Hey all!

I have had a solid few days at St. Brigid’s in Ireland with Kathryn. The Irish School system has differences and similarities to the US school system. As for differences, first off, pretty much all public schools here are run by the Catholic Church, split into girls or boys, and children are expected to wear uniforms. So basically, if you picture a private Catholic school back home, you get a public school in Ireland. St. Brigid’s is all girls and one thing I noticed right off the bat is they are all very focused. The early ed teachers are expected to teach all core subjects PLUS Irish, P.E., art, music, library etc. All teachers here are required to teach Irish because they want to keep the language alive (due to high immigration rates in the past there is little to none first generation Irish speakers in the country anymore). Teachers here, unlike back home, are considered to be of the highest profession (along side of doctors, lawyers, etc) but the pay is relatively similar to back home. The schools seem to have pretty decent funding. There is brand new smart boards in every room. The hallways and the classrooms are beautifully decorated with student art work and it’s a very safe and inviting climate.

Throughout the day there is a two breaks: one for coffee/tea, and the other for lunch. During these breaks, the kids have snacks and have recess. The teachers all go to the staff room for these–snacks, coffee, utensils, mugs, plates provided.

My duties in the school are all over the map. My base class is in 6th class but I am only there for about 1.5 hours per day. In the morning, I go to play-time with the Junior Infants (4-5 year old’s). After, I go back to my base class and pull two lower level students (one is autistic and the other is dyslexic), out to work with them specifically on math/vocab. When I am done with that, I go to the 3rd class and pull another student out for individualized help who the teacher suspects has a form of dyslexia that has not been officially diagnosed. With her, I practice reading words and phrases. She is absolutely adorable. Shortly after, I go into another 3rd class to do literacy groups. In this class, I sit with a group and have them use the white boards to think of words that begin/end/or contain a certain sound. The teacher puts the timer on and after the timer goes off the groups switch and I work with another group on a different task. We do this until each teacher has spent time with each group once. Later, I leave that class and do guided reading with 4th grade, in which I lead a group in reading and asking guiding reading questions. Lastly, I go back to my 6th grade class and work on whatever my teacher is doing. Right now we are working on guided reading. It is in this class that I will be teaching the majority of my lessons. Although I did tell a 3rd class teacher I would also do a lesson on Thanksgiving with them.

 

So to sum it all up, I am ALL over the map, and it’s pretty great! I am so many different area’s of experience. Plus, the fact that they day is broken up, it actually flies by pretty quickly. The kids are absolutely adorable and they want to know everything about me. They have tons of questions about the US. My base class teacher is really nice and organized. All the staff so far has been incredibly welcoming and inviting. Kathryn and I even got offered a daily lift home which is great because of all the rain we’ve been get here!!

 

Anyways, I’ll post again soon. Bye (Slán) for now.