Week Three

Week Three:
After my big week of travels last week, on Monday morning it was time again to get back into the swing of teaching. It was another rough transition. After only being at St. Ultan’s for a week, and then having a week off, getting used to the whole routine again was a bit difficult. Yet now at the close of the week, I feel very comfortable in being back in the classroom.
Being that I didn’t have a classroom placement until a few days before I left the States, I didn’t really have time to prepare myself for teaching a classroom of 30 students. A surprise this week brought another student to our classroom. Not only has teaching 30 students a handful and a big adjustment for me, the classroom is also a second and third grade classroom together. This means that I am to prepare lessons for both second and third classes, and manage them while they are all in the same room at the same time. These two things have been my biggest teaching challenge thus far. In the beginning of the week, I was almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of planning, management and bodies in the room all seeming to need my assistance at the same time. But even now at the outset of the week, I already feel much better about the classroom situation.
One large project that I will be working on now is the writing, casting, organizing and production of the second class’s Christmas play. Initially I was a little overwhelmed by this too, but now that I have an idea of where this play will be going and who will be doing what, I feel like what was a short time ago chaos, is now just a little “disorganized”.
One interesting classroom aspect that I have never encountered before is having a family member in my classroom. One of my host family’s daughters is I my second class. It is interesting to see her in the classroom and then watch her reactions to her school day and her homework at home. I think this will be a good thing because I can see how my teaching carries over in a child’s day from school to home. It will be very interesting to see how this will workout throughout the rest of my time here.
Well, even after my long week of travels, I will be hitting the road again this weekend. I plan on going into Dublin City to tour the town. I hope the weather is nice and the traffic too.