Saturday, August 16, 2008

The first week is over

My first week as a teacher is over. School hasn't actually started yet, but I've spent the past week planning and getting everything ready for the coming school year. Everything has gone pretty well, but I'm pretty worn out - lots of new people and new things to think about.

I now know a bit more about what I will be doing this year. My main job will be a "resource" teacher, as they call it, in the 2nd grade. I will go in to the classrooms and be and extra teacher who can help kids who need extra help and take them out of the classroom and give them one-on-one lessons if they need it. In addition, I will be teaching English in two of the 2nd grade classes as well as Social Studies in one of them. I will also be teaching English in two 4th grade classes and a special in-depth English class for 7th graders. I will have a lot of different kids I will be working with, but the good thing is that I don't have too much planning of my own classes - only a few hours a week.

I think it will actually work out pretty well. I won't have my "own" class, but I also won't have a lot of the work that those teachers have. There's another teacher on the 2nd grade "team" who has the same type of position as me, so we can exchange ideas and help each other out, too. Team-teaching is the key word in Norway, so the 6 of us who have 2nd grade have our offices together in one room and plan everything together, which is great for me as a 1st year teacher.

I am pretty worn out after this week, but I'm really excited to meet the kids on Monday!!

No comments: