This week I have had my computer with me in the classroom and typing things I find interesting during breaks. This is what I've typed up this week.
16.11-10Communal learning, everyone starts at the same point and they are allowed to work at their own pace and ability. However, he doesn’t want there to be a huge discrepancy between where the students are in the geometry book. Students help each other rather than always asking the teacher.
17.11-10 Studying history today, they talked about Digerdöden Pesten or The Black Plague. In 1349 rats came into what is now Norge (Norway) on a ship from Great Britain. These rats carried the plague. A bite from the rats would leave a black mark on the person, which resulted in their death. Sweden’s population dropped from 3 million to 2 million. This was when Norway and Sweden were combined as one country. Today we again with were 6th grade in the morning and at lunch. We followed them to music, where they practiced songs for a 13th of December holiday in honor of, Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy, the symbol of light. Santa Lucia is an icon for the Advent season in Sweden. They will perform at the school, for different grades and at the nursing homes (“where old people sleep”). Next we followed them to art where they are working on mixing their colors, from primary to make secondary. 6th grade only has class for 40 minutes once a week. This is not enough time to (according to both the art teacher and the 6th grade teacher) to get anything started and finished. The projects are always so drawn out. I did see a Dali piece I recognized and asked the teacher what they did with it. She said they study famous artists in the upper grades and make their own piece based off the original. They are opening up more with their English, especially during lunch. They told me some 'old wives tales' and just their thoughts about the differences between Sweden and America.
While talking with Lena, a speech and language specialist, in class assistant, we found out a lot about Västangårds. This is the only school in Umeå that has a speech and language program. She was unsure why other schools do not have a S&L program. This is the reason some of the students in our classroom attend this school, rather than their neighborhood school. They have received a diagnosis of a language learning disability from the hospital (a requirement to be transferred from their neighborhood school to Västangårds). Also, like I have mentioned before, the schools here have a strong belief in knowing one’s ‘mother language.’ There is a boy in our classroom with a severe language learning disability, in both his mother language of Somalian and in Swedish. He gets support from Lena and others during the day in Swedish. He also gets support from a man whose native language is also Somalian. The school sought out this man to help the student with his speech and language comprehension in his mother language. He comes to work with the student on Fridays. I think this is a wonderful idea. It rules out the possibility that he just doesn’t understand Swedish and confirms that it is a true language learning disability because he has the same problems with his mother language. He does have a computer with his daily schedule and it speaks to him in either Swedish or English. He does mostly the same work as the other students, just at his own pace and occasionally at different times.
Class pictures came in today. Above is a picture of the picture, yes its fuzzy. This is grades 4 and 5. The class sizes is so small because there are multiple schools in Umeå and students attend the school in their neighborhood from grades K-9. From what I understand they come together for Upper Secondary school (grades 10-12).
18.11 A new student came to the 4-5 grade class today. He comes from an area of the former Soviet Union. The area is at war and his father died fighting. He seems to have some anger/behavioral issues. It will be interesting to see how that works in this classroom dynamic.
Today - Friday, 19th of November, it is very cold -13˚C, which is roughly 8˚F. We had our Walk of Life this morning and the students walked faster than ever to get back inside. Micael said when it is -15˚ the students cannot go outside for breaks because it is too cold.
This past week was International Students week on campus. We, however, missed most of the speakers and events because we have been teaching during the times. Nikole and I are taking part in a 'field trip' to Bjurholm to visit an elk farm! I know this sounds funny, but I think it will be interesting. We will take a bus to the farm pet the animals, (if we're lucky ride the elk), tour the museum and at the end-have a nice elk lunch! I plan on taking plenty of pictures, especially if we get to ride them!
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