5th grade field trip
taher and i had an idea one day: that we would take the entire 5th grade class to the National Museum. you know, open their minds, expose them to some culture, make it into a writing project, things of that nature.
so after some planning and some changes of plans, it was settled that today would be the day. notes were sent home, small fees were collected, vans were organized. and i, along with taher and one other teacher, set off for the National Museum with 48 rowdy 10-year-olds.
it was a fun day, but tiring. the kids were sick of the museum after two hours, although i could have stayed much longer- the museum was great. very extensive. the kids were hot, thirsty, bored, excited, confused, dazzled, interested, uninterested. all in all, i'm glad we gave them this experience. but it began to dawn on me, halfway through it all, that i was in charge of a field trip. me. it wasn't that long ago that i was going on field trips. now i was the teacher.
as i've said many times before regarding this whole teaching venture, it was quite a shock to be on the other side. i remember being on a field trip and waiting in a wavering line of children, fidgeting, wondering what the hold up was. asking questions and having them go unanswered. being thirsty. etc. but now, as the teacher, i saw the other side of all of it. i realized the hold up was usually a head count that was going slowly because of the fidgeting. i realized that many of the questions were going unanswered because it's impossible to hear any single voice when 23 are piping up at once. i realized that everyone was thirsty because there were only three water fountains in the entire complex and transporting 48 kids to one of them was almost impossible to do quickly.
it was educational for everyone involved :)
oh, and on an unrelated note, as we drove along the highway on the way to the museum, i noticed a billboard claiming that Sting would be in town in january for a concert. the last concert i went to, actually, was Sting. in cairo, at the pyramids. it was a huge concert- and now he's here! it's like our own old pop star following us around on all of our abroad-adventures :)
taher and i had an idea one day: that we would take the entire 5th grade class to the National Museum. you know, open their minds, expose them to some culture, make it into a writing project, things of that nature.
so after some planning and some changes of plans, it was settled that today would be the day. notes were sent home, small fees were collected, vans were organized. and i, along with taher and one other teacher, set off for the National Museum with 48 rowdy 10-year-olds.
it was a fun day, but tiring. the kids were sick of the museum after two hours, although i could have stayed much longer- the museum was great. very extensive. the kids were hot, thirsty, bored, excited, confused, dazzled, interested, uninterested. all in all, i'm glad we gave them this experience. but it began to dawn on me, halfway through it all, that i was in charge of a field trip. me. it wasn't that long ago that i was going on field trips. now i was the teacher.
as i've said many times before regarding this whole teaching venture, it was quite a shock to be on the other side. i remember being on a field trip and waiting in a wavering line of children, fidgeting, wondering what the hold up was. asking questions and having them go unanswered. being thirsty. etc. but now, as the teacher, i saw the other side of all of it. i realized the hold up was usually a head count that was going slowly because of the fidgeting. i realized that many of the questions were going unanswered because it's impossible to hear any single voice when 23 are piping up at once. i realized that everyone was thirsty because there were only three water fountains in the entire complex and transporting 48 kids to one of them was almost impossible to do quickly.
it was educational for everyone involved :)
oh, and on an unrelated note, as we drove along the highway on the way to the museum, i noticed a billboard claiming that Sting would be in town in january for a concert. the last concert i went to, actually, was Sting. in cairo, at the pyramids. it was a huge concert- and now he's here! it's like our own old pop star following us around on all of our abroad-adventures :)
...Natural is the static
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home