Teacher! Teacher!

First Day of Teaching!  Ahhh!  I can’t believe that only a week ago I was on a plane to Bangkok and today I am “Teacher!”  I had three classes today, Grades 3, 4, and 5.  Everything went OK.  My grade 4 class was a dream, especially considering how they acted yesterday when I was visiting the classroom.  Yesterday they were very rowdy and wouldn’t quiet down for anything, however, today they listened and were very attentive to me and to the lesson.  It felt really good and it gave me a lot of confidence going into my next class, the third graders.  Unfortunately, the third graders were not behaving – they absolutely refused to stop talking.  I was successful in getting through the lesson but it definitely left me a little more frazzled.  I have a plan though... I think in all my classes they need more structure in terms of discipline.  The teacher who has been here for the last month doesn’t seem to have any sort of reward or consequence system in the classroom and I’m just not sure that’s effective.  The other teacher who works with me has a sticker system that she says works really well so I’m going to try that.  Especially because it involves their pictures and I think that will really help me to learn their names!  Speaking of their names... All of my students have “nicknames” given to them by their parents because their full names are so dang long and complicated (or at l east I think so) and these nicknames are sometimes hilarious.   Words like “star” “dream” “cartoon” “pingping” “bom””atom”... You get the picture.  Suprisingly, it does not make their names easier to remember.

Anyway, I’m going to try and do short blog posts so that I’m doing one every weekday.  I know, you laugh, but watch me!  Toodles for now!