Day 20 - Friday, April 27, 2013

Getting up early for school wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I have noticed that many of the mornings here have been very easy to get up and out of bed for. At school, I taught the next portion of my technology unit and also began planning for next weeks lessons.

After school, a bunch of the other girls and I were headed to down town Brisbane to check out the night life. The first place we went to was this night club that was on the roof of a building. It was so cool and it looked like something from a movie or gossip girl! We also walked along the river. We had some fantastic views of the story bridge (same bridge as the one on the top of this blog). My photos are of course not as breath taking but it was still a sight.

After that we went to pancake manor. This restaurant that only sells pancakes and hot chips. I wonder what I ordered. Hot chips that's right ... With American ketchup!!! Uh it was good!

Day 19 - Thursday, April 25, 2013

Today was ANZAC Day so  there was no school. Many of the cities do a Dawn Service or Morning Service for people to attend and remember what happened during the war. My host family and I planned to get up for a Dawn Service - which happens at dawn so about 4:30 here. You can all imagine what I ended up doing instead ... Yes I slept in. Oops. When I did wake up, we got ready to go skiing, tubing, and knee-boarding with another host stay family. It was fun!!

We went to this dam to do our watersports that is privately owned by a ski club. The other host family that we went with has a membership so they let us use it. The club has rules about how many people can be out at one time so it wasn't busy at all. There were only 4 other boats out! The water was so still and calm. You could tune for hours without getting thrown off. In fact I did! I went out 3 times and never fell off the tube! We also took a walk around the bush (woods) to look for koalas. We found two koalas sitting in trees. It was so cool to see them. I got to pet and hold one at the zoo, but seeing it in the wild was way better!!

That evening after we got back from tubing, we had dinner and I went to bed early. Unlike in America when we have a holiday on Thursday, Australia still makes you go to school that Friday. (Thus the reason they don't have Black Friday). Looks like I have a reason to come home after all.

Day 18 - Wednesday, April 24, 2013

At school today, we had a Parade for ANZAC Day right away in the morning. It was so cool to be a part of. It was an all school parade so all the students grades prep (kindergarten) through 7th were piled in the hall for the ceremony. When we got in there, they told us not to clap when the people were finished speaking. ANZAC Parades are solemn occasions. It felt sort of weird not clapping when others had finished speaking or reading passages. We also had the kids line up to lay our class wreath in front of the flag. My teacher told me that this part reminds her of a funeral - Which I completely agree with.

Photos courtesy of Pamela! Thanks!!

After Parade, I taught the next lesson in the Technology Unit and one of my Guided reading lessons. Both went very well and the students loved them! The afternoon went by quickly because my teacher and I have an hour and a half of no contact time. After school, I came home and began working on planning and applying for jobs. I got 5 applications done and sent in!!

Day 17 - Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I had another lesson to teach today. I taught one of my small group reading lessons. We have been learning about space in science and the kids are SO interested in it. I figured I could find a book about it for them to read so that they had more background knowledge and prior experience for their learning to be based off of. I found one about space camp. They LOVED it! All of the students were actively engaged and we had discussions and made meaningful connections to the text in the book. Afterwards, my cooperating teacher and I talked about how it went. I told her I felt it went well and that the kids were interested and excited which in turn improved their comprehension. She told me she thought it went really well too. She said it was excellent - Kirsten 1 Student teaching - 0. Boom. Roasted.

We also had to make our wreath for our ANZAC Day Parade tomorrow. (Parade in Australian means school assembly). Each class has to make a wreath and then display it and the school selects one to take to the ceremony on Thursday - ANZAC DAY. ANZAC DAY is one of the biggest holidays in Australia. It is the equivalent to our 4th of July and Memorial Day. This is the day that Australians celebrate and remember those who have given up their lives for their country. I am so glad that I am able to be in Australia and experience this portion of their culture.

After school when I got home, one of the boys found a Bird in the chimney. Yes a real live bird came down the chimney and couldn't get out. I of course was no help as they struggled to get it out of the fireplace and set it free in the yard. They were successful as I watched from a safe distance.

Day 16 - Monday, April 22, 2013

It was back to school today after my long and exciting weekend. I was feeling a bit crispy from my time in the sun but other than that I was ready and excited for my day. I had a 45 minute lesson today about the different types of bags. I was a little nervous as to how I was going to teach for 45 minutes about bags but it went fairly well and the students were engaged and excited about it. I have 4 more follow-up lessons in the next few weeks so hopefully the engagement and excitement continues throughout my entire unit. I only had a few minutes after my lesson until lunch so I let my students ask me more questions about my life, my country, or my schools. I got a few questions about my family, pets, friends, hobbies, etc. I had one student ask me if it hurt when you fall over in the snow. I didn't even know how to respond to this question. This is something that, growing up in the Midwest - where we have an abundance of snow - I never thought about falling in the snow. I told her it depended on how deep the snow was and whether or not there was ice underneath the snow, but I related it to falling down on blankets that are on the floor. If the blankets are piled up it can help cushion the fall just like a couple feet of snow would do but if it is flat, then its more likely to hurt. It surprised me how interested and curious they are about snow. Its such a foreign concept and so hard to explain to some one who has never seen it in real life. I also had a student ask if it was ever too hot to go to school. I told him no in Minnesota, at least, we have the opposite problem - the weather being too cold because of wind chill (yes we then had a science lesson about what wind chill is).

We also went to the Library so that the students could pick out their library books for the week. I had a student walk up to me and hand me a book about surfing. He said, "Hey Miss O. maybe if you read this book before you went surfing, you wouldn't have gotten as burnt." Stinker. I didn't even know what to reply to that. In the U.S. I had never had kids be so flat out rude to me as a teacher before. My cooperating teacher told me that this is typical behavior for this student and he has no respect for any adult. I thought this was crazy!! How can parents let their child be so rude?? All I ended up saying to him was, "Thanks, I wish you would have shown me that on Friday so I could have been prepared."

Day 13 - 15: Friday, April 19 - Sunday, April 21, 2013

I WENT CAMPING!! Boom. Enough. Said. Oh you want proof you say ... well here it is.

Inside the Caravan. Look how Fancy!!

This weekend was seriously one of my all time favorite weekends. Friday morning I woke up very tired after my long shopping spree the night before. I quickly packed my things for the weekend and got ready to go to school. Friday's are very laid back in my cooperating teacher's classroom because she has the combined classroom of year 4/5 and the year 5's have sport afternoons so she loses about half of the class. The remainder of the students and I worked on some art projects and our ANZAC Day wreath. After school, I went home got my last few things packed and ready to go, had some tea - of course! and headed to Tallebudgera for the weekend. It was a long and slow drive seeing as we left right at rush hour but every thing was new and exciting to see so it wasn't so boring - to me any way. The picture to the left is an AMERICAN car - the steering wheel is on the "right" or left side like it is in America. When we got to the camp, we unpacked the cars, got things settled and the showed me around the caravan (aka camper). Can you say GLAMPING?

My bunk with a DVD player in it :)

After we got settled, we headed to Burliegh Heads - A city on the Gold Coast - for some fish and chips on the beach. We got grilled cod and hot chips - it was so good!! One thing this trip has given me an appreciation for is some good hot fish and chips! We then walked along the surf and enjoyed the sights and the ghost crabs.

My host family and I eating our Fish and Chips.

Crab Hunting! Yes I held one!!

 

In the morning we got up and went for a brisk walk through Burliegh Head National Park. The walk was up a mountain! Totally sounds like something I would do right??!! The views at the top made it all worth the effort. We could see all the way down the coast and down the Tellabudgera Creek which connects to the Ocean. It was a great way to start the morning off. But it sure mad me hungry!! When we got back, we had bacon, eggs, and toast. It was so good. Just as we were finishing up to head out to the markets, Caitlyn and Kelsey (two other American Students) showed up. We helped them pitch their camps then went off for some shopping. What?? Shopping and Camping in the same sentence - I guess that is what it takes for me to sleep in the great outdoors. These pictures below are the sights from the camp area where we stayed. Look how clear and calm the water is!

 After shopping we went swimming in the ocean and then got ready for our trip to Q1. Q1 is Australia's version of the empire state building. We went up at night which was cool to see! We could see for miles. Along the beach there was a convention happening so there were lots of vendors and even fire works being shot off while we were up there.

 The next morning we had to get up early for our surfing lessons. Surfing was a blast!! It was a ton of fun but also a work out. I am so sore from it. While we were surfing, there was a strong undercurrent so every step I took I was fighting to keep my board and myself from not being swept away.  It was hard at first to get all the steps down but after I got the hang of it, I was able to stand up and surf quite far. Who knew there was so much thinking involved in surfing. You have to time everything just right and get you back foot in the right spot or you will just tip over - which i did plenty of times too!! Here are some of the girls and I after our surfing trip with the beautiful city skyline in the background. After our surfing trip, we went back to camp and headed to the beach before packing up. While we were tanning at the beach, a man came up to us and told us that there were dolphins in the water. We sat up and looked at the creek (an inlet from the ocean) and sure enough just outside the swimming nets, were two dolphins jumping and flipping out of the water.
 It was the perfect way to end a great weekend!

Day 12 - Thursday, April 18

I got to do some more (very informal) teaching today. I worked with more small groups and took some time to fill in more of my US. verses Australia Schools Posters. We have come up with quite a few differences so far and it is only the first week! I also gave them a the chance to ask me some questions about myself, America, schools, or whatever else they wanted. Some how we managed to get on the topic of our toilets and how in American, some people say that toilets in Australia flush the other direction. My students asked me if this was true or not and I told them I didnt know because all the toilets I have used here don't actually spin. I told them their homework tonight was to go home and flush their toilets and tell me which direction it spins.

\After school all of the exchange students and many of the Australian students went to a larger shopping center. I had so much fun ... and of course I bought some stuff. I managed to find a winter coat and some nice boots. Unfortunately  it looks like I might still get to use them before summer this year. I dont think its ever going to stop snowing!! Good thing I am getting plenty of time at the beach anyway :) We also went to Grilld again for dinner. I am loving that place by the way. I wanted to try something else but i couldnt decide if I wanted a burger or a salad, when I happened to stumble upon this burger called Mini Moo. Underneath it, there were additional things you could add to your meal. One was cheese on the burger and the other said salad. When I got up to the register to order, I asked the guy what kind of salad it was. He told me it was lettuce, tomatoes  and onions. I asked what kind of dressing it had on it, and he replied we don't have and dressing. I was then confused seeing as they had a salad section on the menu but yet they didnt have any salad dressing. So I said you have Cesaer salad don't you? He then looked confused. Well finally I understood what he was telling me .. the salad is what they call lettuce, not an actual side salad like what we think of in the states. I told him I was American and had no idea what I was doing. Blonde moments 1 - Kirsten 0.

Day 11 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013

I taught my first lesson today. I started with asking the students how I am different then they are. Then I read Giraffes can’t dance – one of my favorite children’s books. In this book Gerald the giraffe struggles at dancing because he is clumsy and can’t waltz or tango like the other animals. SPOILER ALERT!!! In the end, he learns to dance in his own unique way. My students loved the story! I asked the students how I am like Gerald in the story. They came up with quite a few ways including that I was different than they were so I might say and do things differently.

I also started a chart with them where we compare and contrast American and Australian schools. As the next two weeks go on, we will add more and more ideas to the posters as we learn about the two settings. This afternoon, my cooperating teacher and I had two hours of no-contact (prep). I was able to get a computer from the library and begin working on my upcoming lessons and job hunting – which by the way is going alright. I found a couple of 1^st grade positions and some Kindergarten ones in some cities that I would LOVE to teach in. Hopefully they will LOVE to have me!! 

Day 10 - Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Today was my second day at school. I took a much more active role today and was able to work one on one with some students, lead some small groups and begin planning for my upcoming lessons. I have also taken over role call so that I can get to learn student names. My teacher and I discussed some of the lessons she wants me to teach while I am here and she took me to the resource room to look at the various materials available to the teachers. She also asked if I would be able to create an introduction lesson for the students so that they could get to know me a little better. I agreed and began to think of how I will do this. I also got to sit in on a staff meeting which happens at the beginning of the school day, instead of after school like they do in the U.S. This is because they don’t have contract time after school. We also had prep today ( the teachers here get so many hours a week not a day) so I was able to spend some time walking around my classroom and some of the other classrooms to look at what they were doing. 

Day 9 - Monday, April 15, 2013

Monday morning came way too quickly! I got up and got to school ready and on time. We met the principal and our cooperating teachers in the office then headed out to the classrooms. This school is a lot different from any of the schools I have seen in the states. The biggest difference is that this school is made up of a ton of small buildings that consist of three of four classrooms. The classrooms are also the tiniest rooms I have ever seen. The students meet outside of school and they sit on the ground and wait for the bell to ring and their teachers to come and get them. I was surprised at this. I was used to kids playing on the playground until the bell rings then they come into school by themselves. Here this isn’t the case. Because teachers do the recess duty for both lunches (yes they have two lunches here) they get the morning off which means no one can watch the kids while they play so they sit still instead. The students then filed into our classroom and took role. They did this the old fashioned way too. The teacher checks off who is here then sends it down to the office with two students. Today was the first day of their second term so there was a lot of time devoted to reviewing the rules and procedures of the classroom. I got to sit back and observe the classroom and my teacher today and by the end of the day, I had a ton of questions about what she did and why she was doing that. Michelle was very good about explaining my questions and providing me with information about the things I was curious about. After school, I walked home. By the time I got here, I was exhausted and changed into pjs and began to relax. 

School "hallways"

Cafeteria - students sit on the ground to eat their lunch.

The building where my classroom is. 

Day 8 - Sunday, April 14, 2013

I was supposed to get up early to go to the Sunday morning markets with my host family; I however slept until 9:30. Oops! But I got up and got ready for the Welcome BBQ for the Minnesota Exchange Students … aka Moi! The BBQ was on Bribie Island just off the coast of Australia. I was super pumped because this was supposed to be the first day all week that was dry and warm. I was ready to get my tan on!!

When we got to the beach, my host family started unloading the car while I B-lined it to the ocean. It was beautiful.

As the others started to arrive, we got caught up on what we did on Saturday and went for a walk along the beach while the host families worried about getting the food cooked. As we were walking, we saw quite a few fishermen. One of them had caught some shark/ray thing – we couldn’t really tell. All I knew was it was some ocean animal that we don’t have in the Midwest and I was not about to go swimming with it!! We ate a feast and then went back to the shore for some tanning. It felt so nice to be able to sit in the warm sun and soak up some rays! How heavenly!!!

Right as I was about to flip from tanning my front to tanning my back, my host dad came over to show us what washed up on shore. It was a jelly fish and not just those little circular ones you see on the beach in Florida, a real jelly fish with tentacles and everything. YUCK. My face in this picture says it all. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the jelly fish … it was rather gross.

After tanning for a while, Kelsey and I decided to go for a little stroll in the Kayak. To my surprise, it was a lot of fun!! We even ended up racing and won 2 out of 3 of the races. Go us!!

When we got home from the BBQ, I was exhausted and It was time to get ready for school tomorrow. I called it an early night and got ready for Monday.

Day 7 - Saturday, April 13, 2013

This past week during one of the college classes that I sat in on, we had QUT students present for us. Their assignment was to create a hands-on interactive lesson for us. One of the presentations was on erosion. My group was asked to build a jetty to help prevent erosion from the ocean. Kelsey, one of the other American students and I were in charge of building said Jetty. Unfortunately in Minnesota and Kansas (where she is from) we suffer from a lack of Jetty’s. Thus we had no idea how to build it so we just started making some sort of structure. Turns out we are awesome at Jetty Building.

I woke up this morning and got ready to go to Redcliff a shopping area near Morayfield with a good amount of shopping. It is also right on the coast so I got to look out over the ocean. On the way there ... the boys thought it would be funny to tell me there is a huntsman spider (google it) in the car and that it had just crawled over my foot. I of course freaked out and wouldnt put my feet back down on the floor for the duration of the 30 minute car ride. We found  a leg of the "spider".

Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there so it was pretty overcast and gloomy but I was still able to do some shopping and get some Australian souvenirs. Redcliff is also the site of the Jetty that we were supposed to build so for all those reading this that don’t know what a jetty is… here is a look at the real thing:

For lunch we stopped at a bakery for some Australian Pie - Similar to our pot pies in the U.S. Mine was Steak and Bacon flavored. Can you say HEAVEN??? It was so good!! 

After Redcliff, we went back to the house to drop of the boys (my host family’s 3 kids) and then we finished our shopping at the shops in Morayfield. I bought a tiffany blue (you should have guessed right?) button up blouse and some sandals. Because it is almost winter here in Australia, all of their summer clothes are on sale, thus my sandals were super cheap!! WOO HOO!

After shopping, we had some dinner and then I went out with the girls to the local tavern for karaoke. IT WAS A BLAST. There were 5 of us from America there and a good handful of QUT Students that showed up too. We had a lot of fun and of course completely dominated the stage. Seriously every other song was by one or all of the American girls. The DJ even asked a friend of mine, Margarette, to sing a duet with him.  We stayed out ‘til bar close (which in Australia is only 12) then headed home. 

Day 6 - Friday, April 12, 2013

The bright light in this photo is the Brisbane Wheel.

The beach!

Today was our last day at Uni before I got out to elementary schools to teach. We were able to sit in on some student presentations and got to talk with the professor afterwards about our thoughts on their work. It was really nice to be able to watch them because I saw myself in their shoes last year and it was cool to see how far I have come. The professor had made a comment while we were talking about how she sees it as a good sign if the things you are learning about in our classes isn't new. That means that we are understanding them and are ready for the next step - teaching. It was really reassuring to hear this from her because during my last few semesters I was frustrated because I had felt exactly like this. I felt like i should still be learning so much to prepare me but yet it seemed like it was all review. She assured me that this was because I can only learn so much from textbooks before I get saturated with the knowledge and am ready to teach. We spent the afternoon talking about our week here so far and what concerns we had before we head out to the schools. It was nice to have some time to go over these and debrief about what we had experienced so far.

After I got home, my host family and I got ready for an evening at south bank in Brisbane. It was wonderful! We ate fish, calamari (squid) and chips at a park along the river with some of their family friends. Then we walked around the south bank area and went to the beach. We strolled through the markets for a little bit and then ended the night with some dessert from Max Brenner - the restaurant that only sells chocolate.

Chocolate!! 

Day 5 - Thursday, April 11, 2013

I had to get up early  today in order to catch the bus that was to take us to the Australian Zoo - Home of the Crocodile Hunter. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!! First off, the workers at this zoo were so friendly and knew so much about the animals they were handling. They were allowed to take the animals out of their cages and walk many of them around the zoo for people to see and do photo ops. with. It was so cool!!

The first animal encounter I had was with a white cockatoo named Anthony. He talked to us and everything! Then just down the path we ran into a shingle lizard. This crazy guy was a little weird but I touched him! I also got to pet a koala. They are incredibly soft and fuzzy. We headed towards the back of the zoo so that we could be at the elephant exhibit in time to feed them. On the way there, we past some HUGE Tortoises. We even got to see them move! We also passed through the Kangaroo Heaven and pet them. As well as the Aviary. It amazed me at how close all of the animals would let us get to them.

 


When we finally made it to the elephant area, it was just about time to feed them so we got in line. (I was third!!). It was so cool to let the elephant eat the food from my hand, but he slobbered on it - a lot. It was gross but luckily I had some hand sanitizer in my bag. We spent some time seeing  the other animals around the zoo but had to head to the Crocoseum for the Wild life show. This show was a mix of Birds and Crocs. It was really cool to see the giant birds. They also fed the crocs and showed them off like Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) used to do when he was alive. After the show, we ate our lunches and I got in line to hold my koala friend. We did some shopping around in the gift shops and saw some other animals while we waited for my koala photo to be developed. It began to rain on and off in little spurts of down pours and although we had ponchos on, we still got pretty wet. After I picked up my photo, we went through the Walabi enclosure, where I was able to feed one. He/She ate right out of my hand!

Our time at the zoo was almost up, but we were able to swing by the wildlife hospital. This was probably the worst way to end the day. It was so sad to see all of the sick koalas. One was even about to undergo surgery.

When I got home, my host family took me shopping at one of the bigger malls in the area. I enjoyed walking around and looking at the stores that at first seemed no different than the ones in the states, but after I began to look at them more closely, they were way different. I didnt buy anything - YES! you read that correctly - I went shopping and didnt purchase a thing!! But I still had fun walking around and taking in all the sights.