settling in

Well, I have just finished my third week and I am learning a lot. I have been teaching math for the last two weeks and had my first 'formal' observation on Thursday. I was reminded again that most often we student teachers are our worst critic! I felt alright about the lesson but thought of a lot that I could change if I were to teach it again...my mentor teacher was so wonderful and gave me lots of very positive feedback. She felt it went very well and there was a lot that she said that i forgot to feel good about! She also gave great constructive feedback regarding mixing up the learning. By this I mean, kinesthetic and a more visual focus for the EAL (English as an additional language) students, which they all are!, which I am going to really focus on. I have been thinking a lot about student learning styles and information processing. I have such a unique situation when it comes to really teaching in a differentiated way considering all these students know at least one, if not two or three, other languages. They need differentiation in a big way.

I am finally settling in enough to bring out my own teaching style. I didn't anticipate how difficult in would be to be in a new classroom without all the time to adjust and feel comfortable. I had gotten very used to Sumas and their style. It is a bit different here considering it is the British system and in an international school. I am thinking a lot about what my teaching style and philosophy is since I come from a different schooling background than the other teachers. I feel so fortunate to have had such a wonderful experience with Carole at Sumas and there are things regarding teaching that i feel strongly about that I learned there and am now transferring to this situation. Student Independence as a learners and as people is a big one. With a younger class I have been thinking about the importance of teaching and expecting this independence.

I also am realizing that I really miss all the resources from Woodring and all our classes! I was not able to bring those (books are hard to travel with as you know!) and there is a lot about those resources that I miss! Well, I know this isn't too detail and is more of a 'thoughts on the run' but just wanted to say hello and tell everyone that I am doing great and I hope you are too. I want to see updated blogs ladies! I am wondering how everyone is doing?!!! ~christine

a new beginning

Hello to everyone! Well, I am in Prague, aka Praha, and had my first day of school today. It was wonderful. The class I am in has only 12 students which seems pretty typical for this school. How amazing to have a smaller class. What a difference it makes when it comes to a teachers ability to interact and work with each student. There are many similarities but also many differences throughout the school day and it has been so fun and interesting to experience each one of the differences, even though I have only attended one day so far. I will definitly be talking about this more throughout the quarter.

Prague is amazing in and of itself as well. I spent three days in London adjusting to the time difference (Prague is 9 hours ahead of WA state time) and then flew to Prague on the 31st...just in time for New Years. Lots of fireworks throughout the night. I have explored many sights and already learned about so much of the rich and tumultuous history. I am finally understanding what it means to have such deep roots and true cultural traditions. Everything is so old here, it is unbelievable. I went to a church that took 600 years to build and this is quite represented by the way the architecture changes throughout the building depending on when that section was built. Crazy! Well, I know you are all settling into different roles this quarter as well and I can not wait to hear all about your experiences as well. Hope all is well.

Na shledanou, Christine