Hey Everyone!
Thanksgiving is always a holiday I really enjoy. To me it means getting together with family, reflecting on the many blessings in my life, going Christmas shopping, eating great food, and of course, the start of the Christmas season. I have been impressed at how easy it has been thus far or me to be away from home for so long, but I have to admit, not being able to share this holiday with my family for the first time in 21 years is pretty difficult. Instead of wallowing though, I decided to bring as much of Thanksgiving to New Zealand as possible. Today with my class was awesome. I taught them about the history of Thanksgiving; made them a pumpkin pie, and we made a turkey project with our handprints. I was a lot of fun! I even learned about some New Zealand history in return as they have many connections as far as what happened between indigenous cultures and European immigrants. It was fascinating to see the similarities!
The pumpkin pie was probably one of the most memorable parts of the day too. I successfully cut it into 30 tiny pieces and passed one around to each student in a circle. They had to wait until everyone had a piece before we proceeded. We went around in a circle and each person had to say one thing that they were thankful for. I explained that this is an important Thanksgiving tradition for many families in the U.S. Then they were able to try it for the first time. Since the majority of them had never tried it as a dessert before (only as a vegetable), they had perceptions of it being salty or bitter. About 90% of the class loved it, exclaiming things like “Oh it’s really nice!” or “Yeah, it’s yum!” It was really cute! The other 10% curled up their faces in disgust and couldn’t eat any more. What an experience. ☺
Tonight Laura and I cooked a Thanksgiving meal for our host families. It was amazing! It was a joint event, consisting of 10 people total. Jan and I cooked a turkey and another pumpkin pie and brought it over to Rachel’s where we all toasted with wine and feasted on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies, and cranberries. Pumpkin pie was for dessert. As with tradition before eating, we went around the table and said something we were thankful for. It was incredibly heartwarming! Even though I couldn’t be with my own family, they all made it such a great and special time.
I think that’s all for now, we are off to Rotorua this weekend with Jan and Cory where we will rent a cabin and do some luge-ing!
Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving! ☺
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Putting Things In Perspective
Wow! We are already to the final third of our time here in New Zealand and things are winding down fast! Our regular schedule is becoming less and less regular as the end of the school year here brings more and more “out of the classroom” activities and presentations to go to. Tomorrow, for instance, I will be assisting in our Western District Athletics Day at the local Trust Stadium. It is a day where all schools in the local area get together with their best athletes in Levels 4, 5, and 6 and compete in Track and Field Activities. Some of my class will be there, amongst about 75 other students from Swanson School. I will be helping to make sure the children get to the right events on time and helping with crowd control in the stands. Should be interesting!
As for the rest of the week, my class will be learning a little bit about our Thanksgiving history and traditions in America. I have brought a storybook from the states and am baking a pumpkin pie for my students to sample on Thursday. We will also be making handprint turkey art projects in class.
The newspaper is nearly finished; it is in its final stages. The children have worked exceptionally hard to produce their articles and they are very proud of their work. We also continue to learn math, our music for the Christmas Concert, and are practicing line dancing. Teaching 26 students how to dance in synch is not necessarily an easy task, that’s for sure. It is exhausting rather, but so worth it because we have a lot of fun.
This past weekend, Laura and I spent some time roaming around Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. We had a great time shopping, visiting Te Papa National Museum, riding the cable cars, walking through the botanical gardens, and seeing some of the parliament buildings. I also took a ½ day Lord of the Rings tour where we visited some of the movie filming locations. It was wonderful!
As the title of this entry says, things are really coming into focus for the rest of this school year. I’ve worked really hard with my students and we have done a lot so far. I am also able to clearly see what our goals are for the next few weeks as things are wrapping up.
That’s all for now I think…I have some pumpkin pies to make!
Cheers!
As for the rest of the week, my class will be learning a little bit about our Thanksgiving history and traditions in America. I have brought a storybook from the states and am baking a pumpkin pie for my students to sample on Thursday. We will also be making handprint turkey art projects in class.
The newspaper is nearly finished; it is in its final stages. The children have worked exceptionally hard to produce their articles and they are very proud of their work. We also continue to learn math, our music for the Christmas Concert, and are practicing line dancing. Teaching 26 students how to dance in synch is not necessarily an easy task, that’s for sure. It is exhausting rather, but so worth it because we have a lot of fun.
This past weekend, Laura and I spent some time roaming around Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. We had a great time shopping, visiting Te Papa National Museum, riding the cable cars, walking through the botanical gardens, and seeing some of the parliament buildings. I also took a ½ day Lord of the Rings tour where we visited some of the movie filming locations. It was wonderful!
As the title of this entry says, things are really coming into focus for the rest of this school year. I’ve worked really hard with my students and we have done a lot so far. I am also able to clearly see what our goals are for the next few weeks as things are wrapping up.
That’s all for now I think…I have some pumpkin pies to make!
Cheers!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Living The Dream
I’m quite busy at the moment, so I will keep this post somewhat short. The week is winding down fast. Our class worked really hard this week on our newspaper, math lessons, athletics, and music practice. Tomorrow we have what is called a “Koro-Nikau Athletics Day Out.” What that means is both the Nikau and Koromiko (all students ages 7-11) teams, students and teachers alike, will cast aside all lessons and plans for the day and hit the fields and courts for Track and Field activities. I will supposedly be running the Sevens Sticks Game, which I have never heard of or done before. I got a run through of it today but am basically going to be winging it with the students tomorrow! Other activities the students will participate in include: Sprints, Shot Put, Discus, Relays, Obstacle Courses, High Jump, and Long Jump. It is really exciting to me that the school embraces such an enriching and educational opportunity like this for its students. Hats, sun-block, and water bottles are necessary for the day… shoes, however, are optional as always. ☺
It's odd to wake up every morning and think, "Oh yeah, I'm in New Zealand." At times it feels so normal, and other times I cannot beleive it. It feels like a dream. Like this sort of thing is an unreal occurence that I will just wake up from and think it happened in a faraway place long long ago. But it is real, and it is now. Being in New Zealand right now and doing what I truly love to do is an absolute dream come true for me. I cannot think of a better way to enhance my own teaching skills and styles and also get to know a whole new culture and country at the same time. I know that my memories from this trip will be some of the most important and fun memories that I carry with me for the rest of my life. For now I am living and loving every moment...because eventually and all too soon, every good dream has to come to an end.
This weekend, Laura and I are flying out to Wellington for 2 days. Wellington is New Zealand’s capital and it known for it’s wind, rain, and whimsical, lively vibe. It is located on the bottom tip of the North Island and is a short, 1-hour flight from Auckland. I am excited! We are flying in early Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening after staying in a youth hostel Saturday night. I’ll update as to how our travels went in my next post.
So long for now! ☺
It's odd to wake up every morning and think, "Oh yeah, I'm in New Zealand." At times it feels so normal, and other times I cannot beleive it. It feels like a dream. Like this sort of thing is an unreal occurence that I will just wake up from and think it happened in a faraway place long long ago. But it is real, and it is now. Being in New Zealand right now and doing what I truly love to do is an absolute dream come true for me. I cannot think of a better way to enhance my own teaching skills and styles and also get to know a whole new culture and country at the same time. I know that my memories from this trip will be some of the most important and fun memories that I carry with me for the rest of my life. For now I am living and loving every moment...because eventually and all too soon, every good dream has to come to an end.
This weekend, Laura and I are flying out to Wellington for 2 days. Wellington is New Zealand’s capital and it known for it’s wind, rain, and whimsical, lively vibe. It is located on the bottom tip of the North Island and is a short, 1-hour flight from Auckland. I am excited! We are flying in early Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening after staying in a youth hostel Saturday night. I’ll update as to how our travels went in my next post.
So long for now! ☺
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time Flies When You're Having Fun
Hey Everyone!
So the title of this blog is classically cliché but time and time again it proves appropriate in describing this trip. We are already in the 6th week of Swanson School’s 4th 10-week term. Since we started on Week 2 and will be here for a total of 9 weeks, that means that we are in the middle of our 5th week here. The final week will be short, and the week before that will be spent tying up loose ends for the year, so in all reality, things are going by quite quickly.
The more time I spend at Swanson School, the more I love it. I am having so much fun getting involved with all the academics and extra-curriculars at a full-time speed. I have been conducting our little classroom orchestra of recorders, guest-judging for the Swanson’s Got Talent competition, teaching line-dancing to students, and choreographing a dance for Laura and I to perform in the school’s show…all on top of being a full time teacher. It’s amazingly fun and exhausting!
As for our newspaper project…we are still working on it. The project has now expanded again as well, to also include a classified ads section for advertisements from other classrooms…It’s really fun and the kids are so involved! The only struggle for me as the teacher is keeping everyone moving at their own pace because the project is so in-depth with everyone at different stages. I guess that’s part of teaching though that will become an acquired skill – learning to keep every child engaged at their own level at all times.
This past weekend was full of fun shenanigans as well! ☺ Laura and I hired a car from a somewhat dodgy rental place in a town about 20 minutes away. We picked up our cherry-red Honda Civic Hatchback on Saturday morning and drove to Waitomo (about 3 hours away) for a 3-hour Legendary Black Water Rafting Adventure. We zipped into wetsuits and lighted helmets, grabbed inner-tubes, and set off underground exploring caves, jumping backwards over waterfalls, and viewing glowworms that illuminated the ceiling of the caves. It was incredible! Afterwards we visited the museum and headed back home, another 3-hour beautifully scenic and curvy drive. I took lots of pictures and videos! ☺
Onwards with the week…Have a good one everyone!
Cheers!
So the title of this blog is classically cliché but time and time again it proves appropriate in describing this trip. We are already in the 6th week of Swanson School’s 4th 10-week term. Since we started on Week 2 and will be here for a total of 9 weeks, that means that we are in the middle of our 5th week here. The final week will be short, and the week before that will be spent tying up loose ends for the year, so in all reality, things are going by quite quickly.
The more time I spend at Swanson School, the more I love it. I am having so much fun getting involved with all the academics and extra-curriculars at a full-time speed. I have been conducting our little classroom orchestra of recorders, guest-judging for the Swanson’s Got Talent competition, teaching line-dancing to students, and choreographing a dance for Laura and I to perform in the school’s show…all on top of being a full time teacher. It’s amazingly fun and exhausting!
As for our newspaper project…we are still working on it. The project has now expanded again as well, to also include a classified ads section for advertisements from other classrooms…It’s really fun and the kids are so involved! The only struggle for me as the teacher is keeping everyone moving at their own pace because the project is so in-depth with everyone at different stages. I guess that’s part of teaching though that will become an acquired skill – learning to keep every child engaged at their own level at all times.
This past weekend was full of fun shenanigans as well! ☺ Laura and I hired a car from a somewhat dodgy rental place in a town about 20 minutes away. We picked up our cherry-red Honda Civic Hatchback on Saturday morning and drove to Waitomo (about 3 hours away) for a 3-hour Legendary Black Water Rafting Adventure. We zipped into wetsuits and lighted helmets, grabbed inner-tubes, and set off underground exploring caves, jumping backwards over waterfalls, and viewing glowworms that illuminated the ceiling of the caves. It was incredible! Afterwards we visited the museum and headed back home, another 3-hour beautifully scenic and curvy drive. I took lots of pictures and videos! ☺
Onwards with the week…Have a good one everyone!
Cheers!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
In The Blink Of An Eye...
Hey Everyone!
I just realized that we are nearly half way through our trip already. Where has the time gone? The past month has seemed to pass by in a flash second, yet I have tons of memories and experiences from these past few weeks that will last me a whole lifetime. It's unbeleivable really. Just a few weeks ago, I felt like I was thinking so long term as far as the rest of the trip. Now I feel like I am almost rushing to make sure I cover all those things I said I would do "at some point on this trip." Funny how that works!
The newspaper project continues underway. We are slowly making progress but I have needed to teach them so many unexpected things as we go along so the process is taking awhile. That's alright though, I'd rather cover my material well thean try to race through it and have the whole thing become meaningless for my students. We have done mini lessons on simply how to interview, how to write al letter asking permission to interview, how to puncuate an interview properly in a report, how to come up with and document information from questions in an interview, how to design a newspaper page, how to come up with catch and exciting headlines, what the parts of a newspaper article are, and more. My agenda in particular for the end of this week has been so set my students up for success in their interviews. I made them work really hard as teams to accomplish a list of 4 things to prove to me they were ready to conduct their investigations. 1) They had to establish who was going to take on which roles (easier said than done for 9-year-olds!) 2) They needed to tell me what information they were setting out to find (who, what, where, etc.) 3) Who they were interviewing and what they were going to photograph, and 4) What questions were they going to ask the interviewees based on #2. I wanted them to show me these things so that they wouldn't be aimlessly wandering without direction looking for information to report on. This has been a challenging project for them and it has really tested a lot of their social skills personality-wise. But I truly beleive that learning to work as a team despite differences in opinion is a key life skill that extends far beyond memorizing facts in school. It will be a skill these students need to have for the rest of their lives.
In other news, I am now guest-judging for Swanson's Got Talent during lunch times throughout the week. It is a really fun way to get involved outside of my own classroom and partake in school-wide events.
This weekend Laura and I are hiring a car and driving 3 hours each way to Waitomo for a 3-hour Black Water Rafting Adventure. Should be amazing!! The only challenging part will be learning how to drive on the left side of the road but on the right side of the car. It's all opposite! Wish us luck ;) haha.
Cheers Everyone!
I just realized that we are nearly half way through our trip already. Where has the time gone? The past month has seemed to pass by in a flash second, yet I have tons of memories and experiences from these past few weeks that will last me a whole lifetime. It's unbeleivable really. Just a few weeks ago, I felt like I was thinking so long term as far as the rest of the trip. Now I feel like I am almost rushing to make sure I cover all those things I said I would do "at some point on this trip." Funny how that works!
The newspaper project continues underway. We are slowly making progress but I have needed to teach them so many unexpected things as we go along so the process is taking awhile. That's alright though, I'd rather cover my material well thean try to race through it and have the whole thing become meaningless for my students. We have done mini lessons on simply how to interview, how to write al letter asking permission to interview, how to puncuate an interview properly in a report, how to come up with and document information from questions in an interview, how to design a newspaper page, how to come up with catch and exciting headlines, what the parts of a newspaper article are, and more. My agenda in particular for the end of this week has been so set my students up for success in their interviews. I made them work really hard as teams to accomplish a list of 4 things to prove to me they were ready to conduct their investigations. 1) They had to establish who was going to take on which roles (easier said than done for 9-year-olds!) 2) They needed to tell me what information they were setting out to find (who, what, where, etc.) 3) Who they were interviewing and what they were going to photograph, and 4) What questions were they going to ask the interviewees based on #2. I wanted them to show me these things so that they wouldn't be aimlessly wandering without direction looking for information to report on. This has been a challenging project for them and it has really tested a lot of their social skills personality-wise. But I truly beleive that learning to work as a team despite differences in opinion is a key life skill that extends far beyond memorizing facts in school. It will be a skill these students need to have for the rest of their lives.
In other news, I am now guest-judging for Swanson's Got Talent during lunch times throughout the week. It is a really fun way to get involved outside of my own classroom and partake in school-wide events.
This weekend Laura and I are hiring a car and driving 3 hours each way to Waitomo for a 3-hour Black Water Rafting Adventure. Should be amazing!! The only challenging part will be learning how to drive on the left side of the road but on the right side of the car. It's all opposite! Wish us luck ;) haha.
Cheers Everyone!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Busy, Busy! First Week Of Full Control!
Kia Ora!
Hey everyone. So today began my first week of full control. The time is just flying by! We really only have a few weeks left before school starts winding down for the summer.
The newspaper project is well underway. We are currently working as a class to create an edition of "The Room 15 Gazette", complete with a Current Events section, a Gossip Column, inside scoop specialists describing "Who's Who at Swanson School?", and Environmental Advocates Team, and Sports Reporters. The kids are having a ball with it so far! They love that they have ownership over their articles and will take on great responsibility by researching, interviewing, photographing, and layout designing for their whole project. Should be interesting! It was tricky to get things going at first but hopefully now that we have started the main part, things will go much more smoothly.
This entire week, our 1-hour afternoon block is dedicated to a music rotation which will involve all Nikau rooms switching to each of the teachers for a music lesson. Its really quite cool!. We also have 2- 1-hour Athletics blocks throughout the week in which I will be teaching kids how to high-jump... Just as a note, until a few days ago...I had absolutely no idea how high jump actually works...go figure that now I will be instructing it! :) Oh well, go with the flow I suppose!
Tomorrow I have a unique chance to roam around the school and simply visit a few classes to see various teaching styles, methods, and age levels at Swanson. My cooperating teacher is on release tomorrow so she suggested that I take advantage of having some time to observe. I think it will be truly worthwhile!
This past weekend was absolutely fantastic! On Saturday, Jan took Laura, Cory and I along a scenic drive to some amazing lookouts. For the afternoon, we headed to Karekare Beach which was so neat! Everything here is just so beautiful and natural. I am constantly surrounded by green and rugged landscape, I love it! Then on Sunday, Rachel took Laura and I, along with 2 of her other friends from out of town, on a hike up and around the Rangitoto Island Volcano. It was so cool! We made a day of it by taking the ferry and doing one of the longer, sceinic routes. The views from the top of the volcano were amazing and I learned so much! I will try to post some photos here as soon as possible.
Well, thats all for now..I have quite a bit to do so take care everyone!
Cheers!
Hey everyone. So today began my first week of full control. The time is just flying by! We really only have a few weeks left before school starts winding down for the summer.
The newspaper project is well underway. We are currently working as a class to create an edition of "The Room 15 Gazette", complete with a Current Events section, a Gossip Column, inside scoop specialists describing "Who's Who at Swanson School?", and Environmental Advocates Team, and Sports Reporters. The kids are having a ball with it so far! They love that they have ownership over their articles and will take on great responsibility by researching, interviewing, photographing, and layout designing for their whole project. Should be interesting! It was tricky to get things going at first but hopefully now that we have started the main part, things will go much more smoothly.
This entire week, our 1-hour afternoon block is dedicated to a music rotation which will involve all Nikau rooms switching to each of the teachers for a music lesson. Its really quite cool!. We also have 2- 1-hour Athletics blocks throughout the week in which I will be teaching kids how to high-jump... Just as a note, until a few days ago...I had absolutely no idea how high jump actually works...go figure that now I will be instructing it! :) Oh well, go with the flow I suppose!
Tomorrow I have a unique chance to roam around the school and simply visit a few classes to see various teaching styles, methods, and age levels at Swanson. My cooperating teacher is on release tomorrow so she suggested that I take advantage of having some time to observe. I think it will be truly worthwhile!
This past weekend was absolutely fantastic! On Saturday, Jan took Laura, Cory and I along a scenic drive to some amazing lookouts. For the afternoon, we headed to Karekare Beach which was so neat! Everything here is just so beautiful and natural. I am constantly surrounded by green and rugged landscape, I love it! Then on Sunday, Rachel took Laura and I, along with 2 of her other friends from out of town, on a hike up and around the Rangitoto Island Volcano. It was so cool! We made a day of it by taking the ferry and doing one of the longer, sceinic routes. The views from the top of the volcano were amazing and I learned so much! I will try to post some photos here as soon as possible.
Well, thats all for now..I have quite a bit to do so take care everyone!
Cheers!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Has It Really Been 3 Weeks Already?
Greetings!
(I've added photos to my previous blogs so check them out!)
The past three weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of excitement, adventure, fun, and of course, learning!
This week at Swanson, my class began preparing for our newspaper project by doing a few introductory activities. My teaching of this unit has evolved immensly due to the feedback I get from my students on a daily basis. I realize what they need more or less of and go from there. Right now, I am teaching lessons on formating, language, and content of reports. From there we will move into construction of their own reports then put them into the final format. It is a challenging project, but I think it is realistic, worthwhile, and very meaningful and fun for the students! I love how it perfectly encompasses our reading theme (Current Events/News) and writing theme (Report Writing) for Term 4.
Also, due to rain cancelling our two, hour and a half long Athletic blocks, most of my nicely organized lesson plans for the week somewhat "hit the rubbish bin" by Tuesday as we had to restructure our plans almost daily. I found that I followed my plans for Monday, some of Tuesday, and then none of the rest of the week because things had shifted around so much. Now, don't get the wrong idea...it was still very worthwhile to write them because it gave me an idea of what our focuses would be and a basis for my teaching, but I found that instead of following an exact schedule for each block, I pulled stuff from all over the week into how it would best fit for each day and block of time. Funny enough though, things ended up turning out even better than I could have planned for. We got quite a bit accomplished in the realms of reading, writing, and especially music. As for music, I think our concert will turn out to be magnificent! The students are very quick learners on the recorder...I am amazed by how fast they have been able to pick it up! Science is also going well. We continue to do experiments with light, sound, and energy. Next week will focus particularily on light. After we finish with the basics of these themes in the next few weeks, the students will be doing an inquiry project and presentation for the class on a science topic of their choice.
Next week I already begin full control! I cannot believe how quickly I have taken over. As my cooperating teacher says, "Sometimes it is best just to dive head first into the deep end...you'll learn to swim as you go!" This has certainly been true. It was definitely not all rainbows and butterflies the first few times I was up in front of my class. Instead, those butterflies were swirling around in my stomach! I was very uneasy and unsure, but I quickly got the hang of it. I had to. I had a room of 25 9-year-olds eyeing me up, ready to see what I was like as a teacher and what I would excpect/tolerate from them in return. I had to just bite the bullet and go for it! Did I struggle? Oh yes. Did I have failures? Definitely, and will continue to have them so long as I am a teacher...it's unavoidable. Am I still here? Yes. Life goes on! Did I have fun? Absolutely, that I why am in in this profession in the first place! It hasn't been easy, but it has been very rewarding and I learn so much everyday.
On the outside of school agenda, a lot has been happening as well! Yesterday Rachel took us for a hike over near Bethels. It was a bit muddy, but still a lot of fun! Laura and I have also booked a flight for a weekend trip to to Wellington, New Zealand's capital. We will be going in roughly 2 weeks. We also booked a daytrip with Kiwi Experience to Milford Sound which will take place while we are in Queenstown at the end of our stay in New Zealand. Additionally we are planning to go on a 3-hour Black Water Rafting Adventure at the Waitomo Caves next weekend. For all of you who would like to see what craziness we will be up to, check out this link! :) http://www.waitomo.com/Default.aspx?DN=71783eda-ea40-4e6e-b0d3-9c8346d8719c
In addition, other weekend shenanigans will include a daytrip to Waiheke Island where we will rent mopeds and zoom around the beaches, vineyards/wineries, and landscapes (hehe) and also a trip to Rotorua in the beginning of December with Jan and Cory where we will be renting a cabin and trying out some of the following wacky New Zealand inventions: Zorbing, Off-roading on 4-wheelers, Lugeing, etc. We'll see as it gets closer!
Up and coming this weekend though, we are going to take it fairly easy. Saturday will include a scenic drive, lookouts, and maybe a beach with Jan and Cory and Sunday Laura and I will be climbing Rangitoto (a volcanic island off the coast of Auckland) with Rachel. Supposedly it has been dormant for about 400 years so breath easy, Mom! :)
I think that is all for now...until next time! Have a great weekend everyone!
(I've added photos to my previous blogs so check them out!)
The past three weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of excitement, adventure, fun, and of course, learning!
This week at Swanson, my class began preparing for our newspaper project by doing a few introductory activities. My teaching of this unit has evolved immensly due to the feedback I get from my students on a daily basis. I realize what they need more or less of and go from there. Right now, I am teaching lessons on formating, language, and content of reports. From there we will move into construction of their own reports then put them into the final format. It is a challenging project, but I think it is realistic, worthwhile, and very meaningful and fun for the students! I love how it perfectly encompasses our reading theme (Current Events/News) and writing theme (Report Writing) for Term 4.
Also, due to rain cancelling our two, hour and a half long Athletic blocks, most of my nicely organized lesson plans for the week somewhat "hit the rubbish bin" by Tuesday as we had to restructure our plans almost daily. I found that I followed my plans for Monday, some of Tuesday, and then none of the rest of the week because things had shifted around so much. Now, don't get the wrong idea...it was still very worthwhile to write them because it gave me an idea of what our focuses would be and a basis for my teaching, but I found that instead of following an exact schedule for each block, I pulled stuff from all over the week into how it would best fit for each day and block of time. Funny enough though, things ended up turning out even better than I could have planned for. We got quite a bit accomplished in the realms of reading, writing, and especially music. As for music, I think our concert will turn out to be magnificent! The students are very quick learners on the recorder...I am amazed by how fast they have been able to pick it up! Science is also going well. We continue to do experiments with light, sound, and energy. Next week will focus particularily on light. After we finish with the basics of these themes in the next few weeks, the students will be doing an inquiry project and presentation for the class on a science topic of their choice.
Next week I already begin full control! I cannot believe how quickly I have taken over. As my cooperating teacher says, "Sometimes it is best just to dive head first into the deep end...you'll learn to swim as you go!" This has certainly been true. It was definitely not all rainbows and butterflies the first few times I was up in front of my class. Instead, those butterflies were swirling around in my stomach! I was very uneasy and unsure, but I quickly got the hang of it. I had to. I had a room of 25 9-year-olds eyeing me up, ready to see what I was like as a teacher and what I would excpect/tolerate from them in return. I had to just bite the bullet and go for it! Did I struggle? Oh yes. Did I have failures? Definitely, and will continue to have them so long as I am a teacher...it's unavoidable. Am I still here? Yes. Life goes on! Did I have fun? Absolutely, that I why am in in this profession in the first place! It hasn't been easy, but it has been very rewarding and I learn so much everyday.
On the outside of school agenda, a lot has been happening as well! Yesterday Rachel took us for a hike over near Bethels. It was a bit muddy, but still a lot of fun! Laura and I have also booked a flight for a weekend trip to to Wellington, New Zealand's capital. We will be going in roughly 2 weeks. We also booked a daytrip with Kiwi Experience to Milford Sound which will take place while we are in Queenstown at the end of our stay in New Zealand. Additionally we are planning to go on a 3-hour Black Water Rafting Adventure at the Waitomo Caves next weekend. For all of you who would like to see what craziness we will be up to, check out this link! :) http://www.waitomo.com/Default.aspx?DN=71783eda-ea40-4e6e-b0d3-9c8346d8719c
In addition, other weekend shenanigans will include a daytrip to Waiheke Island where we will rent mopeds and zoom around the beaches, vineyards/wineries, and landscapes (hehe) and also a trip to Rotorua in the beginning of December with Jan and Cory where we will be renting a cabin and trying out some of the following wacky New Zealand inventions: Zorbing, Off-roading on 4-wheelers, Lugeing, etc. We'll see as it gets closer!
Up and coming this weekend though, we are going to take it fairly easy. Saturday will include a scenic drive, lookouts, and maybe a beach with Jan and Cory and Sunday Laura and I will be climbing Rangitoto (a volcanic island off the coast of Auckland) with Rachel. Supposedly it has been dormant for about 400 years so breath easy, Mom! :)
I think that is all for now...until next time! Have a great weekend everyone!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Traveling and Teaching - A Match Made in Heaven
Hello Everyone!
Here I am enjoying a lovely cup of tea, trying to come up with the best way to describe all of the amazing things I have experienced on my journey thus far. It's really quite difficult.
They say a picture says a thousand words, but even if I show you a hundred photos from my trip, only I will truly be able to remember all of the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions that have surrounded me while in New Zealand. For now, however, I will try my best.
This past weekend was absolutely wonderful! On Friday night, Jan had a work party to attend so she dropped off Laura and I downtown Auckland to explore the city for a few hours. We meandered along the harbor and wharf (for those of you who don't know this fun fact...Auckland is called the "City of Sails" - and for good reason!) and got some dinner and drinks. Auckland City is unique for a few reasons. Even though it is New Zealand's largest city, it's whole area still contains only one million people so there is a very safe, homey vibe to it. It is not overwhelmingly large either, most everything is within close walking distance. The icon of the city is definitely the Skytower, which they illuminate at night with fancy colors. The current shade of choice appears to be a pinkish purple.
Here I am enjoying a lovely cup of tea, trying to come up with the best way to describe all of the amazing things I have experienced on my journey thus far. It's really quite difficult.
They say a picture says a thousand words, but even if I show you a hundred photos from my trip, only I will truly be able to remember all of the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions that have surrounded me while in New Zealand. For now, however, I will try my best.
This past weekend was absolutely wonderful! On Friday night, Jan had a work party to attend so she dropped off Laura and I downtown Auckland to explore the city for a few hours. We meandered along the harbor and wharf (for those of you who don't know this fun fact...Auckland is called the "City of Sails" - and for good reason!) and got some dinner and drinks. Auckland City is unique for a few reasons. Even though it is New Zealand's largest city, it's whole area still contains only one million people so there is a very safe, homey vibe to it. It is not overwhelmingly large either, most everything is within close walking distance. The icon of the city is definitely the Skytower, which they illuminate at night with fancy colors. The current shade of choice appears to be a pinkish purple.
After perusing for awhile, we met back up with Jan and Rob and took a drive along the waterfront, stopping for a few scenic nightime views of the city and at a small Belgian pub to hang out. On Saturday, Laura and I took the train into Auckland city to wander around for the day. We visited Victoria Park Market, the Skytower Observatory, Victoria Street for some shopping, and also took a ferry boat ride over to Devonport to walk around some shops.
We may have to go back sometime though because many things were already closing up around 7pm. We still had a great time just walking around though. On Sunday, Rachel and Ken took us on a wild rainforest tramping excursion! It was near Bethel's Beach at the Makutu Reserve. We went on a 3-hour long hike around in the mountains up and down some rough and rugged terrain. When I say wild, I mean wild! Clearly the safety regulations here are not the same as in the U.S.! Haha. For example - we found ourselves walking along a narrow cliff hanging on tightly to a cable with only our hands so we would not fall down into a ravine! We trekked down bare traces of steps in the mountains made from rocks pushed into the ground and over a few streams (one of which I slipped into and soaked my entire boot! - classy!). Over the course of our hike, Rachel and Ken taught us "heaps" of things about the plants, animals, birds and trees found in the forest. We had a picnic near a lovely waterfall and then continued onward. I am still so sore from all the crazy climbing up and down, but it was an absolutely awesome time! We plan to do similar excursions in the future so maybe I will be a pro when I return! haha we'll see about that :) 
At school this week, I am nearly to full control. I wrote out detailed plans for myself and my cooperating teacher but am finding that no matter what, the plans are more like guidelines than actual rules ;)
One thing that is absolutely mandatory about the teaching field is that you must be flexible. This has certainly been true throughout my time at Swanson School. The learning environment here extends so far out of the classroom (which is awesome!!), that the kids are always going to enriching activities that involve fitness, music, art, teambuilding, community, and even dance! It is so wonderful that kids get such a well rounded education here. However, that also means that several times a week, things need to be changed around to accomodate such activities. It has been best to just go with the flow. There is no point in forcing a schedule that clearly isn't going to happen the way you want it to. In fact, several times a day, I find myself adjusting individual lessons to better suit the vibe I am getting from the class, or to accomodate for more or less time that other lessons had taken. I have completely thrown out some lessons, and have also made up new ones on the spot. Mrs. Logan keeps her schedule and mind very fluid. She has found much higher success by creating plans with the intention that changes can and will happen. I have found this to be very true as well. In making my plans for a week, I understand that they are not fully finished and set in stone. Every night I look them over and decide what needs changing for the days ahead based on what was accomplished for the day.
I have also begun to feel much more confident and relaxed in front of my class. Teaching has become a natural part of who I am and I absolutely love that feeling. With the support and resources of great teachers around me and by taking a lot of initiative on my own, I am learning so much and having a lot of fun!
This week our class is beginning to come up with articles for our class newspaper project. They will be investigating, interviewing, documenting, and and writing. We are also focusing on geometry, sound, and current events. Twice this week we have an hour reserved for Nikau Athletics where the kids will be learning a variet of Track and Field activities from all the Nikau teachers. I started today by assisting in High Jump and catching kids who lauched themselves too far over the mat - it was quite humorous! The whole school will also be attending a dance show in the main hall tomorrow as well - very exciting!
On a different note, one of the teachers recently asked me what I have noticed as differences between students in America and students in New Zealand. I realized it was a very difficult question fo rme to answer. To be quite honest, I don't think there are any. I think that kids are kids no matter where you go in the world. It is simply how they are raised, managed, and taught that is different. Kids here in New Zealand have a slightly different set of expectations from the adults in their lives and they have grown up with those expectations and ways of doing things. At heart though, they have many (not all, but many) of the same needs, thoughts, hopes, desires, fears, curiosities, and dreams that kids in America and all over the world do. It is this realization that has made my time here so valuable already. I can teach anywhere, I just have to have an open mind.
At school this week, I am nearly to full control. I wrote out detailed plans for myself and my cooperating teacher but am finding that no matter what, the plans are more like guidelines than actual rules ;)
One thing that is absolutely mandatory about the teaching field is that you must be flexible. This has certainly been true throughout my time at Swanson School. The learning environment here extends so far out of the classroom (which is awesome!!), that the kids are always going to enriching activities that involve fitness, music, art, teambuilding, community, and even dance! It is so wonderful that kids get such a well rounded education here. However, that also means that several times a week, things need to be changed around to accomodate such activities. It has been best to just go with the flow. There is no point in forcing a schedule that clearly isn't going to happen the way you want it to. In fact, several times a day, I find myself adjusting individual lessons to better suit the vibe I am getting from the class, or to accomodate for more or less time that other lessons had taken. I have completely thrown out some lessons, and have also made up new ones on the spot. Mrs. Logan keeps her schedule and mind very fluid. She has found much higher success by creating plans with the intention that changes can and will happen. I have found this to be very true as well. In making my plans for a week, I understand that they are not fully finished and set in stone. Every night I look them over and decide what needs changing for the days ahead based on what was accomplished for the day.
I have also begun to feel much more confident and relaxed in front of my class. Teaching has become a natural part of who I am and I absolutely love that feeling. With the support and resources of great teachers around me and by taking a lot of initiative on my own, I am learning so much and having a lot of fun!
This week our class is beginning to come up with articles for our class newspaper project. They will be investigating, interviewing, documenting, and and writing. We are also focusing on geometry, sound, and current events. Twice this week we have an hour reserved for Nikau Athletics where the kids will be learning a variet of Track and Field activities from all the Nikau teachers. I started today by assisting in High Jump and catching kids who lauched themselves too far over the mat - it was quite humorous! The whole school will also be attending a dance show in the main hall tomorrow as well - very exciting!
On a different note, one of the teachers recently asked me what I have noticed as differences between students in America and students in New Zealand. I realized it was a very difficult question fo rme to answer. To be quite honest, I don't think there are any. I think that kids are kids no matter where you go in the world. It is simply how they are raised, managed, and taught that is different. Kids here in New Zealand have a slightly different set of expectations from the adults in their lives and they have grown up with those expectations and ways of doing things. At heart though, they have many (not all, but many) of the same needs, thoughts, hopes, desires, fears, curiosities, and dreams that kids in America and all over the world do. It is this realization that has made my time here so valuable already. I can teach anywhere, I just have to have an open mind.
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