First Day Working in a Classroom!!!

For those of you not interested in my obsession with teaching and all things classroom, so ahead and bypass this one!! Today was such a beautifully amazing day. I got the opportunity to observe and assist with a year four class in a primary school here in Oxford. The second you walked in the door you could feel that the energy of the classroom was way different than anything I'd ever experienced in the states. All of the students were really excited and it seemed like there was nowhere they'd rather be than on that carpet with their classmates and teacher.

There was also so much movement in the classroom that the students were never really bored. One second they'd be making up a combination of stomps, snaps, claps, and pats to help them call out their times tables, and the next they were reading and acting out a passage about dragons. It was absolute chaos, but at the same time it was just incredible to watch. The entire time, the students were all completely engaged in the lessons the entire time and had big smiles on their faces. By doing a lot of group work, the teacher created this beautiful learning community where the students not only worked together diligently, but they also respected one another and everybody's ideas. For the most part, they also had so much confidence when they had to present something in front of the class, and for the classmates that were a little hesitant, all of their peers were watching with looks of encouragement on their faces.

When I got to assist the students with their group work, they were pretty self sufficient for being only 9 years old. They would work through their task and if a group member did not understand, they were always very quick to explain it to them in a positive and encouraging way. I didn't need to assist them much, but when they did have questions for me, they didn't just want to know the answer to write it down on their paper, they were genuinely interested in the answer and why it was correct.

While they may not cover as much information in a day as classes in the US do, they gain something much more important... a deeper love and appreciation for learning.


xoxo
SG