Life is still as great as ever! Phyllis is still feeding us yummy desserts every night after dinner. We are trying to cut back on our sugar intake but there is so many great things to try all the time it’s been difficult to stay healthy.
Phyllis often challenges us to a game of Rummikub after dinner on occasion. For some reason I’ve been getting lucky the last few times we’ve played together. It is one of my new favorite games though. It even rivals my love for Turkey Tracks! So mom if you can find this game anywhere BUY IT J you’ll love it!
Thursday night Christine and I hosted a party for the girls with the help of Heidi and Anna. Phyllis was gracious to allow our noisy group to come over and be together!
We baked some treats for the group and held a Bunko Party! This is a game that Heidi and I played for this passed New Years Eve! If you could imagine an old lady dice game, you would be imagining Bunko.
But it is so fun! Having the girls over was great because we got to share stories from being in the schools the past couple of days. All the girls are loving their experiences here in the New Zealand schools. But I’m not sure anyone loves their students as much as I do.
Monday was my first full day of being in the classroom and I am already overwhelmed with love for the students and the passion for the work I was about to embark on. I want nothing but the very best for them, and I wanted to be a part of making that happen for them.
One thing that I noticed as my students interacted with the adults in the school is a constant feeling of learning. The lunch lady began to have my students calculate up different lunch options if they chose a particular thing for lunch. The music teacher had the students making predictions about posters and pictures on her wall. The office ladies had my students introduce me in a proper way that is polite for guests. Learning at that school takes place where ever the students are, not just in the classroom. It helped me realize that I need to always have my curious mind open to new ideas around me constantly. I need to constantly be asking why and how. If I have a curious mind I can help my students be excited to learn and explore the world around them as well. Learning can take place in more than just my classroom.
I also got the chance to participate and listen to a faculty meeting after school. It was very different compared to the meeting that I attended back in Provo. When I first walked into the meeting all the teachers were sitting in a big circle. The principle opened the meeting and set the topic for the meeting. Today they were going to discuss how to be a more effective educator. He gave one idea or thought that he felt would benefit the teachers. After his thought was shared each teacher proceeded to give their own insights and ideas for other teachers to consider. HOW GREAT!!! It wasn’t just the principal telling the teachers that they all needed to become better. Each teacher was able to bring to the table their own wisdom. And no one was getting pointed out as failing in a certain area. Instead they were creating a safe environment where the teachers are all improving and working together to become better. I am not sure that they realized what a powerful meeting that was, but I felt the power in that. Each teacher had some great insights and ideas that I may have never learned otherwise. I could barely write fast enough to write down the wonderful ideas that were flowing from these educators mouths.
I have had some moments where I feel emotionally drained by the end of each school day. I already love these students so much. I am still trying to balance the teacher vs. friend aspect of being the adult/teacher of the classroom. But one of the reasons this has been so hard because I feel like I have to over compensate for the other teachers harsh yelling and sarcastic snide remarks towards the children. At the end of my second day of school I was emotionally exhausted from the tension and stress that I felt within my classroom. The kids handled the teacher’s harsh discipline better than I expected them to. In fact, I think the students are use to being treated this way. Which worries me that as I go to teach my lessons that they will not respond to me unless I put up the same harsh front as their teacher does.
The third day of class I got the chance to do my first mini lesson with the class. My teacher wasn’t feeling well and she asked me if I would do a mini lesson on the word growth and what it meant. The kids were a little bit talkative, but most of them were just eager to comment and participate in the class discussion. When I was able to get my students to participate and I could feel their excitement for learning it energized me. I loved getting to teach my first lesson! I was also very grateful that I had memorized all of my students’ names because it really helped me direct the class discussion and try to keep my students focused on my lesson. I have some difficult names to remember like Tao, Kasaya, Philipi, Ani, Paora, Sherzad, Arehai, Moki, and others.
I’ve also started learning about the students and their different unique backgrounds. One of the sweet little boys in my class has no family support. Whenever I go on walks in the evenings he is always running around the streets with no shoes and no supervision. Another little girl lives with her mom and over 10 other kids in the “projects” of west Auckland. Some are half siblings from other dads. Another student is a refugee from Afghanistan. I guess he has seen some pretty unimaginable things. It’s hard to not get attached to these students. I really just want to adopt them all and bring them home with me.
There have also been funny moments that help me laugh and get through each day.
“Do you spend a lot of money?” (They are so intrigued that I am an American. All their misconceptions and ideas about what Americans are like start to come out as they talk to me.)
“Michael wants you to be his girl friend” (This is the age of girls and boys have coodies, yet they start to like each other. There have been a couple times now that the kids make comments about different boys liking the teacher. I have never seen little boys be more embarrassed and upset than when the girl friend comments start coming out)
“You have muscly legs Ms.” (I’m not sure why this comment was made but it made me laugh ha)
Little asain boy in Speedo at pool time, “watch my starfish” … belly flop (The kids have Swimming class three times a week. It is so fun because I get to swim with the kids and teach swimming lessons. Some of the funniest moments come from pool time.
“What’s your real name?” (all the kids are always trying to figure out what Ms. Bringhurst’s first name is but it’s top secret J)
“Mrs. do your flippy thing again” (The kids think that my ariel is the most amazing thing ever.)
“You should be a top model”
I am sitting at a table with some adoreable boys from my class. They are all working on a worksheet given to them. One of them is from China, Keon Woo, and the other our Maori Philipi, Paora, and Moki. One of the Maori boys yells to me “Ms. He said f you” pointing to the little asian boy. The poor asian boy looks up at me so innocently and confused. Then he starts reading his assignment aloud with his cute accent. The assignment was asking a question “If you were to go….” And so on. When poor Keon Woo was reading the “if you” part of the sentence is sounded like he was say f you. I tried to keep my teacher composure but it was a pretty funny moment.
Another hard thing that I have struggled with since I’ve been in school is some of the violent tendencies. There are kids where their dads are in gangs or prison and their older brother are not being the good examples they need in their lives either. I have little boys in my class punching each other and yelling at the other to “bring it” At lunch today I walked by a group of kids and saw the end of kids getting in a fight on the playground. Some boys from my class started punching and kicking another boy in my class because he was picking on some smaller children. I got their at the end with one boy on the ground crying. Other kids were yelling “fight, fight, fight.” Others were yelling at me “Ms they were kicking him” I was shocked. Luckily another teacher came to handle the situation. It is hard to believe that these kids that are 8, 9, 10 and 11 are already getting themselves into trouble like this.
Feb. 18th
Every week I help at the school Monday through Thursday. We have Friday’s as our day off to explore New Zealand and get caught up on our online classwork. This Friday we decided to get up early and catch the bus to one of the beaches that we hadn’t visited yet, Point Chev. There was a little bit of transportation difficulty but we eventually made it to the town where Point Chev is located.
We laid out our things along the shore at about 9am. Within the next twenty minutes, about 10 elderly people started making their way into the ocean. You can see their heads in my pictures above. They looked like regulars that came here every morning. The ocean on this part of the beach was very calm and all the elderly people waded out into the water for their morning swims. I decided to join them. The water was perfect temperature and the sun was just started to warm the shore. After my morning swim I joined the other girls back on the beach. I was able to take time to read, write, and rest. More of the girls from our group started joining us later in the afternoon. By two that afternoon we headed back home because my school class was having a team party.
The school is divided into teams. My team is called the Pohutukawa team. They were having a Sausage Sizzle party after school for the students and their families. They had swimming, dinner, and games for our whole team. It was so fun to play with the kids and get to meet their parents.
Ms. Jones, my mentor teacher is in the center background of this picture!
I enjoyed your trip, I also blog about my trips pretty often.
ReplyDelete