My first week of school consisted of observations and school tours, or field trips. I spent some time getting a feel for the school and my classroom, helping in any way I possibly could. And the rest of week was filled with school tours to a variety of locations. I will go into more detail shortly.
Powerscourt National School is a small school consisting of close to 65 students. These students are placed into three different classrooms. The first classroom is for the junior and senior infants. Students in this group are between the ages of 4 and 5, so it is basically comparable to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten in the US. The second classroom is for first year through third year students, which is comparable to first grade through third grade in the US. The final classroom is the senior class, which is comprised of fourth year students through sixth year students, or fourth grade through sixth grade. This is just one of the major differences in how this particular school is set up compared to a school in North Carolina. One of my greatest interests while teaching at Powerscourt is finding out how the teachers cater to the needs of their students from all of these different levels within one classroom. How does the curriculum allow for the students to be placed in a classroom with mixed grade levels?
Each morning the students meet in the largest classroom for assembly. It is here that the role is taken and important school announcements are made. It is also a time for a religious teaching and prayer to occur. Every school in Ireland is supported by a church, whether it be a Catholic Church or the Church of Ireland, like Powerscourt. The students begin each day with a prayer, have a lesson on religion during the day, and end each day with another prayer. This is obviously unlike anything I have seen while teaching in North Carolina because of the emphasis on separation of church and state. Important values and morals are taught with religion, and this is an important focus for the schools in Ireland.
For my first week, I was placed in the junior and senior infant class. My main responsibilities included helping my cooperating teacher read with selected individuals or assist with one group of students while she worked with the other group. I was completely amazed at the level of control the teacher had over a group of eighteen four and five year olds. In the classrooms in North Carolina every kindergarten teacher has an assistant, but this is not the case at this school.
The responsibilities of a primary school teacher are far greater in Ireland than in the United States. There are no speciality teachers in art, physical education, music, and language, and so the primary educators must take on these responsibilities as well. I observed my cooperating teacher incorporate all these components throughout my first week at school. The one that stuck out the most was the focus on language. The children begin learning Irish as early as the junior and senior infant class. They learn basic vocabulary and practice using the terms constantly. Everything in the classroom is labeled in both English and Irish. I have been most impressed with how the children have responded to the language development.
Besides spending some time in the classroom this week, I also had the opportunity to travel with two of the classes on a number of school tours, or field trips. I actually went on three different tours. The first tour was with the senior class to the Mermaid Theatre. The students participated in an art project with a local artist and were recognized for their participation. And so we made the journey into the town of Bray to visit the exhibit. The students were thrilled to have their names put in the back of the artist's book and to see photographs of their own community. The students behaved extremely well, which made the trip even more enjoyable. The highlight of this particular trip for the students included a visit to the local town park. I have never seen children get so excited over playground equipment. At the school, there is no playground, just a blacktop area in the back, so it truly was a novelty experience to have slides and monkey bars to climb. They had an absolute blast!
The second tour was with the same group of students, the senior class. Together we traveled an hour and a half to Lullymore Heritage Park. The school tour focused on science, mainly environmental science. Our tour guide took us through the heritage park, which was an extended nature walk. He talked about Irish birds, trees, flowers, soils, and bugs. He also talked about the huge bog at the end of the park, which was being used as a source of energy. The students had a blast getting their hands dirty. They got to search for bugs and other critters, run around the bog, and do science experiments. Once again, this was another successful trip.
My last school trip was with the junior and senior infant class to the farm. When we first arrived at the farm our guide took us to the large barn to show the children sheep. He opened the pen and allowed the children to hold some of the baby lambs. They were precious! We were then directed to the cow pens. The stalls smelled terribly, and the children had a hard time walking through. I was amazed at the size of the animals because they were enormous! The students couldn't get over the fact that the cows walked around in their own feces. When a cow would relieve itself they would all shout, "Look, it's pooing!" One child even stated that he was "allergic to poo." They had a wonderful time and were very well behaved.
My time at Powerscourt has been wonderful thus far. I have already learned so much about the school and actually how similar it is to the schools in the United States. I am excited about getting the opportunity to continue observing and teaching at this school.