Two Weeks Down, Seven More To Go

While the students are still seemingly lovely, with their Kiwi accents and all, they're beginning to show some of their truer colors to me. They're all sweethearts in their own way. Over the past couple of days, however, Amanda's been gone on one full and one part day release, meaning a reliever (a substitute) has been in the room with the class to hold the fort. Much like in the States, the students try to get away with whatever they can. While it's nowhere near absolute chaos and bedlam, it's become evident just how well Amanda is able to manage the classroom with all the various personalities that exist within it.

After a maths session today that was a little less than smooth, I had my first little chat with the class. Just to lay down some rules and basics with them, I explained how, despite the fact that I am clearly NOT Mrs. Douglas, I do expect the same behavior from them. They're all eager to learn and they all know how to behave themselves in the best of ways, so I know that they're fully capable of meeting the high expectations I have set for their behavior.

Similar to other field experiences I've had, it's always interesting for me to see how students react differently to different teachers/people in the classroom. In some cases, the relationships are smooth and seamless as silk, while others are full of patches and rough spots. I know I'm still learning in many ways, but I feel as though with the models from Amanda and her guidance will really help me in keeping the class functioning in an orderly, neat fashion.

I feel as though I've been a bundle of all sorts of emotions over the past two weeks, if not even before that. I have nerves from a combination of traveling to a new country and standard pre-teaching jitters. I'm excited by just about everything that lies on the path ahead of me. I'm overwhelmed by how many things there are to do and experience over such a short period of time. I'm grateful to all the people who I've worked with over the past several days, weeks, and months. I'm sad that this experience is going to be over so quickly, but I'm optimistic that the teaching and cultural experiences here in New Zealand will go far beyond all my expectations.

And, so, with these sole two weeks passed, it's on to planning for week 3 and keeping up with the Kiwi flow of things.