Wow! There is so much going on and the final stretch is within sight.  I do have to admit that I am getting anxious about completing student teaching here in Australia and having to prepare myself for job interviews within the next few months.  It is hard to believe that the time has come and I will return home is just over thirty days.

The week has been a very positive experience for me thus far.  Last week Lauren and I decided that I would teach the Language for the week and she would take back Maths for one more week just to give me a chance to see her do this once more.  We jumped rather quickly into Maths because of swimming the first two weeks of school so I really only saw Lauren teach/introduce Maths once.  I am comfortable with the curriculum for the most part, but I seem to second guess myself with a lot of the ideas just because it is something that is new to me.  I have to constantly remind myself that making mistakes is okay and everyone does it.  

I have been very busy with planning the Language rotations and after today, think that my hard work paid off.  The students were very engaged in the entire lesson and I had great feedback from Lauren afterwards.  She gave me the whole morning with the students so that they see me as "the teacher" and come to me with questions and concerns instead of approaching her all the time.  The Spelling rule for the week deals with prefixes so I broke the lesson into several pieces to give the students a chance to work individually and in groups as well as receive some large group instruction.  I also incorporated movement into the lesson by having students go to certain areas of the room depending on the knowledge they felt they had on prefixes.  I actually considered this my pre-assessment for the students because it easily showed me what students knew or did not know straight away.  

The lesson also included using the IWB, small group work in a timed setting to complete the task, practice in presenting information gathered, large group instruction, and an opportunity for students to take a chance and make a guess if they were unsure.  I feel that it is important for students to know that it is okay if they do not always have the right answer.  It is more important to me to give it a go and try, than to just sit back and let others do the work for you. I want all students to feel comfortable in contributing to classroom discussions and feel that they are valued by their classmates and myself as well.

 

One ' a ha' moment occurred today during the lesson and assured me that I am learning and becoming more confident with experience.  I have always been concerned about students giving incorrect answers and me not knowing how to address the answer they give.  I was able to experience this today, and thanked the student for their input, but explained why his answer was incorrect and had him tell me what he actually meant.  He was able to realize that the answer he had given was actually a contraction and not a prefix.  I never want my students to feel that their input is not valued or considered and I think this student appreciated how I approached his answer.

One challenge that I face on a daily basis is classroom management.  It is very hard to conduct Language rotations with twenty-eight students in a classroom.  I planned four rotations for this week and thought that my directions were thorough enough that students should be able to work independently or receive help from a partner.  I did go through each activity before the students went to work and hoped that would help.  That would be in a perfect world!  Students are easily distracted from their task and when you are trying to read and work on comprehension or another strategy with a small group of students it is hard to have discussions and manage the rest of the class as well.  I am grateful for the opportunity to work on keeping all students on task and also teach them independence and problem solving when they do get stuck.  After today, I want to have a discussion/create a poster to remind students what to do when they have a question before going to the teacher.  While it seems like such a simple concept, I think the students forget that usually they can solve the problem all on their own.

Other things happening:

1. Weather precautions for state of Victoria again

~High winds and hot temperatures again are causing schools to close and camps to be cancelled throughout the state

2. Go For Your Life Challenge

~National program proposed to schools to keep families more active and working to live healthier lives (more on this next time)

3. Steve Herbert- Parliamentary Secretary of Education visits Greenhills

~Student leaders within the school were presented with awards from Mr. Fairweather and Steve Herbert at assembly on Monday

4. Attended a Parent's Association Meeting

~A group of 12-15 parents along with the Principal and Vice Principal who have two major focuses; fundraising to improve school groups and the development of classroom resources and to build the community spirit of the school

5. Staff Meeting

~I have been attending these meetings every Monday after school and this week the focus was on the School Level Report.  This was a compilation of data on student performance in Numeracy, Language, and Communication Skills.  One thing that I knew, but never really thought about is that Australia does not have National Curriculum Standards.  Each state follows their own set of standards, which could make moving to different areas in Australia hard on students. (More on this and other differences to come next time)

Upcoming events:

-Long weekend: Traveling to the Great Ocean Road with Alan and Carolyn this weekend

-Grade 6 Camp: Next week Tuesday-Friday weather permitting

-House/Fun Day: Students have an opportunity to meet other people in their house and play games and practice their house chant throughout the day 

-Aboriginal for a Day Incursion: A group of people come to the school and put on a program for the students (This is our Integrated Studies topic for the term)

-Young Leaders Conference: A day spent with the Junior School Council members in the city listening to various people speak about their life experiences (focusing on leadership skills)