First full weekend in the Dominican

The weekend is just flying by! We have been having so much fun.

On Friday night Winston (he is the son of one of the ladies we are staying with) took us out with some of his friends. We happened to meet a guy who attended Western Michigan University while we were out, which was a funny coincidence because it is Central Western Weekend. He said that he felt obligated to hate us because our schools are rivals, but he taught us how to dance anyway. Salsa dancing seems so easy, but most of us struggled with it. I should have taken lessons before coming here!

On Saturday we went to the beach at Boca Chica. The water was beautiful and the perfect temperature. We played in the water, walked on the beach, and did a little shopping.

This is 5 of us with Estelle (one of the ladies we live with, in the blue) and Bernadette (the director of the international school, in the pink).

We also went on a banana boat ride, which was a blast!

Later on Saturday we went to dinner at Pizzarelli (a pizza place on our street) and then had a movie night. We watched the Great Gatsby with Spanish subtitles.

Today we just went to our professor’s hotel to work on lesson plans and then stopped by the mall for lunch. Now it’s time to relax and prepare for another week of school.

Day Two!

Today my teacher only had 3 class periods – 11th, 12th, and 8th grades. I taught the 11th grade class about the Progressive Era in the United States. I think that it went well, the students had some great questions and seemed interested in the topic. The 12th graders gave presentations on government. The 8th graders have a test later this week so they worked on reviewing information on geography in North and South America. I’m looking forward to teaching more in the 10th and 11th grade classes, since the other classes will be doing presentations for most of my time here.

Some other observations from my second day of school:

-They do not speak English or Spanish, they speak Spanglish. Everything is a mixture of the two. For example they might say: Canada is bigger than the U.S. pero less people y cities. My teacher explained that they just use whichever word comes to mind first whether it is Spanish or English. I am glad I already know some Spanish!

-I learned that the majority of my students come from very wealthy families. They all have iPhones and macbooks.

-The teachers described Saint Thomas as kind of a soccer boot camp. Soccer is a huge deal.

-My students are all part of facebook groups where they can communicate with the teacher. She posts all of their assignments and powerpoints so that they can access them from home. I would love to be able to do this in my classroom at home, but everyone there is so afraid of using technology such as facebook as part of school.

 

Overall, I think today went very well. After school we had another delicious dinner, went swimming, and a few of us went out for a snack at a local restaurant.

 

First Day at Saint Thomas School

The first day of school started bright and early with a wonderful (as usual) breakfast as a group. We were picked up by a taxi and taken to school at about 7:15am. Samantha and I are both student teaching at Saint Thomas so we went together.

School started with a flag raising ceremony. They played the national anthems of both the Dominican Republic and the United States. Then, students went inside to begin classes. I am teaching Social Studies in grades 8-12. My host teacher seems very nice, and the students like her. I am glad that I know a little Spanish, because the classes switch between English and Spanish a lot. School is so different here.

Here are some other observations I made throughout the day:

-Class sizes are much smaller.

-Students are much louder.

-They like to crowd together in a big group rather than stay in rows of desks.

-Soccer is VERY important. (There is a big tournament this week.)

-Students wear uniforms.

-My school is air conditioned and very cold.

-The students are very good at reading aloud in English, even though it is their second language. I would say that they are better than most American students!

-My classes use American textbooks, and they are very nice and new!

-Students do not rush out of class when the bell rings. They kind of stroll in and out as they please.

I’m looking forward to great learning experience while I work with the students and staff at Saint Thomas! It was a great first day!

A Look into my Classroom

Our typical class routine includes a warm up, a short class discussion of the warm up, lecture and note taking, and some kins of class activity. Here I am beginning a lecture. On this day we covered the Protestant reformation. I wear a microphone to help a student with a hearing impairment, but I find it helps all of the students to stay focused.

Homecoming Week: Day 2

Today is around the world day! I’ve seen many countries represented including China, Japan, Poland, Australia, Mexico, and France. I planned to wear my kimono today but unfortunately it was nowhere to be found. Here are some creative students from my 3rd hour class. We have karate from China, anime from Japan, and Paco the Walking Taco from Mexico. Awesome!

Homecoming Week!

Today kicked off Spirit Week for Millington’s Homecoming. We celebrated today with “Old Timers Day” where everyone dressed like a senior citizen. We had some really creative students! They brought canes and walkers, drew on wrinkles, sprayed their hair gray, and wore all sorts of crazy outfits. So much fun! I can’t wait to see what everyone wears for “Around the World Day” tomorrow!

Monday in World History Classes…Ancient Religions

AncientReligion

Tomorrow is my first full day of teaching the World History classes. We will be learning about ancient religions including those of the Egyptians, Sumerians, and Persians. This will kick off our history of religion unit.

The lesson will include videos, lecture, and an art/writing project.

Visit the “Ancient Religion” link above to see the PowerPoint presentation including the videos and assignments. I welcome any feedback and suggestions!

The weekend went by too fast, but I’m excited to share this lesson with the students tomorrow. Wish me luck on my first day!

Our first week of school is almost over…

 

It has been a great week so far! I think it will be a good semester of working with some great teachers and students.

On Tuesday I introduced myself to the classes and handed out photo release forms for parents/guardians to sign. These signed forms will allow students to appear in photos that I may take in class for my educational portfolio or for this blog. The pictures will only be used for educational/professional purposes, and students will not be identified. Please sign the form and have your student return it if you have not yet.

We also did a fun activity so that I can start learning names and getting to know everyone. I asked a different random question of each of the 175 students. Some were funny (How would you spend a typical day if you were a T-Rex). Others were serious (What do you want to study in college). They then answered their question on a note card. Here are some interesting things I learned about the students:

• Several students want to pursue an education/career in medicine or architecture.
• Many students (especially in 1st hour) mentioned that they enjoy sleeping.
• One student is great at baking. (I wouldn’t mind being a judge of the baked goods!)
• Another would cure cancer if they were a scientist.
• One student loves Dr. Seuss books. (Me too!)
• I think we have some future authors in the class based on some very creative answers. I will keep an eye out for their books!
• One student wants to move to Alaska, another would like to live in Australia.

I’m so glad everyone shared little bits about themselves with me. I’m working hard to learn everyone’s names and get to know them before I start teaching the classes.

Thanks everyone for a fun first week of school! I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend.

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog about my student teaching experience. Here is a timeline of my semester so that you know what I will be covering in my blog posts.

• September 3rd – November 8th: Teaching U.S. and World History to 9th-11th graders in Millington, Michigan.
• November 9th – December 12th: Teaching in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
• December 14th: Graduation from Central Michigan University!