Today was my first day as a student teacher in an Australian
school. We were lucky enough to all be placed at Kingsford Smith School. I’m
technically in year 9 and 10 English and Geography but my teacher, Mel B, is gone for
the next two weeks so I got the opportunity to observe in years 7 and 8 as
well in Mel Traynor's class.
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| On our way to school |
When we arrived, we were introduced to our principal, Catherine. She is
so sweet and happy; she was thrilled to have us. We took a tour of the school.
The school is K-10 so they technically have 5 buildings (7 counting
administration and library) and are connected through open courtyards. It’s so
beautiful and open! All the schools are covered in bright colors and student work. Every room has at least one painting or poster done by a previous student. Once we had seen the whole place, we were dropped off at
our respective lounges and the day began. I’ve written a second post that talks
about all the school and the school day and how it’s set up.
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| All of us outside the school on our first day |
Today
was mostly just observing. I was introduced to different classes and the
students asked a ton of questions about where I was from, what sports we play,
do we hunt or have guns (they have very strict gun laws here), my family, etc.
They kept saying they love my accent, which, of course, is funny to me because
I love theirs!
They call their teachers miss and sir, like “miss, may I use the toilet?” (yes, they also say toilet). It’s so cute! The day was whirlwind, even with all the breaks (see below). We were sending our kids off to the bus before I knew it.
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| Awesome memes that my teacher has up her in room as "classroom expectations" |
They call their teachers miss and sir, like “miss, may I use the toilet?” (yes, they also say toilet). It’s so cute! The day was whirlwind, even with all the breaks (see below). We were sending our kids off to the bus before I knew it.
After spending all day at the lower
level schools, we got out and headed up the road to the University of Canberra.
This is where I saw my first kangaroo! And then at the end of the night we saw
an entire pack of them! The uni was your typical college campus with coffee cafes
and students complaining about class. It’s almost like being back at CMU. The
department of Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics hosted a little
afternoon brunch for us where we got to meet Kim, who coordinated with CMU for
us to come here, and their dean of the college. Everyone was so friendly. They
even gave us UC tshirts! And this was my first chance to try a meat pie. It was
actually pretty good and went well with ketchup. To say the least, it was a
pretty exciting first day.
