Over halfway through my trip!

Friday was a great day at school - I didn't have any lessons but I was able to observe "Home at Westwood" which is an hour designated on every Friday for homeroom, or 'Form' teachers to work with their students on one topic that has to do with campus community, respect, values, etc.  This week's topic was "Standing Up For What's Right," and in more ways than one had a big impact on me.

The lesson talked about telling the truth, sticking up for someone being bullied, doing what's right for friends in difficult situations, etc.  I thought it was a really great idea for a lesson, and I really liked how the students broke out into groups to discuss different scenarios given to them.  I really appreciate this idea of "Home at Westwood," and am interested to see what else I observe from it while I'm here.

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Friday night, Katie and I went to Clarke Quay for dinner, and Katherine met up with up after to go around to a few of the river-side restaurants! We found a live band playing at one, and decided to stay there for their set - they were SO good, and the lead vocalist (a girl) was incredible!

Just so happens that we ran into them during their intermission, started talking, and somehow (cough Katie and Katherine, cough) it was mentioned that I sing.  Sure enough, during their second set, they invited me on stage to sing 'Rolling in the Deep' with them!!! It was so fun, made me miss singing and VoMo SO much, and I do have it on video but our internet will definitely not let me load it, so it'll have to wait until I get a better connection - but what a fun night it was!

 Nation 1 jamming all night! (Video of me w/them to come soon!) 

Saturday morning, Katie, Katherine and I went to breakfast at Jurong East Mall (or, JEM), our new favorite, and then Katie, Rae, Hunter, and I headed to Sentosa and Katherine went to meet up with Elise in Chinatown. Katie and I ended up splitting up from Hunter and Rae (#daydate) and decided to take the cable cars to Sentosa!! It was so fun, and so high up!!

 When we got to the island, we decided to go to the S.E.A. Aquarium, and it was AMAZING and HUGE! We had such a great time, sat and stared at fish for a while, and then got chips and salsa at Chili's (which reminded us so much of home!) and took the cable car back to the mainland at the end of our day.  It was such a fun adventure - but the pictures are better than words!!

That's a fish hanging from his mouth! We saw the feeding! 

Tomorrow we're doing Garden By the Bay and the River Safari, so I can't wait to post all about it - more pictures and stories to come!

P.S. Today marks exactly 2 weeks until I'm in flight home to LAX! It's gone by so fast, we still have so much to do! (both play, anddddd work!) :) :( haha

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Cat(fish) of the Day

Today's Cat of the Day goes to this adorable statue of Singapore's famous Merlion!!

Corporal Punishment

Yesterday, I was introduced to the concept of Corporal Punishment in Secondary Schools, in Singapore.  Typically performed as 'caning,' it is often done publicly, in front of the entire school population, or privately, in the confinement of the principal's office.

Corporal punishment is to be administered to boys only, for serious offenses, and is to be performed by the principal of the school, or the Head of Discipline ('HD,' usually a teacher) that the principal assigns.

Our staff was briefed yesterday that there would be 2 public and 1 private canings held this morning, at the morning assembly.

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Today I was able to meet with my supervising professor from NIE, and my CT about our end-of-the-takeover meeting, scheduled for the last week of my placement here.   At this meeting, I was told, I will be presenting the things that I learned during my time here, differences and similarities I see between the United States and Singapore's Education systems, pros and cons to different policies, pedagogies, procedures, etc. and will be able to (and am encouraged to) offer any opinions, preferences, or suggestions I may have for the people in attendance - which will include my NIE professor, my CT, the Subject Head for Biology, the Science Department Chair, and the Vice Principal and Principal of the school where I'm placed.  I am at this moment more than ever brainstorming what to say at this meeting; what to talk about, what to leave out, how I'll cover everything in an hour - but I am very thankful that I will at least have some impact, even if it's just for that moment, on their view of their education system - both its pros and cons.

After my meeting I taught two lessons today, one for the Sec 1's and one for the Sec 3's, and had a wonderful afternoon.  They're becoming much more comfortable with me, are still so excited when I simply walk in the room, and are starting to participate a lot more voluntarily than I've experienced.  The Sec 1's did 2 activities - one introducing the 'Nature of Science' and the positive attitudes that scientists should have when engaging in scientific inquiry.  They were so cute, and came up with an even bigger list of characteristics than I had prepared.  We then did a card sort activity to introduce them to the steps of the Scientific method, and I was able to give them a few questions for homework that will relate DIRECTLY to my M.Ed. topic, and the first artifact that I analyzed back at SBJHS... I'm so excited to compare!!

With the Sec 3's, I continued the lesson on diffusion and osmosis - kind of dry (pardon the pun), but then I was able to do a demo for them for surface area to volume ratio, (thanks again Mary and Erika!!) and they were a little more engaged.  I'm excited, next week we're doing a lab practical, and then it's off to level camps!!

My day ended on a great note, a successful two lessons, a lot of self-reflection to do, and I got to leave work at 2:30 as opposed to 6pm!  Katie, Rae, Hunter (Rae's boyfriend - I'm so jealous!) and I are going to see Her and get dinner, so I'm really looking forward to that as well! And then tomorrow's Friday, yay!!

I'm running out of cats to post for Cat of the Day, so I'll skip that for now, but hopefully I'll see more soon! (they're everywhere!)

If I'm being honest...

January 15th, 2014

It goes without saying from the title, but we are typically taught that honesty is the best policy.  I have to then admit to you, that I'm not being 100% honest in all of these blog posts, and today my eyes were opened to that fact.  Today my eyes were opened to many things; things that I want to be able to share, want to be able to post about on my blog... things I want to be able to change.  But I can't, or can't yet, and I just wanted to let you all know that.

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14/01/14

Highlight of Tuesday: Got to do a lab practical with my 1D students - how to use a Bunsen burner.  They were so excited to finally get hands on; some of them were scared to light it, others jumped at the opportunity to light theirs, and everyone else's around them.  It was a really fun lesson with them, and I'm really excited to start my experimental design unit with them on Thursday! 3 lessons straight that I've planned out, the last one in which they design their own experiment! :) 

Tuesday I also got to observe a math class, and an english class (to all my TEPers reading, I'm spreading my observations far and wide for you! I'm hoping to hit all subjects!!) They were really great to see, much different from science, but not much different from observations I've made at home of these subjects.  

The students and staff are still so nice, welcoming and accommodating, even as I enter my 2nd week here.  Everyone greets me in the hall, "Good morning, Ma'am." And students are constantly coming up to me to ask questions, say hello, ask if I know Taylor Swift, the usual.  It's really nice to be welcomed so whole-heartedly into their school community.

At the CCA fair last Saturday, two students toured me around to all of the different booths.  Since then, I've seen them about 5 different times on campus, and every time they ask, "Ma'am!! Are you coming to netball practice this week?! Please come!" I'm really looking forward to getting the chance to watch them, and am excited to actually know some students by name and recognize some familiar faces.  Netball also fascinates me, I've never heard of it before! Do we have it in the states?! I'll have to find out. SBHS - maybe I'll start a netball team! ;)

Tuesday night Katie and I went to de-stress at a local mall by no better way but eating and shopping!! I got two great new things to wear to school, and some athletic shorts for Rev Up tomorrow! (and ate some delicious sushi) 

There are pretty horses everywhere for the Chinese New Year coming up! The year of the horse!

15/01/14

Today's long day started off wonderfully... I arrived to school at 7am, just in time to make a few copies for my lessons tomorrow and run downstairs for the first Rev Up day at Westwood! It felt a little strange going to school in athletic clothes, but I wasn't complaining about getting to wear running shoes all day - much better than heels. 

Rev Up was great to see... here's how it was divided up:

• Sec 1's - Pushball*
• Sec 2's - Road Run
• Sec 3's - Vertical Run*
• Sec 4/5's - Aerobic Kickboxing*

* = the events I was fortunate enough to observe 

See my post about Rev Up, for more details about what it entails ;) 

To add to that however, it was better than I would've expected.  The whole campus is energized, (most) students are excited to participate, teachers were involved - it's just a really great way to promote healthy living and keeping an active lifestyle. There were some discipline and time management aspects that I think could've been rehashed to make it more efficient, however over all it was a great start to the day. 

After Rev Up, I was able to observe a Chemistry class, and a Geography class (yay!! again, to hitting all my other SST's out there!) Chemistry was great, Ms. Tay was hilarious, and great with her students. She's also been very welcoming to me during my time here, she always offers to help with anything I need, etc.  

Geography was a whole new experience for me - Mr. Mueller, from Texas, is the teacher I mentioned previously, that everyone was so anxious for me to meet my first day here.  "Another teacher from the states!" everyone says.  Observing his class was really interesting, like a combination of my two worlds.  He started off by introducing me to the class, saying, "You're in for a special treat today! Not just one ______ (slang word for white person) but two _______s.  (class laughs) No just kidding, I really just wanted to show you all that not all Americans are old and ugly like me."  The lesson proceeded with him finishing up discussing the San Andreas Fault, and different types of faults across the world. It really made me miss home, but also made me the topic of conversation quite a bit of the lecture.  

Mr. Mueller retired from teaching after 30 years in Texas, got bored, and decided to apply for a teaching job in Singapore.  We're supposed to have lunch sometime this week or next, to talk about the differences and similarities we've both seen, but also because he, "hasn't talked to someone from the U.S. in over 3 years."  He seems like a really amazing man, so I'm looking forward to that conversation. 

After observations, I made my way to the main hall for another In-Touch presentation (Wednesday's are such fun-filled days) although this one was only with the Sec 2's - it was a debriefing for their level camp that takes place next week - that I get to go on!! The Sec 2's will be camping at Sembawang Park Campsite, from Wednesday to Friday next week! I'm just going to go Wed. - Thurs., but I'm really looking forward to it, it should be a great time! 

The day was only partially over when we made our way to the staff meeting that went from 3-6pm.  Let me tell you, staff meetings here are much different than any sort of meeting I've observed at home.  This one included food (which was great, and delicious), but also covered so many different topics and made excellent use of the extended period of time.  

We covered everything from introduction of new staff (including me, I was a little shy), to level camps, to Chinese New Year celebration, to faculty leave policies to the MOE (Ministry of Education) changes for the 2014 school year.  I have to say, being honest again, that I can't be honest about everything that was discussed in that meeting.  This is where my change of heart occurred, and this is where my eyes were opened to something that I never thought I'd experience -  I don't even really know how to finish the post, or the paragraph, but I have to.  I have to finish the program too.  I have to go back and teach two lessons tomorrow.  I'm so thankful and grateful for this opportunity, and getting to experience an exchange program like this is truly a once in a lifetime experience.  However, there are some major factors that were unexpected, and although they are shining new lights into my life, I am thankful for the life I left behind at home.  I want to be able to change lives and offer new perspectives to the people I'm meeting here as well, so I hope I can do that during the rest of my time here.   

To end on a nice note, my CT wrote me this cute little card today during the faculty meeting - I'm very thankful to have her as my cooperating teacher, she has taught me, and will continue to teach me so much! 

Teaching and prepping to teach...

13/01/14

So I've been practicing writing the date like this, one, because that's how it's written here all over every paper I receive, but two, because it makes so much more sense.  The day, then the month, then the year - silly U.S. ;)

Today was a wonderful day - I know this post is on the same day as my weekend one technically, however the limited internet hours really don't bode well for blog posting; especially on all day long adventures over the weekend - so today, you get a two for one.

This morning I was so tired. It was definitely the hardest morning to get up.  Also, having to get to school at 7am doesn't help. I drank some instant coffee though (it's gross), got ready, and went to school.  Today was the first day of me teaching my own lesson - so I was pretty nervous!

In the morning I met with the entire staff and then our PLC, as it was another late-start Monday.  I observed 4G/H and 1D, prepping mentally for my lesson later that afternoon.

When it came time for me to teach, I didn't really get nervous until I asked the class my first question of the discussion.  "Who can share what they wrote for the warm up?" Nothing. Just stares.  No one was even whispering to their neighbor - just eyes on me, stares.

They lightened up a little bit as I continued with the popcorn smell diffusion demonstration, and joked with them about shopping at Jurong Point (the local mall - our favorite).  I'd say the lesson went really well for my first day... My CT and our co-teacher seemed to like it, except for when I tried to give out the popcorn at the end of the period - apparently that isn't allowed, oops! I was able to give it to my students later though after school ;)

After my lesson was the biggest highlight of the day however.  Today, the national exam report scores for the previous years' Sec 4 and 5's were released.  They all return to campus, in uniform, to find out from their form teachers how they did on their exams - it is a really big event! I was so surprised by the hustle and bustle, excitement and fear that shook campus.  Students were lined up by their class when we walked in to the main hall, listening to the principal give the overall school results and comparisons to the National averages, etc.  My CT explained to me that the scores are released to the teachers, and the students (and even some parents) report to the school to find out their scores, and get more information on what's next for them - Junior College or Polytechnic.

Singapore's education system post-secondary school (to the best of my knowledge) works somewhat like this - if you score well enough on 'O' level exams, then you go to a JC and then a University.  If you score lower on 'O' level exams, or do well on 'N' level exams, you most likely will go to a Polytechnic University. If you don't score well at all, then you can either retake some, or multiple of the subject tests, or you can return for a 5th year of Secondary school (however, that's pretty unlikely).

Let me just tell you, the atmosphere was crazy at this score releasing event! I saw parents filming, students hugging, students excited, students nervous, students crying!! It was a very emotional afternoon for them - so much pressure is placed on these scores, not only for their name, but the school's name as well.  It was nice to see some JC's and polytechnics there advertising for their schools - I guess the students, now that they know their scores, will apply to schools right now and then start in about March.

After school, I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep - but I was excited to go with Elise to the Jurong Bird Park!  I got a second wind of energy, and we walked around looking at amazing beautiful birds for the better part of the evening.  I took SO many pictures because when I come back to SB in February, I'm doing a lesson on adaptations of birds, and now I'll have a ton of amazing, real, up-close and personal pictures, and videos to show to my students!

Cassowary! (Like Kevin, from Up!)

Scarlet Macaw

Flamingos

More macaws :)

black crowned night heron - Thanks Erika!

Jenday Conure

Vinaceous Amazon

Yellow-billed Storke

It was such a beautiful park, and we saw so many amazing birds that I had never heard of, let alone see in my life.  It is amazing to me the adaptations that birds have undergone - the spectacular colors and interesting beak shapes... nature blows my mind!

After the bird park we met up with Katie for dinner, went home, and now I'm off to bed for another long day tomorrow! 18 more days in Singapore!!! :(

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Cat of the Day

Today’s cat of the day goes to this cat painted elephant that we saw at the zoo! I really wanted to buy it, but it was $3000! ;) 

What a Wonderful Weekend!

Friday

I have so much to catch you up on! What a wonderful weekend it was.  Friday was a minimum day at Westwood, and I didn't have any lessons, just did quite a few observations.  I was lucky enough to observe the science department head, Puay Keong, teach 5C physics.  It was really great to get to observe him in the classroom, it is obvious that he is a very great teacher that the students like and respect.  He was very serious as far as the content instruction, yet he was joking with them, asking them questions, and answering their questions along the way.  As 5th years, they are mostly doing review of physics concepts that will be on their final exam.  Today they were going over Newton’s First Law, and F=ma, etc. Towards the end of the period, the teacher put up a problem on the board to “test their thinking” and get them to “think outside the box:”  

5 + 5 + 5 = 550 

He then said, add one stroke to this problem to make it true - and it can’t be a (is not equal to) symbol.  The students (and I) sat for about 5 min in silence, trying to come up with a solution.  He then showed us: 

5 + 545 (add a stroke to the second plus sign)  = 550

Their reaction was incredible.  They all laughed and sighed, and it was a really great end to the lesson.  He said, “We need to be innovative thinkers in the real world.  Sometimes we need to think outside the box.” It was really amazing to see their reaction, things like that are so impactful.

After school, Rae and I headed down to Boat Quay to try and find a Wells Fargo, let's just say that didn't work out as planned - but we made up for it by finding something even better: 

Happy hour!!

Delicious raspberry and strawberry margaritas!! 

Boat Quay at sunset... 

After about an hour, Katie and Elise met up with us to go to dinner.  We walked around the city and ended up finding this great food court and really cute rooftop bar - it was a really fun end to the week! 

Saturday

Saturday was a great day, and started out nice and early! I went to the CCA (Co-Curricular Activities) Fair at Westwood Secondary and it was such a fun morning! It was so great to see the students so excited about their organization.  Two girls on the 'netball' team toured me around the fair, introducing me to all of their friends at the different booths and telling me everything I needed to know about the different CCAs.  I also got to meet the choir director, which was awesome, and he told me to come by their rehearsals any time! 

(I'm definitely going to this week!)

CCA Fair at Westwood!

After the fair, I went back to the hostel and met up with the rest of the girls, and we made our way to the Botanical Gardens! It was such a beautiful day, there were so many amazing plants to see, and needless to say I took hundreds of pictures... The gardens were huge and so fun to walk through.  We walked across the entire thing, and made our way to Orchard Road when we finished.

Almost as if it were timed, it started pouring rain the second we walked out of the gardens.  Luckily, we found an indoor mall and a delicious (western) breakfast place with wifi! As much as I tried to tell myself I wouldn't eat western food when I was here, I couldn't resist the avocado, bacon, chicken, tomato, egg sandwich and salad.  It was delicious, and a perfect way to relax after a long trek across the gardens.  

After lunch, and trying to avoid the rain as much as possible, we wandered around Orchard Rd. looking at shopping mall after shopping mall.  I almost got my hair cut, but the wait was way too long, and eventually we made our way back to the MRT station.  

We decided to make an entire day out of it by heading to Clarke Quay for dinner and a few drinks.  The rain finally died down, and we went to the main strip of Clarke Quay, had a few drinks, and got wraps from a delicious kebab place - one of my favorite meals yet. 

Elise headed home after dinner and Rae headed to the airport to pick up her boyfriend (Mike!?! Where are you?! ;)) and Katie, Katherine and I decided to hit the town and celebrate a successful first week in school.  It was a great night, we saw a great live band, and danced the night away to some throwback tunes like Sublime and Red Hot Chili Peppers - let's just say that when "Dani California" came on, we were way too excited.

Sunday

Even after a very long night, we mustered up the energy to go to the Singapore Zoo! It was SO fun, SO beautiful, and I conquered like 3 of my lifetime bucket list items - 

1. See a white tiger 2. Play frisbee with a sea lion and 3. Ride an ELEPHANT!

I think words can't even describe the zoo's amazingness, 

so I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures :D

(And I was so happy, as my pictures turned out much better than they did the night of the 

Night Safari!) 

 Omar, the white tiger!

 Omar and Winnie! 

(I may or may not have bought a stuffed animal and named it Winnie ;)... you'll see later!)

 Turtle!

Baboons!

Bath time for the lemur :)

Malayan Flying Fox!

 Puma... 

 Sleepy Asian Lions!

 Polar Bear 

Katherine feeding a giraffe

 Missing my SST Science Cohort! Science Rules!!

Komodo Dragon... so cool! We saw him get fed - he ate 3 whole chickens!

 The elephant we rode! (I sure hope someone has a pic of us on her!)

Stan the sea lion (all the way from California) that I got to play frisbee with!

(hopefully someone has a picture of that too!)

You can't really see him, but he's splashing the audience:) 

It was a wonderful weekend - as you can tell, and although it went by really fast, it was great... Now back to another week of school! I'm teaching 3 of my own lessons this week! 

Wish me luck! 

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Cat of the Day

Today’s cat of the day goes to Winnie, my newest edition to the collection! (In honor of the real life Winnie, who I'm in love with, pictured below) 

The real Winnie :) 

“It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.”

Let me just say that Catching Fire was incredible, and why didn’t anyone force me to see it the second it came out?! I’m so sad I waited this long, but I’m so happy that I finally saw it :) These bathroom markers were also amazing:

Anyway, last night Rae, Katie and I saw Catching Fire, I cried about 3 different times during the movie - and then ending! Ah, I can’t wait for the 3rd one.

After the movie we got some dinner (I had dim sum - Mike, are you jealous?!) and then went home on the green line - really quick, we were only a few stops away from Boon Lay. I had a horrible headache after the movie, so I went to bed at about 10:15pm, it was really nice.

Today at school was great, I’m loving every day! I’m learning so, so much, and everyone is so nice and welcoming. It’s great to have students so excited to see you - almost everyone says hi to me as I walk through the halls.

Westwood Secondary School!

My S1’s went to the lab today for their first time (and mine!) in Secondary school, so that was really fun to observe. It was mostly procedural and safety instructions, very similar to ours, but they were excited to be there nonetheless.

After a break in my schedule, I went to observe 4G/H - they were finishing up notes on respiration, which they covered on their own within their holiday assignment. I really liked how Ms. Nyam asked them questions along the way; especially because it was a review topic, I thought it was really productive of her to ask questions leading into the the next section of notes. The students were a little bit more participatory than they were last time that I saw them, but still pretty quiet. She does a great job of including everyone in the conversation though and encouraging students to share an answer.

After 4G/H we headed straight to 3G in the lab next door - they were doing a cell lab with microscopes - observing cheek cells, onion cells, and hydrilla cells!! It was really great to see the students so engaged in a lab. It was a really different experience than what I’ve seen in my class back home. The students were all eagerly participating, no one was just copying pictures from each other, and at the end of the period, we had to tell students to leave the class before they had even started packing up. Their enthusiasm was really encouraging, and it was really nice to walk around, talk to the different partner pairs, and work with them a little more closely.

I’m getting really excited to teach next week - I had a lot of down time today to start working on lesson plans... next week with the 1D’s I’ll be teaching the Scientific Method and the Nature of Science (i.e. positive attitudes scientists should hold), and with the 3G’s I’ll be doing diffusion, osmosis and surface area to volume ratio. I’m trying hard to make fun, exciting lessons - but I really don’t know what to expect or how they’ll pan out, fingers crossed they go well! I’m hoping that since I am supposed to submit my lesson plans the weekend before to my CT (all teachers have to do that, every week, for every lesson in Singapore, wow!) that she will give me some good, constructive feedback on them before I actually execute them.

Not sure what we're doing tonight yet... finishing up lesson plans, getting dinner somewhere - maybe a little shopping? We're all tired from a long day of work!! But getting excited for the weekend... :D

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Cat of the Day

Today’s cat of the day goes to this amazing shirt that I bought last night after the movie - it was only $11.90SPD, therefore $9.30USD - and is now officially my new favorite shirt ever!! (and my new life motto) 

Rev Up!

This morning at school I was able to observe my first morning assembly - which was special for Wednesdays because it is a “Rev Up” day, typically, every week.  This week was just a briefing on Rev Up for the new students (and me), so it was really nice for me to get to experience. 

At the first bell, students are to meet in the main hall, and should be seated by 7:20am.  They sit in single file rows depending on the class they are in, starting with Sec 1A's-G's... Sec 2A-G... etc.. through Sec 5.  I noticed (and was surprised to see) most of the students were reading while they waited for the assembly to start.  

Teachers sit in chairs or stand near their form classes (like homeroom), and since Ivy doesn't have one, I just walked around observing the different classes.  I eventually found a seat over on the side of the main hall. 

The students who walked in late to the assembly were called up to go sit on stage, and were later led into the hallway to sit there for the rest of the assembly.  The formality and discipline is much different than what I see in the states, and the entire time I kept trying to imagine my school doing this sort of thing - I don’t think it would work.  It really does get the message across however that being late to school is not acceptable.

The assembly started with the National Anthem and Pledge, led by 2 girls.  The Sec 4 and 5's were instructed to help out the school by actually singing the anthem and actually saying the pledge - I know this is a problem we have in our schools too. ;) 

Singapore National Pledge:

We, the citizens of Singapore,

pledge ourselves as one united people,

regardless of race, language or religion,

to build a democratic society

based on justice and equality

so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation. 

After this, I got a little bit nervous, as the principal came on stage for a few announcements - she had told me earlier that morning that she planned on introducing me to the entire school, and I didn't quite know what she meant.  She started with a few brief announcements and then proceeded to call me up onto stage and introduce me... to the entire school... and even let me say a few words.  I said (in brief), “Thank you so much for welcoming me to your school, I feel very fortunate and excited to be here.  Feel free to ask me any questions or simply say hello around campus,” etc.  It was a little nerve racking, but exciting all the same - and I got a loud applause after and quite a few “Hello Ma’am”’s.   

Following my introduction, a teacher led the briefing on Rev Up Wednesday procedures.  In short, Rev Up is a program to "extend physical capacity and enhance mental tenacity."  Every Wednesday morning, students will do a certain activity for about an hour (depending on their grade level) - these activities include: 

• Road Running - running around the campus
• Vertical Running - running up and down the four flights of stairs on campus
• Pushball - team game where you have to push a giant ball over the line *a campus favorite
• Aerobic Kickboxing - kickboxing to upbeat dance music! 

Also, because of this, Wednesday’s are dress down days for teachers - we are to wear sports attire, etc.  During the presentation, safety was quite emphasized, along with discipline, professionalism and fun.  The teacher addressed all of the rules, scheduling, etc. and the assembly proceeded to a ‘discipline check.’ This involved form teachers walking up and down their class lines and checking the students attire - everything from school uniform requirements, to hair style, to nail polish, etc.  It was really interesting to see, as I have never seen anything like this back home.  The students who didn’t meet the standards for the discipline check had to then proceed to the stage, and the assembly was finished.  The students were dismissed row by row, and the students headed to their first class of the day.

I had a break from 8:30-11, which was nice and I started a lot of work - lesson plans, yay!  I'm preparing to teach the scientific method and different types of variables to the 1D's next week, and movement of substances and nutrients to the 3G's next week... I'm really looking forward to it!

At 11, I finally met the 1D's.  These are first year express students who are about 12 or 13 years old - and they are SO cute! It brought me back to my Junior High placement in August (which was so fun), and the kids seemed really excited to have me as their teacher.  They were very  smiley, almost every single one said, "Hello Ma'am," to me once (or twice), and I had a couple of (interesting) questions.  Ivy proceeded to do a lesson on the advantages and disadvantages of science and technology - and then got partway into lab safety, and the period ended.  The students all cheerfully said goodbye as we left their classroom (which still takes some getting used to!) 

At 1pm, we had an In-Touch assembly (In-Touch, as I understand is a time designated (also on Wednesdays) to building community and cultural awareness throughout the school/classroom.  Today a group of students presented on their trip to Indonesia last year that was an exchange program they were able to participate in (as Sec 3's).  It was a great presentation, very well organized and inspiring... and they played these awesome instruments called angklungs! They were really beautiful sounding, and the 29 of them played "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!" It was adorable. 

After the In-Touch assembly, I was free to head home! A much earlier day than my first day there, but I'm so excited to go back tomorrow.  I'm really loving it at this school, and am already so sad the fact that the end is so near! 

Rae, Katie, Elise and I are now headed to dinner and to see Catching Fire, finally! I'm so excited - yayyyy I can't wait, I can't believe I still haven't seen it! 

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Cat of the Day!

Today's Cat of the Day goes to Katniss back home, in honor of me seeing Catching Fire, finally tonight! Miss you Fatniss!