Wednesday July 25^th 2012

Day Thirteen at Mountain Creek State High School

Being in Australia, I am always noticing differences. It really does not matter where I am, throughout my entire day there are things I have seen or heard that are much different than back home. For instance, on my way to school I am biking along the beach sidewalk and I am constantly struggling to get past people. It is amazing to see so many adults up at 6:30am running, walking, biking, walking their dogs, or just simply out on the sand. It is a great change from back home. I love being on that walkway because it is so beautiful with the ocean to my right and the esplanade to my left. I know if I lived here permanently I would become one of these adults out every morning soaking in this graceful view each day. School was definitely interesting today. Session 1 I joined with Melissa’s class to watch three PE classes combine for their first group dancing. We are going to be team teaching this class starting next week. They are year 10 and seem very slow at the whole dancing process. Some of the students were so mean depending on who their partner was. I was so upset hearing how they treated others in the class. It made me feel very uncomfortable and terrible inside knowing some kids get picked on so much. I decided to jump in with those left partner less in the beginning and danced with them and rotated around after. I think it is good for the students to see the teachers having fun, relaxed, and following the steps. This was helping some of them loosen up and relax. I am so excited to take some of the dances we learned in our class at Cortland for next week! In my session 2 I had one of my aerobics class. This got a little out of hand. One of my students proceeded to take his shorts off down to his knees showing me and the class his underwear. I was furious. At this point in time my host teacher left to get something from the staff house. I know he did this for attention, and I know he would never dare pull this off if my host teacher was there. I looked at him and yelled for him to pull his pants up right now or get out of my classroom. He laughed and the others were laughing and he slowly put them up, smiling, and said that he did not have a belt. I could not believe I had to witness this. I was so upset someone could be so disrespectful. Once I told my host teacher, after class we went back to write up a behavior report. It’s sad to me really, seeing the students care less. Most of the boys in this section do not earn OP (overall placement) which is what will get them into University so they really do not care if they do well in classes or not. It’s frustrating to me because I am trying so hard to have them interested. I give them a lot of my energy, and I learned now to put forth more efforts to those who are working hard. My host teacher basically told me, because they are year 12’s and almost done with school, treat them as if they are in the real world. If they are not willing to work hard, then fine do not let it bother me. I am trying my hardest to continue my high spirits but it is not always easy. I love teaching, but there are defiantly parts that are a struggle. I am happy to be seeing all different sides of the students and it is helping me develop my own types of teaching strategies.