Tuesday

Ups

Today was another day of real instruction!
We had a great time doing literacy and maths rotations today. Well, I had a great time! I'm sure the kids were all right.
Throughout the rotations I taught a group to write a friendly letter of encouragement to one of the Australian Olympic athletes. This was really, really difficult for a couple of my kids, but super freaking adorable for a couple of them. Several of the kids already knew an athlete they wanted to write to.

Downs

However, I did have a little girl take a couple of swings at me today, and I heard some words come out of those kids' mouths that I was not expecting to hear today. However, when I approached the girl about it, she booked it away, after swearing at a different girl.
After following her slowly to make sure she didn't break anything or run off school grounds, I followed her into the teachers' office, and when I tried to guide her out without touching her. She screamed at me, and told me to go away. After that, she flung her arms out at my face before running out of the office.
Being a student teacher, not being trained for physical restraint, and feeling utterly useless/helpless when a child is so out of control, disrespectful, and dangerous to other students and herself is so incredibly frustrating I can't even describe it. My first order of business when I get a job is to get Right Response Trained ASAP, so I don't feel as freaking useless as I did today.

Ups Again

Today, after school, I had the opportunity to go to a professional development training with the other staff members from school. The focus of this training was on iPads and their integeration into the classroom, as their use for a tool to support learning, rather than something to just learn about. 

One of the catch phrases that the principal gave us was that, 'It's not the app, it's the activity'. This is such an exciting topic and use of technology that I would really love to get into a little bit more information, and share some more as well. 

The school at which we met today is about 500 students; the level 4 group is 140 students - and all of them own or lease an iPad from the school, and have them daily. The sheer number of activities and lessons that branch from the technology available is spectacular! However, it's overwhelming for a small school like ours (with only about 150 students) to be put up against an enormous school with such incredible funding. 

Anyway, that's all I have for the day. See you tomorrow!

-Megan