The Climb

Another week has begun and it is difficult to believe that I only have about 2 1/2 weeks left at Green Bay Primary. The school days fly by and I am constantly on "the go." I need to be mindful to stop and enjoy my students as well as learn as much as I can in the last couple weeks.

I am introducing the anti-bullying commercial project to my students tomorrow. I am so excited to see what ideas the students come up with. I am giving them information on requirements and criteria for success through a rubric. This should guide their focus but also allow for a lot of creativity. My goal is to have these commercials be completed before the end of the term so that the students can watch them together and then eventually show them throughout all year levels.

The staff at Green Bay Primary have professional development meetings once a week after school. The focus of a majority of the development meetings are based on a book called Clarity in the Classroom: Using Formative Assessment by Michael Absolum. The book provides key strategies and easy to use techniques for developing effective and meaningful classroom practice. The last meeting we spoke about how a teacher and student both need dedicate themselves to these three things: honesty, respect, and openness. Students and teachers have to have relationships that are bound on saying what they are thinking and then making a commitment to always doing that in a constructive manner. It is quite interesting. It is my goal to have a "learning" relationship in the classroom instead of an activity, authoritarian, or caring relationship. I am learning about these classroom relationships and it is easy for me to see when I slip into one type of relationship with a student.

This past weekend Bre and I climbed Rangitoto, a volcano! It was so cool knowing that I was on something so spectacular. It was quite the workout! It has very steep inclines and it seemed like we would never get to the top, however, once we got to the top the climb seemed totally worth it. The view of Auckland was breathtaking and I really felt like I accomplished something substantial.