Day 16: Cookies and Chatting

Yesterday my roommates made some cookies. Oatmeal chocolate chip. Delicious, however they were also different. The brown sugar that they bought was a little different, more grainy than the brown sugar in the States. Also, Norway does not believe in chocolate chips apparently and they had to purchase a chocolate bar and cut it up into chips. But even with these differences, the cookies hit the spot! Speaking of which, I think I will make stir-fry with rice tonight. That will be very good.

I think I got the hang of teaching English now. Last week I realized that I wasn't doing a very good job with teaching them English that they needed to know. So I changed how I did it today and I think it worked a lot better. I looked at their goals for next week and based my lesson off of that. We did some work in the book and practiced how to respond to the question "When is your birthday?" " My birthday is on (month) (date)" I think this will help them more than just writing.
Yes, I know writing helps a lot and they need it in their education. However, that is not all there is to English and I need to address all the sides of English, not just one. These English lessons I think would fall under the Utah Core English Language Proficiency standards, and not actually under Language arts. They are learning how to talk with people, at least they were in this lesson.

Day 15: Some Thoughts and Ideas

I am always on the lookout for good ideas and ways to communicate with parents. Today I found one that I think I like a lot. 

Each student has a folder that looks like this:

Inside of that folder they have an 11x7 book filled with blank pages. Each week on Friday their homework for the next week is glued onto the left side of a new page of their booklet. The teacher sends these home everyday so the students know what it is they have for homework. On the right hand side of the page she leaves it blank. This is the space for parents to write any notes they might have for her. She can also slide papers into the folder on the current page. 

Using these folders for this is brilliant because the unused pages can go under the folds. I thought this was a very good idea to communicate with parents at home. 

I observed a lesson on a and an today. I get to teach more about that on Friday. Before I went to the lesson I looked up some information about them, just to refresh my memory about when to use which one. I sat in a desk and watched the lesson as if I were a student. I found that I understood what the teacher was trying to tell the students, even if I still had no idea what he was saying. I could see which students understood the concepts as well as which students needed a little bit of extra help. Hopefully I can give them the extra help on Friday when I teach my lesson.

The Book Bus came today. Even though the school does not have a well stocked library, they have the Book Bus that comes every other Tuesday. Though the students don't have a large variety books to choose from, they do still have the opportunity to get books. According to the Utah Core the students should be able to read for intellectual, personal and emotional growth. I don't know that any of the students are getting the intellectual growth they need from their reading, but they are getting personal growth. They are finding things that they enjoy reading. I think that there are many teachers who are very good at helping their students find books that are interesting for them to read. There are many teachers who are not good at that as well. I would like to be one of those who is very good at it. I want to have read most of the books that my students are reading. If I get to be in 5th grade, I think that will be very easy.

Day 14: Names

Forrest Gump. A critically acclaimed movie that deals with a lot of stuff that happened in the 70's. It is a good movie to see some American history and to promote understanding of disabilities.
However playing this movie at school... well it just shows how different the schools are. In order to watch that movie in school in America, the students would have to be in High School and would still need a permission slip. Here... nope. They just watch it. Even though I don't really agree with the viewing of this movie, unedited, in the school room, there are still connections to the Utah Core. Standard 4 is about seeing how global events connect with their lives.
They don't use permission slips. I guess the parents just trust that the teachers know what the are doing. As if the teachers have gone to school and been practicing their profession for years. As if they were professionals.

I also stared planning some lessons for the next two weeks, which is much more difficult than in the states. In America, there are lesson books and in order to get the children ready for the test you have to follow a strict schedule. Not so here. They teach according to a schedule, but if they need to change or something else takes priority, they can change what they are doing easily. But that makes it very difficult to plan for the future.
I do miss being called "teacher". Here everyone just calls me Laura. That is nice in some ways, however there is less respect and not as much order in the classrooms. I do not know if the name is what causes it, but I think teacher or miss Bennett is what I would like to be called.

Day 11: MORE Songs

Assemblies are always awesome. But Norwegian assemblies are the bomb! 
All of the kids in the entire school (which would be just the 1-3 grade in any American elementary school) went into the gym. Then they proceeded to have an entire hour where everyone just sang! I tried to write down at least the first line of each song so I could find it later. 

Lille Føken Kantarell - these are the lyrics to the first one. I know, they are in Norwegian, but I couldn't find the music. 

The next song is called Sambalele. The kids loved it! I think it was translated from Spanish, but I couldn't find it. 

Another was the Valen Skule Song. It was so cute! I wish I could at least get the lyrics. 

The next has a first line that goes like this " krystallklare dagar, ja no er det haust." I couldn't find the lyrics though. 

The last (that I got the name of) was called Regnvæsang. Apparently the Internet doesn't even know what that is, so that is cool. 

I wish we had times here we just sang in America. I think I might put that in my classroom. This assembly connected to the Utah Core music standards for 4th grade, standard 2, objective 2. 

Another thing I have been thinking of to do in my classroom is to have a classroom library. I was already going to have one bu I have a really good plan now. In my library I will have at least one book on every level in every genre I can think of. Then I can give kids the books on their level  until they find one that they really want. Then I can either have more books, or a list a books they can get from the library of other books they might like. As I am typing this out I am thinking to myself "Don't you think that is what every teacher tries to do?" Well, yes, but I haven't tried it yet. 

Day 10: Songs!

I got some cool insight today. There is a Norwegian Student Teacher here who is in her second year of university. She said that in every year there are 2 weeks of observation before Christmas and 4 weeks of teaching after Christmas. I thought that was rather brilliant. She is working on her bachelor's degree and when she is done (in 5 years, but only because she is going part-time) she will be able to go right into teaching!

The students 4th grade and under at my school have been learning some songs for the Christmas program (which I will miss by ONE DAY!!!!!) But I got the music for the songs so that I can learn how to sing them with the kids!
Here are the songs.
Lille Måltrost

Skippervise

Blåklokkevikua

Julekveldsvise

Musenes Morgensang
(This one is a link because I couldn't find a video.)

Having the students learn songs like these follow the Utah Core music section, standard 1, objective one.

As I was talking to my mom last night we discussed how there are not a lot of books here. That got us thinking about the literacy rate. From what I can find online (which isn't all the reliable at the moment) Norway has a 99%+ literacy rate by the age students are 15. Some places say 100%. Either way, that is super high! I wanted to compare that to the poverty rate, but according to CIA World Factbook their poverty rate is NA or unavailable. However they only have 3.5% of their population unemployed. I compared this to the USA. We have 15.1% of our population under the poverty line, a 6.2% unemployment rate, and our literacy rate is 97.5%. Overall, not too bad. But wouldn't it be grate if everyone could read? At least read enough to be able to shop at the grocery store, cause I am here to tell you that I know how hard it is to shop at the grocery store when you can't read anything there!

Day 7: Improvement Requires Reflection

Today I got to teach almost all day! I was very excited about it and nervous. I can teach all day, no problem... in English. But I was teaching 4th grade and they need a translator. So I didn't quite know how it was going to go.
Overall, I think it went well.
English was first. Last week when they had questions they would ask the teacher in Norwegian and she would translate for me and then I would answer. The kids got no experience talking in English. So this week I upped the stakes.
"If you ask Hilde for help and then ask me a question, I will give you a sticker." I promised the children as I showed them the awesome stickers I had brought.
"But, if you ask me without getting help I will give you a candy!" A chorus of amazement met this declaration.
Every single child got at least one candy today, most two or three. I think my plan worked out rather well. Since I don't want the kids to never ask questions I am going to switch it up next time. I will tell them that if they get help, or if they don't, either way they still get a prize. The requirement is asking me in English. This way each of the students will be able to get any help they need without fear of losing some reward.

Then the part of the day I was looking forward to the most. Arts and Crafts! I have always loved art time, and here they have designated two hours for art! It is like a dream come true! Last week we started working on our patterns and designs. This week we drew the head and started adding the designs to the paper. The kids were really engaged and I had to herd them out of the door for recess assuring them that they could keep working on it when they came back in.
As I taught this lesson I recognized some things I could do better. So I added them to my lesson plan and when I get to teach this same lesson to 5th grade tomorrow I get to try and make it better! The lesson directly relates to the Utah core standards, especially 4th grade standard 1 objective one.

There are three main things I learned that weren't directly tied to my lesson today.
1. When Hilde has students grade themselves she has three boxes they can check: I'm good at this, This is difficult, and I want to practice this more. I love the last one. It does not mean bad, it just means the student wants more practice!
2. I need a signal for when I am done with instruction so they children know when they can move. Today I used "let's go." as my signal but I thought maybe a specific clap would be better. And it would be more fun as well.
3. I need to be better at noticing students who haven't been commenting or who need a bit more attention. When I am teaching I get so involved in answering questions and teaching that I forget to look for understanding.

Day 6: Dislike, Picasso, Classroom, and P.E.

I have found something I truly do not like in Norwegian schools. There is not enough books. There are no classroom libraries, the school library contains one bookshelf. Every other Tuesday the Book Bus comes and the students can check books out from there. But I have not seen a single 4th grader with a book. I understand that America puts too much emphasis on reading and math, but I feel like Norway is not putting enough. There needs to be a happy balance.

I created a lesson plan for the Picasso head activity that I did a while ago. The lesson plan spans over 2-3 days and I have already started teaching it in 4th grade. It addresses the Utah Core Standards for 3rd grade, standard one, objective one. While I was planning after school I found out that the 5th grade doesn't have an art lesson for Thursday. I volunteered this lesson and shared it with two other teachers here. I did not realize how helpful it could be to have lesson plans already written up and ready to use and share.

I have thought about teacher desks before. Do teachers actually need a desk to keep all of their stuff? To an extent, my opinion is yes. But it does not have to be the main focus of the classroom. Here in Norway all of the teacher desks are in a common room. All planning takes place there and then teaching is done in the classroom. Most teachers have a small table to set their teaching book, but no "Teacher Desk."

The 5th graders got to go to the Book Bus today so I noticed a lot of books in the classroom. I was surprised to find that most of them were Diary of a Wimpy kid, or similar books. That is the same kind of books the 5th graders were reading in 5th grade in America. I think it is good that they are reading, but I wish they would read better books!

I got a picture of the classroom so you can see how small it is!

View from the back, and you can see the cool chairs I was talking about! 

View front he front. Their chairs balance on their desks. 

That is a large classroom in Valen school. That is not very big! 

I also got to go to P.E. today! Man that was fun and I learned some really cool games! When we walked into the gym today it looked like this:

The ladders on the wall are permanent fixtures. Other permanent fixtures include: climbing ropes, basketball hoops, and net posts. 

The first game I call:

Obstacle Course Tag!

Object of the game: don't get tagged. 

Rules of the game: you can't touch the floor, only one step in each hulahoo (in the middle of the floor), no hurting others.

How it works: One person is it, everyone else runs away. If you get tagged you have to go into the corner (upper left hand side) and jump rope 5 times, then you can go back to the course. 

Every few minutes the teacher chooses a new person to be it. 

We played to music today with was brilliant because the kids knew to listen when it turned off. 

Second game:

Flag Tag!

Object of the game: get as many tails as you can! 

Rules of the game: no shoving, no pulling on tail/flag/ tag around someone's neck

How it works: Each person as a flag (which is a loop of fabric or rope) and they stick it in their waistband. Everyone commences to run around trying to grab someone else's flag. When another flag is won that person puts it on like a necklace. If their flag is taken, they can use the necklace as a replacement. If a person has no flag at all, they can still grab someone else's and use it. 

Third game:

Toilet Tag!

Object of the game: Don't get tagged!

Rules of the Game: pull gently, don't hit

How it works: Same rules as generic tag, but when a person is tagged they have to "go to the bathroom". This means they squat down with their hand up. Someone can grab their hand and pull them "off of the toilet" and then they can run again. 

Today the person who was "it" was the teacher, and the students loved that!

Fourth game: 

(Yes, I know. "Four games? How did they fit that into 45 minutes?!"They didn't. P.E. was 2 hours!!!!)

Norwegian Base- Ball

Object of the game: get around the bases

Rules of the game: don't hurt anyone

How it works: There are four bases, home, first, second, third. All except for 6 people are line up to hit the ball. Five people are in the middle of the gym to catch the ball, and one to pitch the ball. When the batting team hits the ball they use their forearms, like in vollyball. If the ball is caught by the team in the middle, whoever caught the ball gets to switch places with whoever hit the ball. 

We did not play with a winner, but it could be changed that way if you wanted too. 

Seriously, Norwegian P.E. is the best! 

Day 5: A Little English, A Little Polish

Today I got to be in three different classrooms. 3rd grade, 4th grade and 7th grade. I would have also been in 6th grade, however they were just refreshing on how to get online to do a test and that is pretty much the same everywhere. 

In 4th grade today I got to help kids figure out what to draw. That was fun. I showed one student how to draw fire, another how to draw a flying carriage. Not too shabby. 

In 3rd grade we learned the names of fruit and berries. According to the Utah Core Language Standards these kids are in the Level 1 category of speaking when it comes to everyday objects. They can't have a conversation with me. But they can listen pretty well, though they don't understand everything. 

Then to 7th grade. By far, this was my favorite part of the day... okay second favorite part. The kids talked to me and asked me questions. They gave me foods to try and told me about what they were writing reports on. It is very refreshing to be able to talk to people. I never knew how difficult it would be to not be able to communicate well with everyone around me. 

My favorite part of the day recess. I know, typical answer. But today there was a good reason for it. Last week I had promised the 5th grade girls that I would paint their nails. And today was the day we had decided to do it. I brought my nail polish and they lined up to have their nails painted. But it did not stop with the 5 girls I promised. No, some of the boys wanted their nails painted, and then the 3rd grade girls and then some 4th graders. There seemed to be a never ending line! I told them I would have to do more tomorrow. And that is true! I also need to bring my acetone so they can clean their old nail polish off first. I won't do it for them though. They will have to do it. (I don't want to ruin my nails!)

Some things I noticed today, or rather have been noticing but stood out to me today.

- Everyone talks over each other. Whether it is conversations going on in an X shape, or someone interrupting and talking first. It is all fair game in Norsk. And no one seems to be offended by it. Which I appreciate that they aren't offended, but I think I would rather just listen to one person at a time. 

- Mental math. Most of the math I have seen here has been mental math. The students solve pretty large addition and subtraction problems (in 4th grade) in their heads. Pretty awesome. 

After school the other student teachers and I went and played football (soccer) and basketball. I had so much fun! and it was nice to get all of my energy out from the day of sitting and standing at school.