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So for a myriad of reasons, I "failed" my placement (neither myself or the uni are seeing this as a fail however) and I'm now repeating it. Luckily the school chosen works in my favour due to it being MUCH closer (about 10-15 minutes away and in a metro zone...no more risking killing myself driving along one of the more dangerous highways!). It's also a small school.
Now, I will explain something about the way that a number of public schools work in Australia (and some private schools): in primary school, a lot of classes are mixed year levels, known commonly as a composite class. So this means that a teacher is taking up to 3 year levels at one time, although usually it's 2 year levels in the metro region. These are combinations such as Year 1/2, 3/4 and so on.
I have a Year 3/4 class. My teacher taught in London for 4 years, has taught in Australia for 4 years, and has only recently won a leadership role. Go her!
Anyway, I have a few "wins" that I scored over my last two days there:
-My students seemed curious, but not scared around me. Some of them were quite enthusiastic about me hanging around. One of the kids even asked "Can Miss Fireheart stay with us at lunchtime?" (some of the kids have been doing a lunchtime activity which for them is just colouring in some teaching aids-under their OWN will) Sadly I had to decline due to yard duty.
-I have 3 ESL kids in my class. One of them is quite the character.
-Another kid had broken his finger prior to me coming into class. Because of this, they use a computer for their writing tasks (since it's not going into their workbook in some cases). A few times he's been caught doing OTHER things...all of us cannot wait for that cast to come off let me tell you.
-Today we had a special event involving kids from each class "peer teaching" other kids who were both above and below their year levels in maths. A lot of the kids got quite into it which was good. Each class was allocated a timeslot that they could come and visit and kids from all the classes were sent down during the day to act as "teachers". My kids did quite well and I remembered names by the end of the day (
).
-With that same maths activities event, two of the more addictive activities involved an iPad game called Match 10 (which is now on my own iPad) and a game/app involving little robots called Bee Bots. They were basically robots that you could program to use directional language and send them in various directions. A lot of kids kept making them dance around the room since in order to get them moving in one direction, you had to hit the forward button, then to turn, you hit the turn button, THEN the forward button.
-I spent a good chunk of the day with the Junior Primary Special Needs children, both mainstreamed and non-mainstreamed. The kids actually got along fairly well with the mainstream children (not the special needs ones) and even taught them how to play Dominoes.
-I also wowed one of the SSO's (and I'm suggesting this to the teacher next week) by suggesting a way that they could use dice without the kids throwing them across the room. (basically, take a clear container, put some dice into it, seal it (to prevent the kids opening up the container) and all they'd need to do is shake it and read the numbers on the "top" (bottom) of the container.
-Two of the special ed. boys I noticed at some point over the last two days were downright ADORABLE. One was a mainstreamed kid who had a tendency to run (I was warned) and he spent his entire timeslot with me before he had to go back to his teacher (who it turns out, I know previously). He loved me and the Bee Bots. (he was very curious) The other child has a hearing impairment and I think either a mild intellectual disability or some behavioural issues, but he was VERY protective of the Dominos. (when it was time for his class to go and play with the activities, he kept asking me what would happen to them. I assured him that I'd keep an eye on them. 
)
-I get a chance to teach poetry, shapes, probability and the life cycle of plants to my kids. This will be interesting.
Now, I will explain something about the way that a number of public schools work in Australia (and some private schools): in primary school, a lot of classes are mixed year levels, known commonly as a composite class. So this means that a teacher is taking up to 3 year levels at one time, although usually it's 2 year levels in the metro region. These are combinations such as Year 1/2, 3/4 and so on.
I have a Year 3/4 class. My teacher taught in London for 4 years, has taught in Australia for 4 years, and has only recently won a leadership role. Go her!
Anyway, I have a few "wins" that I scored over my last two days there:
-My students seemed curious, but not scared around me. Some of them were quite enthusiastic about me hanging around. One of the kids even asked "Can Miss Fireheart stay with us at lunchtime?" (some of the kids have been doing a lunchtime activity which for them is just colouring in some teaching aids-under their OWN will) Sadly I had to decline due to yard duty.
-I have 3 ESL kids in my class. One of them is quite the character.
-Another kid had broken his finger prior to me coming into class. Because of this, they use a computer for their writing tasks (since it's not going into their workbook in some cases). A few times he's been caught doing OTHER things...all of us cannot wait for that cast to come off let me tell you.
-Today we had a special event involving kids from each class "peer teaching" other kids who were both above and below their year levels in maths. A lot of the kids got quite into it which was good. Each class was allocated a timeslot that they could come and visit and kids from all the classes were sent down during the day to act as "teachers". My kids did quite well and I remembered names by the end of the day (
).-With that same maths activities event, two of the more addictive activities involved an iPad game called Match 10 (which is now on my own iPad) and a game/app involving little robots called Bee Bots. They were basically robots that you could program to use directional language and send them in various directions. A lot of kids kept making them dance around the room since in order to get them moving in one direction, you had to hit the forward button, then to turn, you hit the turn button, THEN the forward button.
-I spent a good chunk of the day with the Junior Primary Special Needs children, both mainstreamed and non-mainstreamed. The kids actually got along fairly well with the mainstream children (not the special needs ones) and even taught them how to play Dominoes.
-I also wowed one of the SSO's (and I'm suggesting this to the teacher next week) by suggesting a way that they could use dice without the kids throwing them across the room. (basically, take a clear container, put some dice into it, seal it (to prevent the kids opening up the container) and all they'd need to do is shake it and read the numbers on the "top" (bottom) of the container.
-Two of the special ed. boys I noticed at some point over the last two days were downright ADORABLE. One was a mainstreamed kid who had a tendency to run (I was warned) and he spent his entire timeslot with me before he had to go back to his teacher (who it turns out, I know previously
). He loved me and the Bee Bots. (he was very curious) The other child has a hearing impairment and I think either a mild intellectual disability or some behavioural issues, but he was VERY protective of the Dominos. (when it was time for his class to go and play with the activities, he kept asking me what would happen to them. I assured him that I'd keep an eye on them. )-I get a chance to teach poetry, shapes, probability and the life cycle of plants to my kids. This will be interesting.
moment the other day when a group of kids were let out (for doing their homework) and went to play on the playground. Said 
(she's very imaginative)
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