Back to early mornings
and early nights this week as the usual tiredness of placement weeks set
in. Every year when placement begins I
forget how much the school day really takes its toll on you. The 6:30am alarm
comes around so quickly and in order to survive and be at my best during a school
day bed time is 10:30pm every night.
This week I began to
teach some lessons to the children in my class.
This is the first time that I have taught this age group and I would be
lying if I said it was easy! With
children so young I have found that it is really important that every lesson is
busy and entertaining as they very easily become either distracted or
bored. Maybe this is why 10:30pm bedtime
has become necessary! Every year getting
back into the swing and routine of placement is difficult at the beginning and
this year has been no exception but as the days go in I again get used to it I
begin to really enjoy it and get into that ‘teacher mode’.
One of the GTCNI
Teacher Competences (2011) is to gain an understanding…
‘…of the need to take account of the significant features of pupils’
cultures, languages and faiths and to address the implications for learning
arising from these’
This is something that I have begun to do as having
children in my class with many different backgrounds and faiths means it is
important that I embrace this and really let the children embrace it as they
interact with each other.
It has been really
interesting getting to know how schools operate here and getting used to their
daily routines. Every year group in my
school have what is titled a ‘Unit of
Inquiry’. Within this they will have
a chosen topic that will be studied over a period of six weeks. My class have just finished their unit of
inquiry on the topic of ‘Light’. In this the children have learnt about different
types of light source and the difference between man-made and natural light.
Next week we begin the
new topic of ‘Our Lake’ where the
children will look closely at Lake Konstanz and begin to understand its
features. If I compare this to schools
at home and our curriculum – it would not be unusual to have a topic that is
studied in depth in class. At home when
we would choose a topic we would within it try to link as many subjects into
the topic as possible. As the Northern
Ireland Curriculum (2007) states:
“Pupils should be provided with a range of learning
opportunities to acquire and develop the cross-curricular skills in a variety
of contexts”
Here I have noticed
this is something that is not done as they just focus on the actual topic and do
not worry about cross-curricular links.
The teachers in our
placement school have been very welcoming and even inviting us out for
drinks and food. This has made Ashleigh and I
feel very welcomed into the school and becoming part of the team – which is
really nice.
In other news my wrist
is slowly getting better and daily routine and tasks have become more
manageable. I have also begun physiotherapy
here in Switzerland. While the majority
of clinics are private they all accept routine referrals from hospitals as well
so getting appointments hasn’t been a problem.
Once again all is covered by my European Health Card so I am glad this
was one of the documents I had with me!
My weekly appointments
have really helped me to slowly gain the strength back into my wrist and hand
and I am now beginning to really admire the lovely scar on my inner wrist – a
result of the operation to fit the plate - and a memory forever of my time in
Switzerland. Although physio is going
really well I have been strongly advised that I am forbidden to ride my bicycle
until a certain standard of recovery has been attained. As I had said in previous blogs bikes are the
main mode of transport here so this is something I have really struggled
with. Back to walking everywhere has not
been much fun as it easily turns a 5 minute cycle to Germany into a 30 minute
walk. Poor Sarah and Ashleigh have to
suffer the consequences of this when we decide to go anywhere together! This Sunday it will be five weeks since my
operation (wow) and hopefully in the next week or two my wrist should be fully
in motion again and back to normal. Here
is hoping that is the last drama of my Erasmus adventure!
At the beginning of
this week it was miserable here with constant rain and dark, windy days – just
like being at home in Fermanagh! However, to end on a bright note we were informed this week that a heat wave is due to
join us towards the end of May - we are really hoping that this is true!
Tschüss
Stephanie
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