Sept.22, 06: P.A. Day

Today is P.A. Day, and I arrived at Greensborough at 8:30am in the morning. Ms. Carson wasn't there yet, so Ms. Jones opened the door for me. Since I didn't know what needs to be done, I took out my camera and started taking pictures of the classroom and the students' works. After I tidied up the cupboard, I went to Ms. Jones' room to see if she needed any help. In the meanwhile, Ms. Carson arrived, and we started talking about school supplies orders.

Ms. Carson and Ms. Jones flipped through pages in the catelogue, looking for what they need in their classroom. I think there's a misunderstanding about teachers that they teach 8:00am to 3:30pm and then have the rest of their time free to themselves. They have lots of holidays, good salaries, and they just have to go in and teach five days a week. A lot of people make it sound like an easy job, but guess what? Who has to decide which kind of pens to purchase, how many sticky notes they need? The teachers. Who goes out and explore teaching resources, and get everything laminated for classroom use? The teachers. Who do all the cutting, pasting and crafty preparations before they hand the work to students? The teachers. Who brings home unfinished work, assignments and reports home after school? The teachers. Teachers need to do everything, because they are responsible for a class of students, and they have to meet the needs of the 20 children whom they build a strong relationship with. This is the great job of teachers.

During the first half of the day, I did lots of cutting. Ms. Carson sent all her things to laminate, and returned with 92' of lamination. My job was to cut out each individual piece. She asked me to do so in an apologetic tone, but I didn't mind at all. For me, everything is a learning experience. If I want to become a teacher, I need to try doing everything, from teaching a lesson to cleaning the classroom. I'm ready for that! I'm happy that both Ms. Carson and Ms. Jones think that I'm very neat and organized, and that I'm helpful. Everyone in the school is friendly, and I'm feeling really comfortable in this environment.

During lunch, I ate with Ms. Carson, Ms. Jones and Mrs. Kanhai in the staff room. We talked about travelling. It is nice to hear teachers talking among themselves like friends. Not only am I learning about education from them, but I'm also learning about their lifes, which is very interesting and enriching to me.

After lunch, I started working on another job. There are 30 or so envelopes with word wall words written on them, and I had to find the words from a pile of lamination, stick a magnet on the back of the words, and put them inside the envelopes. I had fun organizing it so that I could do it in a more efficient way. Some of the words were missing, and I had to write them and cut them out. There were 10 words left by the end of the day, but Ms. Carson told me to go home, and said that she can do it later.

That's the end of my first P.A. Day as a teacher candidate. I was tired after I went home, but I felt good about myself. I like doing the work, and I'm having a greater understanding of what the art of teaching is all about.