Namaste…

Week 1
If you were in my NZ classroom, that would be the children’s greeting to you each morning for the first week. First of all, I’m terribly behind on blogging. I now understand the difficulty of maintaining a blog. So many things happen in my day, and I think, “I should blog about that.” Then it doesn’t happen, but I promise to do better. Let’s start with Week 1 though.

My wonderful home stay family picked me up at the airport. I immediately began to notice the difference between a house of girls and a house of boys as Simon (7 years old) and Daniel (4 and over ¾ years old) raced down the escalator in the airport. Daniel’s age is very important because NZ children don’t start school until the Monday after their fifth birthday no matter when it falls in the calendar year. They just join an established Year 1 classroom, and the school determines their readiness for promotion at the end of the year. Needless to say, Daniel has a countdown to his birthday and is excited to join his older friends at school.

The first week of teaching was mostly observation. I LOVE my class! New Zealand is an incredibly diverse country. The 24 children in my classroom represent about ten nations of the world. Teaching here is fulfilling my dream to teach the nations in some really neat ways. Not to mention, everyone has adorable accents!

My first weekend was very low-key. It was raining (as usual), so I took the opportunity to rest, acclimate to the time change, and play games with the boys. Overall, it was a good way to ease into life here since I jumped into the classroom 48 hours after my plane landed.

I’m attending a fantastic church called New Hope Community Church. It meets at Point View School where I teach. It’s really neat to worship at the same place where I work… such a great opportunity. The people are so friendly. I’ve started attending a small group that meets at our house every Wednesday night. It’s great to fellowship and get to know people outside of Sunday morning. I’m very thankful because my home stay family attends church there as well. It’s very unifying to have our faith in common and share the same church experience.

Keep checking back… pictures and more updates coming soon!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

It's official. I am student teaching in New Zealand this fall. I leave on August 26th and will return on November 21st. I'm still feeling a HUGE range of emotions but overall I'm excited and very peaceful about going.

I will teach at Point View Primary in the city of Howick, a suburb of Auckland. My mentor teacher is Kay Morris, and she has 24 five-year-old students in her classroom. While this might sound like the beginning of a nightmare for some of you, I could not be more thrilled. I love teaching, and although I sometimes panic about being ready, I'm excited to jump in and start.

My home stay family sounds amazing. Gerard and Tina have two sons: 7-year-old Simon and almost 5-year-old Daniel. Their house is a less than ten minute walk away from Point View. We've emailed back and forth several times, and I'm so encouraged by their open and friendly personalities. Tina is a teacher at another school down the road, and her mentor teacher was also Kay Morris several years ago. Small world?

The more I research about things to do and places to see, the more excited I get. It's going to be an adventure. I love teaching, traveling, and being surrounded by kids, so I feel like this entire experience combines all of my favorite things. Will it be hard to leave my family, friends, and the great city of Athens? Yes. Will I miss being part of birthdays/things that happen here? Yes. The Lord has been so great to remind me of his faithfulness though. So many times in the bible, his people have a spirit of doubt or fear... Adam and Eve, Moses and the Israelites, Abraham, Elijah (skip a few years)... Jesus's disciples. Yet the Lord showed up for all of them and spoke. So I guess that's what I'm praying for... that in this season of being alone in a different land, that God will speak to me. I want to learn how to dwell more deeply with him.

My placement is pending...

I received an email yesterday that said my placement in New Zealand is pending. For those who don't know, I'm planning to student teach abroad for three months this fall. It should be an incredible experience, but I'm at a loss on what I think and feel right now. Am I ready to move? Can I do the whole abroad thing? How will this confirm/deny my life dreams? I have such hope and an equal amount of fear. I am excited and terrified and can't wait to share my adventures with you...

Writing supplies...

I never thought about the importance of writing supplies. I remember loving sticky notes and pens and markers and labels as a child, but I somehow forgot my love until I read this week's assignment. I've always wanted a creativity table that's already set-up and available whenever inspiration hits a student. I never thought of having a similar or joint center with a writing table. On Read Across America Day, I went to Ashley Barnes's pre-K or K class. I don't remember which grade it was, but I remember her mentor teacher's writing station. There was a desk with all the writing supplies a student could possibly need. I wish I had my camera with me. I was so inspired.

"Umm... I have a question."

I have heard some many responses to that statement. “Ok… what is it?” “Let’s save our questions for the end.” “Now is not the appropriate time for that.” “Hurry and ask.” or my favorite… ignoring the student completely.

This past week I taught a lesson on questions based on the Harper article we read for class. It was the first of five revision techniques for narrative writing I taught. I started the lesson by saying, “I went to Jamaica over spring break. Any questions?” They had so many, and I answered them all at the end of the lesson.

Chapter 5 in LTSG baffled me because I never thought about teaching students how to ask questions. I am around so many kids of different ages, and they have never had a hard time coming up with questions. In my experience, kids tend to be naturally curious and bold questioners. “Why does the _____ do that?” “How does the _____ work?” “What are they doing?” “What’s for dinner?”

I agree with most of the techniques she described, but I just don’t understand the need. I especially agree with the “I wonder _____.” Strategy because that consistency would be very beneficial. I need to think more about what context she is expecting to teach questioning because I have never had a problem with students not asking questions or not knowing how to ask questions.