This past week was wonderful! I got to teach a lot more lessons than usual. I taught three math lessons. One was a review over time. I was a little discouraged with the time lessons I had taught earlier so I was anxious to see how much they remembered and how well the students would follow. We did a review lesson and then I gave the students a worksheet to assess their knowledge of not only reading the analog time, but also their ability to draw the hands for analog time. To be honest, I wasn't expecting the results to be good at all. I was so unhappy with my performance teaching time that I didn't think the students learned much at all. After grading their work I found that almost all the students got every problem correct and others only missed one or two problems. No one failed the assignment or got a large amount wrong. I was so proud of the results. It made me think that maybe my lesson didn't go as badly as I thought.
On Monday I got to coach tennis on my own. Mrs. Reynolds had some things to do so I took her place with the grade three girls. The girls were excited that I was coaching them. It went well. I just did the same drills that they usually do.
I've gotten to teach reading and lead the reading groups for three days this week. I taught a comprehension lesson from the class reading book. It went well. I read a story to the students and then they had to answer some questions in complete sentences. They did really well. Some students had a hard time writing in complete sentences, but would get the main idea. When leading the reading groups I listen to students of different levels read. I really enjoy this activity. I love how the students are so helpful to their classmates if they don't know a word or skip a line. Its nice to see them helping one another out.
I also taught a life skills lesson from the school curriculum. We reviewed the story that they had read the week before and talked about the feelings that each of the characters had, how they expressed them and how they dealt with the situation. I divided the students into groups, they made finger puppets and had to reenact the story within their group. The students loved working in groups and for the most part did really well. I gave them a set time limit to plan and they stuck to it. Some of the students were shy with acting out in front of the class, but I feel it was a good time for them to become more comfortable speaking to a large group. One thing they are graded on is orals, so being with a small group and not alone speaking was a big help to some students. I really enjoyed watching the finger plays of each group. I loved seeing the different personalities coming out and the emphasis they put into each character. It was great.
On Thursday and Friday of this week I went to Assegaai Trails camp with fourth grade. They needed an extra adult so I went along. The purpose of the camp was for the students to learn about the 1820s settlers. So all the teachers, students and I dressed up like settlers and went to the camp. I would like to say that it wasn't my best wardrobe choice, but what I wore fit the part:-) The camp was beautiful with gorgeous scenery. It even had a small chapel where they do weddings and different events.
When we arrived at camp we were greeted by a man dressed as a military captain. He treated just as the settlers were when they arrived. It was really neat and the students enjoyed it. They were given jobs and positions in the “town.” They learned about how the settlers lived and adapted to the new territory. They also learned about and got to see different weapons used by different African tribes. They also had a musket that was used in civil war. I got to shoot it. The students also learned different formations and ranks in the military. We went on a hike through the bush and learned about the different types of indigenous and alien plants. We heard old tales of the Xhosa tribe and listened to stories from the diary of different settlers. I was a great learning experience, not only for the students, but for me as well. I really enjoyed it.
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