Mission Accomplished! – Well, Nearly

I am quite overwhelmed! I don’t mean like where I am too stressed out, I mean there is just so much to absorb right now…it’s hard to take it all in! This weekend was fantastic! Laura and I spent Saturday in Auckland city doing some final Christmas shopping after we finally got there due to train problems (epic adventure). Then on Sunday we took a ferry over to Waiheke Island, a tropical, beachy, surf-type island located north east of Auckland city. We rented scooters for the day and zipped around the mountainous terrain, enjoying some shopping, some sunny beach time, some wine tasting at one of Waiheke’s many vineyards, and simply enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Yesterday was spent watching the school talent show and making sure our concert item was set. Our students are also working on independent group inquiry projects where they are doing research and experiments on an “I Wonder” type question. They are to incorporate reading, writing, art, and other various subject areas in their projects.

Today was the infamous Swanson Christmas Show. My students successfully performed our item to a stellar degree, I was so proud of them! We got it on video tape so I will share that with everyone when I return. Laura and I additionally performed in the traditional staff item where we sang and danced to “Rockin Around The Christmas Tree” which students and parents alike had a good laugh at…good times! It was a relief to be done with our class item though…now we can breathe a little easier without having to practice that anymore! It was worth the time and effort though, we got so many good comments from students, staff, and parents!

The rest of the week will be fairly easy, we are just tying up loose ends for the school year. I can’t believe I will already be home in about a week and a half. I am not ready to leave New Zealand at all yet, but I am getting excited to come home and see everyone for Christmas.

So, as for that Christmas concert, it was a success and is now behind us….a mission well accomplished! But, the school term is still in progress. We are not finished here yet, but we are nearing the end…it is certainly a bittersweet feeling overall!

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

So….it’s December, right?? Except wait, … it’s hot, it’s the end of the school year, and there are Christmas decorations everywhere!! I SO do not know what to think right now!! This is so off base from every December that I have ever experienced! Not complaining at all, but wow its strange!

So many things are happening right now, especially at school. We are finished with our newspaper, so that is a big relief… (It turned out marvelously, by the way!) we are just making copies now and delivering them around the school. The students have a lot to be proud of, they have worked hard!

We are also busy doing a lot of practice for our item for the Upcoming Christmas Concert on Tuesday night next week. Here’s what happens…Each class has a part in the Christmas Show, whether it is being on stage singing/dancing, or creating and advertising an enterprise item to sell like candy or Christmas headbands. Our class in particular, Room 15, will be playing the music we have learned on the recorders and chime bars. I am really impressed with how far the children have come with learning their music. We went from not being able to create anything but squeaky noise on the recorders to now being able to play a small repertoire of Christmas tunes like Ode To Joy, Jingle Bells, and Jolly Old Saint Nick…and sound good while doing it! I have taught my students how to be professional musicians as well, sitting up straight, holding their instruments properly, and how to watch the conductor for tempo and playing cues. All those years in band seem to have paid of for something! ☺ So anyways, we will be playing our music…and then getting a little crazier. Believe it or not, I have been also teaching my students how to line dance. It’s a long story how we even got started doing it…it was never in my initial plans for coming to New Zealand, but well, we have been dancing up a storm in Room 15 for the last few minutes of every day. The kids have gotten quite good at it actually…so much to the point that now we are adding that to our concert item. Long story short, we will play our music in a little band…then quickly stash the instruments and have a mini hoe-down in front of 300 families…oh yikes! What have I gotten myself into?? ☺

In other current happenings, there are several assemblies and the Swanson’s Got Talent Show that will all be taking place in the last bits of school so our in-class time is getting more and more limited. Tomorrow the whole school will be participating in what is called National Jandal Day – a day to raise money for Surf Life Saving and also to promote healthy living awareness. (sidenote: “jandals” are another term for flip-flops here) Basically the kids are allowed to abandon their school uniforms for the day and just wear normal clothes if they agree to donate a dollar or two for the cause. Then the whole school will participate in outdoor fitness and game activities like relays, sack races, and jandal tosses (no joke). Its kind of funny actually…I’m not sure we would ever have a day like that back in Wisconsin!

The weather is absolutely beautiful here though, a bit rainy at times but I really can’t complain! I still can’t get over how warm it is. We actually went over to one of the teacher’s houses this evening for a staff barbecue. The widows and doors were all open as we enjoyed a warm breeze and some delicious food! New Zealand barbeques are definitely quite the event, we had such a great time!

That’s all I can think of for now… Ta!

I’ve Found The End Of The Rainbow

That’s right everyone, I have found the end of the rainbow. It’s right here in New Zealand! Figuratively speaking of course ☺. So just go with me on this attempt to use a metaphor… If we consider my student teaching journey as a quest for that end of the rainbow, then the “pot of gold”, so to speak, would be me growing in my confidence and independence as an educator to the point where I would finally feel comfortable having my own classroom. Still with me? In simple terms, I feel like over the past few months, I have changed so much. Over the course of my two placements thus far, I have gone from being kind of nervous and unsure as to how everything comes together as a classroom teacher and also about simply conducting whole day of school with my students, to where I feel far more confident and able to go onward in my profession. I think I simply needed to be thrown in head first to fully learn to swim. Ok enough metaphors I promise. But I guess I’m saying that before student teaching, I just didn’t feel ready to be a teacher yet, I felt like there was still far too much that I needed to learn. And I was right. I did need to learn a lot and I still do. I will continue learning throughout my whole career. But what I needed to learn most is about myself and my own strengths as a teacher simply through the experience of being in full control of a classroom. Most importantly, I have learned it as not as scary as it one seemed. In fact I love it more and more each day. I am very much looking forward to having my own classroom someday.

Ah well, enough deep stuff for now, I just felt like putting that out there…☺ Rotorua this weekend was a blast! We went on the gondola, tried out some luge-ing and took the ride of our lives on the Sky Swing (craziness!) which you must watch a video of to fully comprehend. Then Laura and I went to Maori Hangi Dinner and Cultural Dance show…it was absolutely fascinating! ☺. We also enjoyed some much-needed relaxation at the Polynesian Thermal Pools. Lovely! Overall a great weekend!

Well, the weather is getting more and more summery…. I’m off to enjoy some of it!

Cheers!