Second Year Teaching Placement: Day Two

Today was a pretty chill day at school, I arrived at school at 8:30 a.m and headed towards the Moderns office. When I arrived, Amélie went through her daily schedule with me to show what she was going to teach for the day and then we went to the classroom to set up. She introduced me to the Grade 10s and I went to the back of the classroom to take my seat because I was still observing and there's honestly nothing to do when the students are doing evaluations. It was quite long and boring but the students did a listening test so I just did the same one and I finished really fast, obviously.

In second period I went to observe a Grade 11 University English where the teacher Heather talked about The Kite Runner and essay tips. She was so knowledgeable and fun yet stern which I admire so much. Then she split the groups and gave them question prompts and they had to come up with two themes about the book. I walked around the each table to ask the students what they were writing about and that was really fun for me. I encouraged them to challenge what they were writing by asking "what about it?" For example, if they talked about the theme of guilty leading to redemption, I would ask them "what about it?" Then they would need to provide examples to prove their point thus leading to a more coherent argument. I noticed that a lot of the students wrote topics rather than themes and didn't expand in their thoughts. I definitely enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in English and how you can just discuss more easily.

Next was lunch, and for lunch today I sat in the staff room because I didn't want to sit in the classroom with Amélie and observe students taking tests. It was actually really fun to eat in the staffroom, everyone was really nice and although I didn't talk too much I was somewhat social. I introduced myself to all the teachers, who were all in English surprisingly. I think I might go back tomorrow maybe because that was the fastest hour of my life and everyone was so chill and it didn't feel awkward really. Even though they talked about taxes and pension plans and all that old people stuff, I enjoyed listening. Since I did my own taxes this year I could understand a tiny bit of what they were saying so that was nice.

After lunch was my last class which was Grade 9 French, and that was kind of slow. The students worked on their evaluations again and then I sat at the back and read Le petit Nicholas and nearly fell asleep. I don't really remember what happened in this class but I do remember it being quite long. Then for last period Amélie had Prep yay! So she just showed me all her plans for tomorrow which is finally teaching! So she showed me the video that she wants to show and then the exercises that she was planning on doing. She wrote them all down in her lesson planning agenda in a jot note style which I found quite efficient. I mean as long as you know what you're doing, a full and in depth lesson plan is not particularly necessary. Also, she has 10 years of experience so I think she knows what she's doing.

Finally, she let me leave early because she was tired and had to meet a friend for a coffee date. And that was my whole day, it wasn't bad. It was very chill, but that's only because the students are so obedient and all the teachers need to do is teach not really anything involving classroom management.

Until next time!
Suzy