> Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: Access at last!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Access at last!


Finally we negotiate the peculiarities of internet access for foreigners in the USA. I must admit I was surprised to find that getting properly connected was so complicated.

Life is still a bit messy. We are living out of suitcases and borrowings at the moment.

But school has been going for a couple of weeks and I am just starting to take a deep breath. Making sense of homerooms and grading systems, semesters and sophomores has been pretty challenging. I’m in the early stages of translation (things go through the Scottish filter: sophomores -that’s fourth years, attendance that’s registration.)

Grades are very important. Pupils, sorry students, constantly ask for their grade.

I’m determined not to lose some of the AifL skills I’ve learnt over the last while. I have actually managed to get a couple of classes to read my ‘comment only’ marking. They have been told they will get their grades later in the week when I am happy they know what to do to improve. They can hardly wait…

In the staffroom (sorry teacher's lounge)I try to refrain from asking too many silly questions. What is homecoming for example? I will be finding out tomorrow. Apparently I will be selling candy bars until then. Is this a metaphor for something else?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

You'll be a STAR teacher doing your AifL work - the school would be daft not to sit in and see what they might learn from 6000 miles away. Sounds like you're having great fun despite all the change (why do I write 'despite change', I wonder - it can be great fun). Best of luck for the coming term.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with every thing Liz! Keep the blog posts coming.

Tess :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I was at the Feurstein training with you in May this year and there was a recall event due to a host of criticisms that emerged from the evaluation. The recall was very good - No Miki !!! I was looking out for you and now I know why!! Good luck in the States. I will try to look up your blog once a month.
Teresa

Liz O'Neill said...

Thanks Ewan! It is really interesting and highly recommended.
Tess - I am going to try!

Teresa -how nice to hear from you! Glad to hear the recall event was good ;)- let me know if you start a blog!

Jemma said...

Nice to hear you're getting on well :) Keep up with the blog, I'm a big fan [/addicted]. ;)

-Jemma