As my two week holiday came to an end and I came back to school with my new years resolutions to eat healthier, be a better mom (in other words time for potty training and getting the kid off the sippy), and to be more active. What am I doing to make these changes?
I started by joining Weight Watchers online on January 1st which has put me in a position to really track my food intake. I am more aware of my portion sizes and how to make healthy substitutions. I am trying to be active in some way at least 20 minutes a day and trying to vary it up with Pilate's, yoga, walking, and the weights and treadmill we purchased over the holidays. I have also added multi-vitamins to my life and am eating more fruits and vegetables which also means Gavin is slowly becoming more interested in eating healthy. So far while the pounds are not flying off I am feeling more energetic and more comfortable in my clothes. This also translates to being a better teacher because I am sitting down a lot less which means I am a more vigil and active teacher.
How am I becoming a better teacher so far?? I am trying to reflect on student performance and group my students accordingly. I have organized my girls into reading groups and am attempting to differentiate instruction giving the girls different leveled readers and activities and surprisingly there are not too many complaints that they are doing different activities. On a side note why this surprises me is because this culture squashes individuality on some levels and often I see so many girls attempting to be just like the other girls and this can be related to the fact that the mothers and fathers are so much the same in attire and even mannerisms and walking...I mean to say most of the Arabic ladies walk the same; they sort of slowly float along and the men do as well. Which in contrast is funny because in their cars they drive like maniacs. Anyways so my whole point was that because I see my girls so desperately needing to be the same as the group I thought they would throw a tiffy when I started to give them different activities but I found that as long as they are in cooperative learning groups and the girl next to them is doing the same thing they are fine. Now in each class I have one girl that is even beyond the highest reading group. I have given these girls even high readers and activities to choose from.
While I have been able to differentiate in reading I am still really struggling with this in math and the reality is I need to. For example the past two weeks I have been struggling to teach carrying and borrowing in addition and subtraction. I have used hundred charts, and base ten blocks and still I have some girls that are just clueless and some girls that are ready to move on. So I know that a good teacher could find a way to get the higher girls to move on and would find a way to go back over the skill with the girls that still are not getting it. But I just don't know how to do this because very few of my girls are independent learners. I can give them a task and they need constant recognition so when trying to work with the low girls the high girls are right there to show me their work and look for recognition. So this is something I know I need to improve on.
My faculty head says to me after an observation that I struggle with my "time on task," and I have to agree with her. I have trouble getting my girls focused and they easily get distracted. This derives from poor classroom management. Now I know I don't have the worst classroom management but I know for sure it could be better. Now in contrast there are teachers that are excellent at classroom management but the children complain to their mothers that the teacher is mean and then the mothers complain to administration and there is a cycle so it is almost like we can't win. My faculty head is also looking for us to exhibit an equal amount of positive reinforcement as negative reinforcement so it is a balancing act. My issue is out of fear of being reprimanded or brought under a spot light by administration or even worse ADEC themselves I set out at the beginning of the year to only have a positive reward system. Which on some levels has worked for me and has been motivating and the mothers love it. But back to the problem at hand, I simply do not have enough time on task with my girls. So the new year brings a new behavior management system.
I am implementing the stoplight system. I have a hanging pocket chart with colored circles red, orange, yellow and green. Each Sunday (like Monday) the girls start at green. When they move to yellow it is a warning, orange final warning, and red means move away from the group and work alone. Now of course girls can earn their way back up to green. This system also has rewards, if you are in the green at the end of class you leave two minutes early (could never do this in the states it is fantastic!) which means the rest of the class thinks they are leaving late (although we would be in serious trouble if we let any of the girls out late). They are in pure torture sitting waiting for just two minutes and it is really working! Then on Thursday (Friday here) I am giving all the girls left in the green a small prize candy, gum, pencil etc. I know I just started it but really I think it is working out quite well! I only had a few tears (tears must work on mom every time with some of these girls) and hopefully I won't have any angry mothers.
Now as far as helping my son transition into being a "big boy" I am at my wits end! I am hearing from many that "my son was potty trained before two," or "before two and a half," and I am really starting to get a complex so here we go. I let him run around all day no diaper and I sit him on the potty every 20 minutes and after naps and after waking in the morning and after a drink and after a meal and he refuses to go in the potty! He exhibits all the signs he hates wet diapers and tells me he needs a new diaper all the time. He loves his potty, loves to sit on it, but refuses to pee in it. He pees on the floor in the same spot and so we put his potty in the same spot and yet he pees on the floor next to it. I guess eventually he will go in the potty but at this point I just think he is stubborn. I mean take this morning after waking up his diaper was dry and I have him a sippy. I put him on that potty 10 to 15 times and sat with him. We sang the little potty song I made up and we sat and sat. Then after two hours (that means bladder control doesn't it?) he pees on the floor by the potty. I think he just wants to be defiant and stubborn...I know my loyal fans and readers (lol my mom) will tell me he is only two....I digress...
In general news we are trying to buy a car and get a loan because car rental prices are just too high and at least when leave the country we can sell the car and maybe pocket a little extra cash but getting a loan has been a nightmare as everything in this country has been. I think, I believe, I hope that as they say "Insha Allah" it will happen tomorrow. We were thinking of going with a brand new Mitsubishi ASX but now we are toying with the idea of going to Dubai and checking out the used car lots as they have a lot of cars that are still under warranty and less than a year old for around 5000 USD cheaper. There have been over 100 teachers that have left their cars at the airport or apartment parking lots and left the country blowing off their car loans and debt. Apparently their situations were bad enough to warrant such poor purchasing decisions and abandoning debt to become wanted fugitives in a country they can never step foot in again...I am truly amazed at the behavior of some so called educated professionals; they have no idea how bad they make the rest of us look; which is one of the reasons I am struggling so much with getting my own car.
Last weekend I went out with some other teachers to one of the night clubs in the hotels here in Al Ain and I had a great time dancing to top 20 American dance hits while drinking Vodka and cranberry juice (I made sure I dance for 20 minutes straight for each drink I had to burn the calories). It was so much fun and I even stayed out until 3am. I was under the weather the whole next day and realized that a night out at 33 is much harder than it was at 23 but still a lot of fun. Quite the scene even here in Al Ain down to the flamboyant Filipino man in make-up and heels busting a move on the dance floor. Needless to say I will probably keep my drinking and dancing at a minimum as I can't afford to lose a whole day off to a hang over!
Well Michael and Gavin and I have begun a tradition of going of the mall on Fridays when all the Muslims are at church so we can have it to ourselves and the other expats. Gavin gets to play at the play area and we window shop so I am off to do that now! I think we may go see a movie tonight as well...
I started by joining Weight Watchers online on January 1st which has put me in a position to really track my food intake. I am more aware of my portion sizes and how to make healthy substitutions. I am trying to be active in some way at least 20 minutes a day and trying to vary it up with Pilate's, yoga, walking, and the weights and treadmill we purchased over the holidays. I have also added multi-vitamins to my life and am eating more fruits and vegetables which also means Gavin is slowly becoming more interested in eating healthy. So far while the pounds are not flying off I am feeling more energetic and more comfortable in my clothes. This also translates to being a better teacher because I am sitting down a lot less which means I am a more vigil and active teacher.
How am I becoming a better teacher so far?? I am trying to reflect on student performance and group my students accordingly. I have organized my girls into reading groups and am attempting to differentiate instruction giving the girls different leveled readers and activities and surprisingly there are not too many complaints that they are doing different activities. On a side note why this surprises me is because this culture squashes individuality on some levels and often I see so many girls attempting to be just like the other girls and this can be related to the fact that the mothers and fathers are so much the same in attire and even mannerisms and walking...I mean to say most of the Arabic ladies walk the same; they sort of slowly float along and the men do as well. Which in contrast is funny because in their cars they drive like maniacs. Anyways so my whole point was that because I see my girls so desperately needing to be the same as the group I thought they would throw a tiffy when I started to give them different activities but I found that as long as they are in cooperative learning groups and the girl next to them is doing the same thing they are fine. Now in each class I have one girl that is even beyond the highest reading group. I have given these girls even high readers and activities to choose from.
While I have been able to differentiate in reading I am still really struggling with this in math and the reality is I need to. For example the past two weeks I have been struggling to teach carrying and borrowing in addition and subtraction. I have used hundred charts, and base ten blocks and still I have some girls that are just clueless and some girls that are ready to move on. So I know that a good teacher could find a way to get the higher girls to move on and would find a way to go back over the skill with the girls that still are not getting it. But I just don't know how to do this because very few of my girls are independent learners. I can give them a task and they need constant recognition so when trying to work with the low girls the high girls are right there to show me their work and look for recognition. So this is something I know I need to improve on.
My faculty head says to me after an observation that I struggle with my "time on task," and I have to agree with her. I have trouble getting my girls focused and they easily get distracted. This derives from poor classroom management. Now I know I don't have the worst classroom management but I know for sure it could be better. Now in contrast there are teachers that are excellent at classroom management but the children complain to their mothers that the teacher is mean and then the mothers complain to administration and there is a cycle so it is almost like we can't win. My faculty head is also looking for us to exhibit an equal amount of positive reinforcement as negative reinforcement so it is a balancing act. My issue is out of fear of being reprimanded or brought under a spot light by administration or even worse ADEC themselves I set out at the beginning of the year to only have a positive reward system. Which on some levels has worked for me and has been motivating and the mothers love it. But back to the problem at hand, I simply do not have enough time on task with my girls. So the new year brings a new behavior management system.
I am implementing the stoplight system. I have a hanging pocket chart with colored circles red, orange, yellow and green. Each Sunday (like Monday) the girls start at green. When they move to yellow it is a warning, orange final warning, and red means move away from the group and work alone. Now of course girls can earn their way back up to green. This system also has rewards, if you are in the green at the end of class you leave two minutes early (could never do this in the states it is fantastic!) which means the rest of the class thinks they are leaving late (although we would be in serious trouble if we let any of the girls out late). They are in pure torture sitting waiting for just two minutes and it is really working! Then on Thursday (Friday here) I am giving all the girls left in the green a small prize candy, gum, pencil etc. I know I just started it but really I think it is working out quite well! I only had a few tears (tears must work on mom every time with some of these girls) and hopefully I won't have any angry mothers.
Now as far as helping my son transition into being a "big boy" I am at my wits end! I am hearing from many that "my son was potty trained before two," or "before two and a half," and I am really starting to get a complex so here we go. I let him run around all day no diaper and I sit him on the potty every 20 minutes and after naps and after waking in the morning and after a drink and after a meal and he refuses to go in the potty! He exhibits all the signs he hates wet diapers and tells me he needs a new diaper all the time. He loves his potty, loves to sit on it, but refuses to pee in it. He pees on the floor in the same spot and so we put his potty in the same spot and yet he pees on the floor next to it. I guess eventually he will go in the potty but at this point I just think he is stubborn. I mean take this morning after waking up his diaper was dry and I have him a sippy. I put him on that potty 10 to 15 times and sat with him. We sang the little potty song I made up and we sat and sat. Then after two hours (that means bladder control doesn't it?) he pees on the floor by the potty. I think he just wants to be defiant and stubborn...I know my loyal fans and readers (lol my mom) will tell me he is only two....I digress...
In general news we are trying to buy a car and get a loan because car rental prices are just too high and at least when leave the country we can sell the car and maybe pocket a little extra cash but getting a loan has been a nightmare as everything in this country has been. I think, I believe, I hope that as they say "Insha Allah" it will happen tomorrow. We were thinking of going with a brand new Mitsubishi ASX but now we are toying with the idea of going to Dubai and checking out the used car lots as they have a lot of cars that are still under warranty and less than a year old for around 5000 USD cheaper. There have been over 100 teachers that have left their cars at the airport or apartment parking lots and left the country blowing off their car loans and debt. Apparently their situations were bad enough to warrant such poor purchasing decisions and abandoning debt to become wanted fugitives in a country they can never step foot in again...I am truly amazed at the behavior of some so called educated professionals; they have no idea how bad they make the rest of us look; which is one of the reasons I am struggling so much with getting my own car.
Last weekend I went out with some other teachers to one of the night clubs in the hotels here in Al Ain and I had a great time dancing to top 20 American dance hits while drinking Vodka and cranberry juice (I made sure I dance for 20 minutes straight for each drink I had to burn the calories). It was so much fun and I even stayed out until 3am. I was under the weather the whole next day and realized that a night out at 33 is much harder than it was at 23 but still a lot of fun. Quite the scene even here in Al Ain down to the flamboyant Filipino man in make-up and heels busting a move on the dance floor. Needless to say I will probably keep my drinking and dancing at a minimum as I can't afford to lose a whole day off to a hang over!
Well Michael and Gavin and I have begun a tradition of going of the mall on Fridays when all the Muslims are at church so we can have it to ourselves and the other expats. Gavin gets to play at the play area and we window shop so I am off to do that now! I think we may go see a movie tonight as well...
Don't stress about the potty training. It will happen no Inshallah on that one). The minute it stops being something YOU want, he'll do it himself. It has to be his decision. I couldn't agree more about the lack of professionalism (and how about plain old humanity and responsibility) regarding the cars. I myself am curious to know what the banks are doing with those abandoned cars, I'd buy one of those for a deal! Thanks for the sharing, I enjoyed the blog!
ReplyDeleteI hope it will happen! We won't give up because I don't want to have him in diapers much longer they are expensive! I am thinking that some of the cars at this dealership are abandoned cars from the banks so that is the plan to find a pretty much new car still under warranty for around 5000-7000 off...
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