Saved By Grace: Student Teaching at Bingham

Living here, it is easy for me to get distracted from student teaching as I am adjusting to a new home, new life, new friends, and an entire new country. In some ways I feel like I have been here forever and in other ways it feels only like a day or two. But even with everything going on I am still learning so much from my student teaching.

Bingham Academy has grades Junior K through 12th grade and there is one class of each grade. The teachers here range from 22 years to over 60 in age and all of the teachers from kindergarten, to art, to 11th grade Science are missionaries who raise funds to be here. The nice thing about so many of the families and teachers living on campus is that I am getting to know the teachers beyond the school day and am becoming friends with them. Every morning there is an optional devotions for the teachers to attend, Tuesday afternoon are staff meeting times, and there are plenty of other ways to be involved with extra activities.

As I mentioned previously, my cooperating teacher, Chris Griffin and her husband are from Britain. They took an early retirement to come here to Ethiopia and while Chris is teaching during the day, her husband Phil is the Doctor at the SIM missionary clinic. Chris has so much teaching experience and I had heard so many great things about her. So naturally, I was a bit nervous. But she also happens to be one of the most kind and encouraging people that I have ever met. She is always challenging me to find ways to make my lessons even better.

Our class is KG1 (Junior Kindergarten) and there are 15 students in the class. We also have a teaching assistant-TA (each grade up until 5th has one), who is Ethiopian and speaks Amharic. Our classroom is connected to KG2 and the two classrooms share a playground that is only used for our grades. KG1 uses a curriculum that is different than the rest of the school and uses short amounts of whole group learning mixed in with free play, and small group learning.

I love the classroom layout and resources that I have at my disposal. In the center of the room there is an area centered off for whole group learning on the carpet, then using shelves and tables there are other 'centers' set up. The centers include a role play center, construction zone, Maths Area, Literacy Center, arts center, and Science and discovery center. Each day the TA puts out different things to be used in each of these centers and there are different things that are always available such as the computer, music instruments, dress up, books, and rice table. I am writing down so many great ideas!

A typical day starts with some free play and then the children are gathered for for Weather Chart, and bible and prayer time. Every day there is a Phonics/literacy lesson and Number work lesson (Math). Other subjects including Discovering the World (Science), Art, Phys Ed, Music, and Library are alternated in. Normally each subject begins with an introduction and whole group time that lasts no more than 10-12 minutes. This includes question and answer, thinking time, pictures on powerpoint, songs, and/or videos. Then there is small group application time and the TA and teacher each take one group, while the other two groups play and then they switch. The children also have choosing time where they choose from different activities in and outside, and then have snack and free play. The day ends with a story and some singing and the parents come to pick their students up.

Every few days I pick up a few more subjects that I am teaching and it has been great having so many resources to work with. I also am excited to teach the special subjects (gym, art, and music) as library is the only subject that KG1 goes to outside of the class. We are also working with KG1 and KG2 to prepare for their Christmas play, so this has been a fun experience to help the children learn their lines and the music. I also had the opportunity to run the Cross Country Race with my class (the whole school did it at different times and distances) and be a part of Parent teacher conferences.

I feel like I have been doing so much and I am not even teaching the whole time yet! I absolutely love my kids and I know it will be so hard to leave them. I have also been so blessed to have such an amazing team (Including Chris) to work with and am so excited for what else I am going to learn.