Last and Final week at Sha Tin Junior School
This week was my final week and also the last week before summer holiday for the students. Many of the teachers are packing up and getting ready to move their classes. All of the students went to their new classes to meet the teachers for next year; the students were very excited and nervous at the same time. On Monday, I introduced to the students about Probability. We talked about how to describe probability using specific vocabularies such as Impossible, Certain, Likely, and Unlikely. Students had a fun time thinking about some of the probability situations. (For example, is it probable for a monkey to call you on the telephone.) After we went over some of the examples, students created their own probability situations.
During my 10 week practicum, I was placed in a Grade 6/7 class, and now, I am in a Grade 2 class. I have definitely noticed many things that are quite different from my 10 week practicum class. I realized that I must allow for students to have more time to complete a task. I am used to preparing a lot for my lessons so that students will have extra extensions. I think one of the things that I had to adjust was the timing and the types of activities. It definitely takes much longer for younger grades to get through the lesson. Normally, in a Grade 6/7 class, I allow for students to try out problems/activities on their own without too much guided instructions. After they have finished the problems, students can share with the class about their methods and problem solving skills. On the other hand, primary students require much more guidance and instructions to understand the content at first. After their understanding of the content, they will feel more comfortable to try the problems.
I have enjoyed learning so much about the IB curriculum. I find that the integration of the different subjects are more much fluid and natural. The overarching themes of the IB curriculum can easily help students to connect to the real world. Instead of separating the academic subjects into Science/Social Studies/Fine Arts, everything is integrated into the Unit of Inquiry. I also learned about the way that report cards are written, they are very different from the report cards that I have seen in the BC curriculum—more comments are written under each subjects and they are graded based on a 5 point scale. I am interested in learning more about the PYP curriculum in the future.
Even though, three weeks is a very short time, I am incredibly grateful for the relationships that I have made here in Hong Kong. I will miss the staff and the students a lot. My three weeks at Sha Tin Junior School has been an amazing experience. I am very thankful to all those people that have helped to make this happen!