Day 1 of Observation

Yesterday I arrived in Ottawa for my 5-week practicum (plus one week of observation). I got placed in two CHC2DF classes, which are grade 10 French Immersion History classes. I was terrified, since I have not used my French at all since my undergrad. I got up very early in spite of the jet lag to iron my teaching outfit and get all nicely dressed-up. I packed my lunch, and my fiance's grandparents (with whom I am staying) drove me in since it was snow-raining. After a few moments of feeling lost, I found the main office, signed in, and was introduced to my wonderful mentor teacher. I appologized for the rusty state of my French and he laughed and said I would catch on in no time. He then showed me around the school, finishing in the Social Studies office where I have my OWN HUGE DESK! I moved right in there. We then went into the classroom, where he showed me his stash of tea. He was thrilled to hear that I am also a tea lover and invited me to help myself at any time! We talked hockey (he is a fan of his native Montreal Canadiens, which is acceptable) and he proceeded to give me every possible resource that I could use in my lesson planning. I received: dvds, textbooks, scrapbooks, activity workbooks, his notes, past assignments that he has used, memoirs of Holocaust survivors, and several other items - most having full class sets AND in French! The school also gave me an agenda containing a calendar of events and all the school rules, as well as my own set of keys for the various staff rooms, my office, the classroom, and the washrooms. I feel so spoiled! The students seem wonderful as well, although they might be a bit of a challenge. I also got to meet another student teacher whose first day of teaching was today! She has a desk right next to mine, and we are planning to host a little event with the grade 12s this Friday where we give them a taste of what first-year university will be like. I have not yet met with my Supervisor, as he is the principal and was busy today dealing with a stink-bomb incident at Friday night's school concert.
As it turns out, one of my former teachers now works at my practicum school! I ran into her and we had a nice long catch-up session during our prep periods which fall at the same time. The school seems to be a very supportive environment! Everyone keeps telling me how lucky I am to be mentored by my teacher. I really enjoyed observing him today. He has excellent classroom management despite a few difficult students and is an enthusiastic speaker. He starts his history lessons off with a short lecture to introduce the topics (students follow along with notes he has posted on his wiki - they have to print them at the begging of each unit). Then, the students break off to work on activities. Today, they were working in pairs out of a small book on the Depression with worksheets handed out by the teacher. He even played a cd with music from the 20s for them while they worked (at their request). Ten minutes before the end, the teacher brought the class back together and took up the work before assigning some reading and questions from the textbook to be completed for tomorrow.
I only hope that I can live up to his teaching! The students all love him and so does the staff. I feel very fortunate to be in such a good position here. I will try to keep up to date on blog postings!