Preparation...

As fall semester finally wrapped up, I am starting to prepare for a new journey. I realized that I have been so preoccupied with school work that I have forgotten to tell people where I will be in January. As a Whitworth Master in Teaching (MIT) student, I spend my fall semester part time in the classroom at Lewis & Clark High School and part time at Whitworth taking graduate level classes. In the spring time, I will be in the classroom full time. Both graduate and undergraduate education students spend the month of January (also known as "Jan Term") in a different classroom. The Jan Term placement is supposed to be a time of new experiences and growth. Whitworth students are placed in schools of high minority and/or low economic status. We are also in a different level of school. This means that people student teaching at the high school level are placed at the middle or elementary level and people people student teaching at the elementary level are placed at the middle or high school level. Some people in my program have been placed in Spokane, Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation, the San Francisco Bay Area and Colorado. I am fortunate enough to be going to Taipei, Taiwan for Jan Term.

There is a group of about 15 Whitworth MITs and Undergrads traveling to Taiwan. We will be student teaching and observing at the Taipei American School. I have been placed in general elementary music in the Lower School. My host teacher, Martin, is a percussionist and was born in Eugene, Oregon. He grew up in California and taught for six years before he started to teach overseas. He has taught in India, Japan, Indonesia and Pakistan and has been in Taipei for six years. He is married and has two daughters. He told me that about 85 to 90 percent of the students are Taiwanese. Although this school is made up of mostly children from Taiwan, the school only speaks English inside the classrooms. The majority of the students also take piano lessons. It sounds like Martin is very big into Orff and uses a lot of voice, percussion (surprise!) and movement in his classes.

I know that January will be a huge growing experience for me. I am interested in teaching

abroad in the near future. I thought that by going to Taipei I would be able to experience the International American Schools and see if it is something I could see myself doing. The group of people going on the trip are a fun bunch and I am excited to be able to bond with them. I will be leaving on December 29th and will arrive back to the USA on January 24th. I will be updating this blog regularly and will be adding some pictures.

Zaijian!

JP

PS- If any of my orchestra students are reading this, you all were wonderful last night!! Congratulations on a great concert.