Today I had, for the first time this year, two different classes on the same day. It's strange to think about how long it's been since I had the SAME classes on any given day, and even stranger to think of how quickly you get used to an easier routine.
Classes went smoothly. Tried having year ones trace the cup to make their circles, and that went really well; not only did their circles look good, but it also encouraged community building as they were partnered with the children I had randomly seated them next to. Year two remembered last week's lesson but had a more difficult time with the discussion of texture vocabulary than other classes did, probably because of their English backgrounds.
I've been an international educator for four years now. There are ways in which it has given me a lot of freedom, but many times I really miss the collegial atmosphere and reinforcement that comes from working in a department. I feel really lucky to be in my current school, for the structure and support that my department head gives me, and to have a solid program - the PYP - that we are following. However, it hasn't been the norm for my experience since graduating college. I have a formal classroom observation to look forward to in the next three weeks, and while I'm confident in my teaching, while I know that I'm doing well and that my kids are responding, while I have as good a grasp on the PYP as anyone who is fresh into it can at this point (and, quite possibly, a better grasp than most, since I've had the first three weeks to work with my department head as much as I needed to understand how it all works together)...I still feel a little unprepared to stand an observation right now. Am I going to get nailed because I don't use the language of the program enough? Quite possibly. But I guess every evaluation needs some areas to work on and I know there are worse things to have written on mine. After all, using the language is something that becomes more natural with time, right?
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