Residency in Fox Meadow

1/20 - 1/30 2009. Fox Meadow 3rd grade classrooms. The Fox Meadow Team: Beth Kaplan, Dan Brodsky, Elie Jacobs, Pam Winders, Nancy Rodgers, Stacey Wierl, Barbara Laman, Sara Faranda, Jan Schorr, and Peter McKenna.

The residency in Fox Meadow was a very intense one. Fox Meadow has the highest number of 3rd grade, 5 classrooms, and I had a lot less time than my residency in other schools. This was due to the fact that in my first week here, Monday was the Martin Luther King's day, and Tuesday was the inauguration of President Barack Obama. However, the teachers and administrators were very supportive, and everything went very well. In general it was similar to what happened in other elementary schools. 

The first week, I spent time with the classroom teachers, and the second week, I taught in the special classrooms. It took a bit longer for me to build a close connection with the students, but towards the end of the first week, students looked very excited to learn about Indonesia. In fact, the connection between the US new president and Indonesia could come at a better time than this. They learned a great deal relating to Indonesian geography, family life, school life, children games, government, economics, animals, plants, art, music, sport, and folk stories. 

The highlights of the program in Fox Meadow were in the music and physical education classroom. The Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia, Ms. Sadmojo, came to visit and taught the 3rd graders how to play a special bamboo musical instrument from Indonesia called "angklung." She taught the students how to play a familiar song, such as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and she also taught an Indonesian children song called "Topi Saya Bundar" (My hat is round). Ms. Sadmojo is also a Scarsdale resident, and a Fox Meadow parent. 

The other big program was the Physical Education lessons. Stacey Wierl, the teacher, was very enthusiastic to have badminton lessons for her students. She organized the lessons really well, perhaps the best badminton session I had during my residency. All students got the chance to improve their badminton skills, and most importantly all students had a chance to play against me. Students got a chance to watch real badminton games such as Olympic games, and they realized how fast, intense, and special badminton is. Towards the end, connections were made by asking them to reflect on their own favorite sport players.