#edsketch15 Day One: conversations of a relieving teacher

#edsketch15 sprang into life yesterday.  When I first heard about it I was "What is this?"  But a quick read of Steve Mouldey's post Sketch a Day in May explained it all.  Read about it here: https://stevemouldey.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/sketch-a-day-in-may/

Currently I am a relieving teacher.  I have chosen this currently for a number of reasons:
*  my mum is having a series of operations and by not working full time in the first half of this year I am more available for her.
*  the last two years were very intense, and I needed time to reflect on what I've learnt from these experiences and how I could build on them.
*  relieving gives me the chance to work in a variety of schools and re-evaluate my preconceived expectations of these schools, meet new people, reconnect with old friends, gather ideas from a variety of teachers and levels.
*  enjoy the time I spend with students without stressing about assessments, meetings, reports.....

Yes, relieving has allowed me to breathe for a couple of terms, but I miss having my own class and teaching a group of children I claim as my own.

Yesterday I relieved at a large intermediate school.  It was my first time there, and I got to work in three very different classes. 

The first class was charged with rearranging the wall displays.  The children, teacher aides and I struggled with some aspects of this task, but these children took feedback and utilised it and identified and solved problems.  They had to manage themselves and work together with their team mates.  They had to delegate tasks and share equipment.  It was full on but they did their best and I hope their teacher was happy.

Take away: a website for creating lettering for the wall.

The second class were a laptop class.  They were very focused on their tasks and working independently.  I helped the odd student figure out how to do something,  but for most of the time I talked to them about what they were learning, their blogs and the choices they made for their projects.  It was a pleasure.

Take away: putting paper up on the wall for students to record their learning/planning for a topic and the use of Survey Monkey to collect data for a statistical investigation.

The last class was more challenging.  I felt it as soon as I walked in the room.  There were plenty of characters in the room.  They had been left with a task that required them to use the desktop computers, but limited time and access due to child:computer ratios.  We also had kapa haka.  This was the class I had the interesting conversation with that is the basis of my #edsketch15 Day One picture.

Take away: kids are persistent and will push the boundaries to get to know you.  And that is the story behind my first #edsketch15.