The Year 4 Experience

This past week, I had the opportunity to do a short term supply cover in a Year 4 classroom. Here's what I learned...

1. Migration & immigration are too similar of words. Migration means to "move from one country or region and settle in another" and immigration means "to enter or settle in a country or region to which one is not native". Huh?
2. Children take a ridiculously long time to get ready to go home at the end of the school day at EVERY age.  I could have had the children pack up at 3 pm for a 3:25 pm finish time and it still probably wouldn't have been enough.
3. It is very hard to teach when you are sick and losing your voice.
4. There is no way to teach without talking.
5. Getting children to race for "team points" is a great way to get students to do something quickly!
6. Children like to be silly, and if as a teacher you can show them that you can be silly too, they will actually think you are human and respect you as a teacher.
7. If children are rocking on their chair, tell them a horror story of something that happened to you or someone you know who was rocking on their chair, and they will stop. Atleast for the next 20 minutes.
8. Just do your best. Teachers aren't perfect and mistakes are okay. Just try again tomorrow!
9. The smoother the surface, the less friction there is when a shoe moves across it. The rougher the surface, the more friction there is when a shoe moves across it.
10. The name Aman. "It's A-man, not Ah-min." Got it.
11. It actually is helpful to have students who don't like to go out for break, it means you can relax a minute while they hand out work and set up your lesson resources.
12. Don't forget what it is like to be a student. Especially a young one. I think the longer a teacher can hold on to that and still put themselves in the position of the student, the better a teacher they will be.