchkin Land), devoid of any creatures, there slowly appears little people. They peek out over flower blooms. The peer around tree trunks. Little people in a land that once seemed to have no one. Our street - Mooramba Ave - is Munchkin Land. When we first came here, there was only one little girl that lived across the street who the kids only could see through the window.... a world away. She never came outside. My kids were lonely and the street was quiet. Two months later our street is ripe with the sound of scooter wheels, skateboard jumps, laughing kids, and parents yelling out "5 more minutes." And you know what? These other kids have been all living together for months and years on the same street not knowing that each other were around. It wasn't until Olin and Alta showed up, started knocking and doors, and were always visible did they start coming out from behind their 'flowers.' So far we have Marley and Aaron (both boys age 9), Niko (boy age 5) and Ruby (girl age 6) just right here on our little street! Over time we may find there are even more. So are the reflections of my day. I have some more things to write about last weekend, but I'll save them for the next post. Walk to work Tally: 139 Miles |
AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
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