First Semester

I survived and passed first semester and placement. I'm starting my last semester of teacher's college tomorrow. The classes this semester are:

Professional Studies
Visual Art
Drama/Dance
Math
Literacy
Music
Guitar Workshops

This program is preparing me to be an excellent educator, however it is very stressful and I know for the next four months I will not have a lot of down time. There really is no time to catch your breath in this program. The assignments are very different than essays I had at University in Canada. They are very hard to understand understand what the professor wants you to write about and I find they take me a long time to write and then I'm rushing last minute to hand them in on time.
I did have a wonderful experience during placement. I was at a school a 10 minute walk away from my house. My associate teacher who is basically trains me and evaluates my teaching was a smart, kind, fun and over all incredible person! It was a collaborative learning environment which meant that there were about 100 students sharing fours spaces. There was no doors in the space and students would move from one class to another like in high school. I actually liked this environment because you can get support from other teachers and the students seem to enjoy it as well.
I was teaching year 7/8 students who were aged 11-13. I really enjoyed this age group and wonder is when back in Canada I could upgrade to be a grade 8 teacher or a high school teacher. I feel like pre teens and teens are a great group for me to work with because of my coaching background.
The school I taught at was brand new because the original school was destroyed during the earth quake. The students had a kitchen they could use with an oven, sandwich grills (NZ kids always bring toasties to heat up for lunch), fridge and a microwave.
I feel the students in NZ have a lot more freedom to do things for themselves and teachers are not always hovering over them. They seem to have a lot more independence than Canadian children. And Kiwi teachers seem more relaxed and flexible maybe because they are on Island time? The teaching process in NZ is very similar to my coaching training. Teachers are just there to act as guides and students are the ones doing the work. Teaching in NZ is asking the students questions and getting them to try to find out the answers on their own.
Every lesson I taught I used my laptop and did a power point presentation for my class. The space I was working in always had a large screen television with a usb cable to show my PowerPoint on.
The students go one morning a week to do technology workshops at a local high school. Where they make things like spinning tops, metal objects, bake food etc.
The teachers really liked how I would say yes to anything they asked me to do. For example, I was asked to fill in to teach Spanish and they were thrilled and shocked that I agreed to. Overall, placement was a great experience and I really miss the teachers and students already.
I had two weeks off recently and went to Melbourne and Sydney Australia for one of those weeks. Also, Breton and Casey visited me a couple of months ago so I'll post a couple those photos down below.
I am feeling very negative and anxious about tomorrow. Luckily I have some positive and cheerful friends so hopefully they can raise my spirits this semester. Can't wait to be home with my parents, sister, Casey and cats!