Day 24: Kindergarten

The kindergartens here are totally different than the kindergartens we have in the US. Kindergarten ages are 8 months - 6 years. Sometimes they are splint into two groups (older and younger) but often they are all together.
The year before the 6 year-olds are going to start school, the 4th graders get to start becoming friends with them. When the 6 year-olds are in 1st grade next year the 4th graders(then 5th graders) will be in charge of them at recess to make sure they are having a good time and they have a friend to play with.
I wish we had something like that in America. It wouldn't be that hard. One big kid for every little kid, make sure they are having a good time. But then we don't really need to have that because our kids don't all go out to recess at the same time.

The 4th graders and the kindergartners went on a walk today. When we got to the spot we were going to have lunch the kids immediately ran off and started playing. They slid down the muddy hillslide, bounced on moss covered rocks, tried to pull tree's out by the roots. This last one they actually succeeded in doing. It took 8 kids 20 minutes of work. At first I was pretty horrified "You can't do that to the tree!" and I don't know that I liked them doing that. But Hilde said it is good for the kids to be challenged sometimes. And getting the tree up was challenging, they had to use their weight and their brains to get it up.

One of the kids was complaining about being thirsty.
"Well, let's go down to the river and get a drink." Hilde said. She led the kids down to the river and they got to experiment on how to get a drink! I told her how we shouldn't drink straight from the rivers in the US. She simply responded "We're vikings, we drink from the river." I loved that response!
She actually used that response a few other times while we were there. She told me that the kids are tougher, which I believe. The kids can fall down and suddenly they are okay.

One little boy fell down  and Hilde asked him what was wrong. He told her he got his shoes muddy and she said, alright do you want to try and drink from the river. He was so involved in drinking the water that he forgo to be upset about his shoes. I loved that!

On the way back I asked a student to teach me the Norsk Alphabet. I don't know that I have ever had a better teacher! She sang the whole thing for me and then went through it letter by letter. When I did something correctly she would praise me "Good job!" and then continue on. When I had trouble she would say the letters and have me repeat it at least three times. Then when I had successfully learned the alphabet she praised me some more then encouraged me to sing it for everyone around me individually. She was a perfect teacher! I hope I can be like her when I grow up.

Day 12: Some Ways America Could Improve

I would like to preface this post by saying "Norwegian's and their love of nature is a wonderful thing!"
Today for science my teacher decided to go to the Tarzan park. I was confused about what it was, but she told me I would know when I saw it.
Apparently, the people at the mental health hospital across the street had some free time and build an obstacle  course in the middle of the forest.

My mom asked me to take pictures of my every day life, just the normal boring things. Honestly, most of my life is not that boring. I get to do things like this all the time! 

One of my students gave me a flower.

I also got to watch my scooperating teacher do some awesome teaching in the woods! It was amazing! Some good aspirations to live up to. 

I was thinking about all of the planning this little trip would have taken in the United States. There would be permission slips and chaperons and all sorts of hoops to jump through. Here, Hilde said "I think today we will go to the Tarzan park because I don't like the lesson I prepared." and so we did. 

I wish America could be a bit more like that!

Day 37: Challenges

There is more challenge to teaching than just the kids or the material. More than just planning the lessons and the tests and making sure that it is integrated and you have met all of the standards. That is only part of teaching. The other part is emotional and all consuming. My life does not begin at 7 am and end at 3 pm. I am not only alive in the classroom, living and breathing education. No. I am a person who has hopes and dreams, who has a life beyond the school room. And there are so many outside variables that effect my performance in the classroom. I have all of these emotions about totally different things that change my perspective or alter what I think about student behavior. All the parts of my life bleed together, as they should. But it makes it difficult to separate them. While I want to be a cohesive person, I also want to make sure that I can be professional when I need to. This is fairly easy most time, but every once in a while... it is difficult. Thankfully, I have wonderful examples and can follow them.

I went to get gifts for people in Norway yesterday... I only ended up getting gifts for the people here. I can't get a gift for someone I don't even know! I would rather get them something they will love and cherish. Something that will let them know I was paying attention to them. So I am just going to get them something when I get to Norway.