Our school is always fluctuating. Since I have been here, we have tried different types of teaching, different methods of groups, and every time you think you got it figured out, something new happens. This year, we had the fluctuation of Kelsi having Melody--she was teaching our elementary group. Put together a rotation schedule that divides my time between them and the older boys, and utilizes peer mentoring, and that hurdle is jumped. The elementary is a great group, and I really enjoy teaching them. A new hurdle is a system that I am in the process of creating (with Kelsi's help) called Pace Book Online. It is basically a bunch of interactive PDF documents that help the young kids become familiar with the words they see in their pace books. It is basically curriculum development. The middle school group had been working great. I spent a year working on a system to meet the needs of a group that ranges from no English at all (speaking, writing, reading, nothing) to practically high school level (speaking fluently, writing creatively, reading with ease). Finally had a group system worked out and it was going splendidly, and then we had a new student, so my groups were blown to pieces. Recently we lost a student. He went to be with his family who is now able to take care of him. Most of you know Timothy from the "What Is It!?" videos. He will be missed very much. I keep finding things that remind me that he is gone, and it is weird, because I am happy that he gets to be with his family, but also saddened that my time with him was cut short. He has made so much progress and he is a joy to be around. With his leaving, my groups for middle school were obliterated, and I basically had to start over. That is the reality in any school system. At the moment, I believe that our system is pretty awesome, with a rotation schedule that meets the needs of every student and also has time for speaking, writing, listening to, and reading English. I get to teach with a ratio of one to three, because of the rotations, and this ensures that the kids are getting the most attention. When we have teams, it is a one to one ratio, but I am confident that anyone could teach this class by themselves, after some training. I am in the process of creating a "School of the Nations Plan" that lays out how to run the school, because in the months of January and February, I was pretty well absent. This has been an amazing experience for me, and I have gained so much experience with curriculum development, classroom management, and even being a principal. If God ever allows/calls Kelsi and I back to the states, I will have a pretty great resume from my time as School Administrator at School of the Nations ;) Well, that is the update on how the school has been going. If you have any questions, please let me know. Also I am happy to share material.
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.
No comments:
Post a Comment