My first day in the classroom!!

Just to put it out there - there won't be any pictures in this blog post, I didn't have my camera with me today on my first day of school (I promise that'll change soon!) So, if you're just here to look at pictures, scroll down ;) otherwise I highly recommend you read on, because today was the best day of the trip yet!

(unfortunately, due to the internet curfew at our hostel, I wasn't able to post this last night.  So this is from January 6th, 2014)

Here's an timeline of my wonderful first day...

5:50am - Woke up to 2 alarms set on my phone.  I didn't sleep too well last night as I was tossing and turning thinking about what to wear on my first day, what to say when I introduced myself to people, what the kids would be like... regardless, I was anxious to get up and the lack of sleep didn't seem to affect me.

6:30 - Left the hostel, dressed and ready to go - umbrella in hand because it was pouring rain (of course, happy first day of work)!  Walked to the bus stop to catch the 199, and made it to Westwood Secondary by 6:50.

6:55 - Checked in at the front office, and met up with my CT, Ms. Ivy Nyam.  She got me a staff pass, and walked me up to the staff lounge.

The staff lounge was the first, and one of the biggest noticeable differences between our school system and Singapore's school system.   In Singapore, teacher's switch classrooms and students stay put for all of if not most of the day.  I liked their philosophy on it - there are pros and cons to both, but this way, the students own their classroom.  They are able to hang their work for all of their classes, and feel a sense of community with their classmates.  Because of this system, teacher's have cubicles in the staff room where they keep their belongings, files, books, computers, etc.  I am sharing a cubicle with a part time staff member, so I'll have to put up a picture or two once I get settled in.  It is a nice place to do work though during my off periods!

7:30 - Staff meeting.  Monday mornings are late start days, similar to Thursday mornings at SBHS, where teachers meet for Professional Development (or PD time) in their Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs! (Same as back home!)  This morning, we met as an entire staff and reviewed the process for taking attendance/ updating  attendance throughout the day using the school's database system 'VIGILeye School.'

Attendance... wow.  At WWSS, students scan their fingerprint as they enter the school grounds, and that checks them in for the day.  If students are late, or for some reason weren't able to scan their finger is where the form teacher (or homeroom teacher) comes in to update the database system.  The fingerprint scanning allows the school to see exactly when the student arrives at school and leaves for the day, barring the fact that they take the responsibility to scan.  Apparently, tardies and truancies are as big of an issue here as they are in the states - students will often just leave partway through the day, or show up 10+ minutes late.  I won't explain all of the school rules and policies, but the attendance one really blew my mind... I can't imagine fingerprint scanning working out well in our school district - my students would never remember!

8:20 - Instruction begins, because Monday's are late start day, school starts an hour later than normal.  However, because my first class of the day is S1's (or freshmen;)), they were still doing induction activities and so my first actual lesson wouldn't be until 11!

9:00 - For about an hour, Ivy toured me around campus, explaining where all of our classes were held, how the buildings were organized, etc.  She showed me the MRL (or Media Resource Library) and both staff rooms.  We talked about school policies, rules and expectations, and my hand hurt from writing down so much information (I filled almost a whole notebook today!)

I also met a lot of the staff during this time.  So many unique names to remember, so little time.  I did meet another teacher from the states, Mr. Douglas Muller... as a matter of fact, every other person I met that day asked if I had met him yet - knowing he could relate to my transition from public education in the US!  He was really nice; he used to teach in Dallas, Texas, retired, got bored and applied to teach in Singapore - how awesome! He's a geography teacher at WWSS.

11:00 - This was my first lesson of the day with the Sec 3G's - third year students, about 15 years old, who are on the 'Express track,' or most advanced track at the school.  Singapore's education system is divided into 3 main tracks:

Students are placed into different tracks based on their PSLE Exam scores (Primary School Leaving Examination) which they take as P (Primary) 6's at age 12.

• N(T) - Normal Technical Stream = lower range 
• N(A) - Normal Academic Stream = mid-range 
• Express - (or Special) Stream = higher achieving students; higher marks/test scores, etc.

In the 3G class, Ivy and myself will be co-teaching with Mr. How. He taught the lesson today on cell structure and function, which was really nice to see as I found out I'll be teaching cells next week to the 1D students!

12:00 - At noon, the 4G/H students (also on the Express track) came in for their Combined Biology course.  These students are 4th year students who were in Pure Biology (more rigorous) last year as Sec 3's, and dropped the course to take Combined Bio this year - so there are only 7 students in the class, for now.

1:00 - By 1, our classes for the day were over! The time tables for the school are CRAZY and very convoluted.  Each day of the week is different from the last, and there are even and odd weeks, so the time tables switch every other week as well - it's a lot to keep up with, I had to write out my daily schedule for the rest of my time here!

On our break, Ivy took me to lunch with some of the other teachers at the Coffee shop just down the road.  I ate wonton noodles out of a bag (it was pretty embarrassing, of course what I ordered would come in a plastic bag!) and we chatted about the similarities and differences that I had noticed today.  We talked about how the students here are so quiet - it's really a challenge to get them involved in discussion, etc.  (which is not the case for me in California at all) and we talked about how we still have issues with tardies, truancies, and drugs and/or alcohol etc. (Drugs not so much here, but last week one teacher had a student in her class who was drunk!)  It was really nice to meet and talk with some of the other teachers, and it made me feel really comfortable and welcomed - I know I can now ask any of them for help!

3:30 - After lunch until our department meeting, I worked on my calendar and read over the syllabus and textbook materials Ivy had given me.  Then we headed into the meeting room for what would continue to be a 2.5 hour science department meeting.  I lied, I'll include one picture - my time table for the next four weeks!

As you can see, it's a lot to keep up with - I can't imagine being a student and remembering my schedule! At least for almost all of the day they are in the same room or with (generally) the same group of students (i.e. 3G's, like I mentioned, will stay together for most of their classes).  I'm really looking forward to my time here, but it's a lot to keep up with! 

The department meeting was so informative, and so productive.  They addressed so many different topics for the department, some of which I followed, some of which I definitely didn't.  They were all very nice and very welcoming to me - the principal even stopped the department head at one point and said, "Clarify! We have people here that may not know what that means!" and winked at me ;)  She is so nice, so welcoming, and so passionately involved with her school.  She was at the science department meeting for 2 of the 2 and a half hours, and I was really impressed.  

The meeting finally ended around 5:50, and it was time to go home! I gathered my things from my new cubicle, said goodbye to everyone, and headed out back to the 199 bus stop.  I'm sad that I'll be missing tomorrow, but I have to go get my Student Pass (like a temporary short term visa) from the Immigration & Checkpoint Authorities tomorrow - yikes! 

It was a wonderful, amazing, eye-opening first day, regardless of the hours.  I'm so excited and feel so fortunate to continue working here for the next month, and can't wait to learn so much more! Also, I'm already lesson planning for next week - I'll be teaching in all 3 of Ivy's preps starting next week! The Scientific Method and cells with the 1D's, Movement of Substances and Nutrients with the 3G's, and the Nervous System (my favourite!) with the 4G/H's.  I also have to keep in mind when lesson planning that they use British English, not American English, so some of the spelling may be different! A lot to think about, not a lot of time, but I'm super excited!!!