First Week of Teaching Math

I started teaching math to my 5th graders this week. We are working on Fractions: comparing, ordering, simplest form, greatest common factor, changing to decimals, etc. Since I don't know how much they have learned in previous years, or even this year, I definitely had to change my pacing after day one. The lessons have been good, but I have had to modify them to make each lesson last a little longer than originally intended. But hey, that's how it goes when you're a teacher! 

I absolutely LOVE my class! I already know that it is going to be so hard to say goodbye to them at the end of March--but I'm not going to think about that now! A perk of teaching on a base school is that you have a lot of diversity already built in. Students come from all over the United States (and the host country!). Most of the students that have parents in the Army were born in the southern states. I have three students that originally attended German School but since their parent married another from the military, they switched schools; it's actually very common here. The students tend to pick up English pretty well, but we have had some issues. For example, I assigned some homework out of the book today saying that they only had to do problems 7-21 odd. I made sure to clarify with the students what odd meant and then I asked them questions like, "Are you going to do problem 8? What about problem 13?" With a majority of students expressing the right answer (and trust me, my class can talk!). Well, one of the students who I *think* just started base school at the beginning of the school year still didn't understand and said that she didn't know what the word odd meant (her typical response to most things are "We didn't do that at my other school"). This student also tries to defy me a lot (like today: "You can't divide 2 into 100"). Sigh, she's a tough one. The other student from a German School just started at the end of last week. She's still very shy and reluctant to ask for help or clarification on anything so I definitely have to keep my eyes on her work. Luckily, she picks it up fairly quickly. I just value each of my students and I love that I have gotten connected with them in 2 weeks of time. There is one girl who I'm pretty sure is a reincarnation of my future daughter gone back in time. One boy who talks to me about all of the funny youtube videos out there and thinks it's SO COOL that I know about them! One girl who is the oldest of 5 and is like a little mom. A group of very talkative (fake-valley girl style) who are OBSESSED with One Direction--I try to tell them my boy bands were better, they are still really impressed that I liked Backstreet Boys and N'SYNC. They are all just adorable! It makes getting up at 6am every day very enjoyable!  

Another perk about teaching on a military base is that the students are very well behaved! Obviously, if you have a parent in the military you tend to be brought up a certain way (trust me, I would know... DAD! Haha). My class has really good behavior and they all get along with one another, I don't have to worry about bullying. They respect each other and are able to laugh at themselves and have fun! Sometimes, it can get out of hand with the silliness and talking but that is what I'm here to learn about. My CT is wonderful! She has a great grasp on 5th graders and what they need out of a teacher.

Their school day is also awesome! I love that each subject gets about the same amount of time as the others. In the states, it's so focused on reading and math and not enough on other subjects that round out your education and can build off of one another.

If I had anything that I didn't like about teaching there, it would be the constant moving around that the students do and the retention rate that they have. It is difficult trying to get everyone on the same page when they have all had bits and pieces of things throughout many different schools. For example, the other 5th grade class is losing 5 students in February! That is just crazy!

Something exciting: My CT is going to be gone on Friday (that's NOT the exciting part! :P) so she will have a sub, but I get facilitate about half of the school day! Woot, woot! :)