Friday, October 26, 2012

A Day in the Life

This week has flown by, and I feel like I have been here forever! I am settling into a routine at school, despite my busy schedule moving between classrooms. I thought I would try to give you a look at my typical day with a few details about school, but it's tricky because my schedule is different every day. I spend most of my time with the junior infants, but also float to the senior infant, 3rd, 4th, & 6th classes.

7:00 - Wake up, get ready for school, catch the double-decker Dublin Bus at 8:05...or 8:15...it seems to come at a different time every morning (and afternoon). Also, my bus only comes every 45 minutes, so missing it is not an option. Luckily, the Dublin Bus website has a real-time information page that tells what time the buses are expected at each stop.

8:55 - School starts. Begin the morning with the junior infants, assisting with lessons and teaching English or maths (as it is called here). The junior infant class is working on letter sounds, handwriting, and math concepts such as more/less.

10:45 - Break - Students eat the first part of their lunch, then go outside. Teachers go to the staff room for a "cuppa" (tea or coffee). They really do drink a lot of tea here!

11:00 - Back to the classrooms... If I am with the junior infants, I assist with their stations, which are based on a different theme each week (harvest, farms, ocean, etc.). In the older classrooms, I assist with lessons or grade papers.

12:45 - Students finish their lunches, then go outside. Teachers eat lunch in the staff room.

1:15 - Junior and senior infants go home, and I spend the afternoon with the 3rd or 4th class depending on the day. With 4th class, I assist with art on Wednesdays, and teach P.E. on Thursdays. Beginning this week I teach music for 3rd class on Fridays.

2:25 - School ends. I finish up anything I need to do or just stall for a while because my bus doesn't come until after 3:00 (and it's cold or rainy or both!) Eventually I walk to the bus stop, and head home - my bus ride is only 6-7 minutes long.

School Highlights of the Week:
-It has been fun to have the opportunity to do some more teaching this week! I think my favorite thing was teaching music in 3rd class this afternoon. While half the class went to the computer lab, I did music with the other half, and then they switched (or swapped, as they say more here). I taught the song Sarasponda, and we sang it as fast as we could, which the kids loved, and we played a rhythm game.
-The junior and senior infants have been learning Halloween songs for the past couple of weeks, and today they did a little concert for each other. Most of the kids wore Halloween costumes, which was very cute.

As of this afternoon it is half-term break - no school next week! This weekend I am heading out on a bus trip to Northern Ireland with three other student teachers in my area. We stay overnight in Belfast on Saturday, visit the Giant's Causeway on Sunday, and return to Dublin Sunday evening. We're hoping to do some more travel throughout next week, but there aren't any other specific plans yet... I'll keep you updated. Talk to you soon!

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