Ms. Corita's classroom- week 1 @ BINUS

Monday-Thursday April 14-18

This post is a compilation of events and reflections of my first week in at BINUS in Ms. Corita's classroom. I started this blog on Wednesday 16 April 2014, but have wrote about experiences from throughout the week and added in thoughts as experiences occurred.

I am starting this blog on the third day of my adventure at BINUS International School in Jakarta, Indonesia. What a great experience this has been thus far and I anticipate will continue! BINUS is one of the best private schools in Jakarta. Students who attend here live a privileged life with nannies, drivers, and powerful parents. Figuring this out shocked me because the students are respectful and caring to everyone: peers, teachers, and staff. They are little sweet hearts- always sharing food and gifts with me, wanting to know more about me, and sharing information with me to make my trip more safe and fun. These kids are constantly amazing me with their intelligence.

My schedule with BINUS is this:
Week 1 April 14-18: Grade 4A Ms. Corita
Week 2 April 21-25: Grade 1D Ms. Stephanie
Week 3 April 28- May 2: Ms. Mari EY3 (Early Years 3= ages 5-6 = our level of kindergarten)
Week 4 May 5-9: Mr. Noel EY3A

BINUS starts schooling children at EY1 ages 3-4, then EY2 ages 4-5, then to EY3 (kindergarten) as mentioned above, and then they start 1st grade and so on.

I was scheduled to be in a second grade room the second week but I requested to be in EY3 my last two weeks so I can take in as much as I can at that age range to bring back with me for my future kindergarten classroom. :)

Professionalism: Teachers here are  professional at all times. Professionalism encompasses many aspects of being a teacher: actions in school, conversations with other teachers and in the classroom, treatment of students, and attire. There is higher respect for teachers in Indonesia than in America. BINUS is a fairly prestigious school so I think that has a lot to do with the high professionalism found from the faculty at this school. With that, all the teachers here have made me feel welcome from day 1. Every corner I turn someone is introducing themselves to me, welcoming me to BINUS, and offering support if needed. Every faculty member I have met (I have met so many I do not even know how many I have met) has been ever so wholesome and kind to me. Ms. Corita brings me breakfast every morning! I am being well taken care of here.

I am Making Connections: The learning here at BINUS always meaningful. There are no grades to put pressure on students, parents, or teachers alike. Assessments are present in various forms: performance, summative, formative, and rubrics are used to grade assignments but grades like in America are not given. I think this is a great idea because it relieves the pressure on teachers to give out worksheets and other things just for the simple fact of "getting grades in the grade book." Students still receive assignments, projects, and homework and they are graded- just not recorded. Often assignements/quizzes/tests are sent home for parents to see, sign, and send back. An agenda is a major part of communication and organization for these students- they write in everyday, and reflect in it weekly which parents are required to check and read. Ms. Corita does a lot lessons that use cooperative learning groups and or as a class. If done in a cooperative learning group there is always a discussion after the work is done to clear up discrepancies and to make further connections. If lesson is done as a whole group then a similar assignment is given for homework to check for understanding.

I often observed in America lessons being rushed or lessons going over time into the next class period essentially "robbing" time from the next subject. At BINUS I do not feel a sense rush or stress that I have felt before. This is the reason why: instead of blocking eight class periods each day like we do in America, they call it "homeroom" for when you are in your homeroom (of course). They do this to focus on the big idea of a lesson allowing time to be spent on doing various activities and using engaging teaching strategies to reach all types of learners. By the end of the lesson the topic has been presented and practiced by all the students in several different ways and they understand the concept. The schedule is not set up to designate time for any subject. All subjects are integrated with in all the lessons- making learning fun, meaningful, and unnoticed by the students but they are retaining the information. Ms. Corita is always making connections and questioning- bringing in past lesson (schema) into new lessons. Lots of cooperative learning- students helping each other learn all the time. It is wonderful to see!

Moments of students amazing me (too many to write but here are a few...):
Me- "You guys do a lot of fun activites, Zera!"
Zera- "Yes, we do! And we are learning at the same time."

Aida- "I am left brain dominant."
Me- "What does that mean?"
Aida- "That means I am more into academics than arts other things."

Example of what I just talked about:
A day in Ms. Corita's class:


Profiles: show student example of each. Example: Ask student to draw what they think a "thinker" looks like and post under the thinker profile.

Units of Inquiry:



Languages: Students learn Chinese and Indonesian.

CrAzY/Real moments: Sumin, a Korean student in grade 4 asked me if I had a gun. I was said, "What?! Did you ask if I have a gun?" She said yes. I told her no I did not have a gun and why she asked. She told me her parents said that Americans carry guns. I explained the concealed weapon law to her. What a funny yet somewhat true misconception of the American culture. I thought it was a rather ridiculous question but does my reaction mirror how we should view this law? To her, it seems scary for people to carry concealed weapons and she was worried I was carrying one. This moment opened my eyes about concealed carry or other riduclous things Americans do.

Elisha asked me, "Why are Americans racist?"

It is funny- a lot of the girls are bossy! They boss around the boys anytime there is a cooperative group activity. :)

I have also noticed these childrens handwriting, grammar, punctuation, syntax, spelling, and vocabulary is excellent!

Building Relationships: In my short time in Ms. Corita's classroom, I built relationships with many of the students. There is a snack break for about 20 minuets daily so I took advantage of that time to mingle amoungst the students to ask them questions such as: what did you do after school yesterday, what games do you play, what do you do on the weekend..and others. Many students have lessons after school: instrument, chinese, religion, or mathematics. All get picked up after school by their drivers or a parent (more commonly a driver). A lot of students have powerful parents who are senators, business moguls, or producers which means they often travel on the weekends all over the world. They all have asked me if this was my first time to Indonesia or out of my country and they were blown away that this is my first time in Indonesia and out of the US because they have traveled internationally their entire lives.


Thursday- last day in Ms. Corita's classroom

students gave me many gifts
Went to art- they learned about onomatopoeia's!
Made food for as a hands on experience for procedural text/writing.
Got to see the EY (early years) floor- crazy awesome!!! They have a playground that reminds of a park at a zoo.
I will post pics to show examples later!