Day 130: Information Overload

I spent the night at Steve's last night so that I could go into Poly for my first day of class observations without having to commute 2 hours to get there. I met up with Amy in the AM who also lives in 'The Village' and we cabbed it over to Poly. My first day - I was so excited!! :-)

Today was a crazy busy day - total information overload!!! Schedules to learn, kids names to memorize, class material to read, stacks of textbooks to become familiar with, co-workers to meet, it was GO GO GO all day today! The morning started with me sitting in on my pre-school class and they were great. When I start working at Poly I'll have my own classroom with the same 12 kids for pre-school every day. Jeanette is the teacher who's responsible for my class in the meantime so I just sat in and listened in on the lessons and helped with the activities. The kids are so cute and completely adorable. They're only 5 years old but have already learned quite a bit of English, enough to communicate the basic stuff anyways. They're actually well-behaved and polite to each other, as well as the teachers. They've been raised in an educational environment that has routine and consistency and it totally shows. My old school was always chaotic and seemed to change everyday, there was never a routine or consistency - as a result my kids hardly listened to a word I would say and were all over the place.

Half my day is spent with the pre-school kids, and it's split into four blocks everyday - Phonics, Sharing Time, Library or Gym or Computers, and Activity. Each block is 40 minutes long and the teachers are given a ten-minute break inbetween each block. After the third block we're also given 45 minutes for lunch so it's a really well-organized, quick-moving morning. My classroom comes equipped with all materials and supplies needed to teach - from scissors and crayons to music and paper. And everyday I have prepared lessons for me to teach. Each month the teachers are given a list of the English concepts/words/lessons that the kids are supposed to learn, and you're given total freedom to deliver it at the pace and manner that you wish. It's the best of both worlds - an organized curriculam with the freedom to teach in your own style. Wow!

The afternoons are a bit more confusing - there's six blocks to teach of elementary-aged kids, and they range from Grades 2 - 6. I learned that I'm going to be one of Poly's Reading Teachers which is great. All my lessons will be reading with the kids and helping them with vocabulary, pronunciation, and understanding the concepts presented in the books/reading materials. I get to make up supplementary games and lessons to make this material more fun to learn, as well as being able to apply the subjects/words to other situations. It sounds like fun - I can't wait. I also get to teach Grade 2 Science twice a week which will be a blast! These kids are so smart!!!

By the end of my day though, around 6:30pm, I was completely exhausted! It's a busy day that flies by quickly but is certainly a very long one. (This ain't the teach-for-three-hours-a-day-routine I was spoiled with in May at my old school!) ;-) But it actually feels like 'real teaching' and I'm excited for my second day of class observations.

When I got home I was so tired I fell asleep on Steve's bed while watching TV! Steve came home a few hours later and we had some dinner together and then both had an early night. Man, teaching can wear a guy out! ;-)