OurFirst Day at the BNC

Family, Friends, and Followers,

Today was our very long-anticipated first day at the Bernard Nordkamp Center! We woke up early, and although children do not come to the center until 1:30 pm, we arrived at the BNC at 9:00 am to have a brief orientation given by Marybeth Gallagher. Marybeth is spectacular- she's so lax, and she constantly expresses her enthusiasm in having us as helping hands. We learned a little bit about the center and it's flow-of-the-day, and just talked generally about how things are run at the center. Our team divided ourselves amongst the 7 classes, and needless to say, we jumped right in. Sinead and I paired up in a first grade classroom consisting of about 16 children an their teaching volunteer, Liz. When Sinead and I entered the classroom, we were stunned, to say the least. The "classroom" was no more than a 7 foot by 7 foot room, expecting to hold 4 tables with chairs, a cabinet where materials are stored, a white board, and the three volunteering teachers. We asked Liz to fill us in on what she had recently been doing with the students, in order for us to plan lessons for the day, since Sinead and I were eager to jump right into teaching. Based on what we learned about the students and their ability levels, we decided we would teach the chidren how to spell words in the "at" family for English, and for math, we created a BINGO addition game. We were both eager to meet the students and begin our journey teaching at the BNC.

When the kids arrive at the center, they have about a half hour to play before lunch is served and they begin classes. During this half hour, all of us had the opportunity to meet, play with, and interact with students from all of the grade levels. I was impressed by how polite and outgoing, and genuinely interested the children were in us, introducing themselves, asking our names and where we're from, and complimenting us constantly on our hair and clothes. The morning was filled with many smiles and laughs, both from us and the Best Namibian Children!

Mom, Daddy, Stef, Melinda, Alana, and the rest of my friends in particular, you would all appreciate this: the kids come up to me and ask me if I am from India! They brought over a book and showed me a picture of the Indian woman from the story, claiming that she and I Iook exactly alike. I've earned the title: "India teacher!"

One of the major things that Sinead and I would like to establish in our classroom, as well as something our team discussed as a whole for the entire center, is some sort of behavior management / positive reinforcement system. Marybeth expressed behavior management as one of her biggest concerns and hoped that our knowlege and experience would offer her something to follow, which we fully intend to do, especially after Sinead and I experienced how badly our class needs behavior management.

Needless to say, our first day at the BNC was fantastic, and our time will only continue to get better as we learn, grow, and get our hands dirty with these amazing children!