Houston, day 3
Since I've been purty good, I'm going to try to do at least a daily update, as enlightening or unenlightening as it may be.
We just finished up setting up our month-long goals for the class we'll be teaching, and I wrote my first lesson plan today. :) I don't know if it will work, and it's nothing flashy, but it may just help out these kids! We then talked to our faculty advisor (a teacher who works at the school we're teaching at) and she said that since we have a fourth grade ESL class, many of the kids will be almost exclusively Spanish-speakers (bilingual education stops at third grade in Texas). So that could change things a bit, but we'll wait and see for ourselves. We were feeling really uncomfortable by coming in to the classroom when we are, because at the end of our first week some of our students will have to retake the Texas standardized test because they didn't pass it the first time, and this will determine whether they go on to fifth grade or repeat fourth. That's a lot of pressure, and we feel badly coming in a week before they take it (they've been in summer school for several weeks) but the teacher said that we shouldn't worry about it too much, because they'll still have some instruction time with their current teachers. So I felt better about that.
I alternate almost every thirty seconds about whether this time is flying or dragging here. I actually think it's flying...our days are so packed, but they really do go quickly. I can't believe I'm over halfway done with the first week.
So, I thought that when I was hanging around kids who weren't more than 3 1/2 feet tall, they wouldn't be able to tell how much taller than most adults (at least most women) I am. I was totally wrong. We eat lunch in the cafeteria, and as I go throw my trash away I can just hear this ripple of "WOW, she's tall" from the tables. It's very funny, and I hope that it helps when I get up in front of the classroom! :)
We just finished up setting up our month-long goals for the class we'll be teaching, and I wrote my first lesson plan today. :) I don't know if it will work, and it's nothing flashy, but it may just help out these kids! We then talked to our faculty advisor (a teacher who works at the school we're teaching at) and she said that since we have a fourth grade ESL class, many of the kids will be almost exclusively Spanish-speakers (bilingual education stops at third grade in Texas). So that could change things a bit, but we'll wait and see for ourselves. We were feeling really uncomfortable by coming in to the classroom when we are, because at the end of our first week some of our students will have to retake the Texas standardized test because they didn't pass it the first time, and this will determine whether they go on to fifth grade or repeat fourth. That's a lot of pressure, and we feel badly coming in a week before they take it (they've been in summer school for several weeks) but the teacher said that we shouldn't worry about it too much, because they'll still have some instruction time with their current teachers. So I felt better about that.
I alternate almost every thirty seconds about whether this time is flying or dragging here. I actually think it's flying...our days are so packed, but they really do go quickly. I can't believe I'm over halfway done with the first week.
So, I thought that when I was hanging around kids who weren't more than 3 1/2 feet tall, they wouldn't be able to tell how much taller than most adults (at least most women) I am. I was totally wrong. We eat lunch in the cafeteria, and as I go throw my trash away I can just hear this ripple of "WOW, she's tall" from the tables. It's very funny, and I hope that it helps when I get up in front of the classroom! :)