Well today I have a planning day at school. Every few weeks the teachers are given a day where they are able to plan and a substitute teacher comes in for the students. I wasn't made aware of this till Friday though and already had almost all my planning done for the rest of the time I'm here ...besides Math which I'm still hesitant to jump into. So today was a great day to go through all my teachers resources and decide what I want to take home...and catch up on blogging...so here goes..my last week.
Well the last week has been a very trying one. I took over the morning block and some activities in the afternoon as well. I'm pretty much in charge all day except for reading and when we do things with the other two classrooms in our grade/years. That has proven to have it's ups and downs. I've taken over the persuasion unit and we started talking about persuasive texts. I'm definitely finding that the students will do only those things that interest them, namely something that can be done on Microsoft Publisher and allows them to go to the computer lab. But they don't like it so much when I tell them they have to show me work before I will let them go (they forgot I was a very observant the first two weeks and know that must spent their time on U-Tube).
While I feel at times like a drill sergeant because I'm constantly on them to stay on task and work (things seem to be much more laid back here, but I like to see some productivity going on), I definitely learned the hard way that getting these students to share their work is an entirely different thing. I had a lesson the middle of last week talking about emotive words used in persuasion while my teacher was doing reading testing. The focus in lessons here is definitely less teacher talk and more student-centered work and activities. Anymore than 5 minutes of teacher speaking would lose their attention. So I went over examples ("would you rather buy a car advertised as an "automobile
" or a "heap, ""would you rather go to a party that was called a "gathering" or a "rager") and then passed out different words. The idea was for them to define and use the word and then we'd share them and put them up to use later in the persuasive texts we will be creating. When it got time for sharing you would have thought I asked them to open up so I could remove teeth. The girls in the back were talking so I asked to start and we had to wait a few minutes before they realized I wasn't taking their "no" as an answer. Then one of the girls threw a mini-tantrum when I asked her to read her sentence and hadn't made her friend read it (I've been having problems getting this group of girls to warm up to me). The whole time this is going on the rest of the class wasn't even listening. It's bad enough they talk while I'm talking, but they don't even respect each other! I had to ask them numerous time to listen to each other, though I'm pretty positive that no one heard each other. Needless to say, after that one I spent some time in the girl's room composing myself and rethinking strategies and more importantly, how I was going to get the class, and most importantly those girls, to recognize that I was in charge. For now, I'm going to focus on more "doing" and less "sharing." I was told by a teacher here that the Maori culture is one of teamwork instead of individuality so sharing may embarrass some of the students. I still am thinking it has more to do with challenging me...but I am going to keep it in mind in the future.
The rest of the week did get better though. Thursday I had them do an activity where they write down five things they dislike and reasons why. Then they switched with a partner and had to make a flyer or a paragraph convincing that person why they should like one of the things on their list. Some of the students had some really creative ideas! Starting tomorrow we are going to be looking at actual ads in magazines to talk about target audience, ads that appeal to emotion vs. the mind, and types of propaganda techniques that are used. This will have them doing a lot of hands on activities with magazines and will lead up to a project for them. This unit reminded me a lot of my high school Marketing class and it worked out great because a quick e-mail to Mr. Bichler(thanks Mr. B!!) and I'm having the students do the Retail Alphabet game. I had to alter and make my own since we don't have the same brands as New Zealand, but I think they are really going to like it. Try it for yourselves and see how you do:
I also found a great Webquest where they will be in groups as an advertising agency and will need to create an ad for a product and a 30 sec. radio advertisement. We will try sharing again at the end of this project and hopefully they will get more excited and willing in a group. They seem to be very motivated by group competitions...so I may turn it into a competition where I pick that winning ad.
In inquiry we're finishing up our country boards and the students will start researching an area of the world this week or next week. I was also busy last Friday redecorating with some of their postcards...
After a long, emotional week in the classroom, I decided to relax over the weekend. I joined a gym on Saturday morning where I found the same aerobics classes as I take back home (this is a really big deal to me...for those who don't know my obsession). It's nice to have a bit of normalcy and an outlet to keep me sane when days in the classroom get rough. So Saturday I did a little Body Combat and then spent the day relaxing and reading a new book. Yesterday was gorgeous and warm...but spend the day shopping..just typical Sunday activities. It was kind of nice to do the things that I do back home..that is what makes it feel more like a home than always a tourist.
And today (Monday) has turned out to be an amazing one! On one level, the girl who had a tiff with me last week came to help me all morning, which is a definite step in the right direction, since she can be a pistol if she decides she wants to. Then, even better, Brian got the OK on travel dates and will be coming to visit me December 14th. I think I'm going to save Lord of the Rings for when he comes and can't wait! So things are off to a good start...
Here are some pictures from a scenic drive we took near our home one day last week...are you rolling your eyes at all the beautiful scenery and hills yet :)
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