Last week

This past week has gone by so quickly!! I an believe I only have two short days left until I am headed back to America!
SUNDAY:
This past Sunday I went with my host family and another host family to climb Mt. Ngungun (pronounced gun-gun). It didn't take us very long to get up there. There was a path along the side of the mountain but the higher we got, the narrower the path got and the more climbing over rocks we had to do. The view from the top was completely worth it!!

It was harder to come back down the mountain than it was to go up. Every step I took, I had to double check that the rocks and ground was solid and that I wouldn't slip. 

After climbing the mountain, we went up the coast to King's Beach and ate lunch and enjoyed the surf. We also finished the day with a little shopping (of course I had to squeeze that in). 

MONDAY- TUESDAY:

 I taught a technology lesson, a small reading group and we began a health unit on food labels. This is something I never would have picked up on but their food labels are completely different than ours are. I think this is the one time that U.S. actually makes more sense. Here there were like three different columns and you had to use one to compare between all other types of food and one was the serving size. But with snack foods, they put the weight not the number of crackers (for example) like we do in the U.S. I have no idea how many goldfish equal 7 grams. I had no idea how many servings I was eating - but luckily for me it was pretty easy to teach because it was a review lesson. The student's were asked to write questions each day that we would use in our review game (jeopardy - which they don't have over here but the kids LOVED it). 

WEDNESDAY:

After school today, the teachers met as grade levels (all the fifth grade teachers went to a room, fourth in another and so on).  We met to discuss report cards and the comments that they will put on them. I thought it was really cool to be apart of because I had been able to see this portion of teaching in the states too so I was able to compare and contrast them a little bit. Here all the teachers decide on the comment for each letter grade and they start with a C (passing). All of the students who then score a C for science get the exact same comment in their report card. In the U.S., we tailor the comments to match the student while having some commonalities among the letter grade. Personally, I like the U.S. way because it allows you to communicate with parents exactly where their student is at. Yes all students who score a C have some areas to work on, but those areas are not all the same for each student. 

After my meeting, I had another meeting at QUT with the Dean and Program director from MSU. It was really nice to see them and they were excited to hear how our trips have been thus far. We had pizza, then went to yet another meeting with Australian Students who were interested in coming to Minnesota in November. We got to serve as a panel to answer questions for them. It was really cool to share insight with them and to watch them get excited as we talked about the States. (YES MOA did come up in that conversation). 

THURSDAY:

Thursday was my last day at Morayfield East State School. This last day was huge for me. I had my jeopardy review game to play with the kids - which went really well. I had a technology lesson that was being observed by two QUT personnel and my MSU Dean of the College of Education and the program director. My cooperating teacher also had a meeting in the afternoon and left me in charge of teaching history. Not U.S. history ... Australian History about the first settlers in Australia. Yup that is definitely my area of expertise! It actually went fine seeing as we didnt have a lot of time so we just got the intro movie completed. After that we had parade in the Hall (all school assembly) and school was over. Kelsey, Margarette and I went shopping after school to get those last minute things. I bought a lot of Tim-Tams ... 14 packages by the way - and have to get some more tonight. I'm just saying these are amazing!! Supposedly we get them at Christmas time in target - I have never seen them tho so keep your eyes peeled!! Anyway, I also bought a suit case. I now have four suitcases and the worlds largest purse. A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to Margarette for packing light and claiming one of mine as her own. Seriously she is THE BEST! 

FRIDAY:

On Friday we had to present what we have learned and experienced on our trip. To save you the hours of reading that would follow if i included everything in here, I will sum it up in a few brief sentences. 

Before I left for Australia, I was very unsure and anxious about the trip, graduation, and finding a job in the real world. I had been very nervous and had a million questions to ask because as much as I wanted to, I didn't feel ready to graduate. It wasn’t until Kylie (a program coordinator at QUT) pulled us out into the hallway during one of our classes at QUT, to have a chat during a break in one of her classes that I got my resolution. She told us that after so long in your education, things begin to make sense and you don’t have to spend the time reading and memorizing them because they become second nature. It’s natural as a teacher to look at your students work and say oh yeah they have this let’s keep going! 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 too. I felt like I should still be learning so much to prepare me but yet it seemed like it was all review. This is my last step before I am out in the real world and I felt like I needed to be a sponge and suck up every last ounce of knowledge before I graduate and I didn’t think this was happening. 

Teaching – What have I learned?

Coming into this experience, I was extremely nervous – not only about teaching in a different country and that but for after I got back. Graduation is only a few days away and I am done. Then what? I’m on my own in my own classroom and as exciting as that is, it also terrifies me. I didn’t feel prepared or ready at all. After spending a week at QUT and receiving some amazing advice from Kylie, I was able to use this to become successful here in this completely different setting.

How I have grown:

I was able to dive head into this prac because I started to feel confident and ready and in return I got SO much out of it. I learned way more than I ever expected to. Australia schools are so much more collaborative than U.S. schools – this will benefit me because districts are looking for this. I have seen it and been a part of it. As I go back and job search – I can share what I have seen and been a part of in a completely different way than any of the other applicants.

Personally – What I have I gained personally?

I have gained an appreciation for the differences in people and places. Before my first reaction was always oh that’s different it’s weird. Now I am much more open and what to know how it works, why they do it that way, and why we don’t do it that way.

How I have grown:

I have been able to try so many new things and do so many experiences that I never would have even dreamed of... Look at this picture – that’s me on a MOUNTAIN! If you asked any of my family members if I would climb a mountain they would laugh. I am not athletic, I don’t really like hiking, I HATE the outdoors, and there are probably millions of spiders on this one mountain – let alone all the other creepy crawlies. BUT I DID IT – and I smiled at the top! It’s been like this the whole trip too!

Brief ... I know. After our presentations ... WE WERE DONE!!! 7 out of the 9 of us went to one home stay house for a sleep over. We ate wonderful food and reminisced about our experiences here. We sat by the pool, we sat by the fire, we sat around the table and we piled into bed to watch a movie. It was so nice to sit and relax!