Monday back at school...

April 6, 2014

Back to the classroom for math....

We spent our first period today observing an advanced algebra class on graphing coordinates. The teacher did a great job of giving students instruct, followed by a  student demonstrating the new instruction on the white board, then the students worked in small groups so solve and graph 6 problems together. Then the whole class came together for students to show their answers from their workbooks using a document reader to display them on the smartboard. In all, it was a very well presented class and the teacher worked the room well to help guide the groups that had questions or were struggling.

This was an 11th grade class and one of the students told us later that he thought the lesson wasn't too hard because they had studied this during a previous year. So this was a review for their upcoming Unification exams. In the Russian system, high school only goes through 11th grade. How well the students do on their exams dictates what advantages or disadvantages they will have for going to a university. I think these exams are very much like our SAT or ACT exams, so the stakes are high. We can almost feel the tension in the air from the 11th graders.

 

 

One thing we noticed here, is that there is very little paperwork. Students have small notebooks, something like a small composition book, that they write down their problems from the smartboard and then work on them in their books. In some of the English classes, they have workbooks to read from and write their answers in.

 

And then it was our turn...

 

For the next five classes, Eric and I gave presentations to various classes: 2 10th grade classes, an 11th grade class and to 2 6th grade classes. Eric, being from Ohio, talked about and showed pictures of his home state, his schools and travels to Belize and Costa Rica (he has an adorable dog, by the way) and I gave a powerpoint presentation about Arizona culture, geology and history as well as about my home. For the two 6th grade classes, the topic was hobbies and how we spend our free time. The 6th graders were by far the most interactive and had the most questions! They were truly a joy to be with.

 

All in all, I would say it went well!



 

Class group photo time! Also many of the students came to us individually to take pictures with us. That felt really nice.

 

 

Out in the hallway with some of our 6th graders. Nice to see they are just like our American 6th graders! Also, we met up with them outside during lunch and they helped to lead us to the pizza place Eric and I were heading for lunch. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the pizza, but it tasted every bit as good as it looked!)

 

After school today, two English teachers that have been helping us find our way around town (Ira and Ludmila) took Eric and I out shopping for souvenirs and small gifts to bring home. They were so very helpful and it was fun spending time shopping with them and found all the best little shops!