Practicum of another sort

Well, since we don't have very much to report on the Grenada front except that we have been filling out applications for funding from Menno Simons for the practicum. We are still waiting to hear again from Judy Williams, our contact in GRENCODA. We last heard from her about a week ago and answered a number of questions for her in regards to what we would like to be doing with GRENCODA and where we would rather be placed (urban or rural). We sent her our answers and are eagerly waiting for another email. In other news, Jason finished two of his exams yesterday, handed in a paper today and now has only two more exams to do on monday. yeah!

For me, practicum with my grade 2 class is going well. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed earlier in the week, since I'm teaching every day. I have also found that since I am there every day, other teachers stop my co-operating teacher for meetings when they see her in the hall, trusting that I will handle the class. This means that I am getting to make more decisions in regards to how I want to introduce new topics, or how and when to transition the students from one job to the next. Sometimes, my co-operating teacher has said that she wants to do something with the students, but when she doesn't come back to class I have to decide what to do with the students! It is fun, yet stressful, mainly because this isn't my class. Things have definately been getting easier, with the sequencing of lessons still being the place where I feel the most insecure. I worry that I am not covering the topics as well as I could, but so far I have gotten positive feedback from students, co-operating teacher, and faculty advisor. Well, I suppose that I should stop rambling about things that are completely unrelated to Grenada, we will post again as soon as we know more of what is to come.

Kristy