St. Patricks and Ballyroan Boys School

Today the sun was shining, so it was already a better day than yesterday as I walked to catch bus 15B at 8am. I felt good about today because I now know the 15B route pretty well and was confident with when to ring the bell and when to get on/off. No worries today.

In the last two fall semesters I have been assigned 18 student teachers. The break down is as such: 6 Elementary Education (some with early childhood or special education as well), 2 English, 4 Social Studies/History and 6 Health/Physical Education. It's been great to be in the classroom observing lessons on Frankenstein, the G20 summit, how to count to 10, or learn my colors and shapes, and many other interesting topics, but I feel most comfortable in the gymnasium, which should come as no surprise. So, I was glad my day started at St. Patricks.

Lauren was teaching a 3rd class of girls some jumping and turning skills in the hall (gym). She had downloaded some Hannah Montana music onto her laptop so they were excited when she played music when they were performing the activity. The girls left after about 15 minutes and next were the primary infants. Imagine 22 four year olds all in their light blue sweat suits roaming a big open space. They were very cute, but have the attention span of a gnat. Lauren did a great job with them, keeping them busy and focused on the locomotor skills (hop, jump, skip, slide) that she was teaching them. They were Hannah Montana fans as well.

Next was Ballyroan Boy's School which is about a ten minute walk from St. Pat's. The sun was shining so I didn't mind it at all. It was pretty chilly, but at least it was not raining (yet). As I approached Ballyroan I saw Jenna's class was outside for PE class. As her teacher apologized for the boys kicking balls all over I assured her that I was fine, since my discipline was PE. After another 10 minutes of the boys working on their gaelic football skills we went inside for tea break. We sat and chatted with Ms. Rooney, a young teacher who I thought was great a year ago. She is just grand with the boys and has a great disposition as well. After tea I observed Jenna teach her 2nd class about camels. They were great, offering all sorts of information on the KWL worksheet. K= what they know, W=what they want to know, and L= what they learned after reading about camels in their books. They were a very lively and bright group.

Then Brooke came to get me for her lesson with the 1st class. This isn't her regular class, but she has been covering for this teacher from time to time. Today he had a meeting, so Brooke monitored the lesson. First, the boys had to finish their self portrait, then finish their math handout (front and back), then spelling handout, and finally draw a picture of their house. Brooke had them answer three questions about their house if they got everything done, and some of the boys did. She did a great job of montioring their work, disciplining when needed, and providing one on one instruction to those with questions. About halfway through class I started sneezing and my nose started running. Yesterday the principal sent Brooke home since she was sick. Every class I've been in has had kids absent and others sneezing and coughing. I've been trying to fight it off, but a few of the student teachers are sick as well, and I fear I may be next.

After about a 20 minute wait I caught the 15B back to city centre and had a wonderful late lunch at the Hairy Lemon Pub. It was the first time I got the wireless on my iTouch since I have been in Ireland so I was thrilled. I even posted that on Facebook!

On my way home I cut through St. Stephen's Green Shopping Mall and also Dunne's. I got home and was greated with some phone calls regarding some student teacher issues, but all is resolved. I decided sleep was what I needed, so after a dose of tylenol I proceeded to nap for a few hours. I woke up around 6 and made some soup for dinner. I do think I am coming down with something so I will be hitting the theraflu. This time I came to Ireland prepared. I figured getting sick was inevitable. I'm hoping not, but just in case...