Teach Me to Teach!

After observing in the classroom on my first day, my mind was reeling with questions revolving around how I would be able to contribute to the kids’ learning. I hardly knew where to start … they chanted the ABC song, but would they recognize if a letter were missing? Did “capital” versus “lower case” letters mean anything to them? How do you explain a vowel? Could they actually read or were they just memorizing words? What about basic English communication like “hello” and “thank you”? There were no notes from previous teachers, no curriculum to follow, and no real leadership from their young Ethiopian teacher, who certainly must have her attention on the basics of their native Ahmaric language?

            I recognized that my hyper-organized mind was smoking from the chaos. I needed to apply structure first and foremost just to get my head around the task at hand. I asked Robin if she minded if I threw some ideas on paper to discuss with her that evening; she welcomed any and all input.

            One thing that seemed to be fixed was the daily schedule. Kindergarten teachers everywhere, I have no idea if this pacing is right, wrong, effective, or destructive, but it was the only thing I could grasp onto as a place to begin:

8:30 a.m. — Children arrive, change into school “uniform,” wash their hands

9:00 a.m. — Breakfast in classroom; wash hands

9:30–10:30 a.m. — Letters, vocabulary

10:30–11:00 a.m. — Recess

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. — Numbers, math

12:00–1:00 p.m. — Wash hands, lunch in classroom, wash hands

1:00–2:00 p.m. — Nap

2:00–3:30 p.m. — Crafts, arts (a little vague to me)

3:30–4:00 p.m. — Recess

4:00 p.m. — Wash hands, change back into street clothes, dinner in classroom, wash hands, go home.

Now, it seemed, we needed to fill in the academic-related timeslots with objectives and a strategy to achieve those objectives:

9:30–10:30 a.m. — Letters, vocabulary

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. — Numbers, math

and

2:00–3:30 p.m. — Crafts, arts (a little vague to me)

“Okay!” I thought, sensing a glimmer of hope. Objectives. Within moments, my mind started coiling in on itself again: alphabet; phonetics; proper nouns; lower case letters; short words; their names! Did they even know how to spell their names!? Did I even know how to spell their names?! Never mind … counting; measuring; weight; comparing; adding; subtracting; colors!; shapes!; rhyming songs; the hokey pokey! Crap … left and right … how the heck do you teach kids who don’t speak English “left” and “right” when you’re facing them at the front of the class? Holy monkey, wait a second … how do you teach kids who don’t speak English anything?!?!         

            Ho hum.