pensamientos sobre la escuela

before i write about my super exciting trip to the arab baths, i wanted to share my thoughts on teaching and the school system here...i have discovered that i really really like teaching, something that surprised me a little. i approached this job with a really open mind since i had no idea what exactly i was going to be doing...would i be teaching a whole class? would i just sit there while the teacher goes on and on? would i have to do a lot of preparation? so far i've found that it is a mixture. the 5th grade teacher i work with is really nice (she's my favorite), and she really wants to include me in the lessons and have me teach when possible. she also likes me to prepare things out of class for the students to do. but the 6th grade teacher doesn't seem to know how to use the teaching assistant, so a lot of the time i will just sit there and read something when he asks me to, or go around and check the students work when they're doing a worksheet. the 3rd grade teacher doesn't speak english very well at all, so i have pretty much been teaching those classes. and the 4th grade teachers like to have me involved too. on thursday, i actually helped with the oral part of their test... i took two students at a time, asked them questions about a picture, and then graded them. i was probably more nervous then they were! but they understood me perfectly and did really well!!

there are several things that have really surprised me about the teachers/spanish school system. i don't want to sound like i'm knocking it, since i've only been involved for 3 weeks, but it doesn't seem efficient to me. first of all, many of the teachers don't enforce the "english only" rule. when i was in middle and high school learning a foreign language, my teachers rarely, if ever, spoke in english, even when we were just beginning. but that's how you learn! there is only one teacher i work with who constantly speaks english; all the rest speak spanish more than english. the third grade teacher can barely speak english, so it's a little surprising to me that she's teaching it! another thing that surprised me is the way the teachers act towards the students. they are not afraid to scream and yell at the students, or talk about them negatively right in front of their face. for instance, in the 3rd grade class there is a boy who is overweight. he doesn't cause trouble or anything, but the other day the teacher turned to me and said, while he was right there "oh, he's so big for someone so young!" i was really caught off guard! granted, i'm not sure if he understood her, but the fact that she was saying that shocked me! i wouldn't say the teachers are mean here, but there are definitely a few that will go off on a kid if they aren't on the right page or even if they don't understand...

which brings me to the special ed aspect of the school. or lack thereof. in one of the 3rd grade classes, there is a kid who i think has autism or some sort of mental disability. he is disruptive, gets up and walks around, and speaks the whole time. but instead of having someone there to help him, they had a man who just sat there and did his work for him. i think there may be one period of the day where he leaves the class for a private class, but i'm not positive. i don't know if it is the spanish school system or just my school, but they have no idea how to handle a child with a mental disability. i've seen several other children who need more time on exercises, but the teachers ignore it and continue on.

also, i have no idea how these children learn anything... they are in school for less than 5 hours a day! and the lessons NEVER start on time, and if you subtract the time it takes for the teacher to yell at the kids to be quiet and for them to actually get around to doing an exercise, its probably only 35 minutes of class time instead of 55. then of course they have 30 minutes of recess, and everyone comes back in late and can't settle down for the first half hour of the class. it's crazy! wayy different from my experience!

i'm not trying to put down the spanish school system at all, but these are just some of my observations so far. the kids are bright and fun, maybe a little out of control, but all in all i love them. and to be honest, i went to the same private school for my whole life, so maybe this happens in schools in the U.S. and i just have no idea. but it has definitely been a wake up call!!