This title has many different meanings. To start, today would be my first day to teach the lesson I had planned. I had taught before while here in Chile, but this was my lesson today. I was going to use the smart board, and sure enough there is something wrong. I got to school a little early today, which is extremely rare, so luckily I had a little time before students arrived to “Test” the thing out. I was also granted a little more time just by the fact that Chileans wait till the last minute for everything, including letting me know that all the 5th graders would be taking some kind of standardized test today, so I had another whole class period to work on getting the smart board working. I worked on the thing all morning while the 5th graders finished up their tests and got it all up and running. It would have been really nice if someone at the school had any clue how to use a Smart Board, if it weren’t for the extra help in the classroom and the luck of having the extra time to plan, I would have never even worked on it until after school. But everything fell together, like it always does, and things went great. I had a lot of fun with the lesson, and the kids had a lot of fun with the lesson because they got to write on the Smart Board, which to them is way cool (well to me too). I really hope that I can have a smart board in my future classroom, they are so much fun.
After my lesson, my teacher and I were able to sit down and talk for a little bit. She said that she was really thrilled with my lesson and she thought that I had done a great job, but she would like me to spend most of my time here helping her while she learns that equipment. I told her that as long as I am involved and not just observing all the time, I would love to help her learn the tools. We spent the afternoon planning as much as we could for next week. We put together several lessons that utilized the smart board in several different ways, and they look as if they will be a lot of fun for the students.
The after school activities were much like every other day that I don’t have something planned. I took a walk to the mall mainly to get out some money for the weekends trip to Chillan, but also to kill a little time while Pancho had practice.
I know that Aimee is struggling a little bit now that she is not with her family. I know exactly what she is going through because I was there last week. We both know that we will be together quicker than we can imagine but it really does seem like forever away. I also know that she is doing much better now that she is again busy with her Student Teaching.
