'Today was our third day of teaching and what I would consider one of the best ones yet! We began our lesson by teaching the "if-then" tile and talking about the x-y axis all so that we could lead our lesson towards talking about creating a maze. Creating the Maze was one of our first real projects that we did with the class and it was really exciting! All the kids really picked up on what we were asking and really enjoyed creating their first "real" game. They also had the opportunity to play each other's as well, which they really liked. Afterwards we went to a new beach where a few of us went tubing and it was really fun!
Teaching the kids here is a totally different experience than anywhere else and it made me think about new and different ways to teach the kids themselves. The kids I teach in particular at the Gordon Greenidge Primary school are especially quiet, especially on the first day of teaching. Going on the third day the kids have really opened up. I've been the lead teacher for two days and I've found that I'm changing the way I teach and communicate to best suit how the kids learn. Firstly as a teacher I really found that I didn't always like to go exactly with the script, instead I reacted to the kids and what they were doing and taught from there. For the one-on-one time with the kids I wanted to find a way to let the kids find their own independence while feeling comfortable with the material. Usually I try to "hold their hands" until they understand what script we're learning then once they understand it, I try to challenge them to teach another kid what they learned. I also tried to ask tons of basic, repetitive questions so that even though the questions aren't hard the kids are independently coming to conclusions on the right way to go when working on the script. Overall I think so far I've learned a ton about teaching, especially the kids down here.
0 Comments
Today is Tuesday. We just finished our evening meeting which includes stories from the day, a re-cap of what each class accomplished while at school, strategy sharing and general announcements, followed by classroom team meetings to plan for tomorrow. The girls are upstairs hanging out. They have developed new friendships and are truly doing what I had hoped, which is to form new friendships and explore new relationships. It is a routine that we all have enjoyed. Wake up early, teach, go to the beach, have dinner, debrief and work, and then hang out together before bed.
In this blog, you see the reflections from the CSG students, and the photos they take of their classrooms, but what you can’t see is the excitement every day when they come back from school. They are having great success with the students, with Scratch, and with one another. After each teaching day they bubble over with stories about their experiences and their budding relationships with the Barbadian students. True to every other year prior to this, they solve their own problems, creatively and confidently. I wish you could see them. It’s why I have done this trip nine years in a row. Beyond the classroom, the students are also forming new relationships with one another. I call it the bubble. I told them early on that something special happens when they are here. The social constrictions that exist at school fall away and new friendships form and new kindnesses are exhibited. I also know – and told the students – that the bubble will pop as soon as the trip is over. That friendships will revert to where they were before the trip. The experience won’t be forgotten, but the reality of social expectations will make it so that the students lock back into the lunch tables, friend groups, and social situations that have always been set. I believe that they are happy with their newfound flexibility, and I also believe that they wish the reality of “normal life” could be different and that what they experience in the bubble could continue. But alas, it can’t. At least they could experience it for a short time. Today I went to a late lunch meeting to discuss how to leverage the start I have on this project and expand it to other areas, other students, other schools, and other classrooms. The country feels like it is at the cusp of a huge change. With the election, the past ten years of hopelessness has seemed to be erased and the hope and positivity are palpable. This is truly a historic moment. I do hope they can make the most of it. Three teaching days to go. Hope you stay tuned! Today was our second day of teaching. My group is working at the Welches school and we have a 3 hour class period with 24 students aged 10 and 11. The kids learn really quickly and even seemed to be familiar with the idea of scratch. This was because their teacher had them research not only information about scratch but also information about Ohio and CSG which was really cool because they were excited to tell us everything they knew about us. On the first day we introduced them to coding, the laptops and the basics of scratch. Today, we taught them how to make the maze game and even added extras to it. It's really interesting to me how well behaved and attentive the kids are and they are so polite. They call us all "mam" and are always eager to help clean up, which is very different from kids in America. It is also interesting that the kids miss class because of sports. Today only half of our students came to class because the others had a net ball (basketball) game. Also on Thursday the other half of the class will be missing because they have a football game. This is odd because students in America definitely arent missing a half day of school for a sports game. The kids are all so eager and excited to learn more so it's really awesome to be teaching them. After teaching on the first day we went to the beach and went jet skiing. Today, we went to a different beach and went tubing! So far the trip has been amazing and although we don’t have as much time teaching it is still another great experience.
Today was my first day teaching at the school I will be at for the rest of the week. I was really nervous going in because of the lost time, but as we started teaching we realized that the kids mostly knew what they were doing and needed minimal help with the basics. Teaching it twice because we had 1 ½ hours with each class gave us an opportunity to clear up any miscommunications and create a more organized layout. Both classes are around the same place even though we had a lot less time with the second group. The second group was all girls and very small due to sports and I noticed that we were able to move a lot faster than we had with the first class. They were also a lot less rowdy which helped when we actually stood in front of the class, and kept them more focused. I saw a similar connection to CSG’s lower school and these classes because they behaved a lot alike, although these kids caught on a bit faster than our 4th graders. It was very refreshing to see the kids engaged and wanting to learn more, which also made it easier. A vast difference I saw was actually between my school, and Merrill’s school at Welch’s. The kids at her school were a lot more interested in learning about us and wanting to go deeper into Scratch, whereas the kids at my school were not really interested in us, but only wanting to see what they could do; probably because they were eager to create games of their own. Overall, the educational differences were not too much to handle, and I’m really excited to go back because teaching the kids was so much fun!
Today was an amazing day! When we first met the kids at Gordon Greenidge, they were very timid and shy. However, today they were significantly more outgoing and definitely warmed up to all of us. In the morning, there was another assembly for the entire primary school. This assembly was all music, and they sang very fun songs praising god. With our spirits lifted, we began teaching our first class. Something that I wasn't expecting from them was such creativity. For our first project, their eyes lit up and all of their projects were so unique. Something different from our education is the importance of god and respect. All of the children from an early age were incredibly disciplined and polite, and viewed their elders and teachers as a big authority. Also, they do a lot of praying between classes, and dedicate time to praise god through music. Overall I cannot wait to teach tomorrow and see all of the amazing things they will do!
Today was my first full day teaching at my school because yesterday the class four students needed to get immunizations. I had so much fun teaching today and really loved that the students were so excited to learn scratch and loved trying new things with scratch. All of the students had so much energy and learned how to change sprites, backgrounds, and sounds before we even taught them. One big difference I noticed in the students in Barbados when compared to America was the students in Barbados need constant reassurance that they are doing the correct thing. The students like to have their work checked before moving on and what to know they are doing a good job. One thing I did not realize until Mrs. Murakami pointed it out was that the boys sat in the front of the room and talked a lot and the girls sat in the back of the room and were more reserved when answering questions, even though I think the girls knew the answers. Because I have gone to an all-girls school for so long, I had never really seen the coed dynamic of a class room so it was really interesting. Our group talked about the difference in confidence in the boys and girls and we are going to try and ask the girls to answer the questions more so they become more confident in the classroom.
During these first couple days teaching at Gordon Greenidge, I have noticed many differences in the education systems of Barbados versus the United States. As I mentioned in my other blog post, the people here are extremely polite, and it is clear that their manners are taught at a young age. When we arrived at the school, we were overwhelmed with waves, smiles, and welcomes from the students and teachers. Rather than going straight to class at the beginning of the day like we do at CSG, the students gather in the central area of the school for prayer, singing, and announcements. It was interesting to see how when one of the teachers would ask them a question at their assembly, they all would recite the same answer in unison. This made it clear that Gordon Greenidge is a very traditional school, and the students are extremely disciplined. In the classroom, I noticed that the kids were apprehensive to answer a question because they feared getting an answer wrong. This seemed so weird to me because CSG is an environment where I can raise my hand and say anything without any fear. The kids do not always want to admit that they have a question, but when one of the student teachers goes up to them, they feel more comfortable asking privately. Today, we did get the kids to open up more, probably because they were getting used to having us around. I can imagine that having teachers from a foreign country in such a traditional school might be overwhelming. I am looking forward to the last three days of teaching and cannot believe that this trip has flown by so quickly.
Today was incredible. This morning was the beginning of our teaching adventure and I woke up already excited to meet the kids. My happiness and anxiousness both grew immensely as we drove to West Terrace Primary School. When we arrived, however, I was sad to learn that the kids we planned to teach at the school had to get their shots and, therefore, had the day off. The other kids at the school still waved and made us feel welcome, which made me less upset. We then went to a different school and helped teach them. This was an incredible experience and I fell in love with the kids immediately: they were so funny, intelligent, and most importantly, willing to learn! One of my favorite parts of the day was when a little boy farted during a game and he and his friend started laughing. Needless to stay, I soon had to find a new area - free of farts - to stand. Overall, I learned a lot from the kids. They were the most well behaved and polite children I have ever met and it made me so happy to know that, somewhere in the world, people still (heavily) focused on the importance of manners. The school system was also very different from our own. Their politeness and willingness to learn were refreshing and I really enjoyed my time there. Hopefully, I can take home some of the many things that I know I will learn from these 10 and 11 year old kids.
In the pictures, there are two of the wonderful students I got to meet today, Omar and Xenia, and also the sunset which was a good finish to a great day. I feel extremely blessed to be here and I can't wait to spend the next 4 days at the school! Hi everybody! We just had a long weekend, and today was our first day teaching. Even from the beginning I noticed some big differences between the way their school is and how schools in the US are. One of the biggest things was how well disciplined the kids were. They were very respectful and would quiet down for us to talk right away. They also had prayer before school and before their break. Before leaving the classroom they all line up to sign out with the teacher. Today's teaching was truly an amazing experience and I am so excited to continue teaching the kids throughout this week. After teaching we went to the beach and jet-skied! It was so fun and tomorrow some of us are thinking we may go tubing! We miss you all but will see you soon!
Hi everyone!!
We're having a great time in Barbados so far and had a wonderful long weekend. Today was our first day of working with the kids and it was an amazing experience. The motto of the trip so far has been "be ready for anything" and this morning, for the girls in my teaching group that's exactly what had to be done. On Friday, there was a national holiday that the newly elected leaders of Barbados called for the whole island. The kids at our school were supposed to get vaccinations on Friday, but they were moved to Monday due to the holiday, so when we got to school, none of the kids were there. Hattie, Elena, Zoe, Haley, Cosette, Julia and I had to split up and help to teach at the others schools. But it was no problem because we had a great time with the other kids. I have truly never seen kids so excited to learn how to code. When we told them it was time for break, one little girl named Alexis stayed seated and asked if she was going to be able to do more. One of the most rewarding feelings was seeing the kids faces light up when you told them that they did something right or that you thought their projects were awesome. There were kids making their characters sing, some having conversations, and some recreating parts from movies (#wakandaforever). None of us really expected the students to be so good at Scratch. There were a couple differences that I noticed about school in Barbados compared to school back home. When the kids ever left the classroom, they had to sign out with the teacher. Another thing is that they were all extremely polite and replied with "yes ma'am" when we talked to them. In the afternoon, we headed back to the beach in Holetown and had a great day of relaxing in the sun and jetskiing. Can't wait for the rest of the week and to actually teach our own kids at our own school :)! |