Observations

Being officially observed is one of my greatest worries as a teacher.  It stresses me out.  In the past I have had observations that were amazing, but I also spent the last two years just being criticized and put down for how I teach.  So I didn't know what to expect when I was signing up to be observed.  I chose a math lesson that I felt the students would catch on to easily and that would be easy enough to also have observed.  The lesson contained management of space, behavior management, time, management . . all the things that for the past years I have been told I don't know how to do.  After all the books I have read and videos I have watched and people I have talked to I felt that possibly I wasn't as bad at it as certain people in the past thought.

So in my eyes the lesson went well.  My kids were awesome, the lesson pace was good, and it didn't fall apart.  In my eyes it was a great lesson.  A few days later, as per requirement, I met with my director to see what she thought.  Gosh were my nerves going crazy.  She starts the meeting with the following comment, "You have such a nice class."  I let go a deep breath and relaxed instantly because all she had to say was that it was an awesome lesson and she applauded me in already knowing what I would change and didn't really need to give me anything to work on.  She has been known to rip people apart and have people re-do their observation so I was pretty much flying the rest of the day after this meeting.

It is SO nice to finally be at a school were I am recognized as a teacher who knows what she is doing.  Love my school in the past but nothing feels better than being here with people who support me.

Arab Fund Building

One of the many teachers that I teach Grade 4 with is a huge fan of Kuwait and knows about all the cool places to see.  She arranged a trip for a small group of us to see the Arab Fund Building.  I honestly had no idea what this trip was going to be like.  Many other trips that I have gone with have kind of been a let down but this one really was the total opposite.  I don't even think I can explain it in words so pictures will do the job for me.  A building filled with amazing art from the past.

Birthday in the Desert + a names day

Probably not the most exciting birthday of my life but it was a fun relaxing day.  I had spent the day just watching movies and just taking the day to hang out at home.  In the evening I had invited a few friends to go to a restaurant called "Chocolate Bar" for some sweets.  It was a decently great way to spend my birthday.  My students did surprise me at school with a cake, candles and a bunch of small gifts.  That was actually the best part.  I have cute kids!

Names day was pretty much non-existent because no one else knows about them here.  I do miss celebrating my names day in Latvia.  Its pretty much bigger than you actual birthday.

Interactive white Boards . . . boards of the future

So way back in December everyone at school was offered the chance to send in a request to have an interactive white board in their class.  There were given qualities that you would have to meet and it had to be in written format.  So I wrote  a request, not sure if I would be chosen seeing that it is my first year here.  At the time I had just finished writing my request and had just e mailed it home so that I could read it later and also to my mom so that she could help me fix up my writing (28 years old and still having my mom proof my writing . . AWESOME!) when in walks my principal and asks if I had thought about applying.  This already put the hope in my mind.

Well upon arrival back I got news that I was chosen to have the board.  In February it finally arrived.  Combined with my excitement for it and my kids excitement about it we just couldn't contain ourselves that day.  Since then we have been learning together about how to use it and really putting it to great use.

It has also seriously upped my teaching.  I have noticed that I spend way more time planning and to be honest I really think about how I present it to the class.  The kids have loved every moment of it and every lesson is exciting because they want to get up and use it too.  It has been such an amazing addition to the class and so much fun to work with!

The long awaited updates!

So from the beginning I warned you that I am not a writer and that blog updates my be spars (at least I think I warned you about that, if not be warned!)  For as little as Kuwait has to offer to do a few things have happened since my last post.  And the above posts will be my attempt to update about everything that has happened since January.

Catching up part 2 - home for the holidays

Christmas is honestly the only time that makes sense for me to go home.  My entire family is home and my friends are more likely to be able to meet up with because I can sometimes con them into coming to NJ.  It just wouldn't be Christmas if i wasn't with my family.  There were a handful of us that were going home for the holidays while others took the opportunity to travel.  I love to travel but I love my family and friends more.

Two weeks never seems like enough but it is always worth the trip.  This time around it was filled with tons of family time, new technology and ended with seeing some of my really good friends.  Over the summer I had decided that I would buy an I-Pad for myself, seeing that I travel a lot of sometimes having a computer along would be helpful, plus i could use in the classroom because most of my kids have one too.  Also my other big technology update was a new DSLR.  Over the summer uncle had looked at my camera and said that I needed to update and at that point I said yeah sure whatever.  But being the tech nut that I am, of course I started to look into it more and more.  Which lead to me going to a camera store over break and purchasing the amazing Nikon D7000.  Such a sweet camera.  Still working on figuring everything out but taking pictures in class has been fun.

Leaving is always the hardest part, literally the saying "see you later", my parents and a close friend brought me to the airport and it has never been this hard to come back.  I just kept telling myself the reality of staying in NJ and I don't like that reality.  The idea of being in NJ and not having a job like most of my friends just does not rock my socks, plus not being able to travel easily, no no no not for me.  Kuwait really isn't great but its not the worst either, at least I have a job at a school that I like with an awesome admin and kids who are amazing.

So here are a few pictures from my trip home.  It was an amazing time.

catching up part 1 - Camel Races

So before winter break (I.E. Christmas break) a group of us decided to go to the camel races.  We had heard that the Aware center was hosting a trip the Saturday before our break.  The Aware Center is an organization that hosts different trips around Kuwait for us international people here to learn about the culture and country of Kuwait.

What I had heard about camel racing before going wasn't much, but I knew that they didn't have people riding the camels because of children's rights.  They used to use small boys to ride the camels because they are light.  Well its not very safe and  I am glad that human rights stepped in and took over.  So now they have these small robots that are tied onto the backs of the camel that have a small whip on it.  Now you must be asking, how do they control the camel.  Well each camel has their own "driver", this person is in a pick-up truck driving along side the camel and controlling how fast the whip goes.

So that Saturday we board the buses at the Aware center and off we go to the races. Now still in my mind I am picturing horse racing:  sitting in the stands, big crowd, lots of dust, camels everywhere!  When we got off the buses we walked into a building that I figured was going to bring us to the stands.  Well we go in the building into this huge room where there are 3-4 levels of lazy-boy couches.  This is where we were suppose to sit and watch the races. So we plopped down in some.  Looking around we started to notice that the track is HUGE.

Before the race started we decided to walk around outside and check out the camels that were there to take pictures with.  Slightly a sad sight because they were literally there for you to get on take a picture and get off.  As we were outside we were told that a race had already started and we didn't even know it until we saw the dust from the trucks and then the camels running across the finish line.

In the end it was a bit anti-climactic, but I was still glad that I went.  After the races we went to a "farm" for dinner which was nice.

Here are some pictures from the day: