Week 4

To start this weeks entry off, I have to go back to last Saturday. I took the bus into Dublin city and spent the day there. I had an absolutely amazing time. Highlights of the day included shopping on O’ Connell street. Visiting Trinity College and seeing the Long Room, and the Book of Kells. I also visited St. Stephen’s Green, one of my favourite places so far, Graphton St., Henry St., both for shopping. I ended my day with visits to the famed Temple Bar, Hard Rock Café, and The Guinness Brewery. All in all, it was another amazing experience here!
Monday was back to school. I was very excited for this week to begin as I will be starting my Christmas play with the second-class students. The very first day I arrived at St. Ultan’s I was told that I could be in charge of writing/finding, casting, setting up and producing the second classes Christmas play. I spent most of last week writing and organizing the play, and now on Wednesday, I will finally get to cast the characters and begin reading lines. The students are extremely excited about this, they have been asking me about it all week. I hope everything goes, well and we have a success in the end!
Next week will be a very busy one for me. On Tuesday and Wednesday I will be observed by Neville. Also later in the week on Thursday it is Thanksgiving. I brought along pumpkin pies ingredients, so I have to make my pies to share. Also, each teacher in the school has expressed interest in me coming into their classrooms and giving a small lesson on what Thanksgiving is. So I have to work the rest of this week on planning these lessons/visits out. I’m very excited to do this, Thanksgiving is my all time favourite holiday.
Now that I have been in the classroom for several weeks now, I am finally hitting a comfortable groove. I feel I have also developed a great rapore with the staff and the students. I really enjoy being in the classroom with my cooperating teacher; but there are definite differences in the way we teacher and instruct in the classroom. This is fine though. It helps to open me up to new teaching styles and methods for classroom control.
One thing that my cooperating teacher has started doing with me in the classroom is observing me and keeping a journal of all the things that she feels I did well and all the things she feels I could improve on. At first I thought that this would make me a little nervous and uncomfortable, but after a few times, I have come to really like it. It’s a great way for me to get instant and concrete feedback from a seasoned teacher. We have discussed it and we will continue to use the journal idea for the duration of my time. Another busy weekend for me. I am off to Scotland with Maggie. High hopes for another great weekend!