How are your classes going?

Pretty much as well as can be expected I think.

I have been assigned the following classes:
Science 9
Science 10
Science 6
Social Studies 6
Language Arts/Writing 6
Language Arts/Writing 7
Writing 4 (Teacher's Assistant)
Tutoring for a Boy Writing/LA 7

Yeah, you might say that is a lot of courses to cover, and it is, but so far its been okay. I have taught Science 10 and Science 9 once already and that was fun. So far at least teaching the science courses are my fave. I am a big science nerd so talking about the discovery of the atom and how chemical symbols are written is right up my alley. Ah.... those were the days when chemistry didn't have the dreaded "organic" prefix....

Also you might have noticed that I am teaching a lot of writing and social studies. Yes, well isn't that interesting since I haven't studied social studies since grade 11 (not counting environmental studies at UVic). Social studies has been interesting to teach (the one or two days so far) as the kids don't live in Canada and aren't familiar with the geography and have no first hand experience with the issues we discuss. For example we were talking about First Nation's land claims today and treaties.... it was hard to explain to an Indonesian school kid why First Nation's were disadvantaged and why people would put them into reserves and what a reserve was and the poverty and disadvantages that are the realities of living on the reserve in plain and simple terms that they could understand, especially being that I don't think there are "First Peoples" here to relate it too..... interesting lesson. And also, I am no expert. I actually think Paul would really like teaching grade 6 subjects and this class in particular because they are so curious about Canada and the issues.

Also I had to teach and learn how to properly use a colon today. That was an interesting class. At the beginning of the day I got a note from the secretary from the principal that I would be teaching that first block. But I pulled through and I think the students never even knew how to use a colon properly until I literally started teaching it to the class. Go Me!

Anyways, in grade 6 science we are moving on from flight to the "Biodiversity" unit and I can't wait to start teaching that! We were talking about the flight of animals as a transition topic today and they had so many questions, and I had the answers! YES! Yay me! Finally that Bio degree is paying off. For example:

Grade 6 student: "Are snails insects?"
Miss Chelsea: "What a great question! No, they are not, they are in a different order than insects. Snails are more closely related to clams, octopuses, limpets, polyplacophorans and slugs...

The good thing too about this school is besides the grade 4 class with 24-ish kids in it, there are only 2 kids in grade 10 and 9 kids in the grade 9, 7 and 6 classes. Talk about ideal class sizes. But seriously I don't know how the teachers in Canada do it. With so many kids its got to be hard to do all that marking... not that I have done a lot of marking yet.

Its a lot to take in right now and sometimes it seems daunting the amount of teaching that is required. But its okay so far, I am managing and seeming to do alright :S

Here is me after a Monday of teaching. This is the first day I wore pants, and it was surprisingly bearable, I think it was a bit cooler today and I also think that I am getting used to the heat. Also excuse the weird expression and sweaty face/hair, it was a self portrait!