I suppose it's about time I talk about the real reason I'm here. If you thought my 31 hour travel experience was a whirlwind, imagine going into a new classroom, 6 weeks out of the end of the school year, 15 hours after landing at the Darwin airport. I think the only reason I survived was off of adrenaline, the leftovers Roger gave me for lunch, and the positive energy of my new mentor teacher. Seriously though, Catherine (my mentor teacher) is one of the kindest, personable, hilarious people I have ever worked with. During my past two placements with teaching for Grand Valley I had such good experiences, I imagined this could have easily been the teacher that made me not want to teach any more; trust me, I've heard placement horror stories. However, it's the total opposite. Catherine welcomed me in with open arms. The first Monday seems to all be a blur of meeting new faces, trying to understand the school schedule, and comprehending the ideas of recess and not having individual classrooms.
To explain a bit about the school I'm at: it is a middle school, with grades 7, 8, and 9. It is placed in front of the high school, and is practically brand new, being built in 2008. This middle school is very well known in Darwin; it is perhaps the wealthiest middle school in the area, and students come from all suburbs to attend. The population is a bit over 600 students at the moment and is growing. Class sizes are around 28 students on average. Teachers do not have their own individual classrooms. Instead, there are classrooms designated for specific grades and specific subjects. The teachers move from classroom to classroom, as the kids do as well. The teachers have an office space, where each office consists of 4 teachers of similar subject and grade level. It has been quite the challenge to remember to bring everything I need to teach from the office with me downstairs for the class. Luckily, there are two classrooms just outside our office that we teach in for half of the day most days. This helps to limit the number of times Catherine and I walk up the stairs each day (which is quite a high number). The classrooms are not necessarily separated by anything but a partial wall, meaning that if the class next door is working in groups and you're trying to give a test, it is not possible to have it quiet. This has been one of the most frustrating things I've experienced with this set up.
There is a main courtyard and a huge area outside of the school with grass that students can play sport on and eat their lunch on during recess and lunch. These areas are all outside and in the open. Luckily, the inside of the school is all very well air conditioned. The staff room is HUGE: there's a full kitchen, 2 separate fridges (1 that "contains adult beverages for after hours"), and enough mugs for every teacher in the building to have tea at the same time.
As far as teaching goes, Catherine teaches 2 lines of geography and 3 lines of English. After much discussion with Catherine it is clear that teachers are not held accountable here as they are in the States. There are no observations or consequences based on test scores; in fact, teachers do not necessarily even have a content degree for the subjects that they are teaching. I for one do not have a geography degree, and neither does Catherine, yet we are expected to teach the subject.
Now, I am going to try to explain how the kids are streamlined here into classes. It is a bit of a confusing concept to me still, but hopefully this will make sense. There are 4 core subject areas: Maths, Science, Geography, and English. Then, students have electives to choose from (some of which they have to pay extra money for). In these 4 core subject areas, there are 8 different sections per grade level. For example: 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, and 8.8. These sections are based on academic and behavioral performance. 8.1 would be considered the "honors" kids in the States; these would be the kids who would move on to take AP classes in high school. The 8.8 classes are the ones who struggle the most academically and behaviorally. Though students can be in different sections for different subjects, and though students can move from these sections from year to year, neither of these situations is very common.
The schedule for the school is as follows:
8:00-8:20 Roll Group (Take attendance, give announcements, work on homework, do school duties).
8:20-9:20 Lesson 1
9:20-10:20 Lesson 2
10:20-10:45 Recess (Students go outside; the cafe is open for them to purchase food; the staff has "morning tea" in the staff lounge, which consists of making tea and sometimes there are snacks brought in)
10:45-11:45 Lesson 3
11:45-12:45 Lesson 4
12:45-1:25 Lunch
1:25-2:25 Lesson 5
Each day we have a different schedule, but each week is the same. Each day we also have a lesson off for planning, which again is different each day but each day is the same every week. This means that I only teach 4 lessons a day, so each day 1 of my classes gets the day off. And of course on Fridays, the last lesson we play board games.
This has already gone on for quite a ramble, and I have a lot of feelings about the way that this education system is set up, so I will hold off to talk about the curriculum and my teaching experiences for another day. But to summarize: I took a plane journey for 31 hours; I met my host family; I went to bed; 15 hours later I met my new mentor teacher and found out I was not only teaching English but geography: urbanization in China. And guess what? I started Tuesday (after less than 48 hours in Darwin). The cool part is it's already the weekend for me, and all my teacher friends from home still have a whole Friday to go.
To explain a bit about the school I'm at: it is a middle school, with grades 7, 8, and 9. It is placed in front of the high school, and is practically brand new, being built in 2008. This middle school is very well known in Darwin; it is perhaps the wealthiest middle school in the area, and students come from all suburbs to attend. The population is a bit over 600 students at the moment and is growing. Class sizes are around 28 students on average. Teachers do not have their own individual classrooms. Instead, there are classrooms designated for specific grades and specific subjects. The teachers move from classroom to classroom, as the kids do as well. The teachers have an office space, where each office consists of 4 teachers of similar subject and grade level. It has been quite the challenge to remember to bring everything I need to teach from the office with me downstairs for the class. Luckily, there are two classrooms just outside our office that we teach in for half of the day most days. This helps to limit the number of times Catherine and I walk up the stairs each day (which is quite a high number). The classrooms are not necessarily separated by anything but a partial wall, meaning that if the class next door is working in groups and you're trying to give a test, it is not possible to have it quiet. This has been one of the most frustrating things I've experienced with this set up.
There is a main courtyard and a huge area outside of the school with grass that students can play sport on and eat their lunch on during recess and lunch. These areas are all outside and in the open. Luckily, the inside of the school is all very well air conditioned. The staff room is HUGE: there's a full kitchen, 2 separate fridges (1 that "contains adult beverages for after hours"), and enough mugs for every teacher in the building to have tea at the same time.
As far as teaching goes, Catherine teaches 2 lines of geography and 3 lines of English. After much discussion with Catherine it is clear that teachers are not held accountable here as they are in the States. There are no observations or consequences based on test scores; in fact, teachers do not necessarily even have a content degree for the subjects that they are teaching. I for one do not have a geography degree, and neither does Catherine, yet we are expected to teach the subject.
Now, I am going to try to explain how the kids are streamlined here into classes. It is a bit of a confusing concept to me still, but hopefully this will make sense. There are 4 core subject areas: Maths, Science, Geography, and English. Then, students have electives to choose from (some of which they have to pay extra money for). In these 4 core subject areas, there are 8 different sections per grade level. For example: 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, and 8.8. These sections are based on academic and behavioral performance. 8.1 would be considered the "honors" kids in the States; these would be the kids who would move on to take AP classes in high school. The 8.8 classes are the ones who struggle the most academically and behaviorally. Though students can be in different sections for different subjects, and though students can move from these sections from year to year, neither of these situations is very common.
The schedule for the school is as follows:
8:00-8:20 Roll Group (Take attendance, give announcements, work on homework, do school duties).
8:20-9:20 Lesson 1
9:20-10:20 Lesson 2
10:20-10:45 Recess (Students go outside; the cafe is open for them to purchase food; the staff has "morning tea" in the staff lounge, which consists of making tea and sometimes there are snacks brought in)
10:45-11:45 Lesson 3
11:45-12:45 Lesson 4
12:45-1:25 Lunch
1:25-2:25 Lesson 5
Each day we have a different schedule, but each week is the same. Each day we also have a lesson off for planning, which again is different each day but each day is the same every week. This means that I only teach 4 lessons a day, so each day 1 of my classes gets the day off. And of course on Fridays, the last lesson we play board games.
This has already gone on for quite a ramble, and I have a lot of feelings about the way that this education system is set up, so I will hold off to talk about the curriculum and my teaching experiences for another day. But to summarize: I took a plane journey for 31 hours; I met my host family; I went to bed; 15 hours later I met my new mentor teacher and found out I was not only teaching English but geography: urbanization in China. And guess what? I started Tuesday (after less than 48 hours in Darwin). The cool part is it's already the weekend for me, and all my teacher friends from home still have a whole Friday to go.