August 25, 2010 (25/08/2010)
I am very happy, but overwhelmed.... I guess that is how you could describe how I am feeling at the moment. It is a good feeling, but stressful nonetheless. The last two days we have had "teacher time" to prepare our classes and listen to lectures about the merit system, pastoral care, etc. The merit system is a behaviour system where teachers deduct merits for a variety of things. I will post a picture of what can take away merits. It is quite involved and I just hope that I can catch on pretty quickly.
I will be teaching years 8,9,and 10 which is the U.S. is 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I will be teaching each grade Geography. I will also have year 8 and 9 History and a class called "Leisure and Tourism". I have a "form class", which is the same as "X-block" or "homeroom", but we meet an hour a week to do activities similar to STS. This means that I have about 7 DIFFERENT classes to teach, with different curriculum and different levels. It is so exciting to me to teach new material, but it is also what is making me stressed :) I am the type of teacher though that likes a challenge. I will have to talk to Mr. McTague and Mrs. Cosentino to get ideas for the geography classes. Weathering, earthquakes and volcanoes are just some of the topics that I will be covering.
For the last few days I have been making posters for the room, especially on the 5 themes of geography. There are a few topics that I taught at NBJH that I will also teach at Priory, like the Renaissance, primary and secondary sources, timelines etc.
Well, I should go back to preparing for the classes. By now you all have started school at NBJH. We will begin in a week.
Cheerio!
Ms. Yuhas Stetka
Outside Priory Integrated College (It's like a junior high and high school combined.)
This was the day that I walked to my new school.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Saturday, 21 August 2010
My First Week in Belfast
August 21, 2010 (21/08/2010)
Well, I think that I am slowly getting used to life in Belfast. It has been about a week since I arrived and I have been to most of the city. My main transport is the bike and my feet. Considering that Belfast is about 250,000 people, the distances between places are not as bad as in Chicago. It takes about 20 minutes to ride the bike to the city centre and also to Priory, the school where I will be teaching. School starts in about a week so I am eager to get into the classroom and meet all the other teachers. I got my teaching schedule and it is very different than NBJH. Each day there is a different teaching schedule and the classes are only 30 minutes long. I bought some markers in order to color code the schedule. It will take a lot longer to learn the names of students since I will have many many more of them and for a shorter amount of time.
My mom was here last week and we had a chance to drive to the North Coast. This is a beautiful part of the country. I have posted a few pictures. Driving on the other side of the road is a bit of a challenge, but I managed. I only got honked at once. The weather has been great... a bit cloudy but dry for this time of the year. I am sure that rain will start very soon. There will be more postings once school starts.
Cheerio!
Ms. Yuhas Stetka
Well, I think that I am slowly getting used to life in Belfast. It has been about a week since I arrived and I have been to most of the city. My main transport is the bike and my feet. Considering that Belfast is about 250,000 people, the distances between places are not as bad as in Chicago. It takes about 20 minutes to ride the bike to the city centre and also to Priory, the school where I will be teaching. School starts in about a week so I am eager to get into the classroom and meet all the other teachers. I got my teaching schedule and it is very different than NBJH. Each day there is a different teaching schedule and the classes are only 30 minutes long. I bought some markers in order to color code the schedule. It will take a lot longer to learn the names of students since I will have many many more of them and for a shorter amount of time.
My mom was here last week and we had a chance to drive to the North Coast. This is a beautiful part of the country. I have posted a few pictures. Driving on the other side of the road is a bit of a challenge, but I managed. I only got honked at once. The weather has been great... a bit cloudy but dry for this time of the year. I am sure that rain will start very soon. There will be more postings once school starts.
Cheerio!
Ms. Yuhas Stetka
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