Sunday, February 13, 2011

Well, here goes!

This is my first blog.  It's a bit daunting to be honest, but here goes nothing.

I will start with a bit of a run-down of what I teach.  I work at a decile 8 co-educational state school.  I think it's a great place with a fairly diverse range of kids and a dynamic teaching staff.

I have two English classes - a Year 11 class that the students call 'vege' English, much to my disgust.  It's really a class of students for whom English is not their strength but with  a bit of extra support and guidance, could achieve to their potential.  I also teach a class of Year 10 students who are very low level and need lots of extra support (sadly, they call themselves 'cabbages').  There are only 13 students in this group and I am very lucky to have a teacher-aide as well.  Both of us are kept very busy during these lessons and it's important to see the funny side of what we get up to!

The rest of the time, I work in the school's On Site Learning Centre.  This is a place that is home to a variety of students who come and go throughout the day.  We deal with students referred out of classes, students on the RTLB roll, students with specific learning needs etc.  I teach groups identified as needing extra support in certain areas, like reading comprehension for example.  ESOL students also visit the centre as well as those needing a quiet place to re-sit an Achievement Standard.  It's a dynamic place!!

One of my focusses (is that a word??) this year is helping my students (whether they be in my classes or in the Learning Centre) become self regulating learners and that is something I plan to write about in this blog.  I would also love them to NOT see themselves as 'veges' or 'cabbages'.

However,  I think I've rattled on enough for now, so in my next post, I will talk a bit more about what I mean by this, what I'm doing so far and what plans I have for the rest of the year.

Ms B