First Day of School at Greensborough P.S.

I arrived at Greensborough P.S. at 8:00am, and met with my AP, Mr. Herridge. He's a very friendly man, and we talked for a bit. He introduced me to the principal Mr. Yake, who was my Gr.7 gym teacher in Central Park P.S. He told me that a few other Central Park teachers also switched to Greensborough, which made me feel more comfortable here. Mr. Herridge assigned me to Mrs. Kanhai's Gr.3 class, where I would be observing for the first day of school.

Mr. Herridge told me that Greensborough P.S. is a living school, which I have already found out on their website beforehand. They encourage healthy minds, healthy bodies and healthy attitudes. All around the school, there are posters that suggest these aspects. They also encourage character education, where character matters as well as grades. Character traits such as integrity, honesty, confidence, etc., are emphasized everywhere in the school.

Before class started, parents and students were checking the class lists outside the school's wall, getting all excited. Parents communicated with parents, wondering if their children would be in the same class again. The atmosphere was really warm, and I felt a deep sense of community. One of the parents asked me in Mandarin, "Who is your kid?", to which I embarrassingly replied, "I'm a teacher candidate here." One of the parents talked to the teacher enthusiastically when she found out that her son is in Mrs. Kanhai's class, because they are both Indians. It is a very diverse school, and the children seem to work well and play well together without racial discrimination.

The teachers seem to be great friends among themselves. They talk about everything, just like good friends do. Mrs. Kanhai told me that she loves working and planning lesson plans with her great partner Megan, because their classes would have the same progression pace, and they can have efficient discussions.

The students seemed very excited in getting a classroom in second floor, because that's where the "big kids" go. There is a big poster on the classroom door, with all of their names written on it. It gives them a sense of belonging and class pride. They were allowed to choose their own seats, but it would be preferable for them to have a mixture of boys and girls at a table, and with students that they do not already know. Four small tables make up a large table in the classroom, and there are five large tables in total, with 20 students. There is one basket of equipment per table for them to share. They are divided into groups according to the colour of their baskets, ie. "yellow star group", "blue star group". When she dismissed them for recess, she would call them group by group to get out.When taking attendance, Mrs. Kanhai told them to say "Ohayo gozaimasu" when their name was called, which means "Good morning" in Japanese. It is apparent that the teacher wants to suggest diversity in the classroom.

We had an around the school tour when one student said that he wanted to go to the washroom. Mrs. Kanhai planned the tour later on during the day, but when the time came, she thought it would be ok to do it then. Students waved to teachers in other classrooms when they passed by, which was really sweet of them. Mrs. Kanhai also told me that teachers should always overplan for their class. It is better to have extra lessons planned than having no backups when everything is done in the class.

Mrs. Kanhai said that every morning, there would be a morning challenge for them written on the board. When they come into the classroom, they would check the board and go on doing that challenge on their own. I think this gives them both responsibility and trust, the teacher believing them to be independent children who are capable people. There is also a morning message written on a piece of large paper, in letter format. This is served as a sharing purpose among the teacher and the students.

During recess, I talked to a couple of students. I noticed that a few of them didn't have many friends. One Chinese boy is new to the school, and he found that nobody knew him, so they didn't want to play with him. Another Indian boy isn't new, but I learned from his mother (who is a volunteer at the school) that he has speech problems, so other classmates might not understand him, and they would just walk away. While other children play happily with their friends, they would be walking around alone or just sitting there. From observing them, I realized that wherever there's excitement, there's boredom. However, I noticed that both of them tried very hard to make friends in the classroom as well as on the playground, being enthursiastic and friendly to other students. This gave me a positive insight that as long as they are nice children, with the attention and reinforcement from teachers, they would be accepted by others sooner or later.

In class, Mrs. Kanhai gave each of the students a "I am special booklet". The students need to draw a self-portrait on the cover, and fill in the personal information. They can use words and pictures to describe their family and friends and why they are special, the best things about them and why, create an award for themselves, describe whey they have certain feelings and draw them out, write out their plans for the future, and write or draw three wishes for their future. They need to finish it by Friday, but they don't have to do it in any specific order. They are encouraged to be creative and colourful. I heard one student asking his classmate, "Do my hair look straight?" when he's drawing the self-portrait, which I find really cute.

Overall, I found that the students were generally good, with a few exceptions. Mrs. Kanhai would warn them when behaviour problems arise. There was one occasion when they were sitting at the carpet, and Mrs. Kanhai was reading a story to them. A student kept talking to his classmates at the back, and the teacher asked him to sit at the front. She told him that he could go back when he thinks he is ready. Again, Mrs. Kanhai showed him that she respects him, and trusts him as an independent individual. I believe that it works better than plain yelling and punishment, because the teacher isn't the only person to judge him, but he himself is responsible for judging himself.

There were a lot of questions and answers during class time. For example, Mrs. Kanhai would ask, "Why is sitting with friends not a good thing?", and she would let the students answer. It seems that classroom rules are set by the students as well as the teacher, and the teacher isn't there to be in charge, but to guide. During one period, Mrs. Kanhai asked them to stand in two circles, one inside and one outside, students facing each other. The "outside person" was the "speaker", and the "insider person" was the "listener". The talker would tell his/her partner about his/her feelings upon the first day of school, and the listener would listen. The listener was expected to listen very well, and then some of them would present the speaker's feelings to the class. This activity allows the students to know each other's names, and be encouraged to talk, as well as listen. Mrs. Kanhai emphasized that listening requires both the ears and the eyes, so one should put down everything in their hands and look at the speaker when they listen.

Their homework for the day was the "All About Me Poster". It is divided into sections, with headings such as "my favourite animal" and "my favourite food". Again, they can write or draw. Accompanying this piece of homework is that they have to bring in three items in a shoebox that can describe them, and present them to the class.

Towards the end of the class, we played Bingo. Before that, each student got a sheet of "Student Search", where they had to look for students who, for example, "has taken swimming lessons during summer". Mrs. Kanhai told me that this was the time for teachers to observe and make notes for students. They had a chance to go around and talk to people and learn about them. We used that sheet for Bingo, using students' names.

From asking questions and giving students a certain level of freedom, Mrs. Kanhai showed them a lot of respect and trust, and they were expected to be responsible for themselves as well as others. I found it really amazing, because it is an integrated classroom, where everybody are friends.