Why I'm Actually Here....

I realize, after being here for three months now, that I haven't 'blogged' about WHY I'm actually here... to teach.

Yesterday was the Fourth of July here and the last day of Term at Upper Hutt College (the school I work for, and its a high school they just call it a College down here). Overall, it was a great experience for me. I'm extremely bummed out that it is over though. I met some remarkable young students and made friends with some very fun people on the staff!!

Student teaching is an interesting thing coming from the States. We sit in a classroom and learn how to teach for three years, then at the end we actually get to go in a classroom and teach. The teachers in New Zealand go through 1 quarter of school work then get into a classroom and teach for 3 weeks, then go through another quarter of coursework then teach in a classroom for 4 weeks and finally one more quarter then in the classroom teaching for 5 weeks. It makes such a huge difference! I know a ton of people that I went to Western with that thought they wanted to teach but got into the classroom at the end of all the course work and realized they hated it!! How nice would it have been for them to figure that out after 1 quarter of coursework!?

That realization was a real eye opener for me and I can understand why there is such a big drop out rate for beginning teachers in the States! It'd be nice if we could change our schooling a bit, though I'm sure there are schools that work that way and are mainly specialized in teaching.

My students.... I had some great kids at this school. UHC is ranked as a 6 out of 10 on the 'decile' system. It mainly is used for government funding. A 10 out of 10 means that the school is very well off in terms of finances and types of students that go there. While a lower number means there isn't much money in the school and the government will fund them with more. So Upper Hutt was sitting right in the middle pretty much. There were definitely some 'troubled' students. It was funny being down here because all of my teaching associates would ask what the difference is between American teenagers and the ones down here.... and honestly, there isn't much. They are teenagers. They will have good days and bad ones.

The biggest difference that I did find was the variations of our cultures. America is extremely competitive and always trying to reach the next step - get the promotion, make the best sports team, buy the bigger diamond etc. etc. - while here it isn't like that at all. At least for the kids. I figured this out through my help with the Junior Girls Basketball team. I was super pumped about being asked to help coach the team and really looking forward to teaching these Kiwi's how to play bball.... but I was highly disappointed when I realized the kids weren't out to win or even improve for that matter. The Junior team is equivalent to a Freshman team back home. I had 9 girls on the roster and at best we would have 6 girls at practice. Which, shockingly, were ONE DAY a week! We would practice one day a week and have one game a week.

The sport for girls in New Zealand is to play Netball, which if you read a previous post slightly describes it. With my girls growing up playing Netball their whole lives it was a big adjustment to get 13-14 year olds that didn't know what deny defense looked like or how to use a screen. I had to change my mindset on how to coach them and turned it more into a fun situation rather than a learning/improvement opportunity because most of them weren't looking for that.

I really am still shocked at the one day a week practice. It was nearly uncomprehendable to me when I first heard it. There are pros and cons to it though. Instead of having the competition of try outs for people to make the only 3 teams of that particular sport (Varsity, JV and Frosh/Soph), everyone gets to make a team down here and they have the open venues because not every team plays each night. At UHC, a school of 1200 students, there are 16 netball teams and 12 rugby teams. So there are a lot more kids that get to be a part of a team and don't have to worry about getting cut or not making the squad after try outs. That aspect is nice. But from my American point of view, there isn't the level of competition for the kids to try harder or practice more so that they do make that team since there are limited spots. This, I believe, adds to a teenagers personality and lets them grow more. And I think it shows up in the classroom because the students (this is a generalization) wouldn't try harder on their work, they would just turn in what is acceptable and leave it at that. There was no competitive nature of who got the best grade in the class. I definitely remember students chatting after getting a test back and seeing where they ranked amongst the class, who they beat in that particular score. That really doesn't happen down here.

Again, pros and cons to both sides though. I'll let you sort out your own opinion of which one is better or worse.