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