Changing gears, here...

Yeah, so this thing has been collecting dust. Honestly, looking at political cartoons, even to make fun of them, is depressing. Might pick it up again, but for now, I'm going to use this thing for my ECS field reflections.

Oct. 17

The first thing I did, after walking through the door, was talk to the receptionist. She was phenomenally nice, almost strangely so, but I think she just registered that I was nervous and was trying to make me feel comfortable. It worked. I met my co op right afterward, who was talking to my ECS partner. Honestly, seeing teachers involved with any sports programs is kind of funny, in that they operate outside of the dress code. Needless to say, I felt a little overdressed, but off we went to the room.

I guess his class is a grade 7/8 split. In these situations, I can't help but wonder if these splits are for struggling grade 8's, exceptional grade 7's, or any such reason. At any rate, we sat around for a while, making stale, awkward chit-chat with our co op until class started. There were a few kids who walked by, and one made a point of introducing himself to us. The teacher later informed us that he was a higher maintenance student. I'm always a little torn about this practice of warning new teachers, or future teachers, about certain kids. I mean, if the student is higher maintenance, I'll surely find out on my own. Telling me this only colors my view of this student right from the start. I don't know, I'd much prefer to come in with a clean slate.

Phys-Ed wasn't anything overly remarkable, aside from the warm up. The teacher kind of had a series of stations set up, marked off with big, laminated cards made of construction paper. Each one had an exercise on it, and a number of reps to be done. Honestly, it was pretty good, because they were mostly core exercises that more people should do, and nobody ever does.

What followed this was a language exercise, just correcting a few sentences, and then the students went off to music, and then french. The music class was a funny thing to watch, as the students seriously ran rough-shod over the teacher. Mind you, her choice in activities weren't the greatest, and her classroom management strategies bordered on bizarre.

The French teacher certainly had her hands full as well, but she did a better job handling the students. I think it's almost a natural, or universal rule, that students rowdy up when dealing with any teacher but their standard home room teacher. She did a good job with them though. However, what I found strange was that french was quite obviously not her major, or field of study. She confirmed this afterward, saying she got the job by knowing someone, essentially. She was an incredibly nice lady, and seemed like a friendly, good-spirited teacher, so I'm up in the air with my thoughts regarding this.

That was my first day in the classrooms, and my reflections therein. Enjoy.