Wednesday 30th

Entrada principal a St. Thomas High School

Encantadas de posar:

Cosas que aprendí hoy:

• He conseguido entender un poco mejor el sistema escolar canadiense:

2 to 5 (years):  Pre-school or Kindergarten

6 to 11 (years): Grades 1 to 6 - Elementary

12 to 14 (years): Grades 7 to 9 - Junior high (este es el nivel que Mr. Katz imparte y que yo estoy observando)

15 to 18 (years): Grades 10 to 12 - Senior high

• Los estudiantes canadienses asisten al colegio 180 días al año y el profesorado 200. Los 20 días de diferencia son `PED Days´(=Professional Educational Development, `PD´abreviado) (Creo que me coincidirá uno de ellos durante mi estancia así que procuraré enterarme de en qué consisten exactamente)

• el alumnado extranjero que llega a Quebec es automáticamente integrado en una escuela francesa. Excepciones: que llegue con visado para un período corto de tiempo o que sea un estudiante `mayor´y haya hecho sus estudios hasta ese momento en inglés

• Hoy era `Attestation/Attendance Day´. Creo que consiste en lo siguiente: las clases empezaron el día 1 de septiembre y hoy, día 30, se supone que se han acabado los cambios en los grupos, las modificaciones en los horarios... (o sea que el profesorado del primer mundo, los canadienses, se vuelve tan loco como nosotros las primeras semanas de clase - para bien o para mal) así que, justo un mes después de empezar las clases, se registra, a primera hora, la asistencia del alumnado para que quede constancia de la distribución final de los grupos. Pero una de las medidas de protesta del sindicato de profesores era precisamente no entregar el informe. No puedo decir si en nuestra escuela lo entregó todo el mundo porque tengo la impresión de que todo lo relacionado con el tema de las protestas resulta muy incómodo para la gente.El profesorado ha dejado de hacer las actividades extraescolares que normalmente se llevan a cabo al final de la jornada lectiva, de 14:25 a 16:00, más o menos: deportes, la banda de música, teatro, actividades de apoyo o refuerzo dentro de las aulas - no a alumnado con problemas, simplemente a estudiantes que están atrasados o necesitan explicaciones individualmente... y todo esto sin cobrarlo, como parte del horario. Con esta protesta, el profesorado quiere que todo el mundo sea consciente de la cantidad de horas que trabajan y de todo lo que hacen `sin cobrar´ - y, después de un mes, realmente el alumnado está perdiendo mucho. Es doloroso para todos: el que se beneficia de la actividad y el que la programa y lleva a cabo porque cree en el beneficio que supone. Todo esto es parte del `work to rule´: los acuerdos de los sindicatos respecto al desarrollo de las protestas: qué hacen y qué no hacen

• el horario de profesorado y alumnado no se repite cada semana - como en nuestro caso- sino cada 6 días (`a 6-day cycle´). Hoy fue el `Day 1´

Estos son ejemplos de horarios de estudiantes

Y éste es el horario de Mr. Katz:

Lessons today:

Grade 7 English (Period 1 & Period 2)

Before the students came into the classroom, Madison left their notebooks on the tables; as soon as the students came in, they opened them to read the long notes she had written. They looked really interested in her comments

Today they read Act 3, Scene 2 of `A Midnight Summer´s Dream´, though there were plenty of volunteers to read, Glenn played the part of Titania and they all thought that was very funny

After the reading, Madison helped them remember the most important things that happened in this scene and then write them down on their notebooks

Recess:

After some reflection on how things had gone in the two previous lessons, Glenn and Madison worked on one activity they are preparing for Grade 9 - lots of planning!

Grade 9 English (Period 4)

The students were greeted with a 15-minute long in-class writing assignment: 

What is the difference between `hearing´and `listening´? Are you a good listener? Explain.

They had to include 3 things:

• date
• 60 words
• #

Afterwards, Glenn started reading `Farenheit 451´; he stopped from time to time to ask some comprehension questions, to make sure the students got the content, or to explain some literary devices (the ones he elicited today were alliteration and allusion)

Grade 9 English (Period 5)

The students read outloud, from their desks,  a long piece of the novel they are reading in class, `Monster´

Madison read a long part and then she started the preparation of the next assignment: the students had to pair up and think of a song that could work well as the background music of the scene that takes place in pages 121-126

Last Period:

Madison and Glenn went to the library to exchange views on the lessons today and keep planning future lessons. As usual, they both left with loads of notebooks to correct

The computers at the library were taken by another English teacher´s Grade 9 class - and I am afraid they were distracted by the clicks of the camera...

Before coming home, we picked Arielle up from daycare and then we called it a day

The weather today: 12ºC - 6ºC

The weather yesterday: 24ºC - 13ºC

Tuesday 29th, September

El profesorado de Quebec está organizando protestas en contra de ciertas decisiones del gobierno - han pospuesto la huelga hasta saber el resultado de las elecciones generales el día 19 de octubre. Estos son los puntos de desacuerdo:

• el aumento de la ratio a 40 estudiantes/grupo
• la eliminación de la financiación a los programas para niños/as con necesidades especiales
• un recorte de 800 profesores/as de educación especial y de apoyo
• dos años de congelación del sueldo (el profesorado pide llegar a un aumento del 13.5% durante los próximos 3 años)
• recortes en los planes de pensiones

Esta mañana el profesorado - todos en vaqueros y camiseta del sindicato o camiseta blanca -  se manifestó durante 10 minutos delante del colegio; una madre, al verlos, se fue a Tim Hortons y trajo café y dulces como muestra de solidaridad...  los profes encantados - por el apoyo y por el café:

Hoy Glenn y Madison se coordinaron en la biblioteca durante la primera hora lectiva de la mañana y aproveché para hacer un tour del colegio mientras ellos trabajaban









Zona de ordenadores en la biblioteca: 

En los pasillos, me llamó la atención que la mayoría de las puertas de las aulas estaban abiertas - y quedan abiertas toda la hora a no ser que haya demasiado ruido dentro o fuera

La cafetería, vacía a primera hora:

Me encantaría que las paredes, pasillos y escaleras tuvieran este tipo de decoración en nuestro centro - recuerdan a Tibble 

Clases:

Cosas que me llamaron la atención en las clases :

• los estudiantes usan los Chrome books de las aulas pero traen sus propios ratones de casa
• hay una bandeja en el centro de las mesas para dejar los teléfonos móviles

• los libros y carpetas que no caben en las mesas, se depositan en el suelo

• los horarios semanales de los estudiantes, hoy fue el día 6; estos son de alumnado de Grade 7:

• 
  

y éste de Grade 8 (POP= Personal Orientation Program):

GRADE 7 ENGLISH (2nd & 3rd classes in the morning )

At the very beginning of the lesson there was an announcement over the loudspeakers explaining that some google accounts had been suspended - which was the reason why some students were having difficulties signing in. That also meant that the Chrome books did not work so the students would have to do their work by hand. As for the homework assignments in the blog due tomorrow, students were told to print them, if they did not feel comfortable with emailing the teacher from their private addresses.

Today students were taught to  write a formal essay about women in "Midsummer Night´s Dream"

These students had not written a formal essay before but they were given very clear instructions; it was in-class writing so everything ( the explanation plus the writing) was done in class.

These are two of the essays given in at the end of the lesson:

GRADE 9 ENGLISH at 12:35

This is the class that is reading Farenheit 451. Glenn read for them a long part of one of the chapters, while the students seriously followed in their books - maybe because, like one student said, "He looks so happy when he reads"

Glenn used this part of the book to explain some vocabulary - like "apathetic"- and some literary devices - like allegory, which he explained using Plato´s allegory of the cave, after reading this quote from the novel:" Maybe the books can get us half out of the cave". A very well-designed explanation.

GRADE 9 ENGLISH (last lesson of the day)

The students in this class finished off their introspective writing about "How do I see myself? Am I like the others see me?"; after editing their writing following the long comments Madison had written on them ( and this was important since on the rubric it said you had to make changes), they wrote their text on the lines of their enlarged fingerprints. They could listen to music on their earphones while they were copying their text.

And so we got to the end of the school day...

Monday, September 28th

First day at St. Thomas' High School

We left home at 6:50. Most of us just walked to the car but someone rollerbladed in his new rollerblades...

The first lesson starts at 7:55. Every lesson lasts for 50 minutes and each student has 6 periods/day and two breaks , one for recess (15 minutes) and one for lunch.

When we arrived at the classroom, Ms. Madison Green, Mr. Glenn Katz's student teacher, was already there; they used the time before the lessons to catch up, revise and plan this week. They are both very professional and devoted to their jobs so it was a real pleasure to observe and listen to them prepare things.

First lesson: Grade 9 English (7:55-8:45). 27 students

At 7:50 a soft bell rang ( they should copy this at my school, where the bell is terribly noisy). The students came into Mr. Katz´s class, lowered the chairs from the top of the tables and took a seat. The atmosphere was really relaxed. 

Then the Canadian anthem played and everybody stood up to listen to it - some just listened, others also sang but everybody was respectful.

The students are reading a novel, "Monster", by Walter Dean Myers - they read it in class; they plan to do it over 4 weeks. The activities in the class are designed to make sure everybody understands the story, and to teach the students to think critically. The students were paired randomly and shared a Chrome book - Chrome books are kept in a cupboard in the room.

Their first task was to answer 12 questions about the story, using Socrative; they enjoyed working on it trying to finish first, but they also started to prepare a different activity which involved having their fingerprints of their index fingers and thumbs on a blank piece of paper - and they thought it was fun, messy but fun. These fingerprints will be enlarged for the next lesson and they will write a significant piece of the novel on the lines in their fingerprints.

Shortly before the bell rang, the class was dismissed but the students waited by the door quietly talking to the teacher and to each other. This happened in every lesson: a quiet welcome and a quiet good bye - a few minutes to relax and make things go smoothly

Second lesson: Ethics Class (28 students)

The students did some presentations of videos or some role play about different topics related to the internet: plagiarism, cyberbullying, sexting...This was not in Mr. Katz´s classroom.

The next project for this class will be related to the elections in Canada (next October 19, 2015): for the next three weeks, these students will run a campaign and make a video about one of the issues politicians are talking about these days (the environment, health, pollution,taxes...); they will present these videos to their classmates and they will vote for the next prime minister of the class.

Third lesson: Grade 7 English (29 11-12-year-old students)

The lesson today consisted of reading and understanding Act 2, Scene 2 of "A Midnight´s Summer Dream" - which they expect to fully read in over 6 weeks  - and start "Alice in Wonderland" afterwards. Different students read different parts of the play while the others followed the story in their books. The language is not easy for students this age but they all knew what was going on and could write a prediction of what was going to happen.

Fourth lesson: Grade 7 English (30 students)

This was the same lesson as the one with the group before but this class was much more active ( could it be because they had just had lunch?). Madison made sure they all understood the story through summaries of the different parts, remembering what had happened so far, encouraging them to make predictions about the next act, and asking them to write notes either on their in-class writing books or on their home notebooks.

Fifth lesson: Grade 9 English (30 students) (13:35-14:25)

These students are reading Ray Bradbury´s "Farenheit 451"; they read it at home but they also read tough pieces in class. After some critical thinking about certain parts of the story, students were asked to write a diary entry which included the following: a topic sentence, a supporting one that included a quote, and a concluding sentence. They had to type 150 words in their Chrome books by the end of the class.

That was the end of the school day but the Spanish teachers were picked up at our schools and taken to a meeting with the Lester B. Pearson School Board. This meeting was very brief but very formal.

Some Spanish teachers used the opportunity to share experiences and complain about... well, let´s leave it at that...