September 7th

Beka and I rounded up all our presents and got to the school for our last day :(

Cameron has been jokingly giving me crap about not making him coffee so I guess it was a good thing I bought him a Cortland mug because he finally got some coffee on the last day! Everyone laughed about it but hey, better late then never!

When we went to go sign in at Denise's desk, she surprised us and gave us each flowers. It was so lovely and unexpected, we almost cried.

Then I got to my first class and received probably the best present ever. One of the rugby boys happens to be in Mr. Finley's basketball class and had gotten a maroon rugby dry fit shirt and had all the footy boys sign it. I knew I gave them the idea but  I didnt really expect them to do it. AND it was wrapped up. Other than presents though, the class itself was very interesting because we had the girls basketball team come in to play against my students. Some of them were very motivated and loved the challenge, while others didn't. We played a few other rounds of half court games after the team left. At the end of class I gave a thank you to everyone, we took a class picture for my own memories and gave a few hugs as well. It was a bit sad, they truly were a great class.

During morning tea there was a faculty meeting with yummy food and boring announcements. The principal also called us up for a thank you and Donna gave us each a little present. We were decked out in Mountain Creek clothes and Cameron and Kim were decked out in Cortland. It was a good laugh and thankfully didnt get emotional. 

Year 12 class was NOT as good as yesterday. They of course just wanted to play dodgeball but it wasn't an option seeing as another class already took the foam balls. They were really bad at basketball today as well and only about half of them played. We ended early because they are just flat out lazy and said our goodbyes. Although ive had some really bad lessons with them, there were some great ones as well and I probably learned the most from trying to get a handle on these kids. Donna even made a comment during her morning tea speech to us about me getting a handle on the year 12 rec kids because no one can. I guess it made me realize that it really isnt just me and she observed my lesson with them and was impressed so ive been doing something right!

Last class of the last day, really relaxed because the students are teaching each other their games. They are fully in charge of what is going on while we just supervise so Cameron and I got to talk a bit more about keeping in touch and such.

Finally it was lunch time and Stratty was hosting a lunch for Bribie..more free food. Didnt even have to bring food on my last day!

And the bitter sweet goodbyes that were a lot more emotional then I expected. We were joking around the other day about how I would be taking care of Beka because shell be crying but Ill admit, I cried at the last second. We said goodbye to Kim and Cameron in the sub school and quickly felt the need to get out because we were both crying. I know we will keep in touch but I couldn't have asked for a better host teacher and sub school. Everyone was amazing and I would do it all over again, maybe in a few years if im unemployed! I saw a lot of kids walking towards the buses and they all were just screaming "bye miss have a safe flight" or "bye miss thank you for teaching." It really makes me reflect on everything and excited to be a teacher. Those comments just give you that reminder of why your a teacher and they make you smile. Wouldn't change the last 3 month for anything!

September 6th

Second to last day of teaching and it is starting to hit me a little bit.

Thursday mornings are usually laid back with a spare and a class that combines with two other classes. One of the other teachers during that session is a female that i've gotten close with and it was sad to talk about the last classes and when i'm flying out.

The afternoon went really well with my 12th graders and sex ed class. I decided that honestly, i wasnt going to pull teeth the last week im here with my 12 year class. I gave them a choice day and because it is starting to get really hot, they wanted to play basketball inside. I was actually astonished by how much effort they put into the games. We played half court 3-4 on each teach and rotated after every point with the winner staying on. They did this non stop fr a solid 40 minutes. They also wanted to play dodgeball and were begging to, so after their drink break we switched. It ended up being Australians vs. Italians/Germans/ Americans. Everyone was really into and although I was really concerned about the teams, no one really cared or did it on purpose. They just surrounded themselves with the friends they are most comfortable with. They sweated more during basketball and dodgeball then ever before.

Last session we played football. I had three teams and rotated after about 6-8 minutes. These students didn't fully understand the game as much as the 12 years did but they still played and tried.

After school I walked over to the primary school because I was invited into a year 6 classroom. One of my other colleagues, Tyler, does an art project each week with his students and this week it had to do with the Jewish religion. He came to me asking if I would want to come in and talk about my family traditions, chanukah and specifically what we used a dreidel for because that was what the students were making. It was so different being in a class like this but it was also a lot of fun to talk about my life and the students asked a bunch of questions.

One more day to go :(

September 5th

Day two of the QCS test and another day of doing...nothing. Cameron got placed to do supervision on the test during 2nd and 3rd session. We had our first session class doing dance and practicing with their groups.

Second session I go with Mr.Finley but since the student center is being used, we went into the classroom. They have a project to do but towards the end of the class we all started to just chat about New York and different things like the money and 24/7 open shops.

Last session I brought in the tub of Fluff that I still had for the rugby boys. They enjoyed and devoured the entire thing. It got a little messy but as long as the mess was on themselves and not in the shed of on anyone else, it was fine.

Did the final evaluation with Donna and Cameron today after school. It went well and I couldn't have asked for a better placement. We reflected a lot on the different lessons and classes I instructed and I now know how I am as a teacher better than Ive ever known before.

September 4th

Today was the first day of QCS testing. This is similar to the SAT test but is extended over two days and a lot of students won’t take it. Since they are taking it in the student center, none of the P.E. classes were able to use the space.

During the QCS, teachers are scheduled to supervise in the student center and other teachers who have spares or year 12 classes, will cover those classes. It is a really strange way of doing things in my mind but I got two spares out of it.

Second session was the only class that we had, since rugby I don’t do anything. This class is awesome though and tries so hard in the gym. Josh had them doing the “dirty 30” where that had to do 30 of each exercise. The students did box jumps, sit ups, push-ups, kettle swings and a few other ones. They got timed but each student went at their own pace. Once they were done, they recorded their time. They also did this training for 20 seconds and rest for 5. Eight rounds of this and doing squats tired the students out, but they earned a long break.

Three more days of teaching but hopefully one of my classes will teach ME rugby for our last lesson.

September 3rd

Last Monday at Mountain Creek State High School and it was just like every other Monday!

First session was the same as always except this time because they really weren't doing anything or putting effort in, Josh kicked them out. We waited outside until the bell rang.

The sociology class is done with the assignment so they went to the dance room to practice their routines and did...Nothing. Did not use the extra time wisely and i know they need practice.

The rest of the day was just as entertaining as the morning.

At least I can always count on my sub school to keep me entertained and laughing. Morning tea and lunch are always a high light of my Mondays and Tuesdays

August 31st

Today was a great day! My friend Jess came to observe me for her swap day and she instantly noticed a huge difference. Once we got to the sub school, she said that the environment was totally different, very welcoming and friendly and chatty. She was a bit jealous of what I was spoiled with. Ill agree, I was very spoiled with this placement and the great people in our sub school. Everyone talks to each other and today we had a morning tea meeting, so there was great food too.

First session was basketball but since Mr. Finley was still relating things back to psychology, Jess and I got involved with the games. He did a meditation/relaxation lesson today to see how the students played after basically falling asleep to calm music. He also did the “don’t give a crap” lesson where he was just hanging around until a student finally said something.

Second session was a spare but we went to go watch Beka’s class do their dress rehearsal for aerobics. They were really good and definitely stepped up their game to get those A’s on their report cards.

Third session I was so stressed out about and nervous for because Donna was coming to observe and these kids have been giving me a very hard time. But…they were awesome! We just played half field games of flag football with 3 times, one sitting out and rotating. They understood my modified version of the game and were asking a lot of questions of how it compared to NFL.  They played for a full 60 minutes and with 15 minutes left we went to a full game of just two teams so that everyone can get on the field. It was just great and I don’t know if was my “threat” before class or because they were playing a game. I told them before class that if anyone acts up and I have to ask them to be quiet, well go straight to the classroom. I was so happy with how well this went and I feel like I am actually on good terms again with the students even though I enforced strict rules. I had to sit one student out for a while for goofing off. Keeping my fingers crossed that next week goes just as well!

August 30th

Today I went to the Currimundi Special school and was involved in the pool program all day. It was a great experience! I was with Sarah and Christin, who were both super nice and got me involved right away. The students were very welcoming and open to working with me in the pool. The teachers that came in were also very welcoming and loved that they didn’t have to get in the pool today since I was there.

I met and interacted with students of all different disabilities and level of pool skills. Many of them did more of a rehab program with walking and steps. They use weights on their ankles to make their legs straighten out more or just to make it harder. Many kids were also learning strokes and swimming laps. A group of boys with autism were all working on strokes and diving but are all on different levels so we split up into groups.

Although I was VERY pruny from the 35 degree celcius water, I had a great time!

August 29th

Great way to start the day off...Hearing the song "Call Me Maybe" about 100 times. Many of the groups in the dance class are using that song, so we hear it over and over again for 70 minutes. It was awesome! Some of the students are working really hard at making up a dance while there is of course one or two who are "too cool." We went around checking the dances and they all had to have a majority of it done by the end of class. Next week is the last time they can practice and then they have to perform and get video taped.

Second session during basketball we did two more teaching strategies. We did rewarding and pump up. Mr.Finley took the lead on this lesson since he is teaching this is class and can relate more to what they already spoke about. I actually got to play today since I wasn't exactly teaching, and because a team was down a player. During the rewarding portion, Mr.Finley gave out chocolates called "Fantales" which are basically chocolate covered caramels. He picked one of the teams to reward to get their motivation up and kept giving them candy through out the game. The second portion was pumping the students up with music. We played songs like Eye of the Tiger to see if it would motivate the students more. What we observed was that the first 15 minutes everyone was really psyched and motivated, but it started to die out. But, the game play is SO much better than what it was. They played for 30 minutes with out stopping and the distraction of the music made it fly by and they didn't feel like they were playing for that long.

The rest of the day was free and a guest speaker came in to talk to the Rugby boys about psychology in sports. It was all about the emotions a player feels on the field at certain points and keeping a positive attitude. It was aimed to help athletes get up after "failing" and to mentally keep yourself up instead of "feeling like crap." It was interesting and I hope the boys will get something out of it and use it on the field.

Tomorrow I am off to Currimundi Special School and will be spending the day in the pool with all different students. I enjoyed the adapted lab section in the pool so hopefully this will be a great experience as well.

August 28th

Tuesday the 28^th and I have 9 more days at Mountain Creek State High School (I will be at Currimundi on Thursday). The time has flown in general but today seemed like a long day. Nothing really happened and I don’t teach on Tuesdays, so it seems longer.

In the gym session Josh’s wife, Cassie, ran a step class and the boys and girls did amazing. There are only 5 boys in this class but they put a lot of effort into this activity that is viewed as girly. They even got very sweaty and had a tough time doing it. I think they started to give a lot more credit to the girls after experiencing this. Cassie had them all with their own step and a bar with lightweights on it. It was great and I hope one day I can bring that into the school. I hope one day I can bring every aspect of this gym into a school.

I could have done with out Rugby today because I felt like I was babysitting. Usually they are pretty mature and we can have normal conversations, mostly about New York and the differences. But today they were off the walls and annoying. Not sure why, but I eventually got up and left them on the sidelines.

Last class the students were working on their assignments. Not much to do or teach. But I could tell that they all knew how bad our last lesson went. They either shyed away from me or were really nice to me. Im curious to see how Friday will go.

Today I also got a Rugby Jacket from Cameron! Im officially one of them! woo

August 27th

Today I was the real teacher of the class. Cameron was absent so I felt like they were my classes, even though there was a substitute. I for once knew the students better than someone else and made all the decisions. But he was absent on a day where there was nothing to do! I would like to see what it would be like with out him on a Thursday or Friday.

As usual, we were in the weight room during first session. During the second session we were in the library, where the students were just working on their assignment.

After morning tea, we were off to the ovals with the cert 3 students. They added some lacrosse in to the mix today, which was fun for the students. The kangaroos that creeped up behind me scared me off, so naturally all the students laughed.

Last session I planned to do commercials/ advertisements for contraception. Students were put in groups and have to advertise why someone should buy that product. I told them they could do a skit, commercial, news program or a song/rap. It has to be a minute long and next class they will present them. During this class I had two situations thrown at me, of course when Cameron isn’t here. One girl came in very upset and had to go for a walk to cool off and stop crying. I later found out that someone changed her background on the computer to something very inappropriate and gross. I tried to help her to the best of my ability but we didn’t know who did it and neither did she. I simply told her that I would speak to Mr.Boaza tomorrow about it and see what he says but I did not want to start blaming anyone. I also had a student who was very unwilling to do the assignment and said no multiple times. I tried to give him and his partner ideas but he started to give me attitude. I told him to stay after class to talk. While I wanted to give him some sort of consequence, he is usually very good and helpful and thought I would try talking to him first. I told him that his attitude towards me and refusing to do the assignment is not acceptable. He didn’t fully understand why I thought he was refusing to do the assignment because he technically didn’t say that. I had to explain that saying “no” is a form of refusing. The discussion went on for a few minutes and we discovered that he had a lot of questions about the assignment. I told him that he needs to ask and that ill always explain or clarify and probably consider a different idea if he had one. My expectations were then clear of what he needs to do and how to act, so hopefully he will come in with something on Monday to present.

August 23rd

Today I leave for my long weekend in Sydney! But not till after my classes...My morning was pretty average and boring.

My afternoon was a roller coaster. It was my first day teaching American Football and I wanted to assess my year 12 class with peer assessment. These rubrics measured the grip, throw and pass of a football. I got the students to have a catch with each other, no problem. As soon as we finished that task, I tried to teach them a route. I chose the curl and demonstrated it with a few different students. I explained why it was important to have a route as well. But this took forever. These students don't stop talking and I took Cameron's advice to just wait for them and let them decide when they were ready. Eventually they got the point that I was waiting and were able to learn the route and do a few runs using it. Once I brought them back in to explain the game of flag football, they wouldn't stop talking again. And Again I waited but I guess that method only works once. I told them that I will wait until they were ready to play have fun and play a game. A few of them even tried to get the others to stop talking, but I ended up waiting till the end of class which was about 25 minutes. I then explained to them that if this is how it is going to be when we are outside, we are never going to be able to play games. I told that its disrespectful and i'm sick of asking someone to stop talking every minute so if they wanted to waste their own time, they could. I was not happy at the end of the class and now I had to think of a new way to get them to stop talking because we will never get to play if I am waiting all the time. The head of P.E. was actually right there on the oval talking to a few teachers and I went up to them saying "I don't know what to do anymore." The head of P.E. asked if they were year 12, I said yes and he basically made a face and said that all year 12's are disrespectful now because they don't care anymore. I spoke to a few teachers and Cameron to get different ideas of what to do. It is going to come down to going straight to the classroom next time instead of the ovals or I will have to print out a lecture that the student can copy while sitting out. I have really hesitated to have them sit out because some of them want to and I am worried the entire class will end up sitting out. The 12th graders have pretty much lost any motivation to be in class and they have the QCS next week, which is the equivalent to the SAT but that is no excuse in my eyes.

Thankfully I always have a great class after the year 12's. I did the same activities to test out if my lesson was bad and maybe I need to adjust it. But as I expected, this lesson went great. I could have worked on my timing a little more because we didn't have much time to play, but they learned a ton and I think I need to take it slow with this class because they know nothing about American Football. I was very impressed with their throwing/catching though and no one threw it like a rugby. I also gave them minimal information about the game of flag football to see if they could figure it out. They did awesome and ran a few plays. Of course a lot of people had questions, which I was prepared to hear, but next class I will play mostly games and show them more about the tactics and rules. I told them not to worry and that next class they will fully understand the game.

I finally get to leave for Sydney! Hopefully next week is better with year 12's but I find myself saying that every week and it doesn't get better. Ill just stay positive though and set very strict expectations and rules for the next two weeks.

August 22nd

Today felt like a very long day, again. Probably because I am looking forward to going to Sydney tomorrow and every time you look forward to something, the rest of the week goes very slow.

First session was basically babysitting while students worked on their group dances. I did have to go around and give them ideas to get started or else it would take forever for them to start.

Second session I thought we were doing more teaching strategies but Mr. Finley ended up changing that to Friday. I went through more dribbling, shooting and defense. I have them practicing skills a lot and I am always amazed by how much better they are getting.

The rest of the day was free for me. I had a spare and then rugby, which was very educational to me today. The boys who sit out were teaching me how to throw and kick a rugby ball properly. Usually I just throw it like an American football or kick it around but they finally helped me out. 

One aspect of the sub school I dislike: sitting near the phone. I take really bad phone messages and can barely understand what they are even saying on the phone. Something I try to avoid now but sometimes fail.

August 21st

Only had two classes today and didn’t exactly teach, so it was a relatively boring day. During second session we were in the weight room and did boxing. Cameron and I joined in on the boxing and the students worked really hard. Everyone enjoyed it up until the circuit at the end. Josh, who owns the gym, ran a circuit of sit ups, squat jumps, punching the bag and punching the pad on the floor. Josh assigned a certain amount for each and the students went for 10 minutes doing this at their own pace. They did great though! I really like the idea of having this in a school but of course it is easier when there is a fully equipped gym that is being ran as an outside business.

Last session I had my year 12 class in the classroom. They are working on their written assignment but I gave them a short quiz on American football. I am going to try and get all my assessments done for my teacher work sample because this is a sport they don’t really know, so they have no choice but to listen and learn! I also think it will be interested to do the teacher work sample with international students but an American sport. Hopefully the results will only increase!

August 20th

Today was a relatively calm day, which was nice to have. I discussed with Cameron the testing I am going to do with the year 12 class during football. I showed him the quizzes and rubrics and planned to do some of it tomorrow in lecture and in prac later in the week.

Last session I taught my sex Ed class and did jeopardy game. None of the kids knew what the game was so it was fun to teach them something new as well. At first they were a little confused and didn’t really understand but as the scores went up and the questions got a little more difficult, they got really into it. By the end of class, they were cheering about the scores and getting really intense. They started to whisper their answers so the other team couldn’t hear and discussing it with everyone on the team so they agreed on one answer. It was a lot of fun!

I also got to watch a girl’s soccer game today! I spoke to the coach last week and found out they had a home game today at 4, so I went and had a great time. It really made me realize what my days will be like in real life because I plan on coaching soccer. I will start assisting my high school varsity team once I get home and try to continue when my next placement starts. Although it is much longer than my usual day here, it is much more realistic for my future and I for now, I found it very enjoyable.  

August 17th

This morning was great starting off with my basketball class. Mr.Finley and I ran it a little different today because of what they are learning in the lecture part, which is psychology on arousal, feelings, and reaction. We didn’t tell them what our plan was but after the warm up, we just threw the pinnies out onto the floor and said “were on strike.” We watched to see what the students did and if anyone would become a leader. A few students started to just shoot around, playing horse, and taking half court shots. The other half of the students stood around, looked at the pinnies and a few of them even put them on. Eventually after about 10 minutes, someone took the leadership role and got 2 half-court games going on. Usually for games I set some sort of requirement before shooting that that always complain about because its hard but it was funny to hear a few of them ask “Miss do we need to set a pick?” We didn’t answer any questions and we let them play for about five minutes to see if they would switch to play a different team, which they did. Mr.Finley brought them to the middle to talk about what we did, why and how it relates to what they are learning. The next strategy was favoritism. We took the 5 best players and put them on the same team and gave them every call possible in their favor. We had them play full court against one team while the other observed. Besides that yellow was very good, I was calling everything in their favor even if it was clearly out on them. I called traveling on the other team even if they weren’t, reaching, and any sort of touching. We switched the one team out, did it over again and debriefed at the end. We had a few students get very frustrated with this, scream at me for making “crap” calls and a few give up. Majority of the students saw it as a challenge though which I thought was really interesting. They stepped up their game, played awesome defense and ran around like animals to get open. I was pretty impressed and now raised my expectations of how much effort they put into any future games. Mr. Finley mentioned he spoke to another teacher doing basketball and said that our class is actually at a higher level after these few weeks. Both classes started at the same level but from all the games, practicing and drills, our class has gotten up to a B level instead of the usual C. Proud to be teaching this class!

Year 12 class went MUCH better after taking Cameron’s advice. Not as good as I think they can be but I had them listening to me the entire time. I finally got them to sit when I told them to which was my happiest moment, as pathetic as that sounds. At first they weren’t really into the 10 pass game but I tried working with them and made an agreement that if they gave me 5 intense minutes of it, we would move onto target competition. They did just that. I know they want to just throw the Frisbee really far so like I did in basketball; I gave them the opportunity in a very organized way. We used the soccer goals that have the football field goal poles at the top. In the goal was 1 point, above was one and there is a section of triangles in between that was 2 points. They had decent aiming for this and two of them got it in the triangles. Although it was not maximum participation with only two going at a time, at this point I was glad that they were excited and into something. We finished with a game but the wind was acting up and it was really difficult to get the Frisbee down to the other end. In my experience, it is easier to play indoors.  

Last session of the day was a little different than usual also. Since they got their assignment that involves groups of students creating their own game, we planned on playing a few made up or small-sided games to give them ideas. We played crab soccer and mat ball.  We wanted to get to capture the flag but we didn’t have the time because the kids were really into mat ball. I did have to talk to the girls today though because they were not listening to me at all. I made them sit in silence for 2 minutes because they wasted two minutes of my time. Even though I really dislike doing things like that, it worked like a charm. They listened to me when I was talking for the rest of class. Next week we will play capture the flag and get to preview a few of the group games.

August 16th

During first session today Cameron and I went down to Donna, the deputy principal, to fill out the midterm evaluation. Everything went really well and I pretty much knew what my grades would be because we talk everyday about the lessons and how I am doing. It was not a surprise in any sort of way, which is good.

Session three I taught ultimate Frisbee to year 12. This lesson went to shambles honestly. Ive been having a pretty hard time managing and controlling this class because I try to treat them their age, but they don’t act it. They are always using the equipment and running off doing something else. When I ask them to come sit in front of me, it takes them a solid 5 minutes. There are also a few students who are extremely negative the second they get into class. They don’t even know what they are doing yet and they’ll complain about being at school or outside. Except when we go inside, they complain also. Most of them don’t want to learn and just want to play but that isn’t how a class is and I also have to think about the multiple Italians and Germans in the class who have never played games like speedball or Ultimate Frisbee. They do play the game, and really well also. But everything before the game is really difficult with the lack of willing to pay attention and learn. Cameron gave me a lot of good tips after this lesson that I followed for my next session.

Last session of the day I have my year 9 sex ed class on ovals playing ultimate Frisbee as well. Now this lesson went awesome, not only because I followed up on what Cameron told me but also because these students are much more willing to learn. I can and will brag about my management skills with year 9 because they are flat out fantastic. Maybe it is because I am much older than them compared to year 12, or maybe it’s the students but everything just goes 100 times better with this class. They sat and stopped talking when I asked them to or when I waited, didn’t touch the equipment unless they are told to and listened to my whistle. Clearly my confidence in teaching this class is higher. I taught them the 2 most popular Frisbee throws with cues, practiced and then put it together in a 10-pass game. They thought it was going to be easy, but they proved themselves wrong. I also let this go on a little longer than I was going to allow because the students were having fun, being competitive and putting a lot of effort into it. It was really nice to see this, made me smile a bit. The half field game went great also and they wanted to keep playing.

After that lesson, I think Cameron was a little shocked by how much better it was so we analyzed and dissected both lessons to figure out why the first one went worse. What it came down to was that I feel more of an authority figure to the 9^th graders than the 12^th graders because I am closer to age to them. I also realized that 12^th graders don’t always act their age and I will probably have to run my lessons with them like I do with the year 9 and be very exact with my instructions. My other problem with the year 12 class is that the Italians like to talk and try to fool me that they can’t understand me, but they speak pretty good English. Cameron gave me more ideas of what I can do with the year 12 class and hopefully they will work better tomorrow. The one great thing about all this is that I don’t let it get me down, I don’t get upset and will never take it personally. Not everything goes right all the time even if you work for 30 years. I will just focus on getting my confidence higher in that class for the next 3 weeks.

August 15th

First session for dance we taught the gypsie tap and it went mediocre. They got the dance but it wasn’t as exciting as the last dance we taught so I guess they were a little bored. But we only did that for a little bit because they needed to get into groups and start their assignment. Each group has to make up a dance that will be video tapped. There are a certain amount of counts the dance has to be and other requirements like changing directions, feet movement, arm movement and partner dancing. They can take moves from all the dances we’ve done already and will need to use their own music that the teachers will check before. So the teaching is basically over for this class because they will be working in groups for the rest of the term to make their dances up.

Second session went great with another successful basketball lesson. We did a jump shot drill that would help the students receive the ball and take the shot quickly and properly. I then set them up in lines with windows so I can see everyone and went over the defense stance. I had them sliding from side to side depending on where I was dribbling. The students so far have been running and tripping over their feet while playing defense, so it was important to teach them to slide their feet instead. A short game of horse and a half court competition took place before full games. They’ve been dying to take half court shots and I usually don’t let them so I decided today to have a well-organized and safe way to let them shoot. During the full games we made a requirement to set a pick before a shot and the students started to realize that if there is no defense, you couldn’t score. They thought they were clever but it really bothered those students who really enjoy playing. I asked them not to ruin the fun and game for them and they started to play defense.

These students are getting much better at basketball and I love the fact that im part of this growth. They’ve all noticed how much better they know the game and how they make more shots. Times like this, I realize again why I am in this field of work.

August 13th

Today was a little different than other Monday’s because we had a few visitors. My morning was the usual weight room and sociology class, But sociology is working on their assignment I the library now.

During morning tea we had Collin, Dr, Carol Van Der Karr and Mary Schlarb visit. These to Cortland administrators are touring a few of the schools today and tomorrow. Beka and I took them to our sub school to get our host teachers and to explain to them what a sub school is. Plus we wanted to show them the great environment we are surrounded by daily and our desks. We went into the conference room in the office with our host teachers and Donna, our deputy principal. We talked until morning tea was over about the school and our experience so far and then went to Beka’s class so they can see a class in session for a few minutes. My class during 3^rd session is ran by the certification students so they wouldn’t see me teaching. They got to see a lot of the school and I talked to them on the way out about my pigeonhole story because we walked through that room.

Pigeon hole story: Beka’s teacher, Kim, one morning told us she was going to check her pigeonhole. I thought she said pigeon home and was a little weirded out that she was taking care of pigeons. Someone then called the sub school asking for Kim and I said “she’s doing something with pigeons…with a home, maybe feeding them?” I got laughed at by just about everyone who heard what I said and explained to me that she said pigeonhole and that is a mailbox. It was okay though, I laughed at myself also and now ill always remember that story.

My last session I taught about STI’s using a power point that Beka made last week. It had some interesting pictures in it and I had to warn my class about them. They were laughing but grossed out, it was a good lesson and they really didn’t know a lot of the information. A lot of questions also popped up during the session, which is always good.

Good day of classes! And at the end I got to rub it in the teacher’s faces that I wont be there tomorrow because they have ECP day and I have the cocktail hour party that Colin plans at the Uni. ECP day starts at 1pm and goes till 8pm, it is basically parent teacher conferences but the student is included and they pick classes for next year. We were told not to go because our priority is the cocktail hour party. The teachers appreciated all our jokes about not coming in tomorrow.

August 10th

Today was a great day full of lessons!  Cameron has been slightly hiding during our classes lately so the kids know that I am fully in charge but he is close enough to still give me great feedback.

First lesson was basketball with Mr.Finley’s class and after teaching them all the basic skills, its time to put all of them together during a game. I just found out that they get video taped during class to send to the central district to compare to other schools. It isn’t to see how the kids are doing but to see if the grading is equal among the school. So if students in my class are getting C’s and B’s, the amount of work they are putting into class should be the same as another school’s C or B level. After learning this, now I know why Mr.Finley wants the students to step it up and really learn the tactical and logical side of the game. We worked on the point guard dribbling down the court playing one on one and having another offensive player setting a pick for the shot or pass. It took many demonstrations and explanations to get them to set a pick right. Most of them were moving their feet while setting one or waving their arms around. They eventually got it and we used this as a requirement to get a point in the full court games. The next few lessons will be focused on getting them to spread out, slow down game play and not rush, and using picks to get open. Mr. Finley also told me that part of this class is teaching strategies. Which means that one class we will put all the dominant players on one team and another class we will do absolutely nothing. Im not 100% sure why this is done in the course but I gather it will make the kids respect and appreciate teachers a lot more.

My lesson with year 12 lacrosse went really good today. They were more understanding and into the game than yesterday. The girls also dominated today and scored most of the goals. It is really hard to play lacrosse with out proper goals, a lot of time is wasted chasing after balls even if I have designated ball fetchers. It was still hard to get them to do a drill but I had a much better attitude today and didn’t get as frustrated.

Last lesson of the day went awesome as well. We did speedball with them because they have only played it for one lesson and we usually do activities in two’s, plus I wasn’t there last Friday to teach it. They listened really well and wanted to run around because it was a bit cold out today. They got into the game and again, the girls dominated. Girls rocked today and I was so happy to cheer them on because usually the boys don’t pass to them and leave them out. Some kids were complaining to me about the calls I was making because I called a few intentional trips and not the ones that happened on accident. Most of the time kids just want the call in their favor or else they get upset. After years of reffing soccer, Ive learned which trips and pushes are intentional, whose pushing who and which calls I need to make. It’s funny though to watch these kids complain because I did the exact same thing when I was their age.

All in All…great day. Tomorrow we are going to our Deputy Principals house with a bunch of P.E. staff members and their families for a bbq. Beka and I are bringing chicken wing dip because they don’t eat it here. Should be lots of fun!

August 9th

Although I planned to teach soccer session two today, when we showed up with the 3 classes, none of them wanted to play soccer because they’ve been doing it for the past 3 weeks. We decided to change to volleyball and let them just play five minute games. I was surprised by how bad everyone was even though they were really excited to play. Most of them did not know the basic rules and couldn’t keep track of whose point it was and whose turn it was to serve. This class is hard to teach though because there are 3 different classes equaling about 60 students. It was a bit frustrating to see high schoolers not know basic rules and I am curious to see if it would be the same in the states.

Third session got me on edge today but my year 12 class was just really talkative and putting no effort into anything. We started lacrosse today, which is new to most of them, especially with all the Italians and Germans in the class. I started with basics of throwing, passing and scooping and I know some of this stuff can be boring, but they would never get through a proper game with out these skills. Some of the kids learned lacrosse last year and they were excited to play again but that makes them think that they are amazing players and can go right into a game. They get really confident pretty quickly. It took them a while to listen to my instructions and I almost felt like I was babysitting a bunch of 5^th graders. It was like pulling teeth trying to get them to do some passing and catching. By the time we played the game, they got more into it and put more effort into the game. It was an okay lesson considering these kids never want to do anything besides play the game for maybe 20 minutes but they make me really frustrated at times and I need to work on not showing that im annoyed and frustrated.

Fourth session went awesome and I had full control of the kids at all times which felt good. Even in the beginning, I sat down in a circle with them and we chatted for a few minutes about last speedball game and how well it went and what we were going to do today. They listened and respected me and were really excited to play again. We started with the 3 man weave which took a little while to explain but they got it after a couple of demonstrations. After they did really well with this, we got right into a game. It was really hot out today so most of them were getting tired pretty quickly because all of them were trying hard and running around. I really enjoy teaching this class and they really view me as an authority figure. I think this lesson went even better because Cameron stood more off to the side across the field instead of near the students. They knew he wasn’t teaching today and what I said goes. It made me more in charge and because the students knew it, they didn’t try to mess around.

August 8th

First session Beka and I team taught a dance again. Today I did most of the teaching because we decided ahead of time that she would do mostly the cha cha and I would do mostly the Boston 2 step.  After the cha cha not going as well and the kids not really getting it, the Boston 2 step went amazing. I broke it down really slowly and the students got it right away. After practicing with out the music a few times, we did it with the music. I was really shocked and really happy with how this went. I was super proud of myself. Beka also added in a lot of key tips, so our team teaching is a lot better.

Second session I taught basketball with Mr.Finley’s class. They are a great group of students and even though ive had them with Kim’s class these past few weeks, it is a huge difference now. His class is more serious about learning and will listen and respect me. I had a few problems with the other class and if it was too boring, they gave me a hard time. Mr. Finley’s class knows that sometimes it will be boring drills but we will always play full games at the end, so they try really hard and improve their skills first. A lot of them were also happy to see me today because they didn’t know I was going to stay with their class instead of Kim’s.

Third and Fourth sessions for free and rugby. I got to see more kangaroos on the ovals today!

August 7th

After being at the athletics carnival for two days, it was nice to be back in Bribie with all the teachers. It was also nice to see the students that ive been getting to know. As far as classes, it was a usual Tuesday with weight room, rugby and binge drinking class.

I started binge drinking class with a power point on alcohol and consent and alcohol and violence. It is part of their final assignment and I felt that it was important to spend some time talking about each. I then gave them a mini assignment that answered 10 questions. Each questions was a slide and ultimately this assignment would help them with their final paper. As they finished these slides, we gave out the final assignment. The students have a 600 word writing assignment based on research and class about binge drinking. They get the next 4 weeks to do the assignment in class and outside of class. I was shocked when I heard this because we would never get this much time to do such a small assignment in New York. And on top of that, we usually never get assignments less than four pages. These students are not used to doing work and complain about writing anything so Cameron said that as easy as it is, there are always student who fail. Sometimes I wish I could transport these students to a New York classroom where they have to take notes the whole time.

August 3rd and 6th

I will put this past Friday and today in the same blog because both days I went to the University for district athletic carnival.  This again is like a big track meet between 12 schools in the area. I love going to these events because I really enjoy watching the student be competitive and have a bit of school spirit. Specifically Monday’s events were extremely intense because the top 3 teams were very close in points. I helped out by recording the names down and by measuring some javelin throws. Some of the measurements and times that we got for all the events for the past two days were really impressive. The next round is state athletic carnival in Brisbane and Madonna from Mountain Creek will take the top athletes that competed in the districts carnival. That is during my last week here but hopefully I can hear how we did in the events.  

August 2nd

Second session I had a pretty difficult class of 10^th graders. Planned on doing two stations to warm up with and then a drill before playing a game. I only got through the two mini exercises and going straight into the game. I did have a problem with one of the groups when a girl started to chuck soccer balls at another person. I had to sit them down and tell them that it is not okay to disrespect each other, the equipment or me. I had to go over rules that 10^th graders should know but that I clearly had to restate. The girls were really hard to motivate during this class and after everything, I didn’t feel all that great about the lesson. I didn’t get to really teach, it was more of a play type session. Cameron gave me some really good pointers though and advice on what I might want to rethink and change for the future during this session.

Third session I had what I thought would be a really intense game of speedball. Some of the students were a bit lazy and the girls were all standing together. This class is typically really good so im hoping they were just having an off day and that they’ll be back to their usual competitive selves next time.

Last session was awesome; it couldn’t have gone better. I sat with them in the beginning to go over how they should behave. Told them about not talking over me, and they were really good for the whole class. If that’s what I have to do each class, remind them of my rules, then I will but I hope they can also just remember and respect me.  They asked to play a warm up game that was straight running to one side with out getting tagged so I let them do two rounds of that while I set up the drill. I got them situated into four lines and we practiced punting the ball to another student about 10 feet away. The students were really good at this but some still needed a little help. I had a student demonstrate the kick while I talked through each aspect of it. After this drill, we got into a game of speedball. I explained the game rules, answered questions and put them in teams. It took them about five minutes to get the rules right because it’s a little confusing. I was really happy after this class. It was a really good way to end the week because tomorrow I am off to the athletics carnival!

August 1st

First session I think went pretty well for Beka and mine’s first time Co-Teaching. We needed to get the general sense of how we work together and teaching the Cha Cha was a good start to that. The students warmed up doing the two dances they learned last class and then Beka and I got into the cha cha. We tried to be as basic as we could but it took a bit longer for the students to get it than we anticipated. By the end, they did in fact get most of the steps and did it to music. One thing Beka and I spoke about after is how to get the students quiet and we just said that I would get their attention because I have a very loud voice and the kids don’t want to hear a teacher scream. There are always pros and cons to a lesson but it takes time for two teachers to get a feel for how the other one teaches. We are going to teach one more dance next class before the students split up into their assignment groups.

Second session I ran a GREAT basketball lesson. I got a white board to use so I can draw out the two different defenses, man and zone. I asked a lot of questions of why they would use each one and the advantages and disadvantages of each. I then did a big demonstration of each defense using a 5 v 5 and had the rest of the students sit on the base line. The students were really well behaved today and I tried to keep the lecture down to a minimum so they can play a lot today. I did each defense while the ball moved around with one group and then brought up 10 new students to do it again. We went right into continuous basketball and since we had the full court today, we were able to have 2 games at once with a team waiting to go on. I asked Mr.Finley (the male teacher that we combine classes with) to help me to make teams because I am still struggling with that. I divided up the 5 best players on different teams and then tried to divide the rest equally on those five teams. I will most definitely be able to get this task down with time and learning their abilities better.

Free for third session! Woohoo….I already planned my lessons for the week so I read and researched during this period.

Fourth session I had rugby again. Even if I am just sitting and chatting with the boys, its always an entertaining period.

July 31st

Another cruisy day…

First Free, Second weight room, 3^rd Rugby and 4^th was Binge drinking.

During second session there were two female fitness students running a circuit with the students and I actually learned a few things. These two girls challenged me and we chatted with each other about New York and their program.

The rugby boys are always entertaining. They are actually really nice boys but they LOVE playing pranks on each other. The most popular thing to do is turn other peoples backpacks inside out and put the stuff back in. This happens on a regular basis and it’s pretty funny but it got a little out of hand and I told them to stop. They are really respectful of what I say after getting to know each other. They also gave me a few ideas of what to do while I visit Sydney.

During session four we used the beer goggles to demonstrate the lack of control and coordination they have while intoxicated. We had them having a catch outside, walking on a straight line and pouring glasses of water. It was a lot of fun  and the students were having a good time as well.

July 30th

Mondays are relatively “cruisy” as Cameron would say. First session is supervising the weight room and second session is Cameron’s sociology class. They weren’t on their best behavior today so they stayed after the bell.

The certification fitness students run the third session, so we don’t do much during this session either.

Usually fourth session I would be teaching the sex ed class but today we had a special guest. The Nurse came in to talk about contraception and how to use condoms. The students have been asking about this lesson for the past two weeks and were very excited. Surprisingly, the students were really well behaved unlike every other class that they laugh through. Almost all the students volunteered to be part of the demonstrations. It was an interesting and entertaining class. Next lesson: Sexually Transmitted Infections!

July 27th

The morning started off a little rough. I taught a basketball lesson but we only did one drill for about 5 minutes because for the last day, we wanted to play as much as possible. Explaining the boxing out drill was harder than I thought and dividing the number of students into equal teams I kind of blanked on. Once they got going though, they did exactly what I asked them to do and they actually did it pretty well. We did continuous basketball again but we had the whole court. 2 games went on at once using half courts and one team stood in the middle waiting for a team to get a basket. It was a great way to have everyone moving. I blanked for a good 3 minutes and Kim pretty much took over making even teams, she also knows them a lot better and did it by ability.

Second session was free but I helped Tim (the head of P.E.) set up all the food for the faculty meeting. Once morning tea came, we had to take all the food over to the student center, where the entire faculty met up and the principal went over a few announcements.

I finally learned speedball during session 3. The students in this class have been talking about it since day one and since European handball is part of it, we decided it was good timing to start the game. It’s played on a soccer field and It has a combination of soccer, European handball, AFL, and Gallic football. If the ball is on the ground, it’s soccer rules. Someone can flick the ball up above the knees and if it is caught, that person can run with the ball. That person can get tagged with two hands and it would be a change over. To score, you have to kick it on the ground or out of your hands like a soft punt. With this class, the games always get really intense and since I was learning the game, I joined in. It was A LOT of running but it was tons on fun.

Cameron asked if I felt comfortable enough to teach this session since we were doing the same thing but I really didn’t feel confident enough in explaining the rules since I was very confused for a while. Session 4 was a bit more challenging. Last session we had maybe 20 students, now we had 45. They are also younger, more immature and more girls who just stand around and do nothing. We started with 3 stations of punting, dribbling and juggling the soccer balls. We split them up into three groups of 15 for the games. It took a lot longer for these students to understand the game and get into it. Hopefully next time we play, we can give another option to those who rather do something else because having so many people stand around ruins the game.

Sometimes I wish I could always just play the sports or activities with the students instead of reffing. While everyone was playing basketball first session, I really wanted to join and thankfully I got my chance in the afternoon and had an amazing time. It also makes my relationships stronger with the students when you join in.

July 26th

Today was a pretty awesome day but with the weekends coming tomorrow, students are getting a bit distracted.

Second session we played a big game of soccer with the 3 classes out on the ovals that are finally open. Half way through, I suggested giving the students who are just standing around the option to walk around the track. Once those students were out of the way and happy, a really good soccer game was going on. There was no real instruction part of this class and there are already 3 teachers there. I gather once all the ovals are open, we will split up and I will teach only my class.

During the third session, we had our final rounds of European Handball with my year 12 students that really love the game. With two games going on at one, no one was sitting out and everyone was having a good time. At times some of them got to rough or just silly and I would just give them a short break to get themselves together.

Fourth session I did another final lesson of European handball with my sex ed class. I told the deputy principal to come and observe me during this session and even though I knew exactly what I was doing, I also knew there were two students that could make things extremely difficult. I wasn’t nervous really but I went into the lesson trying to be proactive with those students and then it turned into being reactive once or twice giving them consequences. It was good for the principal to see me handle behavior problems though. During the warm up activity, I tried to add an addiction rule with 10 pass and make a number order but it didn’t go as well as I hoped for simply because the students weren’t moving around that much. I decided to switch over to playing real games. I put them on two teams 8v8 and the students actually got really into the game once they got the hang of it. It became competitive and more fun when everyone was putting more effort into it. Although something might not have worked or I had two kids fooling around the whole time, I think those are both important things for a supervisor to see how I deal with that. I think it is actually one of my strengths dealing with discipline and managing so I hope the principal agrees!

Great reports back from my principal! Makes me feel that much more certain that I chose the right path for myself!

July 25th

First session we started dance with three classes in the student center. Beka and I were really excited about this class because it has a lot of ballroom dancing and partner dancing. We also both had Mrs.Cahill and will be bringing our experience into this class of students. Mr.Boaza taught the tango and the boston-2-step, so I was learning as well. For each dance, he had a boy and girl demonstrate in the middle of the 2 circles. The inside circle is always boys and the outside was girls. The students were dreading this a bit but you can tell they were all having a great time once they started. They were also pretty good at the dances for learning them in a half hour.

Second session I had my basketball lesson and I was a little nervous because the last one did not go as well as I hoped for and was a little boring. This lesson went awesome though! I had three mini games going on at once and taught through playing instead of with drills. The numbers divided pretty well and I gave them very specific instructions step by step this time around. I talked to the students after these games about getting open but I lead the discussion with questions to get them thinking.  Once the students came up with the ideas of a pick or jab step, I brought students up to demonstrate each. I had to demonstrate a pick on and off ball a few different times with different students so that they really understood. After another round of small game using picks, we played continuous basketball. Regular game of half court basketball and once a basket went in, losers jumped off and a new team came on. It would go fast sometimes and slower other times depending on how hard they played but they all pretty much got into it. I was very happy with the two classes today but I did have one problem with a student. He simply doesn’t like participating in anything for any class and he decided to mouth off to me about the activity sucking and me sucking. I chose to bring this to the head teacher’s attention because I did not want to make him sit out, since he wanted that. My teacher decided to make him sit outside alone while he copied a random power point on paper and then he had to apologize to me at the end. He was nice about it and I said I accepted it but at the same time I told him my expectations for the class. I hope he will not be a problem anymore so I don’t need to write him up or anything.

Third session was a good planning session for tomorrows lesson that Donna will be observing.

Fourth session I watched the rugby boys practice and I got to talk with a few of them who were sitting out. They were just asking a bunch of questions about New York and the states. Good conversations and got to know each other better.

July 24th

During my free first session I planned a bit more for my decision making lesson and looked at some great lessons I can use for my sex ed class. I got a whole list of websites that I can use during class or for myself.

Second session was in the gym but this class really tries hard and they all get a pretty good work out. I learned a lot about the students while I went around talking to them. Found out what outside activities they do such as competition dancing and aerobics, and soccer. I also had a conversation about the uniforms with a few girls because all the girls where the boys uniform rugby shorts instead of the uniform girl shorts. Apparently the girl shorts are see through.

  We only had half of the third session for rugby class because the other half was assigned to ECP sign up. ECP is basically parent conferences when the parent and student come in to talk to a teacher. Students are assigned to a teacher even if they don’t have them. They will sign up for times between 1pm and 8 pm, which means I wont have to be in school till 12:30!

Last session I did a lesson on decision making in my binge drinking class. I found different scenarios that were a beginning to a story and the students had to finish the story. I let them do creative writing and make it as silly or serious as they want. I then read each scenario and would have 1 group member finish. Depending on the story, I would have the students think about what they would do if that happened to them or what could happen. Some of the stories they came up with happened to be really serious and we would get into a discussion about death after drinking and suffocating from your vomit or jumping off balconies into pools. When the students had to be serious, they were and asked great questions and had good answers. I really enjoyed teaching decision making through different stories that can happen because it makes everything more realistic. Sitting there telling year 12 to say no is really unrealistic especially since they have 2 weeks after graduating called “schoolies”. These 2 weeks the students go away somewhere and it’s equal to a college or high school spring break. I have to talk to them about decisions they make after they start drinking, dangerous situations and helping friends.

I feel comfortable taking over the binge drinking class but I don’t want to get too repetitive with what I teach. I also don’t want to sit and lecture, I need to continue making activities for them because that is when they pay attention more, they aren’t bored and we are all enjoying ourselves while learning.

July 23rd

Today was a pretty simple and quick day I suppose. Started off in the gym supervising the girls and boys on the machines and working out. During this time Cameron showed me how to work the attendance program on the computer so I can just take it every class now.

Second session Cameron has Sociology, which I don’t really do much in but sometimes chime in with a really heated debate. Cameron asked me to go get the 2 boxes of textbooks in the library and to meet him at the class. Of course I got lost, my luck. It’s the one classroom I haven’t really learned the route to yet because im so used to always being near the gym or student center (gymnasium). I wandered around with books on a trolley for about 15 minutes until I just decided to look at my schedule back in Bribie and ask where to go. Cameron laughed at me about 5 times through out the day about this.

Session 3 I had a class I haven’t really met and we did basketball in the student center. The cert 3 fitness students ran the session while we supervised. Cameron and I also planned a little bit of what well do next session with our sex ed class.

Today’s Topic: Male and Female organs and reproduction system. As a HUGE surprised, there was not much laughing during the lesson like usual. At some points there was a little but usually these students laugh through the entire lesson. I also think that I finally got through to the loud mouth last class because he was super good today. We printed out blank diagrams of the systems and organs for the students to fill out and sheets for them to explain what each part does. Majority of the students didn’t know much and then continued to not write down the information, so there are a lot of students doing homework now.

At the end of the day Cameron and I agreed I would take over the rest of the sex ed and binge drinking lectures and then I will continue running the team sports classes. There are about six to eight activity classes, so I will have my work cut out for me!

July 20th

My morning started off good with teaching my basketball lesson but I am being a bit hard on myself and wished I could have prepared some other things. The previous class we only used half court and I think that mislead me to believe that these students didn’t know basic basketball. While some of them really do need a lot of help, most of them are pretty decent once they have the space to move around. We combined with the same class but we had the entire court this time. We played dribble knock out as a warm-up and when the student’s ball got knocked out, I had them do a few laps and push ups to get back in. I made the area smaller and smaller to make it harder but also to force more students to put some effort into it.  I was really good at transitioning from the warm-up to getting their attention and sitting them down so I can teach a few basic skills. I had students come up and demonstrate with me and also showed what not to do based on what Ive been seeing. I had four stations involving dribbling, shooting and passing. One was dribbling with your left and then right hand weaving through cones, the next was passing with a partner using chest and bounce passes. The last two were shooting foul shots at one basket and shooting outside shots from another. I used cones to set up each one and when it was time to switch stations, the students listened very well. I noticed it getting a little boring for them, which is why I wish I had more game like activities planned and taught through those. My judgment of where their skills are was apparently wrong or mislead by the small court. I only kept them at each station for about 3 minutes so they didn’t get to bored and then we broke up into three teams to play full court games. It is so much better having the whole court, everyone is moving and there is more space to dribble and pass. All in all for my first real lesson, I think it went well but I will always come out of lessons wishing I did something different. I had Beka’s teacher there and the other classes’ teacher and they were both impressed by my ability to manage and control the students. They said I get their attention and I keep it because I will not speak over the students, I will wait there while the students waste their playing time. The students know this and will zip their mouths right away. The male teacher asked if this was my second placement because I handle the students very well, im confident and seem very comfortable. That made me feel great but not everything will go my way during a lesson. Kim mentioned keeping directions short, sweet and specific. To make sure students know exactly where to go and when. I saw a few lost students after I gave directions so I agree with that and I kind of beat myself up for not being specific. I will definitely work on those things though and also try to use the tactical approach by teaching through mini games so the students have more fun.

Session three there were about seven P.E. classes at once with limited space to use. We planned on playing European handball because it went amazing yesterday and we want to keep doing it for four or five weeks. Instead we combined with another class and played the ever so popular dodgeball. There was a class on the other side of the gym but when they left about half way through, we set up handball for just our class. I refereed the games again but because the court is much smaller inside, it was easier to shoot from further away. The games were not as good as the ones yesterday but the kids really enjoy playing. They actually wanted to play handball over dodgeball but we just didn’t have that option in the beginning.

During session 4 Cameron went to observe another teachers class because Mountain Creek has every teacher do an observation once a term I think.  So he basically handed me the class even though there was a sub and another class with their P.E. teacher. We agreed to do the same handball lesson as we did yesterday with the last session because there were two classes. While doing the 3 mini games of keep away and 10 pass, it was hard to get these year 8 and 9 classes motivated. They really wanted a scoring method such as a basket or goal. Eventually we did chair ball with the goalie sitting and it motivated everyone a lot more.  I managed these two classes just like I do with any other class, I wont sit there and scream at them and will not talk over them. They got the point of my rule and how I am going to teach the classes for the rest of my time here. Two of the courts did great but one court plus one other girl was giving me a really hard time. They had awful attitudes, wouldn’t follow directions and put no effort into anything. Since they said it was boring, I made them all sit on the curb in silence and if they talked they would get lunch detention. I really needed to make an impression on these kids and make sure they know that just because im new and a pre-service teacher, doesn’t make me anything less than an average teacher there. Eventually Cameron was back and came over asking what happened and he decided to make them all sprint to the front gate and back . He had a talk with them about respect, following directions and putting effort into class once they finished. During this situation, the other two courts were having a blast and the games got really intense. Even if I had to explain the last game a few times, I was happy with the results. During the last ten minutes the two teachers had a talk with everyone about positive attitudes towards new sports and effort. They also spoke about the tactical side of this sport because the other class is focusing on that. Since a few girls were talking during this, they got lunch detention. Lucky for them, no teacher wants to spend their lunch with students so they got the option to pick up 10 large pieces of rubbish instead. They got off easy but I don’t think that will be an option next time. I felt much better about this lesson compared to my basketball one even though I had some troublemakers. Walking back to Bribie Cameron and the other teacher Emma gave me a few tips about discipline and consequences. They even gave me a few ideas for consequences. The two of them were also impressed by my ability to gain control, manage and speak loud enough especially outdoors. These seem to be my strengths, which I kind of already knew but it never hurts to be reminded.

Today was a jammed pack day of teaching but I am happy with myself and will only get better with practice. I love getting feedback from the teachers because even though I am my biggest criticizer, they have been doing this longer and have some other methods/ideas on how to help my weaknesses and continue my strengths.