It's been a while

It has been quite a while since I last posted and I will only give the excuse that I have been working really hard on interviews for Graduate school assistantships via Skype for the past week. It has paid off though and I am starting to get responses back, keep your fingers crossed!!

I want to talk a little bit about the first week that we spent teaching in San Pedro High School. Let me tell you that I was nervous as I could be going into this week. Ms. Usher, the head of the English Dept. at the school gathered all of the high school interns and assigned us to our teachers a few days before starting and we were all very excited about our placements. She started off by asking which of the English teachers could help her with teaching essay writing to her first- formers (ninth grade). Guess who got voluntold for that position? I was a little let down at first because I wanted to get a chance to teach Literature but was also excited that my ten weeks in the states teaching Senior project had paid off somehow. So I was assigned to Ms. Usher who is also referred to as the "big mamma" of San Pedro High. That made me nervous because I absolutely had no choice but to impress her! The schedule at SPHS is a little different than at Hoggard because they have 8 periods a day that last about 45 minutes each. I say about 45 because the bell is not at all consistent... it is almost like someone looks up at the clock and realizes, oh yeah, it's a class change now! Very more laid back than any school in the states. The students also stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers rotate to come to them, which is also different from what I was used to. The students were very much like ninth graders back in the states, extremely nervous to ask questions. Ms. Usher has a very distinct rapport with her students in that she has the classroom management down but can break out into speaking creole with her students. On that side note, most of my students here speak 3 languages!! That's English, Spanish, and a creole language. The students love Ms. Usher and Ms. Usher has the biggest heart for these kids. A lot of times she will buy lunch for a few of the students who do not have any money to buy it themselves. She also started having extra classes on Saturdays for the students who need a little bit more instruction or extra help. She is the backbone of the school and I felt very lucky to be placed with such a unique and amazing woman.

So the very first day I was going to introduce topic development and thesis statements (sound familiar students??). As soon as I stepped in front of the kids though, all of my nerves went away and I felt like I was completely ready for whatever could happen in those 45 minutes. When I first walked in they all greeted me in unison, "Good morning Miss" and that was enough to melt my heart. Throughout the day I could feel myself getting better at explaining and delivering the lesson that I prepared, which made me start to favor the shorter class periods. I was able to keep their attention throughout the time and it allowed me to break things down into smaller more manageable chunks. I look forward to the next two weeks of teaching after Easter Break!