I have been so exhausted this week. I feel like I have lost all energy. I am really starting to feel like going home and now that I know it is approaching I am just anxious about it. We had a four day week since on Wednesday there was a Lenten retreat for the teachers. This week I am teaching a math unit on plane shapes. The children already know many of these shapes which are circle, rectangle, square, triangle, diamond, star,semi circle and kite. So on Monday I just drew each shape and reviewed with them. Then I had the children come up and match the word to the picture of the shape. For the homework assignment they just named each shape and for classwork they practiced drawing the shapes in their math workbooks. On Tuesday the students did phonics and learned 3 letter words with short vowel 'o'. I created their homework and classwork for this lesson. They just had to fill in missing letters to make short vowel 'o' words. Today the students had math again, and they just went more in depth with their descriptions of the shapes. This time for homework they had to draw each shape under the given name. For Friday, I plan to do a making words activity with them so they can start sounding out each letter to make words. The students will get cut outs of different letters. Then I will say a word out loud and the students will have to make the words.
This weekend I just plan to finish up with some shopping and maybe visit the top university in Ghana. I am also learning how to cook more of the meals here so I can make them at home.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Week 9
So I can't believe it but I have only this week and next week left at the school. I have not even told the kids yet that I will be leaving very soon. It is going to make me really sad to say goodbye. I know the kids have enjoyed me in their classroom. They are always crowding around my desk and hanging on me during their break times. They always have something to say about me being white. Like one little girl said she saw my mother in church and I said to her that it could not have been my mother since she is in America. So I explained to the little girl that just because the lady was white does not mean that she is my mother. I have heard several stories like this during my time with the students.
As for teaching this week it was only a three day week so we did not teach any new material. We did all review since the kids need a good solid foundation of the concepts they are currently learning. They reviewed subtraction and the creating of rhyming words. I specifically taught the children the song "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and then I asked the students if they could recognize any rhyming words. I also took the students through their morning assembly where they pray, say the pledge, sing the national anthem, and then do a proper greeting. What I mean by a proper greeting is the teacher says good morning to the class and the students curtsey or bow while saying "good morning teachers, good morning friends." Then the teachers says "how are you?" and the students curtsey or bow while saying "we are fine and you?" When it was my chance to say back that I was also fine I also curtsied to the class which made them laugh since the teachers do not do that.
Since the school is a catholic school they teach religious education. It is usually the telling of a bible story and then the students draw a picture of the story. The teachers usually draw a picture or have a poster of the particular story. Somehow I am now the designated drawer of religious pictures. My first question was what color do I make Jesus? Whites have made Jesus white, while here in Ghana (as with Santa Claus) Jesus is black. So I took the middle road, making him look like how people of the middle east look today. I have a schedule of the stories they will tell in the next couple of weeks.
This weekend I went to cape coast where I walked across the canopy of the rainforest at Kakum National Park. All I could wonder was how on earth did they build the bridge since it was so high. I guess one man used a bow and arrow to shoot a rope to each tree and they built platforms around each tree this way. Then I also went to Elmina Castle which is an old slave port. It was really sad. The conditions of how these people were treated was really terrible. They would bring us to one small dark room and tell you that it was a dungeon where slaves that misbehaved would be locked up until they starved to death. We had even planned to go to Cape Coast Castle another slave port where Barack Obama went this past summer, but one place like this was enough for one day.
As for teaching this week it was only a three day week so we did not teach any new material. We did all review since the kids need a good solid foundation of the concepts they are currently learning. They reviewed subtraction and the creating of rhyming words. I specifically taught the children the song "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and then I asked the students if they could recognize any rhyming words. I also took the students through their morning assembly where they pray, say the pledge, sing the national anthem, and then do a proper greeting. What I mean by a proper greeting is the teacher says good morning to the class and the students curtsey or bow while saying "good morning teachers, good morning friends." Then the teachers says "how are you?" and the students curtsey or bow while saying "we are fine and you?" When it was my chance to say back that I was also fine I also curtsied to the class which made them laugh since the teachers do not do that.
Since the school is a catholic school they teach religious education. It is usually the telling of a bible story and then the students draw a picture of the story. The teachers usually draw a picture or have a poster of the particular story. Somehow I am now the designated drawer of religious pictures. My first question was what color do I make Jesus? Whites have made Jesus white, while here in Ghana (as with Santa Claus) Jesus is black. So I took the middle road, making him look like how people of the middle east look today. I have a schedule of the stories they will tell in the next couple of weeks.
This weekend I went to cape coast where I walked across the canopy of the rainforest at Kakum National Park. All I could wonder was how on earth did they build the bridge since it was so high. I guess one man used a bow and arrow to shoot a rope to each tree and they built platforms around each tree this way. Then I also went to Elmina Castle which is an old slave port. It was really sad. The conditions of how these people were treated was really terrible. They would bring us to one small dark room and tell you that it was a dungeon where slaves that misbehaved would be locked up until they starved to death. We had even planned to go to Cape Coast Castle another slave port where Barack Obama went this past summer, but one place like this was enough for one day.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Week 7 & 8
The internet has been down at the school this past week so I decided that I would just take a week off. But now that I know my mom is passing my blog link onto people, I will try to make the blog more interesting. The amount of teaching that I am doing has increased, I am teaching daily now and am involved in my usual tasks like drawing lines, passing out the lunch, and assisting students around the room. Some of things I taught this past week are short 'i' rhyming words, English (reading of basic nouns), and I taught a unit on light in environmental studies. For this I presented the children with pictures of different sources of light both artificial and natural. Then in groups I had the students explain an activity they could do with that light source. Then we categorized each type of light as either artificial or natural. This week we talked about the dangers of handling certain light sources and what could happen if we mishandled them for instance burns and fire outbreaks. I taught them about stop, drop, and roll, but with a class of 43 I could not have all of them do this so I had one student demonstrate. Then I taught them a song about fire that the head teacher knew. I am still feeling like I need more support from the other teachers when I am teaching. I know that I entered into a dysfunctional classroom with a struggling mentality of collaboration. This has made my experience very difficult because even though I have asked for help I am not getting the support I need.
After teaching reading this week, I decided that I would assess the students individually since they only read as a whole class. It took the whole day to have each student read two short passages that they had read the day before as a whole class. It really made me realize how many children can be left behind in such a large crowd. All I did was mark the words that were read incorrectly so I knew how many total words were read correctly. Some of the children could not even get through the first and shorter passage. I had planned that after reading I would have the students answer one comprehension question. If the student could not read the passage then I would read it for them while tracking the print and then ask the question.
This Friday we have parent teacher conferences which will be interesting since it is my first one from the teachers perspective. I really want to encourage parents to check and sign their children's homework. Many parents it seems take advantage of the fact that they are sending their children to one of the best schools in Ghana and then think they do not have to be involved in their child's education.
Since it is the midterm, we will be off of school on Monday and Tuesday. It is also independence day this weekend. So I am going to a celebration at the botanical gardens just outside of Accra. Otherwise I just hope to do some shopping and go to the pool since I will be leaving in just about 3 weeks time.
After teaching reading this week, I decided that I would assess the students individually since they only read as a whole class. It took the whole day to have each student read two short passages that they had read the day before as a whole class. It really made me realize how many children can be left behind in such a large crowd. All I did was mark the words that were read incorrectly so I knew how many total words were read correctly. Some of the children could not even get through the first and shorter passage. I had planned that after reading I would have the students answer one comprehension question. If the student could not read the passage then I would read it for them while tracking the print and then ask the question.
This Friday we have parent teacher conferences which will be interesting since it is my first one from the teachers perspective. I really want to encourage parents to check and sign their children's homework. Many parents it seems take advantage of the fact that they are sending their children to one of the best schools in Ghana and then think they do not have to be involved in their child's education.
Since it is the midterm, we will be off of school on Monday and Tuesday. It is also independence day this weekend. So I am going to a celebration at the botanical gardens just outside of Accra. Otherwise I just hope to do some shopping and go to the pool since I will be leaving in just about 3 weeks time.
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