Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg, France

This city isn’t just a few hundred years old… It is more like 2 million years old! Strasbourg was an old Roman camp during 12 B.C. and the camp grew and morphed into the city we know today. In Strasbourg the first French and German allegiance document was forged in 842 and in the 13^th century the walls that surrounded the city till WWII were built. Many of the buildings in Strasbourg date to the 1500’s and 1600’s and usually are covered in the medieval fashion of wood timber. The old buildings also have very small windows at the top of the houses that are made just big enough to fit a gun through during times of war.

Strasbourg’s famous landmark is the Cathedral started being built in 1277 with each century adding its own take to the architecture but mainly embraces the gothic nature of the medieval times. Inside the Cathedral is a famous astronomical clock that was designed in 1570 by a mathematician and it worked on its own till 1780 until it had to be repaired. This clock has a figure of death and every 15 minutes it rotates so that a child, man, old man, and then nothing walk in front of Death. Every day at 12: 30 the clock chimes and all 12 Apostles walk in front of the figure of Jesus.

Everywhere you look in Strasbourg is picturesque from the old houses in Petite France to the huge palaces around the cathedral! The town truly shows both the German and French influences throughout time. The town is filled with breathtaking churches (Protestant), Museums and gardens.

Strasbourg is also famous for being the town that Gutenberg created the Printing Press. They have a statue dedicated to him in a plaza.

The museums range from modern art to taking a look at what life was like in the Alsace region during medieval times!

Strasbourg is also known as the Capital of Christmas with extravagant lights and a huge open market throughout the holiday season.

The town also has an amazing transportation system of trams and buses to keep pollution down. The city is in a valley so the pollution from Germany and Paris like to fall into this area. L

During WWII the Alsace region was one of the first regions of France to fall to Germany and the men of the region were forced to fight against their own country. During the Battle of Strasbourg American and French soldiers had to break through the leftover medieval walls in order to free the city from German Nazis.

Strasbourg is absolutely breathtaking and so full of history and culture J. 

3rd Week at Gymnase Jean Sturm

3^rd Week at Gymnase Jean Sturm

This was my final week in the school L. I will miss the students, who have all been so nice and always answered my questions and wanted to get to know me. <3

Monday: The students were very rambunctious today. They usually are on Mondays, I guess because they can finally see their friends after a few days of not seeing each other. The students are so busy with classes during the week that any extracurricular activity that they participate in has to take place late at night or on the weekend, so there isn’t really a lot of time to hang out with friends.

The first class of the day was Careers and cultures and the students had to present their talents to the class. We had one student solve a Rubik cube, another student’s PowerPoint wouldn’t work so he just talked about his hobby which is painting figurines and he passed his examples around. We also were instructed on how to make a paper crane with an origami lesson. (this was a great way for the speaker to practice her English skills, because instructing a whole class to follow instructions is hard work especially when you don’t know all of the words (such as crease)). Another student showed up pictures of her talent which is horseback riding, and she talked about all of the competitions that she’s been to, and finally another student showed us a bunch of pictures that she took that involved picture taking as her talent. It was amazing getting to know the students and watching them interact with the classroom. J It is great for them to participate in presentations, especially in a bilingual program.

*One student kept talking during the presentations so my mentor teacher made him come and sit by her. We also had a discussion on a problem student after class. The student was falling behind, wasn’t turning in papers, and wasn’t really trying to pay attention or read along in class… The student is at risk of being kicked out of the Bilingual Franklin program, but no parent conferences or discussions with the student seem to be helping. This really makes you think about how home life, the student’s attitude, and so many outside forces can keep a student from succeeding to the best of their abilities.

I got to keep getting to know my students in the next class of Sociology because the 10^th graders took a test and then we all sat around and played Apples to Apples! J It was fun and we had to be hushed because other students were taking tests, oops. J

The 11^th graders got to discuss what they want to do next year; it is amazing to see their engagement and the student choice that my mentor teacher provides for them!

Tuesday: The world history classes went really well today. With the 8^th graders I was asked to read an excerpt from Huckleberry Finn that way I could really show the students the dialect that is really confusing to read out loud. This lead to a discussion about the derogative term in the novel and the internal struggle that Huckleberry is facing about betraying the woman who raised him, and helping Jim to freedom. The students had not yet fully understood the concept of Satire so they were really concerned with Huck’s struggle.

The 9^th graders looked into the Cold Ward and compared SSR communism and USA capitalism. This lead to the discussion of Welfare. My students got a good kick out of making fun of the students’ writings from the English as a foreign language class because their poems didn’t really make a lot of sense at all. We had to tell them to be nice. The students also really wanted to share their essays and what they found out about researching their countries during WWII.

We closed the day by watching videos about paranoid schizophrenia and I had the opportunity to talk about my experiences with my uncle’s struggle with the disease and the impact that it has made on my family.

*Students are graded out of 20 pts. Here 10/20 is passing and all of the students have a 13 or above average in all of their classes.

*In France there is a reward system in place to promote big families. It isn’t welfare, but big families get coupons for food as a reward for having a big family. Jobs can also provide coupons for food for their employees so there isn’t only the poor using food stamp like material in the stores.

Wednesday:  This was a different kind of day for us!! J we got to help the 6^th and 7^th graders (who are still at the elementary school) They are all making decorations for a play that they are conducting. So I sat with the 7^th grade boys and helped them make a wreath out of tissue paper. They spoke a lot of French especially after I told them I didn’t know any, but you can still tell when they are gossiping about other people in classroom. We worked with them and I was very skeptical of believing things that they told me because they would speak in French and then talk to me. :p This was John’s first experience with middle schoolers hahaha :p

*New insult! You’re a piece of a mushroom!- baby insult instead of saying you are a piece of something else. There wasn’t a large discipline in place at all for friends picking on friends, even though in the middle schools I have seen if they say one thing mean to their friends then they get in trouble even if they are joking.

Thursday: Final day L In sociology the 10^th grade students went over their tests. They had vague but correct answers, so next time she wants the students to work on going into detail with their answers. The students took boring text book exams because they are the ones that resemble the Bac. test that they will be taking.

I also got to have some bonding time with the 11^th graders by walking around and asking them about what projects they will be pitching to my teacher to see what they will be doing to close out the year. The students work well independently and don’t need any push to keep working at all.

This was such an amazing experience! I am so pleased and blessed to have been able to participate at this amazing school! I will carry all that I have Learned into my classroom and share my experiences with everyone I can. 

Teacher Training in France

Teacher Training in France

On the last day at the school my mentor teacher told us just how lucky we are not only to be studying abroad, but to have a student-teaching experience. In France new teachers do not go through student-teaching. They take their classes for their Master’s degree and then are placed directly into the classroom; and the classrooms that they are placed into are usually the least desirable ones to be placed in.

There is no student-teaching in France. The classroom is considered to be a sacred place for only one teacher, and the idea of sharing it with someone learning is unheard of. The new teachers are left to fend on their own because of the isolation that is promoted with teachers in the French education culture. Not only are they by themselves after having absolutely no experience interacting and teaching children, but they are on the bottom of the totem pole and end up in miserable positions. The French school systems works with points; if you are married, have kids, or years of experience you have more points and their fore have your choice of what classes you want. New teachers usually don't have any points so they are left with the classes that the other teachers have picked over. This wouldn't be a bad thing if the new teachers had experience interacting with students and actually teaching them, or if they did not have to be isolated in their classroom due to the “sanctity of the classroom culture”.

My mentor teacher informed us that break downs happen all the time with first year teachers in France, in fact it is more common for first year teachers to have them then not have them.  This is an interesting article to help show that the teachers receive purely classes before entering the classroom. http://www.european-agency.org/country-information/france/national-overview/teacher-training-basic-and-specialist-teacher-training

Knowing this I feel so blessed… I have had the opportunity to work the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th 10^th, 11^th and 12^th graders ranging from co-taught to honors! I have seen a public school system in WV functions, been to Faculty Senates, PLC’s, and Parent-Teacher conferences, and now I've even seen how a foreign public school works all before I have my own classroom! All of this really makes me wonder about the certification process to teach in WV… I feel that as teachers we really need to have a long learning experience in an actually classroom, so we can see how students work and find our teaching styles so that the first year of teaching comes with ease. Our first year should be celebrated, because we will be learning so much, not a thing to fear and hate. 

2nd Week of classes at Gymnase Jean Sturm

Monday:

·         Careers and Culture 8^th and 9^th Grade- 15 Students (2 full class combined and only 15!!! J)- My mentor teacher gives Pop Quizzes on Mondays to get everyone back into the school mode. Students went over the quizzes, and they even pass their quizzes to a partner and the whole class grades and discusses.

o   The students are going to have to present a talent next week, so I presented mine to the class (I can do a cool snapping trick where one hand does one movement and the other hand another.)

o   You could tell it was Monday because the students were a little more off task and had a lot of side conversations. My usually lenient mentor teacher had to tell them to calm down and ask if things were appropriate a few times.

·         Sociology: 10^th Graders- To start class off there were some technology problems. The connection between the projector and computer wasn’t working. The students read an online book out loud as a class so we had to get someone to come in and fix the computers so that way we could have class.

o   Students were throwing out suggestions like ”Let’s play Apples to Apples, Watch a movie” and kept trying to stall class. (Mondays are wild days here ;p and by wild I mean a good day in a normal WV classroom.

o   Students all write in cursive and with calligraphy ink pens. They take extremely careful and organized notes, pulling our rulers to make sure lines are straight.

o   As students are reading we help out with pronunciation, and everyone sits in the front row so the screen can be zoomed in for everyone to see it.

o   Watched a video clip from the movie STRIPES to show examples of desocialization and socialization.

·         World History- 8^th Grade- Watched the Vanessa Williams “Who do you think you are?” about finding out about her family tree. They got a kick out of how many times she said wow and over acted.

Tuesday:

·         World History 8^th Graders- Students went over revolt and resistance movements in Slavery. They also use a British source that is similar to what they will be finding on their future huge test. Went over pronunciation and reading more than content.

o   They didn’t know about the word maroon, and needed help with the difference between saying south and Southern.

o   They still colored in pictures in their articles when they are bored.

o   They even analyzed a metaphoric quote!!! J

o   They are constantly encouraged to watch movies and have discussions about topics with their parents.

o   8^th and 11^th graders need the most help with reading English.

o   Got to discuss WV and the civil war and why we split from Virginia!! J

·         World History 9^th Graders- Since they are finishing up the WWII unit, my mentor teacher asked them to come up with ideas of future topics (Modern dictators was one) STUDENT choice AGAIN!! They continued reading about Mussolini and Concentration Camps

o   Found out about the Strasbourg region during WWII. The men in this area were forced to fight with Germany and kill their fellow French citizens. Germans had a strong base here that Americans had to break down the outer wall of the city in order to liberate the French people here.

·         Individual Development (PSYC) 11^th graders- Students had a fun day of watching the John Nash and Paranoid schizophrenia documentary.

Wednesday: NO SCHOOL J

Thursday:

·         Sociology 10 graders- Students reviewed for the exam they are having this upcoming Monday. The first did a quick vocab review worksheet and then we play a game!

o   Baseball Review Game: The 2 Teams (Smurfs and Jelly Bellies) had to set a batting order, certain questions were worth bases! 1 base (true or false questions), 2(multiple choice questions) or 3 base (open ended explanations) options.

o   Some Grammar mistakes: Wright instead of rights (combined write and rights) and Thought instead of Taught.

o   All students have to have assignments turned in around the same time because where the class is so small there isn’t room to fall behind or change things for one student.

o   Students are GRADE GRABBERS HERE! They are all for their points.

o   They also didn’t know how to draw a baseball diamond :p John had to take over.

·         Exploring Internationalism- 11^th Graders: The 11^th graders had a huge discussion about what courses should be offered next year for them. They were all for having more classes designed to teaching them how to pass the Bachelorette exam.

·         They continued to watch their FRANK talks (TED Talks inspired ) and critiquing themselves and their peers. Peers provided great feedback and didn’t only say this is good!

Friday: (NO school for John, Corinthia, and me we were heading to Munich, Germany!) 

1st week of Classes at Gymnase Jean Sturm

Monday:  On Monday with my new mentor teacher! Our lovely coordinator, Julia, is from Germany so this was her first time going to the high school, so we toured the city for a bit looking for the building. I also got to go to the Elementary school that feeds into the high school I am working in. The Elementary was very big. The students get a 2 hour lunch break, where many students go home, and two 15 minute recesses. The Elementary students are already studying wars, comparing rebellions, and reading Romeo and Juliet in 3^rd and 4^th grade!!!

**The bilingual program allows students to take many classes taught in English. The students will sometimes take their regular French history or literature class and then they will take a similar class in English. She tries to match up the History lessons with the French teachers so that the students can understand the content and focus more on reading/writing/speaking English.

Tuesday:

·         World History 8^th Grade- (10 Students) The students went over Slavery , mainly slavery in America, but they also looked into the slave trade and the American Civil War. The students can read very well; you can however notice the range of speaking abilities, many students have been taking English classes since Elementary school, or they have English spoken at home and in the 8^th grade those influences really play apart in how often and fluently they speak. Many speak with British Accents because that is the pronunciation that is taught in European schools.

o   They had some problems with the meaning of the word trifling and pronounced Peter as (pet- her)

o   The students are assigned homework, but only small amounts and our teacher is very lenient when it comes to grades because she knows their French courses are harder and more demanding than hers.

·         World History 9^th Grade- (6 Students)- Students were assigned a country to focus on for a WWII research paper. (France, England, USA, Japan, Germany) The students have prior knowledge about the content because of their French History Classes. One of the students was born in Brazil and has previously lived in Spain and America. So she was working on being fluent in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. The students all take turns reading out loud from articles provided by a British school publication. These articles are geared to be like the articles on the Baccalaureate test that they will be taking.  

o   A few of my students were quoting a ASDF YouTube video and I was really excited to be able to talk to them about something outside of school!

·         Individual Development (PSYCOLOGY) 11^th Grade- (11 Students)- The older students don’t ask us as many questions and spend a lot more time whispering in French to each other during class. My mentor teacher handed back their book reviews. Every trimester they are supposed to read a book and do a huge report on it. The students looked at their errors and asked questions. They did really well and my teacher is impressed with them. The papers and all assignments only go up to the maximum of 20 pts. Not 100 or more like the US. (Grade inflation cure??)

o   The class is called Individual Development because the country of France gets thrown off by the word Psychology because they immediately only think about Freud.

·         Sociology- 10^th Grade- (8 students)- These students were working on a research project so they were researching articles on the internet. These students answered our questions and they were really helpful and liked talking to John and me.

o   There were 2 Canadian girls in this class. The first semester 2 French girls went and studied abroad and when they came back they brought the Canadian girls that they were living with, It is a really nice exchange program so at least the Canadian girls knew someone when they came over.

·         Language Arts and Literature 9^th grade (same students as earlier in the day)- They are reading ANIMAL FARM!!!! J YAY! They listened to a George Orwell podcast (died in 1950 tuberculosis. Then the students took over the class and looked up descriptions of all the main animal/characters in the story. One wrote the students comments about the character on the board and then looked up more information to tell the class.

o   The students here are extremely organized. They write in their agendas without being told to and without the risk of them being checked. They know when all assignments are due and are very on top of things.

Wednesday: NO SCHOOL (ONLY OPTIONAL MORNING CLASSES FOR SOME)

Thursday:

·         Sociology- 10^th Graders- The students looked into Peer vs. Parental influence on a human’s development and the mass media influences on teens. They did a lot of vocab, reading, and speaking developments. Reading all of the documents out loud and discussing as they went. Watched a YouTube video on the Bobo doll Bandura experiment

o   The girls took a lot of notes but the 2 boys didn’t

·         Exploring Internationalisms 11^th graders- My teacher really understands when students have lots of projects, tests, or assignments. The due dates for all of the English assignments are discussed and agreed on. Students watched their presentations that they did in class. So they presented and were filmed and then watched the videos again. They engaged in self critiques that my teacher took notes on for their grades, and then

the other students offered suggestions, compliments or critiques.

o   The older students have thicker accents but speak English very well. They are the guinea pigs of the Franklin Programs and are the first set of 11^th graders and soon to be 12^th graders.

Friday:

·         Exploring Internationalism 10^th Grade- Student continued looking up their topics of research. The computers take forever to turn on; so the students spent most of the class chatting and waiting to get started.

o   One group of students is doing a placed based assignment because they are looking for locations in Strasbourg to put a skate park. (lots of kids ride skateboards here)

·         English/ Language Arts 9^th Graders- Students had a small quiz. They read the story out loud and discussed as they went.

o   When she handed their essays back the students actually looked at their errors, not just their grade! This is huge for me because one of the reasons I did Student-teacher writing conferences was because many students don’t look at or know how to fix their errors.

o   My teacher also gives them multiple options for their future essay topics. The students love it because in their normal classes they don’t have a lot of choices.

It is awesome that John and I get to see History, Psychology, Sociology and Literature/ Language Arts classes during this trip! It is the perfect mix for our English and History Education majors. 

My Students

8th- 10 Students (3 boys, 7 girls) 2 black students, 8 caucasian

9th- 6 Students (3 boys, 3 girls) 5 caucasian, 1 hispanic/ European

10th- 8 Students (2 boys, 6 girls) (2 canadian students) All caucasian

11th- 11 Students (6 boys, 5 girls) 10 caucasian, 1 student of Asian descent.

The Baccalaureate Test

The Baccalaureate Test

In France all students have to take the Baccalaureate test in order to attend any kind of secondary education institute. The test is in all French and has Math, Literature, Writing, History, and Science. (I guess it could be compared to our SAT and ACT). The main difference is if students do not pass this test they cannot retake it. They either have to repeat their WHOLE twelfth grade year or decided to go in to labor type jobs. There are no credit recovery classes or the idea of a 12^th grader taking 11^th and 12^th grade History. It is either you pass your whole year of classes or none at all.

France truly teaches to the test. All of their high school and middle school classes are taught straight towards helping students pass this test. This idea was introduced by Napoleon in 1808 and has been around since then, without this test and passage of the test you cannot go to a technical, community college, or university.

There are 3 genres of the tests and each test has science, economy and literature sections.

General

Technological

Professional

The general and technological test are the main ones for students wishing to go to a University, and the Professional test is made for students wanting to go into trade jobs such as electricity or plumbing. Students have to score at least a 10/20 on this test to pass; because of this the highest grade that you can get on an assignment in France is a 20.

In 8^th Grade there is a smaller exam that isn’t that hard to pass that shows if students will go on to high school or repeat a year of middle school.

In 10^th grade there is a Practice test for the French Exam

In 11^th there is a practice test for the other exams such as Math, History, or the test in another language (English for my students).

12^th grade year is the real baccalaureate test.

The school that I am attending has a 100% pass rate on its Baccalaureate exams.

I was very fascinated by this concept and it is so important to my students to actually pass and they will actually complain if a teacher misses too much because they are so worried about passing the exam. France does exactly what we are trying to get away from which is teaching to the test. But this test is for the students and their future so they try a lot harder than on the tests such as WESTTEST.