Wednesday, November 18, 2015

School Life at a Gaelic School

I absolutely love the Gaelscoil that I am at and I honestly don't want to leave.  I don't think I can stress enough how different school life is here compared to that in America.  Let me tell you ALL of the ways that school is different here compared to the other schools I have been at in the past in the States.

Lunch in the School
First of all there is no cafeteria, and all of the students' pack their lunch and eat it in the classroom.  Not only is that a foreign concept but the students' are left ALONE in the classroom for a full hour while the teachers gather, eat and talk in the teachers lounge.  During this time the students' will eat and build stuff with blocks, draw, play with tanagrams and read.  I love the amount of trust that the teachers' instill in the students' at the school.  The teachers' are not afraid of any misbehavior or poor conduct during that time. That brings me to another topic that is a difference at this school compared to schools in the states...
The students' built me this during lunch


Classroom Management and Overall Student Behavior
The students' are SO well behaved it is insane.  I mean their behavior has to be incredible if the teachers' leave them in the classroom unattended for a full hour.  I haven't witnessed any behavior issues where the teacher had to really get on to the class.  There isn't any behavior management techniques or strategies the teachers use like Clip Up and Clip Down Charts, ClassDojo, etc.  The students' know that they are held at high standards and they behave accordingly. 

School Uniforms
 ALL schools in Ireland implement school uniforms no matter if you attend a private or public school.  I love the idea of school uniforms because quite frankly it looks nice and everyone does look the same. The students' are able to add some flair to their uniform and a personal touch with the type of shoes that they wear.  Girls will typically wear boots and the boys will wear various styles of tennis shoes.   

Bathrooms in the Classroom 
Each classroom in the school has a girls and boys bathroom located in the classroom, and there are not any bathrooms located in the hallway.  I absolutely LOVE this idea because teachers know that students' will go to the bathroom just to leave the classroom and play around.  The bathrooms in the classroom keep that from happening, the students' get up without disturbing the class use the restroom, and return to their seats.  It keeps the class from missing critical instruction time by taking class bathroom breaks.

One thing that is the same between schools in America and schools in Ireland is that the Scholastic Book Fair is UNIVERSAL.  The students' still go mental for books, cheap erasers, posters and other gadgets of that sort.  I love the Book Fair.  

We have changed up our commute walk to school each morning and is so SCENIC and BEAUTIFUL.  We walk through the Westport Estate each morning and afternoon.  We walk A LOT. On average we walk about 6 miles a day and yesterday I nearly walked 7 miles.  All of those miles are thankfully hopefully cancelling out all of the scones I am eating :)

Clew Bay

On the Westport House Estate Property

Field of Sheep near my school

Westport House in the Background 








 

1 comment:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving Miss G!

    From your school family at PBC

    ReplyDelete