Before I started working around Blackfriars, I was expecting to do a lot of work with the older students, teaching some theology and trudging through philosophy. Well, that's not exactly how things have turned out -- or at least not exactly. And honestly, I'm really happy about that. I do love studying theology, but philosophy is nothing better than a necessary evil and I can only take so much of it. I think that's why I went into the year 12 philosophy class this morning for 20 minutes before walking out as they turned on Inception and prepared to talk about epistemology (I made sure that the teacher wouldn't mind me leaving, though).
I went to the year 5's after that, which was a breath of fresh air. The teacher asked me to come up with a fitness lesson for them, so I racked my brain to think back to middle school gym class. I came up with one of my favorite games, which is kind of like dodgeball but in teams of 4. The boys really seemed to like it -- there's nothing better than running around and chucking stuff stuff at each other! I hung around with them for about an hour after that, checking out their art projects and talking with their teacher about what it's like teaching in primary school. On my way back to the office, I ran into Tommy, who was talking about how much fun he had at lunch yesterday and asking if he could come back again today. I told him that the Games Club lunch wasn't until tomorrow, but that still didn't stop him from shouting out, "Okay, see you at lunch TJ!" as he ran off to the playground.
After a quick recess, I went with Maria to her RE class. I do really enjoy doing stuff in that class, even if it is a lot different than working with the younger kids. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get the year 10's to participate, but I think you just need to find the best way to get the teeth out. It's a bit tough balancing control of the class with Maria, since we have such different approaches to teaching, but we found a good balance today (I'm not very good at sharing teaching). I did get to tell off two kids who were really annoying me, and then Maria made them move (telling kids off is always good fun). Teaching seems to be all about balance, and this experience has been great to observe how other teachers function and to learn from that so I can bring it into my own classroom someday.
I went back to the office for lunch, and within five minutes I heard a door open and little feet walking down the hall. I look up, and there's Tommy walking into the room: "See, I promised I'd come!" He wasn't technically supposed to be there, but he was so excited to come and I was more than happy to spend time with him. He brought his Harry Potter posters to show me, and was rocking back and forth in his chair excitedly the whole time he was chatting with me. We fixed up the little Mr Potato Heads in the office that I had rearranged a couple weeks ago, and then drew a bit before we went back to his class.
Within ten minutes of being with the year 2's, I had five boys all asking me for help with their spelling, and so I spent a bit of time being pulled (literally) in five different directions to help the boys out. Afterwards, they had some free time and Tommy was not shy about grabbing my hand and leading me over to the play area. I laughed as another boy said, "Tommy, he isn't you brother." I definitely see him as a little brother or cousin, and it was really funny to hear one of the year 2's say that. Instead of going to the year 7 class (which I've kind of forgotten about by now) I hung around with the year 2's and built stuff with them, probably having just as much fun as they were.
Hard to believe that I only have three days left at Blackfriars -- but you can be assured that I'll be spending plenty of time with my primary kids and far away from studying philosophy!
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| With my year 2's |
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| And the year 4's! |
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