Thursday's Post a Day Late
Two posts today: One for today, Friday 13, 2006, & one for yesterday, Thursday 12, 2006. Sorry I did not get around to posting yesterday, I will post yesterday’s reflections today.
Thursday 12, 2006
On Thursday, we visited Shinden Junior High School, grades 7-9. My first impression with the school was quite a surprise, especially in contrast to the experience I had at Amaki High School the previous day. If the expression a picture paints a thousands words, then you can imagine how speechless I was when I witnessed these images.
I was amazed, or better yet, appalled. In the first five classrooms I visited there were students asleep, texting on their cell phones, lifting their friend’s skirts over their head’s, being just plain insolent, or wrestling their classmates to the ground. All the while, most of the teachers went on teaching and ignored this off task behavior. I did not know what to make of this situation, as it was definitely not what I expected.
However, I did not want to jump to conclusions and after I witnessed the other students that were engaged in the classroom, I was able to put things into perspective. Do not misunderstand my reflections; for every one student that was “off task,” there were far more that were on task, and very welcoming to me, and my colleagues.
For lunch I was brought to a classroom where I joined a class of 30 9th grade students. At first it was a bit odd, after all, I had not eaten lunch with a bunch of ninth graders well, since ninth grade. But when I began talking to the students, they did their best to talk to me in English. One girl in particular named Tomoko was extremely nice and made me feel much more comfortable.
After I finished eating, I went and talked to a bunch of boys hanging out at the back of the room. There was one boy who was glaring at me while I was eating. Initially he did not seem to want to talk to me, however, after I started talking to him, and I showed him and his friends pictures of me riding my bike and skiing, they became very friendly and curious about “Life in America,” as they put it. That was truly what turned my day around.
After school the students attended club activities such as: judo, taiko, choir, brass band and various sports. It was fun to hang out with some of the students as they gathered before they went home. One girl even let me ride her bicycle.
However, nothing prepared me for what happened as we left the school and went to get on the bus. The principal had the brass band and all of the students gathered at the front of the school, and gave us an unforgetable send off. The band performed three songs, the students sang in unison with two of the songs and if that wasn’t enough, as we drove out the driveway, the entire remaining student body followed the bus, more like chased the bus, all the way down the drive way while students high fived us through the window. Let me explain that the driver was only driving less than five miles an hour. Otherwise it would have been quite “the scene.” I must admit it was quite a surreal experience. I was truly blown away!
BTW, that's me with the school principal, Mr. Nobutoshi Sadaoka.
Mr. S
Thursday 12, 2006
On Thursday, we visited Shinden Junior High School, grades 7-9. My first impression with the school was quite a surprise, especially in contrast to the experience I had at Amaki High School the previous day. If the expression a picture paints a thousands words, then you can imagine how speechless I was when I witnessed these images.
I was amazed, or better yet, appalled. In the first five classrooms I visited there were students asleep, texting on their cell phones, lifting their friend’s skirts over their head’s, being just plain insolent, or wrestling their classmates to the ground. All the while, most of the teachers went on teaching and ignored this off task behavior. I did not know what to make of this situation, as it was definitely not what I expected.
However, I did not want to jump to conclusions and after I witnessed the other students that were engaged in the classroom, I was able to put things into perspective. Do not misunderstand my reflections; for every one student that was “off task,” there were far more that were on task, and very welcoming to me, and my colleagues. 
For lunch I was brought to a classroom where I joined a class of 30 9th grade students. At first it was a bit odd, after all, I had not eaten lunch with a bunch of ninth graders well, since ninth grade. But when I began talking to the students, they did their best to talk to me in English. One girl in particular named Tomoko was extremely nice and made me feel much more comfortable.
After I finished eating, I went and talked to a bunch of boys hanging out at the back of the room. There was one boy who was glaring at me while I was eating. Initially he did not seem to want to talk to me, however, after I started talking to him, and I showed him and his friends pictures of me riding my bike and skiing, they became very friendly and curious about “Life in America,” as they put it. That was truly what turned my day around.
After school the students attended club activities such as: judo, taiko, choir, brass band and various sports. It was fun to hang out with some of the students as they gathered before they went home. One girl even let me ride her bicycle.
However, nothing prepared me for what happened as we left the school and went to get on the bus. The principal had the brass band and all of the students gathered at the front of the school, and gave us an unforgetable send off. The band performed three songs, the students sang in unison with two of the songs and if that wasn’t enough, as we drove out the driveway, the entire remaining student body followed the bus, more like chased the bus, all the way down the drive way while students high fived us through the window. Let me explain that the driver was only driving less than five miles an hour. Otherwise it would have been quite “the scene.” I must admit it was quite a surreal experience. I was truly blown away!
BTW, that's me with the school principal, Mr. Nobutoshi Sadaoka.
Mr. S
posted by Mr. S at 7:06 AM
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