I'm really starting to enjoy this. I mean I really am.
I'm starting to get it.
There's a lot about teaching I arrogantly thought I understood but it turns out I was dead wrong. I thought book work and worksheets were for bad teachers who had no imagination. Turns out book work is important in terms of students improving their writing skills, understanding, and pride in their work. It works as notes to refer back to and as a record of their progress. Turns out worksheets set up the framework for those who can not work independently, provide information in addition to focusing writing and discussion.
Learning Objectives are not only crucial; they make teaching possible. Target setting is incredibly important in terms of focusing students so that they can concentrate on areas of improvement in a progressive and manageable way. Example instead of working on spelling, paragraphs, handwriting, vocabulary and punctuation... Target: Start sentences with a capital and end with a full stop. Once you can do that we take the next step.
I thought all the technical "boring" stuff like punctuation and grammar was, at least to some extent, a waste of time. Turns out that stuff is incredibly important and also has loads of meaning behind it beyond what you would simply see in the students written work. Punctuation, for example, determines rhythm, word emphasis and connects thoughts. Dry terms like punctuation, connectives, paragraphs, conjunctions, prefixes, suffixes, verbs, nouns, phrases, clauses, rhythm, imagery, themes and metre are all actually important and interesting.
Teaching involves lots of interesting questioning. Thank you Socrates.
The role of a teacher is a simple one. To teach in a classroom you will simply be a: Law Maker, Policeman, Shoulder for Tears, Punching Bag, Leader, Thinker, Disciplinarian, Role Model, Opponent, Priest, Writer, Authority figure...
[Deep Breath]
Upholder of the System, Shouter, Pleader, Beggar, Comedian Keeper of the Peace Evaluator Judge,Organizer, SchedulerAdminstratorPaper CutterComputer fixer docTORFOOTBALINFLATORCHESSCOACH...
[GASP]
...and then Monday ends and you go home and prepare for 4 more days and at least half a weekend of the same.
(Notice how the use of punctuation, spacing, and letter size affected the rhythm and meaning of the text? Ahem. But I digress)
Anyway I had the most amazing history class about the Indus Civilisation today. It's a civilisation which is 4,500 years old and was only excavated in the 1920's. It's in the Indus Valley which is between Pakistan and India. They were incredibly advanced - at least as much so as the Roman's and the Egyptians and they existed BEFORE them. Amazing. The students have engaged at a very high level. They're fascinated. Likely because no one has heard of these guys before. And possibly because my teacheing partner and I are doing such an amazing job. Hee hee.
Look up the Indus Civilisation. It's incredible.
I'm also lucky to be at my current school. I went and visited another school which is owned by the same organisation that owns mine (I'm in a private school, remember). The stress level of the staff there was palpable. Apparently, the students are much rougher at that school since it's in London but the students seemed engaged and well behaved. It may have been a battle to get them there , I suppose - things are never as simple as they seem when an outsider walks in a classroom. It was the feeling coming off the staff though. They seemed extremely harried, negative, and stressed. I just don't know what was causing that. Certainly we feel that way at my school and at my previous school...but that feeling of frustration and anger doesn't seem to ooze out of everyone at the school. It's a shame...it's just around the corner. Who knows though maybe I'll check it out in a few years.
Right now I like where I am.
It's official! I'm coming home for Christmas. I just got my passport back from the Home Office of Immigration here and I couldn't be more excited. I hadn't told anyone back home so as not to worry anyone but I sent in my application in July - only to get a letter back stating that they would not begin to process my application until the day it expired - Namely October 14th. They also held all my documents. Anyway, suffice it to say that I was worried about not getting it back in time for Christmas as the processing time stated it could take up to 14 weeks!
I called last week and was told by some monkey in a call centre that the documents were being processed - that was all the information they had. No I could not call anyone else, no I could not go into an office, no there was nothing I could do, no they could not look into it. If I wanted to ensure I had my passport I could only withdraw my application. They finally suggested writing a letter. I figured... here I am married to a British citizen, working as a teacher (an area in which Britain desperately lacks qualified professionals) and I haven't broken any laws. Wouldn't it be a fairly straightforward and quick process?
So I wrote a letter, attached my flight itinerary to prove I actually had bought the tickets and spent several days trying to get a recommendation letter from my head teacher(which was no problem). I sent the letter urgent delivery at 4:30 on Tuesday and came home to find the package had actually arrived that day! I have a passport and a visa! THANK GOD!
