Tuesday, 31 July

Today was a smooth day overall! Not a lot to share.
For most of the day I had a nasty headache. Luckily, Kathy (a 1/2 teacher) gave me an incredible head/neck massage/rolly thing that really helped for the rest of the day:) Kathy, you are wonderful!

Some things that I have noticed over the past couple of weeks that have actually stood out to me as big differences between American schools I have been in and this Australian school.
I noticed that there are a much larger number of rotation-type lessons in my current classroom. So far I have seen very, very few whole class lessons.
The other big differences I've noticed surround special education. Australia is, for the most part, full inclusion.  This means that there are no resource rooms, life skills classrooms, or any other such specially designed classrooms. This means that classroom teachers must be more prepared to work with students with an even wider variety of academic, social, and behavioral achievement than some teachers' American classrooms.
Also, the restrictions and legal processes for students for students with disabilities are very difference, as well as the process toward getting a student 'funding', which includes providing them with support services such as aide time in the classroom.
Not much else to say for, although tomorrow I'll be heading to school with Kylen tomorrow to visit a different atmosphere (her school is probably about three times the size of mine). So excited to experience more!
Sorry this post isn't too exciting...
Much Love!
Megan

29th and 30th July

Sunday night! 

We took Sunday as a a day of relaxation, and kind of slowly woke up, got ourselves situated. We headed over to the chase to pick up some black shorts for my netball game. We wandered past the movie theatre there, and saw the 'free movie if you register for so-and-so'. We had previously looked for tickets for movies there and it was around $18.00 per movie. We were absolutely floored, but both had wanted to see Magic Mike, and certainly not because of the promising acting.
We both signed up for the frequent customer card thing (which costed $7.50), so basically we paid $7.50 to see a movie, which was pretty decent.
Magic Mike: terrible movie, terrible acting, excellent eye candy, good dancing, fine price. Really, really glad we didn't pay $18.00 to go see it. However, we did get to see a tripper movie in Australia. Wahoo!!!

Netball

Later that night, I had my very first Netball Game EVER!!! It was super incredibly confusing and embarrassing. However, I think I will be able to get better eventually, even if it does take three months.
My stats for the game:
I played Wing Defense.
I caught and successfully passed three passes throughout the game.
I played two quarters.

I learned several things about defense in netball:
You MUST be 90 cm away from the player you're guarding.
If your man doesn't have the ball, you cannot put your hands up.
If he doesn't have the ball, you have to stand to their side.
When you're standing at their side, you are not allowed to use the hand on their side of you to defend, but you can use your opposite hand to defend.
Make sure you know exactly what your position is, and where you are allowed to be on the court!
I think that's all...I'm sure there's something else, but I'm not sure what it is. I'm sure I'll come up with it when I try to play again.
Moving on!

Monday: Back to School

When I left home on Monday morning there were blue skies. The walk to school is about 35 minutes. After ten minutes, it started dumping rain. So, I walked the rest of the way to school in the crapping rain. Fortunately, I was listening to 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' on my phone. 

When I got to school and started to warm up (thank goodness!) Blake told me that I would be in control of the classroom for the first hour and a half of the morning because he had a meeting. It was super exciting! Luckily, I had helped with a lot of the planning and so I knew what was happening with our literacy rotations and other stuff:)

The rest of the day was a different story, and I ran into some much more frustrating issues dealing with student behavior and the issues surrounding it. Today I had a variety of kids who were a) running away from me, b) grabbing my hands/arms and trying to push me away, c) kicking and punching and screaming (sometimes obscenities) at other kids, and d) wrapping his hands around another students neck and beginning to shake her. 

Most of these situation I was terrified, frustrated, and restricted! I was terrified because there were students in danger and I legally couldn't do anything to stop it if they were already in motion. Several times today I stepped between the attacking student and the student who was being attacked, and took the hit myself. This, unfortunately, was all I could do to protect the other student, and didn't do anything at all to curb the behavior of the other student.

I'm getting frustrated by the lack of power I have with some of these students. I have narrowed it down into three big issues:

1) We can't find consequences that work to discourage the negative behaviors our students sometimes demonstrate

2) No staff are restraint trained to help kids that are physically aggressive and/or violent toward students and teachers

3) Kids for whom we can't find any motivation

As a student teacher, these are things that I need to stay at least three or four kilometers away from, and which I should touch with a ten meter pole. However, they are things that I will be faced with when I have my own classroom, and am in charge of keeping other students safe and in a healthy and comfortable learning environment. 

I have absolutely no doubt that the classroom I am in is a healthy and positive learning environment. In spite of this, there are students that still struggle with inappropriate or destructive behaviors. 

Another problem I have encountered is that there is no ultimate consequence. I am not an advocate of using punishment to teach, I support reinforcement only. However, sometimes students have developed habits/skills of manipulation or behavior that need to be absolutely broken. Behaviors that are not acceptable anywhere; especially not in the classroom where there are other students trying to learn..

I apologize for the negative-nancy post. This next part is more positive!

Bob and Judy (my Mom's host parents when she was down under) picked Kylen and I up and took us out to the Rotary Club dinner! The Rotary Club was who sponsored my mom when she came down, and so many of them new her pretty well when she was down here. They were all so lovely to meet and chat with as well. Thank you so much Bob and Judy for giving my mom and me the opportunities you have already given us! :)

See you all tomorrow!

Melbourne Mustangs Versus Perth Thunder - Ice Hockey!

Lucky enough for us, someone from Kylen's school had a few tickets for an ice hockey match tonight!
Around 2:00, our lovely host Dad drove us to the rail station so we could head into the city.
We caught the train in - which was relatively smooth. The at which stop we were looking to get off was being skipped on that route, so we had to get off a stop early; no problem.
We got off the train into the Southern Cross station; really super cool architecture; as per usual. As soon as we got out of the station and began walking toward Etihad stadium, the rain. started. DUMPING. Seattle dumping. We found our way to the tram station. Right as we got into view, one of the City Circle Trams (free loops around the city) was just leaving, so we had 12 minutes until the next one. We hung out under the tram stop, enjoying the reminiscence of home. The weather slowly cleared, the rain stopped, and you could look up to see the weather that had just passed us, and the current weather with us. See below:

Crazy! Anyway, we hopped on the tram and waited to be brought up to harbour town, where we would be going to the hockey game. We just waited. And then waited more. The sketchy looking tram had broken down, the second we sat on it. haha.
Fortunately, by then, the weather had begun cooperating, and we walked the rest of the way to harbour town in the sunshine. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was crapping rain; dumping again. We hunted through the complex until we found some toilets; for which we were grateful. We also found the hockey ice rink where we would be watching the game.
The game was fine; nothing to write home about, other than the really nice bar that is on the second floor of the rink.
Kylen and I spent a lot of time discussing the moral and physiological implications of hockey. Our team was losing. We found it quite interesting, that when we sat in the stands, we didn't have allegiance to either team, and neither of us really knew that much about hockey. However, by the second period, we had chosen a team and were supporting them whole-heartedly, cheering with the fans, groaning at the refs, and wincing when 'our' players were slammed into the transparent walls.
We were constantly marveling at our almost immediate participation in fandom when we previously had no real connection to the teams or the game.
We also questioned....if researchers surveyed the players of various professional supports such as footy, hockey, baseball, football; I wonder if they would find a considerable difference between the testosterone levels of any of the men involved? Especially hockey, when there is such a high expectation of aggression and physical violence. One must ask if there is so much violence because of the testosterone, or if the violence is due to the expectation of it. An interesting thing to ponder:)

After the game ('we' lost 6-2), the Mustang's sponsor is a restaurant called 'the groove train', right across the street at the harbour shopping center offered a 20% discount to fans that came out after the game. We were hungry, and decided to go by.
We beat most of the crowd (leaving when there were about 2:00 minutes left in the last period), so we actually got a seat. However, it was right by the doors. We were both relatively chilly, and so by the door wasn't a great placement, but the second half of the place was reserved by people showing up after the game. Now, not only was the place packed, but we were also right by the bar. When the 'Groove Train' has a huge rush, they split up the waitering; meaning that if you want a drink, you go to the baar to order it. If you want food, you go to the front counter and order it. It turns out that there were a lot of people that wanted drinks. Not the least of them was us! After I waited in line for food, Kylen waited in line for our drinks (Bailey's Hot Chocolate; a delicious way to stay warm from both the heat of the chocolate and the effects of the alcohol:). While the bruschetta pizza appetizers was wonderful, the Bailey's hot chocolate was a HUGE disappointment. Fortunately, we have been taught that tipping in Australia is very, very, very uncommon, unless you're in a very fancy restaurant and you have been given superb service. This was a relief to our wallets. Anyway; a bit of a disappointment, but we survived.

The real debacle of the night occurred on the train ride back out of the city. After dancing our way through the trams and busses and trains, we found our way to our train. All in all, we had a good evening, and the train wasn't crowded, so there was plenty of space. We were chatting idly between the two of us, and these two guys came up in 'Yarra Tram' uniforms. They looked questionable to start with. They approached us, and mumbled at us with strong accents. Here's how the conversation looked:

"Fmmbpbpfmm."
"Sorry?"
"Tickets please."
We hand them our bus passes, they scan them and pass them back.
"Where are you girls from?"
"The U.S."
Grunt. They roll eyes at each other. "On Holiday?"
"No, we're exchange student teachers."
More eye rolling. "Did you not see the sign?" Points to a sign with twelve different 'No blah blah's.
"No, sorry!" We are getting concerned. No idea what we have done wrong.
Walks over to the blue sign. "Usually it's a $200 fine when we find someone putting their feet on the seats. Anywhere in Victoria, you'll be fined $200 for that. Especially on a mucky day like this. Today is your lucky day, though. Don't put your feet up anymore."
Apologetically, "So sorry, we won't, we didn't see the sign."
They walk away as if they have done us a huge favor.

2 minutes after they exit the train, 4 fifteen year olds run back and forth between our car and the next one screaming, and slamming the doors, holding them open and closed. Apparently it was their lucky day too.

We griped about the whole situation for the rest of the trip, but really it was all I could do NOT to put we feet (which were clean anyway) all over the seats. As much as I am grateful to not have been fined $200, I just need to let a little bit out online about the damn transportation system. Douches.

The rest of the night was uneventful, unless you count Kylen and I accidentally dodging our ride home from the train station. Fortunately, he found us eventually:) Thanks for your persistence, Rick! :)

After coming home, we curled up to enjoy some Olympics, as exhausted as we are. Thanks for reading this probable dribble that has spilled from my fingers after a long day of being Melbournian.
Good night all,
Thanks for reading!
-Megan

P.S. After discussing the origin of nicknames for British, New Zealanders, etc. Jo and Rick began explaining to us the history of Australian Rhyming Slang. It's quite interesting and reminds me of jazz speech in the roaring twenties. Here's a LINK to look at:)

Second Week, Check!

Obviously, I've been pretty slow with the posts (already!). Yes, I know it's only been two weeks. Let's do a quick recap after Tuesday.

Wednesday - In which I implemented another intervention, and the kids learned a little more about Miss Taylor

So, Wednesday is a day of a lot of specials for us, including music, art, PE, and library, so there's not a lot of standard instruction that goes along. However, there's still time in the classroom, and we actually instruct PE, as our school is too small to hire a PE specialist. To start off, we tried a new intervention, in which our student with pretty severe behavior struggles gets five cards that say "Break! 5 minutes!" for the whole day. This means that she can choose at any time throughout the day, that she needs a break from the general flow of things. She will be given five minutes to compose herself and come back into the classroom, no questions asked. This appeared to work very effectively, until she decided to use all five break cards, one right after the other, in order to get out of a single specific subject. Hah! Should have covered that when introducing the break cards. This girl is too smart for me I guess;)

Also on Wednesday, we went to PE, as I said before. Mr. Johnson* took half of level three (grade 3 and 4) out to PE while I stayed in to do the health class with the other half of level three. After sitting through health instruction, I went out with Mr. Johnson and the class to have some PE. 

Now, it's important to know that Mr. Johnson is the most....flamboyant...staff member at my school. He boasts things like competitiveness, being outgoing, and having absolutely no shame. The kids in the class - nay - in the school, know that Mr. Johnson likes to win. He doesn't like to lose, at all. 

So, we head out to the field. Mr. Johnson looks around, realizing that there are two teachers, and our kids are on two teams for a dodgeball variation called Jedi (or witchdoctor). I jovially agree to be on one of the teams. Anyone that knows me, knows I like to win, too. If you know me, you also know I've played softball for a long, long time. After we began playing, the kids on my time quickly realized Ms. Taylor can hold her own in PE. I'm going to say that Mr. Johnson and I took the game to another level, probably. It was so much fun!

Following dodgeball, we played a game similar to baseball, only instead of hitting, you throw it. It also had some other differences. We took turns throwing in our teams, with all the team telling me to go last (so I could be the clean-up thrower). 

Not that it matters, but my team completely cleaned up Mr. Johnson's team. Not that it matters, because having fun is what's important, but we totally conquered.

Anyway, the whole rest of the day, all my students kept asking, "Ms. Taylor, can you please throw your big American throw??"

The whole thing was pretty good for my self-esteem.

*not his real name

On Less Appropriate Matters:

The other day at dinner, my host mum says something along the line of, "I heard of this new cereal...GCB something. I think the B stands for B******." 

Thinking that was a pretty silly name for a cereal, I started generating ideas of what the GC might stand for including  "Granola Crunch B******", "Great Crackling B******", and others. We chuckled about it for a bit.

The following night, we were sitting around watching TV, when all of the sudden, a commercial comes on for a new show. A 'SERIAL' tv show, called GCB. Then we all understood a bit better. As it turns out, it actually stands for 'Good Christian B******'. I, however, think Granola Crunch would be better.

Friday, Primary School Olympic Day

Today, we had an awesome plan for an Olympic day at our school! We celebrated by dividing all the kids in the school into seven different countries that compete in the Olympics including Spain, India, Jamaica, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, and Greece. The kids all played different games, rotated through different activities, and actually competed against each other. India ended up winning first place. The teachers were to dress up in UK colors, as we're the 'hosts'. I, of course, didn't really bring anything that could work for being a UK supporter. So I headed off to the 'Op Shop', which is short for 'Opportunity Shop', which is basically just a thrift store. Heading through the shops, I found this super awesome shirt from the 1984 Los Angelos Olympics! Check it out:

Some Interesting Cultural Differences...

As far as I know, everyone I grew up with either loves, tolerates, is used to, or understands the rain. Today, it was raining during recess. So, the whole school stayed inside. I was absolutely floored! Before I had heard from any of the adults, one of the kids said, "It's raining, we can't go outside!" My immediately response was, "Just put on your jacket..." Sure enough, however; an announcement was made saying recess would be inside. I was absolutely boggled.

Also, last night, when getting ready for bed, we could hear the sound of the rain on the roof. For Kylen and I, it was really comforting! We were talking about it, when our host Mum comes in and promptly says, "ugh! I hate the sound of rain! It's like a dripping faucet!"

Hah! I've never met anyone that doesn't enjoy that sound!

The plan for this weekend: 

Kylen was given some Ice Hockey tickets by a teacher at her school for this weekend! So us, and another girl from Ohio will be going into the city to watch an Ice Hockey Game!

Sunday, I'll be playing at my first netball game! The school's staff has put together a co-ed netball team, and I'm a part of it! I can't wait:)

Monday, we'll be going to dinner with my mom's host parents and their rotary club. 

Next Sunday, we will be going to a Under 9s football match with my mom's host brother and his family, and spend the day with them as well!

I have developed a list of things that I REALLY need to do before I leave:

Healesville Sanctuary (to see Australian animals) - we should be getting to go with Kelsey, who lives out in Lilydale, which is very close to the sanctuary:)

Uluru (Ayer's Rock) - no idea how I'll get there

Melbourne Aquarium - it turns out that teachers get a really great deal on aquarium entry, so we may figure how to fanagle that!

The Great Ocean Road - Melissa, from North Dakota, is living further south down the Great Ocean Road. It so happens, that we might get a chance to go south and spend the weekend with her and her host mum!

Ballarat - Not sure about this yet...

Sovereign Hills (an old gold rush town) - our host family is planning on taking us over there so we can go gold-panning.

go to a footy game - the staff at my school has said they will take us to a footy game, and we're depending on that!

go to a BEACH! - I've been looking to find the best ways to go to a beach at all...mostly looking for the cheapest way:)

If you have any suggestions about any of these things, feel free to post, please! Thanks so much!

I was also told about a photography club called the Knox Photographic Society meets fairly close to where I live! I'm interested, and thinking about going as a visitor, which they support! 

Looking back over this enormous post, I see a lot of exclamation points. Hmm...I guess that's a good thing! Talk to you soon!

-Megan

Tuesday

Ups

Today was another day of real instruction!
We had a great time doing literacy and maths rotations today. Well, I had a great time! I'm sure the kids were all right.
Throughout the rotations I taught a group to write a friendly letter of encouragement to one of the Australian Olympic athletes. This was really, really difficult for a couple of my kids, but super freaking adorable for a couple of them. Several of the kids already knew an athlete they wanted to write to.

Downs

However, I did have a little girl take a couple of swings at me today, and I heard some words come out of those kids' mouths that I was not expecting to hear today. However, when I approached the girl about it, she booked it away, after swearing at a different girl.
After following her slowly to make sure she didn't break anything or run off school grounds, I followed her into the teachers' office, and when I tried to guide her out without touching her. She screamed at me, and told me to go away. After that, she flung her arms out at my face before running out of the office.
Being a student teacher, not being trained for physical restraint, and feeling utterly useless/helpless when a child is so out of control, disrespectful, and dangerous to other students and herself is so incredibly frustrating I can't even describe it. My first order of business when I get a job is to get Right Response Trained ASAP, so I don't feel as freaking useless as I did today.

Ups Again

Today, after school, I had the opportunity to go to a professional development training with the other staff members from school. The focus of this training was on iPads and their integeration into the classroom, as their use for a tool to support learning, rather than something to just learn about. 

One of the catch phrases that the principal gave us was that, 'It's not the app, it's the activity'. This is such an exciting topic and use of technology that I would really love to get into a little bit more information, and share some more as well. 

The school at which we met today is about 500 students; the level 4 group is 140 students - and all of them own or lease an iPad from the school, and have them daily. The sheer number of activities and lessons that branch from the technology available is spectacular! However, it's overwhelming for a small school like ours (with only about 150 students) to be put up against an enormous school with such incredible funding. 

Anyway, that's all I have for the day. See you tomorrow!

-Megan

2nd week - the real instruction

Today was another day at school! However, because last week was the first week back from holiday, we didn't do a lot of standard instruction and rotations and stuff last week. This week I really got to see my host teacher do instruction, and see my kids really learning. It's amazing how much better behavior is for the whole class when they are busy and actually doing something!
Today after school, Kevin (my supervisor) and Kylen picked me up from school a bit early and drove out east (away from the city) toward Lilydale to pick up another student teacher in Lilydale - her name was Kelsey, and she's so sweet! She's from Ohio, and studying early childhood education.
It was a nice little bit of coffee and delicious desserts! Thanks, Red Gum Restaurant! Even if your waiters did roll their eyes a tiny bit at our American accents.

'Silly Americans...'

See you tomorrow!

Getting to Know the City

This weekend was wonderful!

Saturday, 21 July 2012

Kylen and I spent this weekend getting to know City*. Yesterday, we took a train from Blackburn Railway Station to Flinder's Street, the main station coming into the city from our direction.
From Flinder's street station, we ventured into the city and walked along the Yarra River. Our path yesterday is drawn in red on the map below.

From Flinder's Street Station where where the train took us, we walked East along the Yarra river with the HUGE crowd heading to the Footy match (Hawthorne v. Collingwood). They were moving to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), to the Southeast. We realized we weren't going anywhere, since we didn't have tickets or anything, so we turned around and headed back toward the station. We crossed the river and walked along the south bank, where we saw some absolutely incredible street performers! Wow! There are lots of photos on my blog, and there will soon be a video on youtube of one of them doing a pretty incredible stunt. I'll post a link to my youtube channel down below as well.
I took a lot of photos, posted on facebook, of our adventure including some beautiful skyline shots:)
We hopped on the train home from Flinders Street station, and had a bit of a scare when the train did a loop around the city before heading back on the route through which we came in. We did a good bit of panicking before seeking out a map to solve our problem. When we got back to Blackburn, we mosied our way back home on foot, because we didn't have the patience to wait for the bus.

On Saturday night, Tor, a woman I work with at school, had her birthday and was sweet enough to invite Kylen and me. It was such a great time, too! Many of the staff members from my school were at the party, and were so much fun to dance, drink, and eat with! We learned some new vocabulary*, and although we left at 11:30, for which we got a lot of flack, we still had enough time to have so much fun! Thanks so much Tor, Kathy, Rachel, Ash, Cyn, Jake, Blake, Glen, and everyone! It was a really, really great timing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9n4ApxB3Y0&feature=plcp

Sunday, 22 July, 2012

Today was even more exploration! Jocelyn and Rick dropped us off outside of the Queen Victoria Market (Marked by a blue dot on the map above). We spent the better part of the day weaving back and forth through the incredible number of stalls and tents selling merchandise. The Queen Victoria Market is one of the largest open air markets in the world, and there were a spectacular number of different products made in Australia and all over the world.
While looking around at the stalls I made an incredible discovery! I actually found my DREAM wedding shoes. I will not post a photo of them..I am embarrassed for buying another pair of shoes, but pretty certain that getting married is a decent reason to buy a new pair of shoes:) And even Sam agrees!
Anyway, after walking our way through the whole market, which was a lot of walking, we stopped at the food court to have some chips* and tomato sauce*. Then, we walked down Elizabeth Street, going into shops, arcades* and anything that seemed a little interesting to us.
We had a great time with no agenda, just exploring and becoming more familiar with being honorary Australians!
We caught the train home to Blackburn, and our lovely host Dad picked us up at the station, so we didn't have to wait forever for a bus:)
Tomorrow morning is back to school! As the second week back, we'll be really getting into the actual school year; and I can't wait!
Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Megan

*Refer to vocabulary at right of page

Interventions and Earrings!

Greetings from the third day at an Australian Primary School!

Today was quite an interesting day.....
We began the intervention I illustrated in the post yesterday. Until about 10:30, the intervention was fabulous! The student was participating, listening, and not disrupting! At 10:30, when a transition began from the classroom, she absolutely crumbled, and we had 30 minutes of a very rough time. However, we wrote a contract for the student to sign involving her behavior and the toy in question. After the contract, the student reverted to the perfect behavior! We will be continuing the intervention tomorrow - we'll see how it goes!

Today was an absolutely wonderful day for almost all of my kids. Also, I managed to achieve a legacy for which I have been striving. Today, one of my students said, "Ms. Taylor, why are you wearing matching earrings?"
I nearly jumped for joy! I will continue to wear outrageous and non-matching earrings in order to keep my students' interest at least a little bit:) Haha.

Not much else to say, although I'll hopefully be going to the Queen Victoria Market on Saturday - a huge open air market in the City. I'm excited to see the city from an internal perspective:)

Nothing else to say today, talk to you soon!

-Megan

First couple of days with Kids!

G'day everyone!

Today was my second day with kids in my new classroom. They are absolutely wonderful! I don't know if I'm ever going to get over how cute little kids' accents are!!!

My Class 

These two days have been wonderful!!! My kids are so great. They are a talkative bunch, and a headstrong bunch, but I wouldn't have them any other way! 

I have three students with an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) diagnosis, and one without a diagnosis, but I'm 95% sure she is on the spectrum/could get a diagnosis. I got on well immediately with all four, but one student is going to need some more intervention before her behavior is more typical of a third grader. 

Some behaviors she exhibits include yelling at other students, being physically aggressive when other students don't act the way she wants them to, makes noises in frustration that aren't acceptable in a classroom, and decides to leave the room whenever she wants. She also has an attachment to a fuzzy yellow toy in the classroom, which used to be comforting for her, but now initiates a bit more hindrance than help. 

Tomorrow, we're planning on putting an intervention into effect which requires her to earn time with the toy, rather than expecting to have it immediately. She will earn minutes with the toy throughout the day, and however many she has earned is tacked on at the end of the day. So, if she earns ten minutes of toy time, she gets it at 3:20 - 10 minutes before school ends.

Our big question, however, is where to put the toy now.

Currently she knows where it is in a drawer in our collaborative space. So, she just goes to get it whenever she wants to. This is not conducive to working in a classroom, and it works as more of a crutch than anything else.

The question is, should we move it a place where she can't reach it or see it, move it to a place where she can see  it, but can't get it, or leave it where it is. 

If she can't see it or reach it: It may be out of sight out of mind, or she may feel we have taken something of hers.

If she can see it, but can't get it: She no longer has the ability to go and get it herself without earning it, but it may just frustrated her - and she may even try to climb up somewhere or something to get it.

If we leave it where it is: she may feel more secure, but she could get it whenever, and would continue to use it that way.

Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas?

I've changed the settings, so you can make a comment even if you're not a google member:)

My Lesson

My classroom is wonderful; I've made a great connection with several of my kids, mostly due to my nerdity that's similar to that of a nine-year-old boy. After sharing with those boys that I love doctor who, star trek, star wars, video games and computer games, I may be the coolest thing since sliced bread. Also, that I can shuffle and list the fifty states in order is pretty cool.

Today I did a lesson on America, which included talking about the flight I took, where I live, the states in America, and a look at some American money. I brought in coins and a dollar bill which the students were all really interested in, and they all begged to see my driver's license.

Australia in General

Which leads me to another interesting Australian discovery; in Australia, there are two different driver's licenses; one is for a manual transmission, and the other is for an automatic. If you only have an automatic license, you're not allowed to drive a car with a manual transmission until you've had your license for four years! Crazy, eh?

Anyway, I should go spend time with some people, feel free to comment, and give me any suggestions about what you might do for that student:-D.

Thanks for reading! More tomorrow!

-Megan

P.S. I've joined a netball team today! Which, from what I can tell, is basically basketball with no backboard....but I guess we'll see...

First Day at my New School!

Today was absolutely freaking amazing!! I got to school a touch late, and showed up after a staff training was already in progress. 

I was welcomed right into the group by the teachers, principal, aides, and all. 

After an hour and a half of training that reminded me a lot of classes and seminars (in a good way) we took a break for...morning tea!

It turns out this is a pretty standard thing...although I could have sworn morning and afternoon tea were British things..

Anyway, after tea, we went back to some more training, including a lot of team building as well as brainstorming ideas of things the school does well, things the school needs to improve upon, and interesting things to think about/discuss. After lunch, we did some more training, and were allowed to break off into classrooms.

I spent some time with Blake, my host teacher who is awesome! With him and his partner teacher, Jenny, who is also awesome!

I can already tell this is going to be an incredible quarter. I got kind of an introduction to what the classroom is like. There are a lot of things that are the same, and a lot of things that are different from a classroom in the states.

After school, Judy (my mom's host mum when she was here at school in 1981) picked me up! She brought me back to her house and catch up with her and her husband Bob. They still live in the same house where they lived when my mom was actually here! Funnily enough, while I was visiting Bob and Heather, another of my mom's host parents' called! I got chat with two sets of very, very important people! 

Also this evening, I solved how to get to school! I did quite a bit of research and found how to get to school on the bus! It certainly could be worse! I'm so excited to utilize the awesome public transportation system!! :-D

Tomorrow I get to meet my kids! I am so excited to meet the kids. I will let you know as soon as possible how wonderful they are! I can't wait to meet them, see how my host teacher interacts with those kids, and hear the little Australians' accents!

I'll let you know how it goes! 

Sunday, 15 July 2012

As promised, today we drove down the Eastern peninsula around Port Phillips. Not only was it a beautiful drive, but we had a few solid minutes of observing and being blown away on the beaches before the torrrential rain came in! We stopped first in Rye and went out on the most incredible, windy dock out into the bay. The wind was absolutely insane - however, we got to see the most incredible waves and colors in the water! Below is me and Hannah, an Australia-clined travel doll of 31 years.

Yes, I see it's sideways. I can't figure out why. Probably because it was so damn windy.

The dock was absolutely beautiful! I can't believe they call this winter!

After the dock at Rye, we moseyed on down to the quarantine station further down the peninsula. It was also pretty awesome! The rain was moving in soon, but not before we got to the beach! It was wonderful, but we beat it back to the car park where we could drive further down to Portsea and look into the bay, as well as go to the 'back beach' - which is the side of the peninsula that faces the ocean. It got quite chilly quite quickly, but we saw some crazy sailors! And Hannah and I looked out over to see some seriously crazy surfers around!

We were also introduced into some Australian lore. 

The back beach, in Sorrento has some of the most incredible and outrageous surf around. Incredibly dangerous, and legendary. It's said that a past prime minister of Australia spent some time down on the beach and rocks, and was never seen again. Some people say he was washed away in the surf. Some people say he was picked up and ran away from the responsibilities of the office. 

Dun, dun DUHN!!

Also an interesting tidbit; after lunch today, Kylen asked for a box to take home lunch. The waitress told her she would have to sign a paper saying she wouldn't press charges if she got sick from the food. Apparently, in Australia, they don't really 'do' doggy bags, because people could get sick if the food isn't well taken care of, and they are afraid of lawsuits! Bahaha!

Tomorrow morning is my first day in my classroom! It's just a professional development day, but I'll get the chance to meet my host teachers and see the inside of my classroom. More talk later!

Port Phillip Peninsula!

Yesterday, Saturday, 14th July, 2012

I ventured out on my own to find the school where I will be teaching. It was a good walk - about a half hour. However, it turns out it's a much longer walk if you don't look closely enough at the map beforehand.
I ventured out at around 9:50 am. After a half hour, I was considering texting/calling someone to have them find where I was on a map and tell me where to go! It turns out, Forest Hills does not have nearly enough street signs; so even if you're on the right street for ten minutes, you can never know, because there's no where to read it!!
Anyway, I eventually found my school, and it was adorable. It's currently under construction, so I couldn't get too close. However, I thought this mural at the front of the school was pretty telling of what I have to expect.

A huge amount of diversity of every kind. I'm getting more and more excited and nervous as tomorrow approaches!

Today, 15th July, 2012

Today we'll be driving down the East side of the Port Phillip Peninsula! I put in a map here so you can see where we'll be going. We'll be traveling from home in Melbourne, down to Portsea - the very end of the peninsula! I'll add more, complete with pictures, etc when we get home this evening!

Also - on a bit sillier note. I noticed that the deodorant I bought it called "Brut". Now, I'm assuming I pronounce it 'brute'. So, I'm hoping if it can keep a brute smelling good, it will keep me smelling good. Reasonable? I think so!

Introduction!

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Australia blog!!

When I headed down under for three months, my mom suggested that I write in a journal. I thought about it, but also thought it was unlikely that I would write on paper every day. So, I'm writing in a new fangled journal!
Knowing me, you would expect something a little more clever or at least punny for my title. Unfortunately, that's all I have.
I'm staying with a couple named Jocelyn and Rick as well as with another student teacher - Kylen! She will also be writing a blog, so when she does get it set up I will be sure to add a link to it!

I'll be staying down here in Melbourne for three months. Although it is a beautiful summery heat wave back at home, it is in fact winter down here! However, winter in Melbourne is akin to early spring or mid-autumn in the great pacific northwest.
This morning it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day; I would be surprised if the temperature got below 15 celsius. (I'm learning conversions....slowly). My dear supervisor Kevin equipped us with his business card which, on the back, has a conversion scale for temperature as well as distance, and a little rhyme to help us with the weather:
30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 is cold, and 0 is ice!
I can say that I will for sure be using this when I get dressed in the mornings.


Where we live is about a half hour out of the 'City' (which is what they say meaning downtown). But we live on a huge main road with tons of bus lines and stuff on it. Today I'll be spending sometime figuring out the buses and schedules and routes and stuff. 

My school is about a km and a half down the road, so I'll be walking out there today, but Jocelyn says there are some shortcuts that she'll show me. 

Right across the street is a huge shopping center complete with Target and Safeway! hah. So that made us a feel right at home. Also around are McDonald's, Subway, and Burger King. However, the owner of burger king down here didn't like the name, and decided to name it after himself and it's called 'Hungry Jacks' with all the same meals and foods and icons. 

Um.....can't really think of anything else right now, other than that I have to verbally remind myself to look to the right first before I cross the street - neither Kylen nor I got squished yesterday, so we're taking that as a good sign. Driving is absolutely terrifying down here - most of the time we're in the car I have to close my eyes! Haha.

Also - We have been told that tipping is not a widely used practice down here (I support this!). Coffee shops require almost no tipping, unless you have truly, truly exceptional service, and waiters in nicer restaurants are the only ones likely to get tips regularly.

Some terms I have encountered already that are sure to cause some confusion:

'Arcade' - a small hallway of shops off the main street, kind of like an indoor alley. We're told that the best shops are in the arcades and not on the street.

'City' is used referring to downtown.

'Casino' is a bit of a derogatory term down here - they refer to it as an 'entertainment complex'

'Chase' - a mall, like the shopping center across the street from us

'Bowls' - is the same as boules, and apparently it's an old people sport, according to Jocelyn, but they do do ten-pin bowling as well.

'Barrack' - rather than support a team (like Australian football, football, rugby, etc), you 'barrack' for them. Don't say 'root'; that means someone very inappropriate.

That's all for now; I'll be heading off on an exploratory walk right now to find my school. Although Kevin is dropping us off at school on Monday morning, it's entirely up to us to find our own ways home:D

I'll be adding pictures, etc. later, and will hopefully stay focused enough to write on here regularly! Good luck to me, and thanks for reading!

-Megan