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).
1 Comment
Tracey Byrne
3/25/2017 18:35:26
I have C9 on Wed and thurs for YPP young parents program I don't use the projector but yes it works and if u want to move the desks around do it they can always be moved back no one owns a classrooms here 😁😉👍you do what works with ur students....im so happy u r happier 💖
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AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
December 2017
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