| | | Day 5 - Friday, 8 July 2011 My last day at the John Calvin School, and I couldn’t have asked for a more enjoyable day. Today was the much anticipated Cross country and Jump Off. Set at the Trevallyn Reserve, we all started the day appropriately and warmed up for the run. The preps started off first, with the year 1/2s leaving 5 minutes later and so on and so forth. The distances were longer as the year groups got older and so the whole day was expertly organised by Mr Coote. Laura and I ran with the year 1/2s (because we needed to help them through the course, not because we’re lazy of course ;)) The run was very enjoyable, the day crisp and the scenery beautiful. Muddy issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the run with the kids. I suffered a minor fall and landed square on my backside in the mud, losing my shoes and getting a shoefull of mud. No laughing matter, as I was slightly traumatised by the experience ;) Coming in 3rd place with Miranda, I think it’s fair to say I did an excellent job of encouraging the kids in the endurance race. Once crossing the finish line, we had a drink, snack and made our way to the area set aside for skipping practice. The possums kept the kids entertained while we waited for the year 9/10s to return from their extensive hike. All re-boarding the bus, covered in mud and worn out, we headed back to school. With soup and buns provided by helpers and teachers for lunch, our insides were warmed up and we spent lunch time practicing the routines for their presentations later in the day. A few group activities took place, with the groups rotating around the stations doing various different skipping tricks. Then the entire school and the many parents that came to watch all gathered to watch the students’ routines. Called up group by group, the performances were spectacular ! I was especially amazed, since they only had a week to prepare. They did very well and the thunderous applauses reflected everyone’s appreciation for the effort put in to these skipping presentations. Closing the day appropriately, it was time to say goodbye to all the staff and students at the John Calvin School of Launceston. I feel so privileged to have met the amazing people that make up this school, and I know it sounds so cliché but it truly has been a life changing experience. The teachers and parents often referred to the school as one big family, and today was an obvious example. The teachers and the students, the parents and teachers and the students themselves show clear concern and care for each other. Huge thanks go out to the Careers in Education Committee for organising and running such an excellent program, to all the people that supported me, the Dingemanses’ for accommodating for me in my stay (huge shout out to Hamish for sharing his bathroom) and to the incredible bunch of people I’ve met while in Tasmania :) Hope you enjoyed my dramatic blogging and closing off for the last time, Melanie :) |
| Day 4 - Thursday, 7 July 2011 Today was a rather colourful day with the high school kids dressing in their PJ’s for the day and even some brave teachers got involved. Being the only appropriately dressed person in the year 7-10 drama class, we spent the morning acting and rehearsing some scripts. The class was quite a comical one, and we all shared some laughs :) Mrs Eilander certainly enjoys teaching the kids drama. Spending recess with the high school kids was good fun; a fairly intense game of soccer was going on with everyone in ugg boots and pyjamas. After getting our sport pants and shoes on, Laura and I boarded the bus with the kinder/preps and set off to the oval where the cross country run will be held tomorrow. Mr Coote, Laura and I walked with the kids around the track that the kinder/preps will be running tomorrow to show them how the trail goes. I had been warned, and yes the track was so muddy! It was alright though because we walked the majority of the track but after lunch we went again with the year 3/4s and running the track made us twice as muddy :) On the way back, the kinder/prep kids were more than happy to point out the snow on the tops of the mountains and told some pretty intriguing stories. After lunch I sat in with the year 3/4 French class and the 5/6 music class, then Laura and I jumped on the bus once again to take the year 3/4s to the track. As I said before, they took things a little bit quicker and so I jogged the track with the boys, getting nice and muddy ;) let’s just say I'm certainly looking forward to getting amongst the mud tomorrow. Getting my dose of exercise for the day, we all reboarded the bus and headed back to school. Thinking about the cross country and Jump Off tomorrow, I’ve really noticed the pros and cons of having a small school. Excellent in the way that such events can be organised and the increased 1 on 1 time with the teachers I really admire the closeness of all the staff and students at the school. From what I hear, many fundraisers are needed – but I love the atmosphere at the school, all the children are so grateful and appreciative of what they have! The fruits of the spirit are definitely clear to see, and the students here are so welcoming and cheerful :) Melanie :) |
| Day 3 - Wednesday, 6 July 2011 Another frosty morning, I again started with the year 1/2s with the same routine as yesterday. Passing maths intelligence from one student to another, I helped the year 1s with their numbers and the year 2s with their geometry. Miss T has herself a bunch of smart cookies and they picked up and understood new concepts so quickly it was incredible! Along the way I’ve been picking up teaching tips and following by example, applying what I’ve learnt when I explain things to the kids. For daily PE, we went outside for a quick game of ‘corners’ on the pavement. Quickly finishing and checking their math they raced outside for recess time. After recess, Laura and I helped Miss Postmus out with some laminating, which revealed to us the other side of teaching – all the work that goes on behind the scenes and whatnot :) We also spent the last 10-15 minutes helping the year 5s with their SRA activities. Lunchtime was a little bit more social for me, I spent the majority of the lunch break in the staff room talking to the teachers, giving and receiving some feedback which was really good. The lunch whistle sounded and I spent the first half of the afternoon in the computer room with the 5/6s again. Horrible memories of ‘Mavis Beacon’ flooded back as I watched them do ‘Type Quick’ – the Tasmanian version of our typing program ‘Mavis Beacon’. Mr Brouwer also introduced me to an educational website (www.eChalk.com.uk), which I highly recommend to our school – mind you, it isn’t an Australian website so some information is slightly different. After a brief interlude for a hot coffee, I made my way to the year 7/8 cooking class where we spent the afternoon making pizza. Feeling like quite a masterchef, I helped Samantha and Abby make the pizza bases and putting on the various toppings which was filled with laughter. And as the saying goes: ‘all good things must come to an end’, so ended my third day at the John Calvin School of Launceston. Melanie :) |
| Day 2 - Tuesday, 5 July 2011Skipping skipping skipping! It seems that every spare moment the children have, they spend wielded with a skipping rope in hand - before school, daily PE, in recess, for sport, in lunchtimes and practicing their routines after lunch. But I’m re-living my glory days and getting amongst the action too. Anyways, I'm back to school again for day two, and started the day with the year 1/2s. Miss Terpstra told the kids a bible story; we sang their psalms quite vociferously and then did some maths. Miss Thompson took the year 1 kids and taught them about numbers and stuff on the magic white board thingamabob (I think our school should invest in a few more of those ;-)) which is pretty cool. Recess was absolutely freezing! I joined in with the skipping to keep my fingers from freezing right off. Helping the year 5/6s with their stories between recess and lunch I got my imagination on and thought up some pretty interesting characters. They also took some picture books and read a few of their personal favourites. After lunch I found my way to the kinder/prep classroom with Mrs Veltkamp. Diving right into the teacher form I read them a story and then worked with them in their spelling and reading. Only there for a short while, I got my artist on and worked with the 7/8s in their art class. They impressed me with their work on colours and some of their creations were outstanding! Mr Brouwer did his best to act as relief art teacher, much to the students’ dismay (any Van Gogh enthusiast would have been horrified! ;)) only kidding, he did a superb job. After art 7/8s piled into the computer room to work on their projects with Mr Eikelboom. They were more than happy to point out the tourist hotspots in Tasmania, recommending that I visit certain places as this is the first time I have visited this slice of freezing paradise they call Van Diemen’s Land. All this was part of their project I'm sure ;). Wrapping up the day appropriately, it was time to say goodbye. Today was pretty exhausting again but again it was an excellent experience and I am only too grateful to be selected for such a rare expedition. Melanie :) |
| Day 1 - Monday, 4 July 2011 Hi all, This morning I started my week off in perfect teacher style! Slept in, spilt brekky on my clothes and rolled up within minutes of the bell (contrary to my regular composure, right?) Despite my shaky start, Mr Brouwer made me feel right at home, giving Laura and I a brief tour of the campus and introduced me to Miss Hart. I was invited to spend the whole day with the year 3/4’s, at first we were all a bit shy, but by recess time I had fallen in love with them (: A pretty relaxed morning, we went through the year 3 and 4 psalms and I had a few of the kids on my laps doing silent reading. The school is currently in preparation for the Jump Rope for Heart presentation this coming Friday, and so we took all the kids outside to practice their skipping. And they do a mighty fine job of it too! It wasn’t until they placed a rope in my hands and told me to have a go that they saw how it’s really done, WA style! (Only kidding, the kids out-skipped me by far ;-)) Needless to say, I’m certainly looking forward to this Friday’s presentation. We got a bit carried away and spent a lot longer than planned outdoors, so we all headed back in for some mental maths and spelling activities. Miss Hart told me I had to take the test too and I was nearly outsmarted by 9 year olds :-S ! Recess brought on more skipping and a few raindrops, the teachers made sure I knew of the terrible weather WA was experiencing compared to Tassie. After recess, the girls took me into the bathroom where we had a real cute ‘gossip’ session and cheekily came to class late. It was about now that I realised I was supposed to be there as one of the teachers, not as a student, but moving on to our spelling activities, I was bombarded by requests to ‘help me with mine’, and to ‘sit next to me Mel!’ but I’m not going to lie, I loved every second of it. Lunchtime was raining and so everyone had to stay in the corridors and classrooms, which was pretty hectic. Everyone met in one class to sort out some groups for the Jump Rope for Heart presentation, and I nearly died when I was informed that it was indeed the whole school in that tiny classroom, at JCCC we’d be lucky to pack half of upper school in there. But hey, it’s such a small school and everyone is so close it’s really sweet. After lunch the year 4-6’s had choir which was really amusing, and fun to watch. Keeping in touch with our musical side, we finished the day with music, with all the year 3/4 kids showing me what they were made of with their recorder skills. They each played one song to the class which was delightful !J After a multitude of hugs and goodbyes, the year 3s and 4s left school with me following shortly. I love them all to bits, and they were absolutely adorable, but I’m not sure how Miss Hart is still sane! Ha-ha surely teaching these kids would drive you insane, never have I seen such a rambunctious bunch of students. Anyways, I’m off, need my rest (because being a teacher is absolutely exhausting, right?) Melanie :) |
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| | | | |  | | Keisha showing us how its done | | | Keisha showing us how its done |
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