Adventures in Teaching - Practicum

So a couple weeks ago we did our  "practice teaching" (i.e., Practicum) where PC arranges with a couple of local schools to let us teach some of their classes over two weeks.  We each taught 8 lessons, paired with another trainee, and then each observed 3-4 lessons of our peers to provide feedback alongside the program staff.

I lucked out and was paired most often with sweet, chill Elaine, but I also taught at least one lesson with 3 other trainees, as well. I did have to do a 1st and 3rd grade class, but only one time each thank god (lol) and did one 4th grade class, which I enjoyed, then two 5th grade classes, one 6th and an 8th and a 9th. I just do better with older kids and those lessons went the best. Here we all are at the school in Bar where we taught the older kids:

But, funny thing, the 2nd grade class I did (with Elaine) is apparently THE most difficult class at the school due to behaviors, and having 3 special needs kids in the class (with no paras).  But for some reason, they were actually really well behaved the day we taught. I think partly it was due to Elaine's "grandmotherly" presence, and partly due to us not knowing ahead of time it was a "problem" class and I worked to engage the really disruptive girl - who sits at the front at a small round table with another challenging girl and a smart girl.  "Sarah" was taken aback by me treating her like all the other kids and meekly sat saying nothing until about the 4th time I tried to engage her and then she whispered out some of the vocab.

Fast forward a week.  Parker & Rob "get" to teach that same class and I "got" to observe. It did not go well. Sarah was out. of. control. Spent most of the class running around the room, being disruptive, bolting from class a few times, knocking on the door when out and then running away, etc. The other kids know she has issues and often try themselves to get her to stop, but it devolved to a point where they were all chattering away and goofing off with one boy who sits behind Sarah just full on slapping her across the face to try and get her to calm down! THAT finally elicited the regular teacher stepping in, while poor Rob & Parker gamely tried to keep the rest of the class engaged and finish the lesson. At one point, Parker was just PLEADING with the kids, "Please listen to me!  PLEASE listen to me!"  I actually got a significant headache just OBSERVING.  But the Peace Corps staff said how lucky they were to have had that experience so they could know the worst that could happen!  lol

In the 6th grade lesson I had with Rob we were teaching healthy and unhealthy foods. We were each going around the room with tablets showing kids random pics of food and asking if they were healthy or unhealthy. I showed a solid, solemn looking boy a pic of a can of Coke and asked, "Is it healthy or unhealthy?" and he looked me right in the eye and deadpanned, "It's unhealthy and I don't drink Coke because it's made in Israel and they are bad." I was like, "Whoa, good English!" gave him a fist bump, and moved on.

Elaine taught that same class later in the week with Parker and I was observing. As the kids were getting settled, a girl came up to me in the back and asked, "What is that old lady's name?" and I lost my shit. She was all confused at my laughter and said, "What? I want to know. I like her. I want to give her a hug."  Elaine was quite amused when I shared after and she mentioned she got a lot of hugs from kids.  Awwww!

In the 3rd grade class I taught with Harper there was a Russian boy on the spectrum--speaks no Montenegrin OR English, only Russian--and likes to occasionally roam around the class, rearrange the chalk, pics on the wall, etc. We were given a heads up about him so let him do his thing as long as he wasn't disrupting or distracting, but at one point, he made for Harper's phone on the teacher's desk while she was in back helping another kid. Without even thinking, I asked him in Russian what he was doing and he responded, "I want to listen to some music" and I said, again in Russian w/o really thinking, "Why? No. Leave it alone" and then it dawned on him that I had spoken Russian (his regular teacher only knows Montenegrin & English) and he startled, looked at me, narrowed his eyes, and then slowly backed away and sat down and behaved the rest of the class.  Ha!

Ironically, one of our most successful classes - a 5th grade lesson I did with Elaine - got us some disapproving feedback from the local teacher who harrumphed, "They had too much fun with the exercises you gave them and they won't remember the vocabulary, just that they had fun!" When she left, the PC Program Staff Managers/Observers said we were lucky to get that "local taste" of how they think lessons should be boring and are only successful when they end in tears and that the lesson we'd done was actually a most excellent example of how to engage kids while also getting them to learn, and they would be giving some feedback of their own to said teacher later.

Finally, as mentioned, the 8th and 9th grade classes were my favorite. I have a better rapport with older kids, and like in Kazakhstan, boys don't see male teachers here so otherwise normally checked out kids pay more attention - and after the lesson I got several selfies requests with students and the teacher raved.  We'll see how things go at site and am hoping I'll get mostly older kids. Think good thoughts for me!

Disclaimer: Any thoughts, observations, opinions, etc. are of course mine and not necessarily the views of Peace Corps.