Well, I officially can say I taught in Ireland!

Today was a lot of fun because I got to see three different learning environments. I watched rotation teaching with math in first class, a 5th class, and taught America to my 3rd class. Being in the 1st class was amazing. These students who are only about 6 knew so much more than our 6 year olds do. They were about to do mental math up to two decimal places, could figure out doubles in their head, and could easily identify where numbers were in a number line or chart. It was taken aback by how well they did. Our students at this age are still using manipulatives and are counting with their fingers. I really wish there were not so many cutbacks in our education systems so we could do something as effective as this. Having three teachers in the room was brilliant. They all took a group and rotated. The students grasped the concepts so well.
The 5th class I was in was at such a high level. They were listening to music and determining mood, instruments, expression, and word choice. They loved it! The teacher also did a lesson on idioms. It was interesting to learn that the Irish really use all the same idioms as we do. There wasn’t much that I hadn’t heard before.
I was so excited to teach my little lesson today to the students. They absolutely loved all the pop ups and got more and more excited with each turn of the page. I absolutely loved watching their faces light up as they looked at the different pop ups. I was very proud of them when they made their own pop up pictures! They did an excellent job.
I thought the lectures tonight were very interesting. I find it to be a little frustrating that America wants what the Irish are doing, yet they can’t seem to figure out how it works. I go to schools and see such amazing things, and I wish I could shake Americans to wake up because this is what we should be doing!