Day 1: First Day of Skole

Happy first day of school in Norway! They spell school skole, though it used to be skule. It is pronounced skool. As I went through my dad I realized a few things. I can't be afraid to sound silly. I need to try and try and try until I get it. When they make the guttural trilled r that I may never be able to duplicate, I still need to try. I also want to learn Norwegian. I want to be able to talk with the people around me. When I am speaking to anyone I am noticing myself speaking slower and with more precise vocabulary. This way of speaking required quite a bit of thinking and so I have unnatural pauses and often forget the word I am looking for. But I hope it helps people understand me better. 

I started out the day with Hilde picking me up for school. Hilde is my cooperating teacher and is marvelous! She is a wonderful teacher and is willing to ask questions and answer questions. I can tell her students really like her a lot. She introduced me to the teachers at her school and showed me around. She warned me that recess may be crazy with all 100 children that attend the school running around. I told her not to worry, back home we have 100 children in just one grade, not seven!

As class started I walked around to get a good look at what everyone was doing. Several children raised their hands and it was right then that I realized what a difference a language barrier makes. I couldn't help those kids, answer their questions, or point them in the right direction because I couldn't read their instructions or speak to them in a way that they would truly understand. It kind of hurt my heart. 

I took note of several things, but mostly what was similar or different about Norwegian schools and American schools. 

Same: The teachers counted down to let the students know how much time they had to get ready to learn. 

All of the children had cubbies for their books and equipment. 

All children love drawing, and all children can draw excellent stick-figures. Guess that is something that translates well between cultures. 

Students still learn cursive, it is just in Norsk instead of English. 

Early finishers had extra work they can do. 

Lunch is at 10:50. That was a happy discovery, it was the same time at Ellis for the 5th grade!

Attention getters such as clapping in a rhythm and the students answer in a different rhythm. 

Communicating with the parents is important. 

Different: All of the grades have recess at the same time on the same equipment.

Recess is awesome! The kids have to get their equipment and are allowed to create and fun around and play on everything. It was wonderful to watch!

They don't have every subject every day. They spread the subjects out through the week. But Mondays (mandag) are always the same and so are Tuesdays (trisdag) and so forth. 

I get to teach on Thursday. I am excited to do that! Also nervous. I wonder what it would take to get a teaching job here. I would need to know Norsk first! I want to spend an entire year here, and teaching here would be a joy!

Day 11: Things to Consider

What does being On Task mean? My teacher has a video she found that explicitly explains how to be On Task. But when should I introduce this to my students? The first day and then reteach it as needed.

What are the differences between 5th and 2nd grade? The last classroom I was in was 2nd grade. I do have to remember that the teacher I was with was intimidating and had a completely different teaching style than I would ever want. She was not very organized and did things that she had been doing for the last 20 years. Sometimes those things work, but with other things... it is time for a change. As I have been in this 5th grade classroom I have realized... there is not a whole lot of difference. When I ask for deeper thinking I still get blank looks. When I expect something it normally gets done. When I ask for attention, no one looks at me. The attention getters like "One, two three, eyes on me!" "One two! Eyes on you!" I think that would work so well with this class, as long as I taught them explicitly how it worked. "When I say 'one, two, three, eyes on me.' You freeze and find me in the room while you are saying 'one, two! Eyes on you!' "Then make them practice it over and over and over. Maybe that is what this class needs. They need to know we are serious about doing things right the first time. Mrs. Burton is very strict, sometimes I am amazed at how strict she is, but maybe she is not strict enough? At least right now. Maybe sticking them to the little procedural things today would make it easier tomorrow. But then again, she has been doing this a long time. I'll think on that some more.

At every school I have ever taught at or attended, if the work is not done, the student stays in for recess until it is done. I strongly disagree with that. These are children. They aren't made to sit still for 5 hours with one 30 minute break and one 5-10 minute break. No wonder these poor fifth graders can't focus in the afternoon! Today we gave them a 20 minute recess and made them run two laps around the grass. Those kids can run, and they needed to get their heart rates up. I know that unstructured play time in necessary, however I also think that these 5th graders might not actually get moving without me telling them to do some sort of activity.
So, it is now established that children need to move. But if they can't stay in from recess, then when else do they get their work done? There is not enough time in the day, there is not always someone at home who is going to help them do their homework, and many times those students who don't get their work done are having trouble at home and can't get their homework done there anyway. So when?

When do I reteach? If there is not enough time in the day for regular things, how do I put MORE things into it!