Out in the Schools!

Today was a big day! We woke up very early to spend the school day at our designated schools. Rochelle and I went to New End Primary School located near Hampstead. This school is a school where a lot of the students come from well-to-do families. I felt like New End mirrored American schools in a lot of ways. The teachers dressed in a professional, but casual manner --nothing too over the top. The students really didn't wear uniforms, I felt like it was an option to wear them because only about 1/5 of the students that I saw were in uniforms. 

First, we got a tour of the school lead by two of the Year 6 students. We noticed that the classrooms were scattered by grade level, meaning that they would have a Year One classroom next door to a Year Five classroom and they were listed by the year level on the first initial of the teacher's last name. The first classroom we went into was a reception room for students ages 4 1/2 to five. The students who were 4 1/2 would turn five in the summer and started school there in January. It was very cute to hear the younger children with their British accents; they were also very intelligent and could spell wonderfully. There were so many different cultures in the classroom: Hungarian, Japanese, American, English, French-- such a difference than in American schools. The classroom was set up with four main tables for play learning, two tables that were teacher based where the teachers assisted the students with a certain activity. The other tables were independent but with a specific task to have the students accomplish. 

After the group activities, they went down to assembly where they had 10 minutes of music (lead by a music teacher from Pennsylvania). Then 10 -15 minutes of outside play time. Then we got to take an hour and 15 minute break for lunch where I discussed politics with one of the supply (substitute) teachers. He had a lot of questions about how we viewed Obama now and we talked about health care. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to have a discussion. 

After lunch, we were placed into a Year One classroom. The teacher in this classroom was disciplined focused and didn't have a lot of patience with her students (five-year olds). There was a lot of focus on maths and writing. They had writing time where they were given two simple words (you and so) and asked to use it in a sentence and then write it in cursive six times each. Once that was done it was time for mathematics. The students were separated into groups based on their ability level. I was in a group that struggled with math and I was sitting next to as student who clearly had ADHD and I was able to work through the worksheet that was given to them despite the difficulty I had with him focusing. When it became the end of the day, the teacher came up to me and said she admired my patience because she would have given up on him and sent him to a different teacher. 

Our speaker for the evening, Maurie Lancaster, was delayed for a short time because of a "one under" that happened on the tube. A "one under" means that someone took their life by throwing themselves under the train--apparently it happens often. Maurie talked to us about her job as a drama teacher in a secondary school for girls. One of the interesting things that I heard her say was that students in London don't get credit for their homework whereas in America, homework counts for a lot. After our short lecture we went to a Soccer game that was so much fun and a wonderful experience filled with drunken British singers who were very happy that we were supporting their team.