Patrick Brennan

Week 9 Reflection

Traveling to Austria and having the opportunity to experience a new school system is

amazing. The week started for us on Monday where we got to meet our new co-ops.

Unfortunately when we arrived we were made aware of a tragic accident that had occurred that

past weekend. One of the Year 7 (Junior in HS) girls had died due to an avalanche accident.

That changed how our first day was going to go, originally we were going to meet our classes,

but instead Danny (Daniella/Mrs. Knapp) had given us a tour and brought us to a local cafe to

give us insight on how the school works and what who we will be working with. The way the

school system works here is you start off in Kindergarten - you only need to do 1 year usually

when you are five, but the cut off date varies year to year. Kindergarten is very much play based

and oriented to get those social skills moving. The learning that is done, may be to learn

numbers and alphabet basics and sometimes colors and shapes. Once kindergarten is over

students move to a primary school. A primary school has Years 1-4 (Grades 1-4). Depending on

the school will depend on how much english is taught. Most schools are solely in German and

there is only 1 school in Graz that is Bilingual in Primary school. After Primary school there are

now only two ways for students to go. The chart shows three, but there was a reform passed

and it consolidated the learning system. Depending on grades kids can either go to a

Gymnasium (College Prep School) or a Middle Schule (a vocational school). Generally those

who go to a vocational school would be your lower level learners or those with mental

disabilities. The biggest disadvantage I think this system has is that it separates the students at

such a young age that when they are older they won't know how to interact with each other. I.e.

the student who went through a college prep program wouldnt have had interactions with the

person fixing their car. This is something I talked a little bit about with a teacher that was with
Danny and I in one of her craft classes. Once a student is in a secondary school, like GIBS

which is a Public Gymnasium it is separated into a lower and upper school. The lower school is

Years 1-4 and the upper school is 5-8. Year 1 is equal to our 5th grade and the grades move up

in order.

I am placed in a Year 2 class that is 27 kids strong and primarily boys. I was excited to meet

them because I knew that they had something planned for me on the first day. When I got to

meet them on tuesday they seemed very excited to meet me and had a bunch of questions to

ask. They were very surprised when I was able to call on them by name before they could tell

me. Even though it was only a day after the accident I wasnt surprised that they seemed so

cheery - after all many of them did not know the girl or had much interaction with the grades

above them. They all understood what happened, but they didnt seem as affected as the other

upper school kids did. This week was mainly full of observations and small interactions with the

kids. I assisted in the class as the co-teacher and did my best to help with some of the topics.

As I observed the classes I looked at the CCSS that we follow in the states and the although

these kids are in 6th grade they certainly are above our students in the US. In Math they are

currently on geometry subjects that we would not see until 8th or 9th grade. My favorite class

that I got to sit in on was their language class. Even though this is a bilingual school, the

students are required to study a third language from Year 3 on. They can choose from French

or Spanish. I sat in on a spanish class and they kids were amazing - they have only been taking

spanish since september and the teacher is able to fully immerse the class in the language.

Something that did surprise me is the lack of classroom management and the lack of

special education. Danny's son is classified and goes to a separate school that specializes in

special education, but there isnt that any in Austria according to Danny and it surprised both of

us that the Special Olympics Winter Games was being hosted in Graz even though there isnt
really a system here for students with special needs. Danny has gone through both the

American and Austria teacher training/preparation programs. She has degrees in both countries

since Austria didnt recognize her American degree and she had expressed that there is no

classroom management courses or trainings in the Austrian system. Since the school is made

up of 50% Austrian teachers and 50% EU/American teachers there is a diverse set of styles

when it comes to teaching and management. The kids dont go wild, but they arent the quietest

of workers. I do think there needs to be something added to the class in order for them to

behave better, but its not like I can take away recess here They dont have that. During the

day they have 5 mins between classes in case they need to go somewhere, a 10 min break and

a 20 min break. No lunch and no recess. The break is used a time for the students to get a

snack and play outside in the courtyard if they want. Schools in Austria do not have capabilities

to serve lunch at school but they are allowed to leave and come back when they dont have

class. Some students can have an hour break and get food. If a kid is in the after school

program that starts at 2 they can then get a hot meal since they will be at the school longer, but

otherwise they can get something from the snack bar.

Overall good experiences so far. I cannot wait to start teaching this week. I talked to

Danny and since they are on letter writing I am either going to have them write to my class back

home or to Delias class in Spain. I am hoping this would allow them to not only practice their

letter writing skills/format but allow them to make friends and potentially a pen pal.