Week 1: Welcome to Indonesia!

This week has been a really great week!  It's crazy to be in Indonesia on the other side of the world (and the equator) teaching 6th grade English. 

My goals earlier this week were the following:

1. Learn all the students' names (there's 57!)
2. Observe and practice my cooperating teacher's teaching style
3. Adjust to everything

By day 2, I learned all of the students' names!  My teacher put together a "Who Am I?" game where they would write a paragraph about themselves, and I would have to guess who was who.  It worked out really well, and I know my students much better.

I've been able to see my teacher teach a lot, but there are often times where he lets the students do a lot of their work in class.  He taught a vocabulary lesson this week, modeling it for me for when I do it this upcoming week.  He has the students look up the words in the dictionaries and then together, they create an easier definition.  But, for the majority of the week, they've been working on the final draft of their children's books.  The students have been peer editing one another's work and then typing it onto the computers whenever they are able to go to the computer lab.  My teacher lets the students be more independent and take responsibility for their own work, although some students have trouble staying on task.  He has a comedic approach to teaching and always tries to make students smile and enjoy what they are learning.  But, he is willing to be strict and assertive if students aren't following the proposed expectations.  This is a very effective approach as the students all admire and respect him.  Most importantly, he respects the students.  IPTS Standard 1, Performance Indicator 1L states that the competent teacher "uses information about students’ individual experiences, families, cultures, and communities to create meaningful learning opportunities and enrich instruction for all students."  He wants to make all the students feel welcome and comfortable.  Since there are multiple cultures represented in the class, he dedicates his teaching towards respecting them.  Through observing him, I see his Christ-like servanthood and his attention to diversity.  I want to strive to respect my students just as my teacher does and grow in the education department learning outcomes.  

As for my third goal, I've not only had to adapt to the culture of this country, but I've just as equally have had to adapt to the culture of the school.  The school day goes from 7:15-3:15 each day, except for Wednesdays when the students have a half day due to chapel.  Every day, there are 10 periods each lasting 45 minutes long.  Specifically for English, there are 8 blocks for each of the three 6th grade classes every week.  Yet, the schedule is never the same each day.  A class might have 2 blocks on one day and only one block the next.  Planning periods could be heavy at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day.  It's all confusing to me, but the students have been having schedules like this since they started school.

The school has many unique features that sets it apart from Western schools.  One is the cultural and socioeconomic background of the students.  Since this school is a Christian international school in the middle of a large city, many of the students come from around the world. In my class, there are students from Australia, America, Korea, Indonesia, and some students are mixed.  The mutual connection between all the students is that they all speak English, although some are more fluent than others.  Parents pay a lot of money for students to come to this school because of the number of Western teachers who have had a more quality education.  So, many of these students come from wealthy socioeconomic backgrounds.  Some parents own businesses and others are teachers.  These are privileged students.

The parents expect their children to work hard and get good grades, so the students are challenged in every aspect of their school work.  The big projects that they will be completing by the end of the term are finishing the final drafts of children's books that they wrote, reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and writing an autobiographical essay.  These are daunting projects, but I've already seen these students in action, and their work ethic is astounding.  The vast majority of these students perform well in school, but some students struggle more than others leading to a lot of pressure from their parents to receive good grades.

Speaking of grades, the grading system at this school is different than what we have in the states. They grade on a 1-4 grading scale.  It's based on exceeding, meeting, approaching, or insufficient.  This is like the typical rubric that they would have in the states, but it is central to their grading.  Every assignment is given either a 1, 2, 3, or 4.  3 is a pretty common score (meeting expectations) and 4 is difficult to get as they would have to be absolutely spectacular (exceeding expectations).  So, it is very flexible and up to the teacher based on the students' progress throughout the term.  Sometimes having an average of all the grades is helpful, but it does not constitute the final grade.  The teacher looks at the grades and their progression and then determines what grade they believe they deserve.  My cooperating teacher has informed me that it's important to keep some type of documentation for why they received a certain grade so that if they need to show the parents, they have it available to them to back up claims.  Personally, I love this grading scale, and I wish that Western schools would adapt to this more.  If a student receives one bad grade in the states, it significantly impacts their grade.  If the same occurred at this school, the teacher can make a judgment based on their overall progress and performance.

Overall, I've learned so much this week about the school and my students, and I'm excited to being teaching some lessons in grammar and vocabulary.  I have my first lesson on Monday!

My goals for the week:

1. Teach my lessons confidently and effectively
2. Learn more about my students

Classroom Confidential

In my teaching, I'm really hoping to use as many multiple intelligences as I can, even if I only see each class for 45 minutes every block.  They have a flexible agenda, but it's absolutely important to be on task.  I believe that the most important multiple intelligences that I want to highlight are verbal/ linguistic, visual and spatial, kinesthetic, existential, and interpersonal. 

Because I am teaching an English class, verbal/ linguistic reflects many aspects of the content area in being willing to read, write, and express ideas through speaking and presenting.  This is a valuable skill for my students to take a hold of, since for many of them, English is their second language.  The visual and spatial intelligence is also one that I would use, since many of my students are artistically inclined.  Many times, I'll see students doodling in class, so I plan on providing activities that would allow them to used these artistic abilities and let them show others how they view the world.  I really want to use kinesthetic as much as possible, because my students are typically working in their desks.  Being able to get up out of their seats and do something different could be extremely beneficial for them and their brains.  Since my school is a Christian school, I want to use the existential intelligence.  Not all of my students are Christian, but one of my roles here is to set an example for all of my students.  These students may have deep thoughts and questions about the world, and I want to best help them explore and discover these different topics on their own through my teaching.  Finally, I plan on using the interpersonal intelligence, because I affirm that social interaction is a huge key to learning, motivation, and engagement.  Not only are they building their social skills, but they are also building empathy, character, and their knowledge.

There are many ways in which I will use Schmidt's full brain learning.  At the beginning of my student teaching, it's a little more difficult, because I am trying to get used to how the school runs and how the teachers are presenting the material.  I want my students to encounter tasks that are not only interesting but challenging.  Another thing that I want to do to fully encapture full brain learning in my classroom is to give my students opportunities to ask questions and answer them through conducting experiments, research, and other projects that allow them to discover new things for themselves.  Also, I will encourage my students to communicate with one another and participate in class discussions.  Some have been hesitant to talk during discussions, but maybe starting with small groups and inching into larger group discussion will be helpful to create a safe, social environment where my students can freely express their ideas.