The month of May has arrived and along with it my final week of teaching placement!
Like most schools when public bank holidays are on the horizon, classes become a little more relaxed and children become a little bit more distracted from hard work, but nonetheless this made for an enjoyable last week in IB International school Kreuzlingen.
As I reflect both professionally and personally on the past three weeks and what has been an incredible experience, I can honestly say that I have learnt so much on both these levels and have had my mind opened to new theories and practices of school life from an international perspective.
A few things that I can take away from this experience include:
- The importance of learning a language from a young age and how this develops a child’s intelligence
- How a hands on and outdoor approach to learning in every subject is viewed as essential here
- Using the Unit of inquiry/ topic theme in creative ways
- As a teacher, thinking conceptually rather than content-heavy is key for the best lessons
- A more diverse classroom leads to a more exciting and dynamic learning experience and as teachers, we shouldn’t be afraid to use this to our advantage
I have also really enjoyed the core values of an IB school which are:
balanced // knowledgeable // communicators // principled // open-minded // reflective // caring // inquirers// thinkers // risk-takers
And how they are put into practice and that each child knows exactly what they are and are praised when they do something which represents a core value of their school. I think in Northern Ireland, we have a lot of aims and objectives as a whole school, yet we don’t make the children aware of these enough or encourage them when they demonstrate these skills.
On Wednesday, Jupiter class had a day trip to an archaeology museum which was a highlight for the week as we got the train to Frauenfeld (45 minute journey) and enjoyed looking at artefacts and fossils from all the different ages in history. As this was the next Unit of Inquiry, Holly felt this would be a good introduction to the topic, again emphasising the value IB has in letting the children discover for themselves what the next topic is about. As Kulas, M. (2014) writes; not only can field trips add learning in varied learning styles and result in greater achievement in different subjects, but “By seeing real-life application of the lessons that they are learning in school, children might be more likely to understand and appreciate the importance and relevance of what they are learning.”
Finally bank holiday Thursday (different to home) arrived and we were all glad to have a day off as the temperatures reached 24 degrees. Zoe, Stuart and I decided to go for a cycle around the Lake. We ended up doing a 44km bike ride to Romanshorn and back. It was a stunning day and the bustle and atmosphere of everyone enjoying the bank holiday, having BBQs or picnics around the lake and cycling with their families, just made you feel so happy and I found myself saying in typical Northern Irish twang “It’s a great day to be alive”. The smell of fresh cut grass reminded me of home and as we cycled along the superb cycle paths I couldn’t help but think that this should be the way we do public holidays at home: get outdoors and be active.
At the weekend, the four of us (Josh, Stuart, Zoe and I) took the train to Triberg, a small German town in the midst of the famous Black Forest. Famous for its longest waterfall in Germany, Black Forest Gateaux and world’s largest cuckoo clock, we made sure to enjoy all the tourist attractions and on a stunningly warm day this was perfect.
In the evening Zoe and I stopped at a German city called Singen and climbed to the top of a big hill called Hohentwiel, where there is an abandoned Roman fortress town. The views of the valleys painted the perfect foreground to the Black Forest and the spectacular views of Lake Constance and the Swiss Alps were just perfect as the sunset.
“Never go too long without watching a sunset.”
{Atticus}
Overall, this week as been so busy finishing placement and enjoying the May sunshine. I’ve even managed to get sunburn already! Next week I am looking forward to starting back to the PHTG where we will be going back in time…
Bisbald!
LIVING IN SWITZERLAND 
Love the value based learning and especially the introduction at a young age to risk taking.
Reminds me about the V’s of leadership
vision
Values
Vitality
I guess you need all those for teaching!! Especially the vitality.
It is clear your time in switzerland will broaden your view on teaching and life and with that it will give you a greater vision. Remember without vision the people perish.
LikeLike