The Fire Drill

I have a new-found joy in life. It's called the fire drill.

Whilst I understand the importance of employing safety precautions such as fire drills, I am convinced that its main purpose is to give teachers a laugh.

I thoroughly enjoyed today's fire drill. It was my second highlight of the day. My first highlight was when one of my little ones turned to me and said "You're my best teacher Miss Laird". It really did make my heart melt. Anywho... today's fire drill had been scheduled for 1pm. The teachers had been forewarned, however the children remained oblivious. At exactly 1pm, a man with a hand-held siren and ear muffs hurried through the school, alerting the staff and students of the impending 'fire'. This man was enjoying his role far too much; the huge smile on his face hindered the seriousness of the event a little. However his evident amusement seemed to bypass my grade ones and the majority began to panic. Not able to help myself, I put on my serious voice, told my grade ones that what they were hearing was the fire alarm, and instructed them to drop what they were doing and line up outside immediately. Never before have I seen my kids move so quickly. The girls grabbed each others hands and the boys charged to the front of the line. I grabbed the roll and marched my class to the oval. We had barely left the classroom when Ollie yelled "I smell smoke!!" while pointing at a particularly dark and ominous looking cloud. Half of my kids walked the length of the oval pinching their noses and breathing through their mouths, to protect themselves from the 'smoke'. When we arrived at the centre of the oval, the kid's imaginations ran riot....

"There really is a fire, I really can smell smoke!!"
"This is really serious, someone might die you know."
"All of our parents might die!"
"Who will look after us if our parents die??"
"Who will drive us to school if our parents die??"
"We can drive ourselves to school and go CRAZY all over the place!"
"Nnoooo we can all walk to school...."
"I saw a man with a gun! There's a man walking around with a gun!" - (It was a cap gun to get the school's attention on the oval. Serious stuff for a 6 year old...)

By this point some of the girls were getting a little bit frantic and clinging to each other as if the end of the world was near. Thankfully the Principle quickly reassured the school that it was only a drill, and that they could return to class. Walking back to class, Ollie was still pointing at the dark looking cloud and trying to convince me that he could smell smoke. I couldn't keep the smile from my lips.

I'm sure that some teachers would argue that fire drills are highly disruptive, however I think that the disruption is worth it. Who doesn't love a bit of drama now and then? My kids settled back to work incredibly quickly after the fire drill; feeling safe and happy with the mundane routine of class work, so I wasn't worried.

I'd best get back to planning for tomorrow. I only have two more days of placement. I am so excited by how much I have learnt over the past 3 weeks, and I will really miss my kids once I return home. Although I really am looking forward to being back. :)

Shane

This is a story about Shane.

Shane is 6. He has huge green eyes, dark red hair and freckles on his nose. Shane is a good natured child and generally isn't overly disruptive. Shane is also the most pessimistic child that I have ever met. He lacks confidence in his ability to do just about anything; be it handwriting, addition turn arounds, or remembering the name of one of his classmates.

"Miss Laird, I can't do it."
"I don't know what to do Miss Laird."
"Miss Laird I JUST CAN'T DO IT."

Shane will often give up before he even knows what is required of him. Shane is frequently reluctant to 'have a go' because the fear of failure and inadequacy is so great.

Shane also craves the affirmation of others. If another child is given a compliment, he longs to be complimented in the same way.

"Am I working hard Miss Laird?"
"Do you like MY colouring Miss Laird?"
"Is MY hair neat for the school photo Miss Laird?"

It's really hard to work with a 6 year old who has such a defeated attitude. He is a bright child, however his lack of confidence is causing him to fall behind.

This week I was thinking about Shane and how I can encourage him. It's very easy to feel sorry for children like this. I'm often tempted to go straight to my default response of giving them a hug, but this isn't always helpful. Sometimes Shane just needs to be told to stop frowning and get on with his work.

This week will be my first week of teaching a full time load, which means that I am supposed to do all of the teaching for the whole week. Rather than resuming the foetal position, I am keen to have a go. Don't get me wrong, I am terrified... but I think that I have realised this week how easy it would be for me to think a little like Shane. I never want to approach work with the attitude of "I can't do this", because I know that God is strong when I am weak. I know that I am going to make loads of mistakes this week. There will probably be times when I feel like I have completely lost control of my class. This may be because I have in fact lost control of my class and they have tied me to a chair or something. But that's ok. It's what learning is about. Sometimes we fly, sometimes we fall. All the while we trust God and know that our fears can never consume us.

Anywho... that's what I have been thinking about today. I was hoping to keep this a little more updated but I really have been swamped. I hope that you have all survived without my rambling blogs. Peace out :)

Prac Blogging - Second Installment....

Hello my wonderful readers!

I write to you from the Sunshine Coast, which will be my home for the next three weeks as I complete my third year placement. Those of you who may have read my previous prac blogging installments will be pleased to know that my "Learning Manager" badge is once again in use, and once again I have no idea what this title is supposed to entail. Even more concerning is that some of the teachers managed to call me Carla today, despite the clearly printed "Carly" written on my badge. They're probably the same teachers who still believe that the "3 R's" actually begin with the letter R.

Today was my first day of prac, and even though I am feeling bruised and weary, all in all it was a good day. Why bruised, I hear you ask? Belle, Cam, Lyle, Leah, Mr & Mrs Yates, Mark and I hired a sailing boat on the weekend (the rest of the crew will be sailing until Saturday, I had to return early for prac), and I managed to fall down the stairs on the first night. I'm not sure that my derriere has ever been this sore in my life. It certainly made todays four hour staff meeting more painful than it already was.

Today was a pupil free day, so most of my time was spent in meetings and planning for the week. I'm feeling very excited, because I am sharing my placement with a student from New York who is in Australia completing her final year placement. I'm really thankful that I will be able to partner teach alongside another student rather than having to handle 27 grade ones on my own. It was also very interesting to chat to Katie about how the American education system differs from the Australian system. Comparatively, we really have it quite good over here. However I was reminded today that Australians really do make a big song and dance about Americans when they are in town. As I was walking home from school this afternoon, I noticed that the large notice board out the front of the school read "Welcome to our student teachers from New York!". I'm sorry, but I don't remember reading "Welcome to our student teacher from Townsville!" when I first came to the school in April. Maybe I just missed it. Seems unlikely. Either way, I had a great time today chatting to lots of the teaching/cleaning/admin staff at school; everyone is so lovely and friendly which is so important, particularly being away from home.

Stay tuned for more prac related blogs... I hope to keep you all fairly updated.
Peace out :)