It is what I came here to do.
You may remember that the first day of school my classroom was an absolute heap. Slowly but surely my fellow Western teacher and I have tidied up our little space. It’s much more workable now, thank goodness. It’s even recognizable as a classroom… you know, where learning takes place?
And little by little… I think we’re actually getting somewhere.
These first 6 weeks have been an absolute roller coaster. The week before last was a complete dream, last week was ok, and this week is still up in the air. My new technique is to plan a full day for Sunday… and by about Wednesday afternoon we’ll finally accomplish the majority of it.
Various factors contribute to why our pace is so slow. Some days the girls just aren’t in the mood to listen. Some days visitors arrive and hell breaks loose. Some days the air conditioning is limping along and affecting the girls’ attitudes. It doesn’t take much. Other days the school has planned “Healthy Breakfast Day” where we sit and eat breakfast for the entire first period. Or “Vegetable Day” where we eat vegetables for one full period. Then there was the “Fruit Olympics” … Really, there doesn’t seem to be much of a rush. I’m ok with that.
Currently we are studying “Family”. You might recognize a few faces? The girls love coming up to the board to be the teacher. It’s one of the few methods that gets them to close their mouths and pay attention.
The remaining part of the lesson asked the students to complete the sentence, “I have __ _____ .” with their family members. For example, “I have 1 sister.” The girls think it’s so funny that I have one sister and no brothers while they have 3 or 4 of each! Not to mention the mommy question. Men are allowed four wives here… so the question, “How many mothers do you have?” is not exactly straight forward. Just proves the point that families come in all shapes and sizes.
Despite a few mid-class breakdowns (It’s good for students to see their teacher cry, right?), I’m really enjoying teaching my students. They are beyond cute (wish I could show you all!), and I think they really like me! My quietest student gives me the biggest smile… and my naughtiest student… well, let’s just hope she doesn’t figure out that she’s my favorite…
xo, jill
Why didn’t you use a real photo of your mother instead of one of a beautiful model?
Very cute classroom, Jill. It sounds like all of your students are girls. It’s fun to see pictures of your family in your classroom and I’m so glad that you included your grandpa. What a cute picture of the two of you. Your dad will be so proud when he sees his face on your wall! He is SO proud of you, Jill! :0) It sounds like you just need to keep your chin up and get used to working in slow motion. (Which must cut down on a ton of after school preparation and give you more free time to do other fun things!)
from the bulletin board, it looks like you have a few troublemakers? we had the smiley/frown system when i was in second grade. the first time i got a frown, i put my head and my desk and bawled.
please explain more about this Fruit Olympics…