19. October 2012<\/p>\n
Oomph<\/em>.<\/p>\n Have I told you yet how slow and relaxed my introduction to teaching has been?\u00a0 My first month in Greifswald looked like this:<\/p>\n Week One:\u00a0 the students are in England on a field trip, so I don’t have any work.\u00a0 Instead, I spend my time sorting out the logistical tasks related to moving to another country, and adjusting to living in Greifswald.<\/p>\n Week Two: I am invited to 14 different classes by 7 different teachers.\u00a0 At each class, I introduce myself, answer questions about myself, and then sit in the back, observing.\u00a0 Some teachers want me to walk around the room, helping with grammar when they are writing an exercise, but mostly, I just observe.<\/p>\n Week Three:\u00a0 Fall break!\u00a0 No school.\u00a0 I go to L\u00fcbeck, and meet up with Laura.\u00a0 It rains the entire time we are there, but just a light drizzle, so that is okay.\u00a0 It is very beautiful, still, and we visit lots of churches and museums.<\/p>\n Week Four:\u00a0 On Monday and Tuesday, I meet some more new classes.\u00a0 I help out in the classroom, but I am not expected to present any material to them.\u00a0 Also, some classes are taking tests, so I don’t even need to go to them.\u00a0 On Wednesday, I travel with the 11th graders to the Immigration Museum in Hamburg.\u00a0 Thursday morning, just an introduction to a new class.\u00a0 My 2nd class is taking a test, so I don’t bother going.\u00a0 The teacher of the 3rd class is attending a teachers’ conference.\u00a0 So we watch “Gattaca” and I hand out a sheet of paper with questions about the film for them to answer.<\/p>\n And then there was this week.\u00a0 Oh, god, there was this week.\u00a0 I am so glad I only work Monday-Thursday, because I think a fifth consecutive day would have killed me.<\/p>\n I now have a set schedule, where I assist in 12 different classes, for one period each.\u00a0 One 6th grade, two 7th grades, three 8th grades, one 9th grade, one 10th grade, one 11th grade, and three 12th grades.\u00a0 This week, I had to prepare a separate lesson for each and every class.\u00a0 And, since I was sick last weekend, I didn’t do much lesson preparation over the weekend.\u00a0 Instead, I put together each lesson the night before, which is not the best way to do it.\u00a0 I am also very inefficient at it, since I really don’t have any experience as a teacher, until now!\u00a0 So it took ages, and I slept 5 hours a night, 4 nights in a row (giving me flashbacks of the year of O. Chem.).\u00a0 For some of the classes, I just presented for 15-20 minutes on some topic, but in three classes, I taught for the entire period, and the teacher just sat in the back and pretended to not be there.\u00a0 I’m not sure how much time, on average, it takes me to prepare a lesson, but I do know I spent almost 10 hours putting 3 lessons together, Tuesday afternoon\/evening\/night.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 I am really eager to get better at this!\u00a0 \u00dcbung macht der Meister, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 19. October 2012 Oomph. Have I told you yet how slow and relaxed my introduction to teaching has been?\u00a0 My first month in Greifswald looked like this: Week One:\u00a0 the students are in England on a field trip, so I … Continue reading