This morning I drove to school again. I wasn't sure when Mabel was getting back from Tucson, but I figured I'd have my phone on me and if she needed me to come get her she could call and I could leave. That would be faster than leaving by bus and coming then picking her up anyhow.
I got to school and Hernán gave me the "look at you Miss Thang" as I pulled in to park. I explained that it was not my car, but that I had enjoyed using it. (I hope I remember in another entry to tell you about a strange conversation I had with him later.)
After signing in (early from driving), I decided to get some things in order in my space in the computer room. I had lost a flash drive (and was BUMMED) last week, so I told Sandra about it. She had just gotten in from Tucson last night at midnight! She went with me to look through the burned trash all around the grounds. No dice. Or flash drive.
I notice the woman who was teaching the second grade class last week when I needed to give my test (when I had to wait over an hour) and her two colleagues. I notice in one of her colleagues' hands an envelope that says "Anabel" with other information. I realize that my first (troublesome) class is about to be cancelled. Great. Actually, I was excited to have the time and freedom, but as usual, would've loved some heads up.
I keep an eye out for that classroom in case she lets out early and I need to go.
Nope.
I assume that my second first grade class (who can be difficult, yet tend to do right) will follow the same issue since there were three women. Fifth and sixth grade were at PE. How you can have over 60 kids at a time and expect everyone to get a fair shot I'll never know. They were playing 3 on 3 soccer. For about 5 minutes a piece. It was a sight seeing all the students lined up on the steps chatting, cheering and waiting their turn. They were not perfectly behaved, but I think they were better since they haven't had PE in a very long time. I don't know why, but Ramón has not been there for weeks.
I digress.
I went to check on my second group and Martha said to come on in. The teacher was there, but she was doing what looked like MNPS's reading assessments. She would call one child to her to read a strip of paper and then write some things down. It was definitely not as intense or accurate as MNPS's technique, but it seemed to be along the same lines.
It was difficult teaching, as usual, with such a distraction at the front of the room, but I held their attention. We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? which this group had not read in detail like the other. We then read a book called Garden Colors followed by I See Colors. They did a good job remembering the colors. We also sang a toy song to review the other vocabulary from the unit. This is the group that loves the songs because I'm pretty silly with them. I play a good bit of air guitar and air piano in this song and the love it of course.
It was a really good class that didn't accomplish much more than review, but that's okay. I have realized there are 8 units with 8 lessons for first grade. We supposedly meet 12 times a month so there's ample time for a unit per month, leaving extra days each month, and leaving an extra month for catch up. With the other grades, I have nine units and I'm behind! But I'll get there. I'm getting in the groove of the book and how to teach from it effectively.
Again, I digress.
Recreo was low key, and shockingly ended exactly on time (maybe because we had visitors). That meant I got almost 40 whole minutes with 3rd and 6th...
On my way to 3rd grade, one of the supervising teachers stopped me and asked about 3rd grade. She said they always looked antsy and chatty and could never be still. She asked me which group was the most difficult and I told her they were.
I had a good lesson with them, too. They're studying clothes and some of it is a review for them. I decided to take along Mary Wore a Red Dress to their class today. This is another kindergarten favorite (in English) at Lockeland. I don't have it in Spanish, though I suppose I could just make my own, eh?
They were so cute reading the book. I broke the news to them that it was a popular book for Kindergarteners in the US, but that they were like kindergarteners in their English career. They didn't dig that. My Lockeland students are used to hearing that from me. I assured them that the first graders were more like babies, only spitting out a word or two here and there.
So we read the book and they loved it of course. They were able to participate by telling me the clothing item and color, and since it is a sing-song book (it's actually adapted into a book from a song), they were also able to "read" with me on the second go-round.
Even though we had a longer than normal class (40ish minutes), we didn't get as far as I would've liked. To me, however, that is a good sign. When we get completely finished, it's usually because I didn't (or they didn't) like the lesson, or that they didn't understand.
I dropped off my 3rd grade stuff in the computer room, grabbed my flash drive (another, much smaller, much less cool), and headed to 6th grade. I was very excited to have this much time with them. As you know, I usually have 30 minutes max with them. I would guess my typical 6th grade class is 20 minutes. Good luck getting anything accomplished in that amount of time!
I got there and got the computer started (I think Guillermina- I finally figured out her name! never uses it...), which takes a solid three minutes. We're down to 37.
The kids were all asking if we were going to do more with Hello Kitty. They were practically begging! Little did they know I had some major excitement in store for them.
Before I started, while the computer and projector were syncing, I reminded them that tomorrow would be an open class for their parents. We would move English to morning time so their parents could just stay after having dropped them off.
The principal wanted me to do this for the parents' sake and asked me long ago. Also, it went so well with the 2nd grade parents that I wanted to open up communication with all parents. We begin tomorrow with 6th.
(I'm sorry this is much like an old school entry before I started chopping it up...)
I pulled up the Hello Kitty book and told the we would first review. Mexican students are very resistant to reviews. They're quick to tell me we've already done something instead of just listening.
I asked for volunteers and we acted out the story. This was a weak attempt at TPRS, but it was a fun class no matter what.
No girls would volunteer, so boys were my first three Hello Kittys. The first phrase they needed to learn was "got dressed." I had my first Hello Kitty act like he was putting clothes on. We all practiced saying "got dressed." Then there was "smelled the yummy food." HK #2 patted his belly as we all said the phrase. It continued like this, each time adding a new student to learn the new phrase and repeating all the previous phrases. Obviously, the kids learn very quickly without having to be "taught."
We were all laughing and having a very good time and got through about half the book.
Of course, those who were participating were also distracted by looking out the window or hitting their neighbors, but I think I saw more participation than usual (more mouths moving in English and fewer in Spanish).
I explained furthermore that we would continue and hopefully finish tomorrow. That after that, they would be expected to summarize in words what they had seen. Eventually they would write and draw what they had seen.
I felt very successful and had no voice left (but it was great because they were engaged and having fun- my main goals).
Guillermina, however, must not have found it as successful...
She yelled at the kids for playing so much and at the girls for not volunteering. She told them that tomorrow was a really big day for me and that they needed to be on their best behavior.
I think part of it is that they don't respect my class like they do hers. I think a bigger part of it is that we have different definitions of respect and the learning process. As I have mentioned many times before, my classes in Nashville are very quiet and orderly. But there is also a place for fun. Since this is a year-long adventure, I figure the place for fun is most of the time (I'm guessing I'll take this theory back with me)! Foreign language classrooms (or at least successful ones in my book) should have appropriate noise. The level today was not something I could cope with everyday (or else I wouldn't be able to talk), but it is something that needs to be experiences for the sake of learning.
I was proud of them and excited for them. We'll see, when they do their oral summaries and story boards, what they got out of it. I think I'm in for 6 more months of a scratchy throat, but I'm okay with that!
No comments:
Post a Comment