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!