Friday, April 25, 2008

Since everyone had been asking about how I'm doing on prac, I decided to give a brief rundown on things. Maybe not so brief as I tend to write a lot of crap. So don't read if you hate essays. xD

Due to privacy issues, I am not going to reveal names and the observations I have made. I have since deleted the journal which indicated which school I am going to. I hope you guys won't say which in your comments either, or I will have to hide it. Sorry! :D

So here goes.
Last Friday
I paid the school a visit right before school ended. There was a straight bus to school that I could take and allow me to be 15 minutes early! Turns out I miscalculated. It's early afternoon, no traffic, nobody's getting on the bus. I reached there half an hour before the set appointment with my prac facilitator. =__=
I spoke with the prac co-ordinator and he showed me around before letting me meet my supervising teachers for Mathematics and Science. It was only the first day and my Math supervisor loaded a whole chunk of information on me that just left me REELING. She apologised for that on Monday though. xD She said she'd been working at such a fast pace lately that she subconsciously did it with me and she was hitting herself over doing it to me. She's such an awesome woman.

Monday
Woke up at 5.30am, was very excited. The bus I catch leaves at 7.29am, what was I doing up so early huh? Oh wells. Showered, breakfast, sat around waiting. 7.15am walked out of the house and saw the bus. OHMYGOD. It was early. Runs across the road to catch it, no point because since it was early it was going to wait around. =_= Bah.

Attended assembly with Yvonne*, my Science supervising teacher. Ran into another student teacher I know, Jody* and had a bit of a chat with her. Straight to multi-strand science after that, which was a fair bit of a walk as it is near the farm. As I was helping Yvonne* put the chairs down on the floor, the class starts gathering outside the room and I hear things like, "Hey, it's an Asian chick!" and "Is that a new teacher or something?" I couldn't help but smile to myself. xD Yvonne* introduced me as a new student teacher, and that I would be taking them soon, and they should be supportive and be nice and not scare me away. Can you believe the next comment they made? "Why would we do that?! She's Asian!" You see, majority of the class is Asian, Vietnamese though, so they sort of see a connection with me? +1 for being Asian. YAY!

Next class was Math 12A with Claire*. In contrary to Yvonne's* class, Claire's* Yr 12 Math class only had 1 Asian girl. Much of the lesson was spent on exercises/homework that they had not completed, so I walked around and helped with answering questions they had. I'm still trying to get used to being called Miss. xD After the lesson, Claire* was saying how it was interesting how Shelly*, the little Asian girl at the back had raised her hand and asked a question. Apparently, she NEVER asks questions because she's painfully shy, but Yvonne* was amazed that on my first day there, Shelly* actually spoke to me! Most probably, and we both had our suspicions that it was because I was Asian. +2 for Asian background!

The kids at the school are generally really nice. I'm walking from class to class and the students, mainly the girls call out, "Hi Miss!" to me as I pass them. I don't know them, but they do it anyway. And that's really sweet of them! :)

Tuesday
Nothing much happened. Same old with the students. All pretty nice and stuff.

Wednesday
Had tuckshop duty with Yvonne* which was pretty interesting. The main role of teachers at tuckshop duty was to watch out for kids cutting the queue, making sure no students lean over the railing to ask their friends to buy food for them, check their uniforms as they go by, ensure no pilfering is going on, and finally: crowd control. 4-6 students at a time, depending on a teacher's preference.

Did sports duty with Claire* where she and another teacher Bryan* took the kids out for ten-pin bowling during their lunch to 4th period. How sports at the school works is, in first week, students are supposed to sign up for team sports. If there are too many students for the sports team, trials are held. For students who did not get into a team, or did not sign up for a sports team, have to sign up for an activity the following week. Instead of team sports this time, what is available is freestyle sports. Netball, basketball, cricket, ten-pin bowling, ice-skating etc. So I tagged along with Claire* just so I could get a lesson in logistics, i.e. loading students onto the bus, ensuring crowd control as they enter the bowling center and finally getting students back onto the bus. Pretty simple you might think, but Claire* and Bryan* took 3 weeks to finally figure out a system that would work out for everyone.

Thursday
I participated in the Multi-strand science class today, helping to supervise a paper making practical. I had been assigned the station where I had to demonstrate to the students how to make paper. Which was great! Yvonne* said I had done a good job and the main purpose of me helping out was to integrate me into the class, to let the students get used to another presence in the room. It was really funny at the beginning though, because as I was getting some stuff ready, I hit my head on the metal shelf which made this huge "BAM" sound and I went "Ow" amidst all the "Ohhhhh man!" from the students. Man it was so embarrassing yet funny. xD

What else huh. Oh yeah, I attended my first ANZAC day ceremony in my entire life. I had never been to one before and it was such a solemn event, I was tearing up when the singers started singing 'Amazing Grace'. I had learnt about the ANZACs before back in International School, it just never hit me how much respect was paid to them until yesterday.

I'm getting to know some of the girls in the Math 10B class. Because I sit at the back, I have the chance to speak to Jesse* and Clarissa* a lot which is good. They're both good kids that absolutely adore me right now because 1. I remembered their names, and 2. I have the same pencil box as Jesse, just that mine's cooler than hers. xD How funny huh?

I'm really glad I managed to come to this school. The kids are gorgeous, when I go up to either chase them to class or tell them to tidy their uniforms they ask me if I'm new or where I'm from.. (I.e which country) They are so cute. :love:

I think I'm going to love it at this school! :)

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Btw no Fridays, Aussies should know that it's ANZAC day today. If you don't know what it is, go google. :D

Happy long weekend guys and girls! <3

Posted by chibified kitsunes at 21:35