Its the end! But not really...

It’s the last week of teaching practice and I am still enjoying it. Despite only having been at Bosmansdam for two weeks, I have to admit that I am still very much fond of the interaction with learners, especially those who I can see are eager to know more and to do well. My experience with the learners at Bosmansdam thus far has been a testing one. The learners here are much more prone to taking advantage of the student teacher, lessons this week saw a number of learners being late for class as well as generally not paying attention in class. Each offence was dealt with as needed. The learners seemed to only just be getting used to me by the time I had to leave which was very sad for me, not emotionally, but just a general feeling of having left things half done. I would have loved to have spent more time with these learners in order to see the effects of my lessons on the tests which they had done on Thursday.

I warmed up a great deal to this school in my last week here, the different characters in each class, the general interaction with learners in the hallways as well as class. If this has taught me anything though it is that I need to make sure I maintain the boundaries between teacher and friend. Many learners can misinterpret a friendly teacher as being a friend and I think this is something I might have trouble with as I am a very friendly person naturally. My plan is just to have a set of rules that I stick by and enforce them for all learners regardless what they think. This will ensure fairness and a good working environment where all learners are motivated to work and get things done.

Monday I had planned to catch up on some observations for my subject of Maths Lit and the day began as planed and I had thus not planned any lessons for the day. This however changed as my teacher was called to the hall for an emergency. I took over the class and went through some activities with the class, the lesson turned out to be quite a success as we completed quite a bit of work, the reason so much could be done is because the learners sat quietly and did the work. Previously I had attributed the slow working pace of the class to them not being able to understand but that day I realised they were simply too distracted before.

My lessons on Tuesday went very well, my grade 10 class was very responsive in their lesson and the grade 11s seemed to catch on to the work well. My only issue with the grade 11s is how familiar they are becoming with me. Many of them push the boundaries with talking while I talk, or making jokes of “free period” when they ask if I am teaching. I do plan to enforce stricter discipline once I have my own class and I do not have another person’s class to try and take over in such a short time.

Wednesday I did a bit of revision with my classes for a test they were writing on Thursday and they seemed to appreciate it, many of them left the class saying they finally understood, and they felt ready for the test the next day. They were much more interested once it was work that they had to do for a test. I am considering giving my classes the outline of a test long in advance, at least a week so that they can see what they need to focus on for the test. This is just an idea for now and will need a lot more thought and planning but it’s a start of a plan for my teaching next year.

Thursday was meant to be my last day of teaching as I finished off my last few lessons with the classes but the class had to go over their tests one more time in class so they could see all of their mistakes and correct them.  This ran over into Friday and from what I have seen, learners do not respond well to this kind of work on a Friday, Fridays require a more fun program to keep learners attention.

My final week at the school was a good one in the end, there were a few hang ups and a few times where I was frustrated by the learners but I still looked forward to class every day and that to me is the best part. I am still very much excited to become a teacher and to have a class of my own soon.

Lets start again

So this week I began at my second school, Bosmansdam High School. It started off a bit confusing but after the first day everything fell into place well. There are a couple of big differences from my previous school, The Settlers High School, mainly the facilities many classes do not have projectors etc., and the majority of staff is Afrikaans which is no problem for me it simply took some time to adjust to. The learners in the classes which I have experienced are much less talkative then what I have experienced before, this I guess I can attribute to the teaching styles of the teachers who take the classes which I am teaching at this point. I am one of two student teachers at the school at the moment and I have yet to connect with any of the teachers enough to sit down to a conversation with them at break time, at this point I saw my time here dragging out. This however was a good lesson to me that once I enter a school in the future, I should be quick about being friendly and building relationships with the other staff lest I be the kind of person who spends breaks on his own due to lack of company. On the Tuesday I began my first teaching interaction with the learners, this was a sort of test to get to know them and allow them to get to know me. The lessons were also somewhat impromptu as my mentor teacher was busy for the first 15 minutes of the period and I took the initiative to get started with the class while he was away. The lessons went well and I have already made some good notes on which learners would be potential trouble makers and will require more personal attention in order to prevent disruptions.
Wednesday’s class to me by surprise despite my planning for it, in all my fussing over finding this school I needed to do my last subject at, I failed to properly take note of the fact that the learners were Afrikaans as well. My lessons on Wednesday were in English and after explaining a particular section I was met with a hand at the back and when I called upon the boy whose hand was up he responded with, “kan maneer miskien in Afrikaans ook verduidelik”, I felt bad for having unintentionally disadvantaged the Afrikaans learners and I had promised to speak both Afrikaans and English in class. I learned that day to pay more attention to my surroundings as after some recalling of the lesson on the Thursday after, I remember some of the learners speaking Afrikaans in the hall ways before class.
Thursday was a bit of a hectic day, I struggled in the class while attempting to teach the grade 11 class and I say attempt because I know what I did was not teaching. The section was on design and planning and I underestimated the difficulty of the work. Rather than plan the lesson for the day I began planning my lesson which I was to be evaluated on by the university on Friday. The minimal planning led to some confusion on my part, with regards to the activity. I managed to figure it out but I had already lost the class and many of them began talking etc. This was the first and will be the last time I make the mistake of underpreparing for a lesson.
On Friday morning I was asked to keep an eye on the concession class, the overflow learners during a test period. I was somewhat thrown in on the deep end as this class had multiple grades and different starting times for their papers. But all went well, there were no incidences, no learners attempted to talk or cheat and I think over all it was a good experience to develop some invigilation skills. Shortly after this I met my evaluator for my Maths Lit lesson, which went as well as I could have hoped considering I had only been with these students for four days and only taught them twice before.  At the end of the day my first week with these learners was great, I have already made some good connections with many of them and I foresee my next week going very well.

Genesis 2 vs 2

Genesis 2 vs 2 - And on the seventh day God rested…

But in this seventh week I worked harder than I have before. This week was the week of my evaluation lessons, well two of the three at least. Monday of this week was fairly uneventful, I went through the day as normal teaching the classes which I have had assigned to me. The only change however would be the preparing of my classes for the next day, Tuesday, when I would have my Evaluated lesson. By preparing the class I simply mean I spoke to them about their good behaviour in the past few weeks and how I appreciated it, but that there were a few times when the good behaviour had faded into a slightly noisy situation.  The classes were more than happy to work with me and be on their best behaviour when the evaluator got here. I had some doubts about their promises to behave, particularly the grade 9 class which I teach as there are a number of learners in that class who are quite well known in the school as talkative and difficult to manage in class. In the past, even with these particular learners I have never had any major issues although they have proven themselves to be quite talkative and easily distracted which I have been able to manage in the past quite easily. All doubts aside, I made no alterations to the class, all learners were to be present and in the place they had been sitting all along.

Tuesday arrives and I have to say, by the end of the day I had developed a new respect for the ability of the learners to buy into certain behaviour. My evaluation lessons went very well to say the least. Learners in my Natural Science class, grade 9, who are usually talkative and easily distracted were now silent and focused. Learners who had previously not wanted to speak or answer questions in class were now asking very good questions and communicating well. On this note I have had my interest sparked in studying the development of learners’ personalities in a group of strong personalities verses a group of weaker personalities. I plan to take this interest further.

My second class, the life science class of grade 10s was very much the same, learners who have difficulty judging when to talk loud and when to whisper were on their best behaviour and every single one of them was taking part and working as they were expected to.  I had one learner though who insisted on turning around to talk, this gave me a chance to show my stern side as I was able to reprimand him move him to the front of the class where I had a better chance of holding his attention. This worked very well as he was quiet for the remainder of the lesson. I have learned that I do however need to factor in more time for learners questions, especially with topics such as sexual reproduction and other topics which may require more explanation then CAPS states.  My second lesson was cut slightly short by the bell as I had spent quite some time answering questions the learners had, pertaining to the work we were busy with.

Wednesday was very much more relaxed as I had given many of my classes back to my mentor teacher in order for him to do some admin and cover some last minute work before the exam period is initiated. This gave me time to get my file in order.  This week the new prefects for 2017 were announced, and I have learned today even more then in my years of life that “Power Corrupts”. The new prefects have been given the authority of the headmistress and as such a surge in punishments have found their way into many of my classes. Many of my lower grade classes have complained about being given punishments for minor offences which they were able to get away with previously. This reminded me of a study I once read where a group of students were split and half were to act as prison guards and the other half the prisoners. The results were profound showing that even people, who were friends before, once given this power, used their power to oppress others. If this week has taught me anything it’s that children can be ruthless and brutally honest which is both a good and bad thing. I will take this lesson and use it to learn how to react appropriately when these situations arise. 

This week, being my last week at the school before I move to a second school, I had a small class party for my two grade 11 classes. It was wonderful to connect with them on a more social level and hear about their fears for what to study after matric or even just their opinion on this issue with girls’ hair which is trending at the moment. My experience at this school has been an amazing and unforgettable one. I found myself feeling empty having to leave behind “my children”. After speaking to an uncle of mine who is in the education field himself, I was assured that this feeling is confirmation that I am in the right place and that I have chosen the career paths which I am meant to be in.

I am very happy and grateful to have spent that time with those learners and the school in general and I look forward to my future in education.

The finish line is approaching

Six weeks. In the past six weeks I have learned a great many things both from good examples of what to do and bad examples, like what not to do.

This week I observed a class where a female learner’s cell phone was taken from her during class by the teacher. Being that cell phones are not allowed to be used during class time, this punishment was appropriate. However upon taking the phone from the learner, the teacher then began to read the messages which were open on the screen of the phone. This all took place in the span of about 2 minutes, while the teacher read the messages (silently in his head) several of the learners complained about the teacher not having the right to go through the messages. I personally did not see the messages but it must have been something explicit because after reading it the teacher’s expression was on of visible anger. The teacher then proceeded to shout at a learner who was defending the learner whose phone was taken away. I am of the opinion that the learners phone being takes was a good thing, but the teacher should not have read through the messages, or at least not in front of the learners in the class. The matter should have been dealt with more appropriately by means of a discussion with the learner at a later stage about the content.

In this week I had a few lessons free so I made a point of observing some of the Physical Education lessons, this was quite a fun experience as I got involved with the mini games which the learners and their teacher took part in, from hand tennis to basketball it was a good experience. The learners found it very nice to interact with their teacher (me) in a different setting to the regular classroom, and I feel that my relationship with the classes who I interacted with has grown substantially as they are quite a bit more open with me in class. The learners are more interactive and even the more quiet learners are taking part in discussions in class. There are a few learners who push the boundaries though, namely one or two learners who would call me by my first name rather than calling me “sir” or Mr. Harvey, which I do not tolerate and reprimand them on.

This week has taught me a lot, my mentor teacher was absent on Friday this week as he was attending a conference and I had to then take his classes for the day. A full day of lessons is quite tolling, more on my voice that anything else but I managed to make my way through the day without any hiccups or incidents. This was one of the first times when I was left to my own devices with a class. Being alone with the class is a different experience then having their teacher be in the room, the learners were very open and had a great deal of “risky” or embarrassing questions which they asked me. These questions came mainly from the grade 9's who are dealing with human reproduction at the moment, questions ranged from; “can a girl get pregnant if she swims in a pool that a man has ejaculated in?” to “is masturbation healthy?”. I answered all these questions to the best of my knowledge and furthermore encouraged the learners to ask more questions because that is how they will learn. I would like to think that I made a difference, even if it was just one learner who takes my “advice” or listens to what I had to say, it would still be something good.

On top of this brilliant interaction I have had, I am proud of myself for having learned the names of every learner I teach, my 2 grade 11 classes, 1 grade 10 class, and 1 grade 9 class, along with a few extras who I have gotten to know here and there from sport etc.  I have read from another student that there is difficulty with learning names, and at first it was difficult for me but I forced myself to learn their names by making sure I used their names often. I make a point of greeting them by name when I see then in the hall ways, or calling them by name if I see them talking in class. I find the learners very surprised when they realise that the student teacher knows their names and I like to joke with them by saying “if I know your name, there is a good reason why I know it”. Learners are very quick to be quiet once I say that.

I am very thankful that thus far I have not had any major issues take place in my teaching time, and I have built a very good relationship with all of my classes, even my disruptive grade 9 class has begun to calm down somewhat. While I do enjoy the nice time that I have had, I know that not all schools or even classes will be this easy to handle. But for now I am thoroughly enjoying my teaching practice and look forward to the weeks to come.

Week 5, still alive

What a week! Possibly the very first week without any sort of interruption, from holidays to sports days. This week was  full week of learning and teaching. This week i completed the necessary  lessons i required for my file for the senoir group in life science so i ended off the week focussing more on my grade 9 learners for natural science. The grade 9s are dealing with human reproduction at the moment, the penis, vagina and menstruation etc. From my own schooling experience i know that this topic can be very easily misunderstood or incorrectly taught due to learners reactions to it. Many boys seem to make it a joke while girls tend to be shy about it, i am generalising of course. With this in mind i made it my plan to remove any awkwardness or possible need for jokes from this section. Each lesson i have words which the class is to say out loud. My first lesson on the male reproductive system i told the class they were to pay attention to me at all times, and that if i raised my right hand they were to say the word "Penis" and if i raised my left hand they were to say the word "Vagina". At first there was quite a bit of laughter but as the lesson went on i found that these words lost their potency in terms of being "naughty words". The class seemed to pay attention to where i was in the class as well as what i was saying. There were the odd few who would still try and make a joke here and there but they were not as effective as the would have been. My plan was to allow the children to feel like they are doing something naughty i.e. screaming the word penis in class, but at the same time turn this into a learning experience. While the class was not 100% responsive and i did have a few learners drift off, for this particular class based on what i have observed of them with other teachers, even the fact that they participated and paid attention was a victory for me.

While this was a full week, on friday i had no classes to teach as i had finished each on my sections with the classes and my mentor teacher had wanted to begin the next sections with them, so simply  observing  was a welcomed change to the challenge of everyday teaching. Despite this i have been asked multiple times to teach the classes. I have developed a very good relationship with my two grade 11 classes to the point where they see me as somone who they can seek help from. One of the girls in a class had gotten the zipper of her rain coat(which was actually the jacket of the boy sitting next to her) jammed and despite me sitting quite far removed from the class at this point, she asked if i could help fix it, which i did. While this may not seem like a significant event, to me this speaks to at least one learner in the class seeing me as somone who is able to help with problems which  they themselves can not deal with and i think this is something for me to hold on to for days when i feel as though i am not making a difference or getting through to any of the learners.

This teaching experience, while not exactly the real thing, is very valuable and i am very impressed by my abiliy to deal with what each day brings forward. I do not expect every school to provide the same type of learners or the same type of schooling system but i do know that i currently know more than i did at the beginning of this year and that i find myself eager to know more and experience more. I have found that i am able to remember a remarkable number of names and faces in even this short space of time that i have been here. It helps to be able to call out a learner by their name when they are talking out of turn or generally misbehaving. The shock on their faces as they realise this student teacher who is only here for a short time knows their names, is priceless. Many learners show a great deal more respect once they are aware that you know their names.

Just as i say every week, i am thoroughly enjoying my time here despite a few hiccups here and there but i love that everyday is something different, something new. Even the same class taught one day apart can respond very differently and i like the idea of eachday being a fresh new challenge and i look forward to one day having my own classes to bond with and grow with.

A month already!!!

This week "started off" (2 holidays before the week even started) with me being thrown in the deep end. On wednesday i arrived at school with lessons ready only to be told that my mentor tea her was absent. Up until this point i had been making use of my mentors laptop to display my lessons as it was conected to the projector and internet. Had i known he would be absent i would have brought my own laptop, but unfortunately this was not what happened. I was however able to make a plan and ended up taking my class to the computer lab where one of the other teachers allowed me to do my lesson with his computer ( i made sure to stress my thankfulness to him for doing so).  Despite this hicup my lesson went well, aside from the occasional distraction of this different environment. This lesson was my first lesson with this particular class which has been begging me to teach them since the second week of school. The very same day i was asked to invigilate two grade 11 tests. The invigilation went well with no issues from the learners side, a couple of errors in the test paper were however pointed out and delt with. I am very fond of the grade 11s, both of the classes which i teach, i will unfortunately be teaching them much less in future as i need to build up a relationship with my grade 9 and 10 classes which i will be evaluated on. This makes me somewhat sad as  enjoy teaching the grade 11s most of all. I have to admit that i did not expect to become attatched to a class of learners quite this quickly. Nevertheless i do have to pass my year so my marks need to come first.

Thursday and friday passed by in somewhat of a blur. I was able to get some lessons done in both life and natural science which is good considering time is running out. In one of my life science lessons i recapped the work which i had done withthe learners in the weeks prior to today. My recap lesson consisted of a game of life science 30 seconds. I divided the class into teams and had a few members of each team come up and explain a word to their team. All of the words which were given to them had been covered in the lessons and the expectation was for the learners to use discriptions which they had learnt in class to explain the words to their teams. This did not go 100% as planned as learners resorted to other means of explaining  but the teams were able to guess correctly in any case. This lesson was the highlight of my week as it was so satisfying to watch the learners enjoy a lesson which i put effort into so much. Some of the learners even requested that i do recaps of all the work they had done in the 1st and 2nd term as well. This is however very unlikely but i do intend on making many more fun lessons for them to take part in.
Friday was the matrics 40 days at the school, it was wonderful to see all of the different outfits and careers which the matrics showcased. From firemen to doctors all had their plans. I would also point out that many of the naughtier faces do clean up well and put on good manners when they need to.

This week, as short as it was, was still jam packed and every moment was a new discovery and oppertunity for me to learn.

One day off

Week 3
The lower grades which I taught in the previous week were swapped out this week for a grade 11 class. I began teaching them the kidney this week. There are 2 classes which could not be more different from each other. The one class is a very small class with only about 17 learners and the other class is a full house of about 30. I began my lessons with them with a short video which worked very well, the learners paid attention and made an effort to ask questions after the video. I then moved forward with an informal class test on the information in the video and I am pleased to say that both classes did quite well in this small test, save for the one or two students who did not listen at all. This was a successful first lesson with both classes with minimal talking in the background and wonderful interaction. Unfortunately the lessons which followed (lessons without videos) were a bit more disruptive, with learners starting separate conversations and discussions during my explanations. I was forced to go against my nice nature and hand out writing out of the current work that we were doing as a punishment for their constant talking. While I am not a very short tempered individual I did feel quite offended at this occurrence. After some time to myself however I was able to recoup and remind myself that everything the learners do is not a personal attack on me as a teacher but rather simply a child doing what children do, i.e. push boundaries. I will be sure to be more firm with the classes from the moment they walk in so as to establish a good routine for the learners. My only drawback is that the mentor teacher I am shadowing allows for more discipline issues to occur than I am comfortable with during my teaching. This means that it will be more difficult for me to break the habits of the learners in the classes while still not being that dominating teacher who shouts every 10 seconds.
Teaching aside, I was asked to babysit a class of grade nine learners this week just for one period. They were an EMS class and I had no notes of any sort to keep them busy with so I requested that they write me a half page paragraph on what they would say a “good Teacher” is. From reading these notes I am quite surprised at the maturity of the learners who understand that there needs to be a fair amount of discipline in a classroom as well as structure. Many of the learners wrote that they would like a teacher who does not simply read out of the text book to them, or a teacher who is firm with them but nice at the same time. This was a wonderful learning experience for me as it reaffirms my thoughts on what children crave and that is structure. Children need a structure in place for them to grow within, a structure that is not too rigid but at the same time has clear boundaries. Even if these boundaries are only in place for them to test.
Sports practice this week were good, despite the holiday midweek removing one of the sports days, watching the learners play sport is interesting, identifying the learners who enjoy the sport and take it seriously and then the learners who are simply there because a sport is compulsory. There are a great many learners who take pride in their sport and play it to the best of their ability while at the same time there are some who are simply gifted with a talent but choose to show off rather than hone their skills.
Despite my lessons with the grade 11s not going as great as I had anticipated I am very interested to see how the grade 10s respond to me in the next week as I have had a number of the learners ask on a regular basis when it is that I would be teaching them.
At the end of the day this is a learning experience and the more of the bad behaviour and ill-discipline I experience, the more equipped I will be to handle it once I become a teacher. I will admit that on the odd occasion I do wish I had more time to sleep in but at this point in time even without being paid for what i am doing in the class I can say that I really do enjoy passing on knowledge to the learners i have had the privilege of interacting with.

Lets teach

Week 2

So, this week started off well I must admit that I am becoming very attached to my current school. The atmosphere and the general feel and reaction of students is something encouraging. There have been one or two moments of confusion and a few issues but they are cleared up very quickly and easily.

I feel that I have integrated into the school very well. My mentor teacher is a great teacher with some very helpful advice to give to me whenever I need it. I began my teaching in this week, started with grade 8 and 9 Natural Science. For the most part I will have to say that the learners in these grades are not as terrible as I had expected. The majority of discipline cases I experienced, and there were only a few, were learners talking or not taking down the notes. Being a student teacher I expected the learners to be more relaxed with their discipline and to challenge me more than they would a normal teacher. As mentioned before the only challenges were with talking during class, I have yet to have a rude, or even extremely disruptive learner in my class. Maybe I am just lucky for now as I have heard from other student teachers who are with me that some learners can be quite the handful.

I would have to say that I look forward to the time at which a learner challenges me in such a manner as I would like to find out for myself how I would fair in such a situation. Nevertheless I am grateful for the lack of issues.

My lesson preparation has been what consumes most of my time, occasionally only getting to bed after 1am only to wake up once again at 6am. Despite this odd schedule I find myself not being tired. I think the idea of teaching excites me at this point so much so that I look forward to waking up to be here.

My interaction with staff is some-what limited at this point as I have one mentor teacher who covers both subjects which I teach here and this means that I move around very little, but I do take some time to visit one or two other teachers in the periods which I get off during the day.

Being more integrated into the school means I now attend sport practices as well as cultural hours. I have chosen table tennis to be a part of as it is a sport which I was never involved in and I felt something new would be beneficial to me as a young teacher gaining experience in different areas and finding out where I would like to position myself in future. My cultural activity is the Animal Society, I am very fond of animals and I love what the society stands for and everything they have managed to do for animal anti cruelty. I do however see myself moving around between societies just so that once again I may experience multiple facets of this part of schooling life. The more you know, the better you are equipped to make decisions in the future.

A final point is that the teachers whom I have been in contact with are very helpful and full of advice which i gladly accept, mentioning to me how it is okay to say no, and the importance of not being a part of everything that you are asked to be a part of. I have come to understand that it is important to be seen and to make an effort to do my part, but at the same time I need to make sure that I am not taken advantage of because of my student teacher status.

I have to say I enjoyed my second week and I am very excited for the weeks to come.

And so it begins, week 1 at school

Excited and yet possibly more nervouse than a grade 8 on day one of highschool, i began the week at The Settlers High School. Being that i am part of a very small minority of prac teachers who did not attend this very high school, i have plenty of help when things get a bit confusing. Believe me though, that doesnt mean things dont get very confusing.

To begin with, the school as a whole seems to pride itself in discipline. Despite seeming very relaxed and roudy from my very strict background, the school does maintain very good control of the learners with this regard. My first week was filled with assemblies, one each day to be specific. These ranged from welcoming back assemblies to general check in assemblies and included a contact period with the headmaster of Fairmont High School. At each assembly no nonsence was tolerated as learners were quickly repremanded for poor manners or disruptive behaviour by the headmaster and teachers alike.

This third term began as any would with many students needing to be spoken to about their new hairstyles which breach the schools rules, this can be expected after any lengthy holiday period, some learners will always push their luck. Having seen everything from slight tints of blue to steps in hair that are at least four lengths apart, i can safely say that learners of this age are truly creative.

Being a student teacher means i am constrained to certain behaviours that teachers are not, all the while still having to pretent to be a real teacher. I have found that it is a balance that must be found in both being and not being a teacher. The staff have been very accepting and very willing to help out should help be required. Many of the teachers whom i shadowed in this first week have more then happily accepted my request to shadow them for a lesson or two, even if it is not my area of experience. I have shadowed a few different subjects from English and Afrikaans to Life Science, and across the board from grade 8 to Matric. Every class has offered something new and interesting for me to take away, and i am the better for it.

The teachers seem to take pride in their learners, speaking highly of them, even the disruptive ones, and the learners show a great deal of respect for the teachers, bar of course the odd few naughty individuals.

My first week has been an eventful and very plesant one with just one small issue which i have found. That being that the teachers and everyone else expect you to somehow instantly know who everyone is and what they do as well as where everything is. I will admit that it is not their responsibility to babysit the student teachers, but a bit of consideration in this regard would be nice. For example being told to speak to Mr.X about a lesson but then not being showed who Mr.X is.
That being said i never like to be the person finding the black speck on the white cloth and after two or three days it was easy enough to pick up on who was being spoken of so the issue was short lived.

Teaching, sports and cultural activities begin in the next week of school so its full involvment from that point onwards. As for the end of my first week, the chaos cleared to reveal a wonderful teaching environment where i am privileged to be able to both teach and learn in.

I look forward to the weeks to follow and the experience they will bring.

MRH