Reflection on Week 3

Reflection on Week 3 in New Zealand

 A view of Hawke's Bay from up on Napier Hill

            What a busy week this was! From John with EA coming to visit on Tuesday, to the Orchestra Festival in Napier all day Wednesday, to HNHS Open Evening all night Thursday, it was a hectic yet exciting week in Hawke’s Bay. My teaching load is starting to fill up pretty quickly already, but each day brings new experiences, new challenges, and new rewards. Before I get into the details of the week though, allow me to explain a bit about the schedule here at HNHS, something I neglected to talk about last time.

            The schools that I’ve attended in Wisconsin have all operated pretty much the same as far as scheduling goes. The same classes at the same time in the same place, every day or every other day. Well, that’s not the way it works here at HNHS. The school operates on a 9-day turntable, and each day is a completely different schedule of classes. However, each time a specific numbered day comes around, the schedule for that day is always the same. Days are numbered 1 through 9, and a specific day will not repeat until all the others have passed. Every time it’s Day 1, the schedule will be the same. Every time it’s Day 5, the schedule will be the same. But as if that’s not confusing enough, the days are never in a set order. I’m sure there is logic behind the order they put the days in, but to me as an outsider it seems completely random. Here’s what I’m talking about (the actual schedule from the last few weeks):

Monday, March 5: Day 7                        Monday, March 12: Day 1

Tuesday, March 6: Day 8                        Tuesday, March 13: Day 5

Wednesday, March 7: Day 6                        Wednesday, March 14: Day 9

Thursday, March 8: Day 2                        Thursday, March 15: Day 7

Friday, March 9: Day 3                        Friday, March 16: Day 4

Monday, March 19: Day 6                        Monday, March 26: Day 9

Tuesday, March 20: Day 2                        Tuesday, March 27: Day 7

Wednesday, March 21: Day 8            Wednesday, March 28: Day 5

Thursday, March 22: Day 1                        Thursday, March 29: Day 8

Friday, March 23: Day 3                        Friday, March 30: Day 4

Confused yet? =P

            Actually, I’ve found that once I figured it out, it’s actually nice having a different schedule every day. It makes for a nice change of pace. Not every day is franticly busy, nor is it a day to laze around. There are busier and lighter days, but I think it makes for a much less stressful schedule over all when you don’t have to worry about teaching every hour of every day.

            Speaking of hours, here’s how the everyday class periods break down:

Staff Briefing: 8:30-8:40am

Period 1: 8:45-9:45am

Period 2: 9:50-10:50am

Interval/Morning Tea: 10:50-11:10am

Period 3: 11:15am-12:10pm

Period 4: 12:15-1:10pm

Form Time: 1:15-1:30pm

Lunch: 1:30-2:25pm

Period 5: 2:30-3:25pm

            Every teacher that has a class during Period 1 is asked to read the daily notices regarding all school events for the students. During the Interval there is coffee and tea available for the staff at no charge. Form Time is the equivalent of a high school homeroom back in the States. I’m sure you’ve also noticed that lunch is rather late in the day. During my first placement in Oshkosh at the elementary schools, we were eating lunch at 11am. Here, it’s over 2 hours later. I don’t mind that so much, but it does force me to shove down lunch during Form Time on Mondays and Wednesdays when we have concert band and orchestra rehearsals during lunch on those days respectively. Overall, it’s a pretty decent schedule and it hasn’t been that difficult to adapt.

            Now, finally on to the details from this week. Monday, personally, was a bit of a rough day. The two classes I taught, Year 9s and Year 10s, simply listened to me lecture and took notes for the duration of their classes. At times, I felt unorganized and felt like I was fumbling for words to say. Mr. Cargill and I evaluated the day after the last class and he agreed with me when I told him those previous thoughts. He suggested creating an outline for both me and the class to follow, and to write it up on the board ahead of time. Another suggestion was to think of activities that the students can do that don’t involve sitting in a chair and taking notes, i.e. performing on instruments or getting up and moving around somehow. “It’s a music class, let them play some music!” is something that Mr. Cargill said to me that really stuck. So, knowing that I was to be observed on Tuesday, I really decided to kick my planning into high gear and came up with some wonderful things for the students to do. I arranged the famous Bach Minuet in G for the Year 10 class to play on their major instruments to help study the concept of form. I had the Year 11s being their Video Game Music and Composition lesson, for which I borrowed a resource on Programmatic/Film Music from Mr. Cargill and adapted it for our study of video game music. The class, while they were sitting and listening, were actively engaged in the process and were thinking about what the music meant and the images it put in their heads. The Year 9s rehearsed their class arrangement of As Long As You’re Mine from “Wicked”, which I had put together the weekend previous. Overall, Tuesday was a marvelous day compared to Monday, and has probably been my most successful day so far here in NZ.

            On Wednesday we spent all day up at Napier Girls’ High School for an orchestra festival, sort of like the honors bands from back home, except this was open to anyone who wanted to participate. The students were led by Ken Young, the assistant conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. What a treat for them! He worked very well with them, and I used the opportunity to catch up on my string pedagogy, an area that I am admittedly rather weak in. At the end of the day, the orchestra performed a Michael Jackson tribute, an arrangement of the song Everything I Do, I Do It For You by Bryan Adams from “Robin Hood”, and simplified arrangements of the finales from Tchaikovsky’s 2^nd and Beethoven’s 5^th Symphonies. According to the students, a wonderful time was had by all!

            The last exciting event for the week was Thursday night’s Open Evening, which provides Year 7 and 8 parents to visit the school and learn about the different programs the school offers as their students head towards their secondary school days. It was a really nice chance for us to kind of show off the different things we do here. The parents were amazed by the school’s recording studio and use of technology in every day classroom instruction. I can’t wait to really dig into the composition stuff with the Year 11s so I can show everyone back home how we do things with music technology here in New Zealand!

            So as you can see, things are still heading in a wonderful direction for me and the future is bright! Teaching jobs are starting to pop up back in the States so it’s time to do some applications! Until next week…

Cheers!

Reflection on my first two weeks

Reflection on weeks 1 & 2 in New Zealand

 Wonderful view at a local waterfall!

How the time has flown by so far! I can’t believe I’ve already completed two weeks in New Zealand and it’s going better than I could have imagined. That’s not to say I haven’t had lesser quality days, but overall things are going very well. Week 1 was essentially an observation week, as student teaching placements usually are, and since then it’s been as busy as ever. Allow me, first, to describe the education system at Havelock North High School as I’ve observed so far.

            New Zealand as a whole runs on a 13-year system much the same as we do in America; however the numbering system is a bit different. Americans go kindergarten through 12^th grade, New Zealanders go Year 1 through Year 13. NZ kids don’t start Year 1 until they’ve turned 5 years old, even if that’s in the middle of the school year. My friends over at Frimley Primary School tell stories of how they get new students in school at least once or twice a week, because they turn 5 and then start. From there, Years 1-5 are considered primary school, 6-8 are intermediate, and 9-13 are secondary (the same as our elementary, middle, and high schools).

            In secondary schools, Years 9-12 are required and Year 13 is optional; however most students choose to stay through Year 13 as exams at that level allow them to earn higher credits towards university study. Years 9 and 10 run on their own curriculums and it’s up to the teachers as to what kinds of lessons are used to teach those curriculums. Years 11-13 are what I call Exam Years, as at the end of each school year, students are examined on the courses they’ve studied throughout the year. Year 11 students study from a curriculum called Level 1, Year 12s from Level 2, and Year 13s from Level 3. Each subject area has its own standards at each level, and each level, of course, gets steadily more difficult. At each level and similar to our grading system, students can earn Achievement, Achievement with Merit, or Achievement with Excellence. An example of a university requirement: a music school may require any prospective student to earn Achievement with Excellence at Level 3 in the “solo performance” standard, and maybe an Achievement with Merit at Level 2 in the “aural skills/ear training” standard, among others.

            One of the biggest surprises to me so far has been that the music students at HNHS are studying things that I didn’t study until I was in college. At the moment, the Year 11 students, under my instruction, are studying Programmatic Music and Composition, and we’re concentrating on music from video games (which, believe me, is more of a privilege for me to teach than anything I’ve taught to this point in my life!). The Year 12s are hard at work on an instrumentation project, for which they’ve selected one of four pre-determined pieces of music for solo piano to arrange for a difference ensemble of at least four different instruments. They’ve been given suggestions for ensembles such as a brass quintet, string quartet, or even rock band. Finally, the Year 13s are studying extended jazz theory and harmony (with my co-op Mr. Cargill, because I was never taught jazz theory!). And what’s more than this is that they’re having great success at these lessons. It’s enough for them to be doing what I consider college-level work while still in high school, but to be doing well and at the level that they’re at is simply incredible. It’s an honor for me to be able to teach such talented and knowledgeable students.

            Another interesting aspect of my school experience so far is that my area of concentration for my Pre-Professional Development Plan (Pre-PDP), classroom management, has hardly been an issue to this point. The classes I teach are attentive, they don’t cause disruptions, and their level of concentration is beyond anything I’ve experienced in any American school so far. Part of it could be that I’ve given some very helpful tips at how to establish a routine that eliminates most disruptions right off the bat. Part of it could be that Mr. Cargill has already established an expectation of respect and concentration in his classrooms. But those aside, I have a feeling that it’s simply part of the New Zealand school culture for students to have levels of utmost respect and attention while at school. Whether it’s been taught to them at home from the parents or built up through their primary and intermediate years, it’s clear that these students know how to behave in a classroom, regardless of who is teaching them.

            As far as me actually teaching lessons goes, I started off easily enough on Friday of week 1 by simply giving a few of the classes a demonstration of some of the things I can do on the flute and piccolo, to give the students a bit of a background for my musical studies. It picked up a bit during week 2 when I started a unit on Musical Theatre with the Year 9 class, and started team teaching the Year 12 Instrumentation unit with Mr. Cargill. It really looks to be picking up next week as I’ll be starting the Video Game Music and Composition unit with the Year 11 class, and I’ll also be starting something with the Year 10 class, which has yet to be determined. I can also look forward to being observed by my Educators Abroad supervisor next week, which should be a bit nerve-wracking to say the least! Despite all the work to be done, I’m still having an incredible amount of fun here in New Zealand and I’m very glad I decided to pursue this opportunity. Can’t wait to see what adventures lie ahead. So until next time…

Cheers!

First post from NZ!

First Blog Post!

 Magnificent view off a sheep farm near Havelock North, New Zealand!

Friday, March 2 - 1:55pm Central

Welcome to the blog of my trip to New Zealand to student teach! I feel so incredibly blessed to have this amazing opportunity, and rest assured I’m going to extract every possible thing I can from it. There are so many people to thank for this I don’t even know where to begin! Big thanks to MaryBeth Petesch in the UWO Office of Field Experiences for filling me in about this in the first place! Many thanks as well to Erica Swenson, Leigh Golding, and John & Marian Meade with Educators Abroad for doing all the logistics of my entire experience. Many more thanks to all my family and friends for their support and well wishes, and very special thanks to Laura for taking me to Chicago to begin the whole thing!

Right now I’m sitting at gate C21 of Terminal 1 at Chicago/O’Hare International Airport, waiting for my first flight to take off. First flight leaves for San Francisco at 3pm ,which is only about an hour from now! After that, it’s a short layover and then the big 13-hour flight to Auckland, followed by a short flight to Napier. I’ve only flown once before this, and this is my first time flying overseas, solo, and with connecting flights! I got lost three different times in O’Hare but I was here early enough so I didn’t have any problems finding where I was supposed to go.

So many different thoughts and emotions are swirling in my head as I prepare to head out on this life-changing experience. I’m unbelievably excited to get to experience a completely new culture and lifestyle halfway around the world. I’m incredibly nervous and anxious as well. What if the students at Havelock North don’t like me? What if I can’t establish a good rapport with them? But strangely, even as I type these words my worries seem to escape me. I just completed an amazing 9-week placement with K-5 students in Oshkosh, and I did not have any problems with the students liking me or respecting me. I am optimistic that my difference in nationality will not make a difference. My good friend Lauren experienced this same thing and she has repeatedly said that it changed her life much for the better. I cannot see a reason why it would be any different for me!

I will do my absolute best to post an update to this blog at least once a week, if not more often. I’ll also try to sum up the post as best I can with a picture or video. For those of you that are friends with me on Facebook, I’ll try to post pictures as often as I can. Well, almost boarding time here at O’Hare. Until next time, have a good one!

Friday, March 2 - 7:50pm Pacific

            High above the Pacific Ocean! I’m currently on flight NZ 7 from San Francisco to Auckland! We took off about a half hour ago and it’s been smooth so far. The flight attendants are super nice and the Air New Zealand safety video was quite hilarious; a real treat to see humor in something so serious.

            I don’t even know where to begin right now. I had to put this trip together in September and October, when it seemed light years away. Now, all of a sudden, I’m high in the sky on my way there. It’s so hard to believe that it’s already happening! (side note: I’ll probably say that at least three more times before it’s all said and done!) I’m sitting next to a very nice couple from Washington; it’s a definite improvement over my last seat-mate who didn’t say anything the whole flight from Chicago to San Fran. Anyway, I just heard the announcement for dinner coming up, and it sounds good! Either a seasoned beef dish or macaroni & chicken tonight. I’m thinking the macaroni & chicken for now. So until then, good eatin’ and have a good one! :P

Sunday, March 4 - 6:10am New Zealand Time

            Kia Ora from Auckland, New Zealand! I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect flight from San Francisco…the food was great, my neighbors were friendly, and I actually got some sleep! Dinner was served about an hour after takeoff, and yes I did have the macaroni & chicken dish, which was very good. Came with a (very small) side salad and a raspberry/chocolate cake for dessert. I talked to my neighbors for a while, a very pleasant couple from Washington state, then settled down for some TV. I watched a soccer match from Europe and fell asleep for a few minutes towards the end. Decided to try to sleep more after that but had difficulty doing so. I turned the TV back on and watched a few episodes of Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother before starting to fall asleep again. I still had my watch set to Pacific Time, and at this point it was about 1am. I put my jacket over me like a blanket and promptly zonked for about 4 hours! At this point I pulled out my computer again and changed the time zone to New Zealand time, and discovered that it was about 2:30am on Sunday and that we’d be landing in a little over 2 hours. Shortly after, the announcement came for breakfast, and I enjoyed an egg/cheese omelet with some fruit, yogurt, and apple juice. Yummy! I settled in for two more episodes of How I Met Your Mother before the call came for us to begin descent into Auckland, so I chatted with my neighbors the rest of the way. For my very first international flight, I have absolutely zero complaints, the service was wonderful, and the flight itself was very smooth with little turbulence. Right now, I’m waiting for the gate to open for my final flight to Napier, which leaves in an hour. Then it’s on to Linn and Neil’s for three amazing months! I’ll update again tonight after I’ve experienced my first full day in another country! Until then, have a good one!

Sunday, March 4 - 9:15pm NZ

            And what a first day it has been! The flight from Auckland to Napier was very smooth, and Leigh & Marian from EA met me there. So nice to finally meet people after emailing back and forth for so long! From there, it was a short drive through Napier and Hastings on the way to Havelock North, a short meet & greet with John, my EA Supervisor, and then to my host family’s place. Linn and Neil are wonderful people, simply put. Linn is a part-time ESL teacher at Havelock North High School, and Neil is a retired car salesman and does most of the cooking (which is quite wonderful!) and housework during the day. Linn provides the warm, mother-like guidance while Neil is chock full of witty sarcasm and quick jokes that keep the atmosphere light and friendly. After a quick tour of the high school and a meet & greet with my co-op Robbie Cargill, it was back to Napier with Leigh to meet the rest of the American student teachers! I finally met Liana and Ali face-to-face after being Facebook friends for a while, and met Jessi and Avery for the first time. We all clicked together really well and I can tell it’s going to be a phenomenal experience interacting with, getting to know, and traveling with these people. Plans are already in place for a biking/wine-tasting tour next weekend, as well as a potential weekend trip to Wellington and, of course, the Kiwi Experience (if I can afford it!).

            Well, I’ve been up for almost 20 hours now after my on-and-off 4 hours on the flight from San Francisco, so you can imagine how tired I am! Linn and I were chatting after dinner and I think she could sense how tired I was because she basically just stopped mid-thought and said “Ok, you’re tired, off to bed with you now!” I am definitely looking forward to a wonderful night’s sleep here in a few minutes. Tomorrow I start my time at HNHS already with the Stage Band (Jazz Band) rehearsal at 8am sharp! So until then my North American comrades, sleep well! (it is 2:30am Sunday morning by you right now! :P)