Finishing Up

The term is coming to an end, and all the student projects and hard work is being put into their portfolios and project books to share with their parents at 3-way conferences. The setup for these is a bit different from what I have experienced back at home. The student joins in the conference and in my grade level, the student is actually more of the facilitator than the teacher. We had the students fill out a guide sheet for the conference to help them run through their learning experiences this term. They reflected on each subject area and also their experiences in specialists and Interschool Sport. During the actual conference, Lauren and I will pose questions and help the student and parent to set goals for next term. I am looking forward to this experience and I think this may be an idea I pose to my future employer.

Over the weekend Susan and I took one last trip together. We headed to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast to experience the Australia Zoo that was started by Steve Irwin's parents. We were able to see the majority of the native Australian animals, and we also pet a kangaroo and koala. We had a lot of fun together and enjoyed one last weekend away!

I do not think it has hit me yet that I am leaving all the fantastic relationships I have built over the last three months, especially the ones I have with my students. It is hard to put into perspective the fact that I will most likely not see these people again. While I do hope to return to Australia again someday, who knows where everyone else will be in their life at that time. I am so grateful for the friendships I have made and the hospitality of everyone at Greenhills. This whole journey has been unforgettable and that would not be possible without the welcoming, kind people that have surrounded me throughout my time here.

The process of packing has slowly begun and the end is in sight. I am very excited to return home to family and friends, but am also not ready to leave the Fairweather household. It will be hard to say goodbye this weekend, but I know that we will always keep in touch.

I am off to school this morning and will try to write one more time before leaving, but if not g'day from the land down under.

Final 2 Weeks

The clock seems to be moving faster and faster as my time in Australia comes to an end. It is hard to believe that I only have ten days left here. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to everyone, especially the students and my host family. Everyone has been so open and welcoming since day one and it feels like home here. I have definitely seen growth in myself as a teacher and the students as learners and am looking forward to Three way conferences next week.

At our staff meeting this week the Assistant Principal, Helen spoke about Assertive Discipline. I found it to be a great refresher course for me because it has been some time since I heard the details of the theory. The main idea of assertive discipline is that teachers have the right to teach and children have the right to learn. For me, this sounds like a basic concept, but when Helen broke it down I began to realize some of the things I do or say in the classroom can sway the behavior of my students.

Being effective with this type of discipline program requires the teacher to always be aware of how they present themselves and act around the students. Your behavior is a direct reflection of student behavior. The initial setup in a classroom can also greatly impact how students behave in the classroom throughout the year. By establishing classroom rules and expectations, creating a class motto and mission, and implementing a reward and consequence system, students are less likely to act out or feel as though their opinion is not valued.

I found this session to be very valuable to me and my future experience in the classroom. There were two other comments that Helen made that really stuck out in my mind and made me reflect on my instruction time and the discipline system that has been established in 5/6L. They are:

"Say what you mean and mean what you say."

The full attention span of a student equals their age in minutes.

• Example: An 8 year old has a full attention span for 8 minutes

I will leave you to ponder those two statements. I have been borrowing Alan and Carolyn's computer to blog and do some planning and am so thankful for that! In case I do not have a chance to blog before the weekend, Susan and I are taking a trip to Sunshine Coast as it is our last weekend to travel and see Australia!

Updates all around

Classroom Update:

The students are hard at work on their end of term projects on Indigenous Australia. They are going to be evaluated on their oral presentation, teamwork, class activity, and accuracy of the information. Lauren and I have split the students into six different groups that break up our major topic for the Term. It is a very open-ended project where the students have choice and the chance to put on their creative thinking hats. Last week we provided them with the Multiple Intelligence Project Ideas which has allowed each group to choose an activity that is different and engaging for their classmates. My goal is to provide the students with the resources and accurate instruction to make their projects unique to the members of the group. Their work so far has shown me that each group is taking a different approach to the project and their end products will be successful.

School Visits:

Last week Alan took us to a few different schools in the area. We first went to another Primary school, which is located right down the road from Greenhills. Apollo Parkways is a school of about 775 students and is one of the schools that my Grade 5/6's play against for Interschool Sport. We also stopped at Diamond Valley Special Education School which caters to the needs of students who have an IQ under 50. It was a fantastic opportunity to see the different approaches taken to meet the needs of these students. I found the picture communication between staff and students and the use of horseback riding to engage and stimulate student's sensory to be the most intriguing.

Our third stop was to St. Helena Secondary College that consists of Grades 7-12. The school is split into teams, and consists of Junior School (Grade 7 & 8), Middle School (Grade 9 & 10), and Senior School (Grade 11 &12). There are 1570 students attending the school and 1 Principal with 3 Assistant Principals. Students in Grades 7-9 do not have a choice in the classes they take, but once they reach Grade 10 they are given a certain amount of electives they can take. The school day is broken up into six 48 minute periods with two breaks and a lunch. The school has recently built a new Science building and I am so thankful that Alan was able to take us and walk through this school. Australia is currently debating the structure of these schools and looking into how America breaks up this age group. It was hard for me to imagine how keeping children with such different age ranges, maturity levels, and interests could be successful in the same setting, but seeing this school gave me a better understanding of how they make it work.

Other exciting news:

1. Phillip Island- Two teachers from school, tiny penguins, walked along beach into small town for lunch (over bridge that connects mainland to the island)

2. Rialto Tower- Alan and Carolyn took us, daytime and again at night- 360 view of the city, gave me a perspective of where we have been and how far away things really are:

• 4 years to build
  
• 2000 people working on it at any one time


• 1254 steps to the top


• Observation deck opened in 1994


• 823 ft. or 253 m


• Elevator travels at 7.1m per second (Takes about 40 seconds to get to Level 55/Observation Deck)
  

3. South Bank Flames- 6 flames that blast and you can feel the heat, outside the Crown Casino

4. Planning Day (I will explain more of this next time because it was a wonderful opportunity for me to see how my Area works as a team). Below is the agenda that we had for the day:

• Jobs


• Collegiate Visits


• Term One Reflection on Maths and "Dreaming for Tomorrow"


• Space Unit


• English and Maths Planners


• CAT Organization


• Production

5. Holiday- Mooloolaba, Australia Zoo

6. Science Works/Planetarium with Alan and Carolyn

7. Aboriginal for a Day Incursion

Picture Update :)

This was meant to be posted on the GOR blog page, but it wouldn't upload. Anyway this is from Lorne and I caught it when we went walking on the pier, so the fish shop prepared it on the spot for us! Okay, so not really but this was taken in Lorne outside a fish shop. Alan made sure we got up close and personal for this beautiful photo opportunity. It smelt absolutely disgusting!


Last week during Literacy Rotations I had the students show me something new they have learned this term about Indigenous Australia/The Aboriginal Peoples. I gave them a ball of Play dough and clay to create whatever they would like. It had to be something they didn't already know and they had to be able to explain what they were creating. Later in the week they did a Self-Assessment on their project. Below are some of the students creations. It was hard to pick just a few to show you because they all did such a nice job.

These are just two posters that we have hanging in the classroom because they have been our focuses over the past two weeks. The students are working on Narratives to read to their Buddies and they are gorgeous so far. I also introduced MadLibs to the students this week and they had heaps of fun listening to the story their adjectives created.

Alan drove us up towards where the fires were, just past St. Andrews to look at the destruction. Here are some views of the area from the car. We were unable to go into King Lake because the police are still patrolling the area and trying to give the residents their privacy.

Jack Johnson on the TV screen at the Sound Relief Benefit Concert in Melbourne. He was phenomenal!

These last two pictures are also from our weekend on the Great Ocean Road. As we were leaving Tower Hill we drove past these koalas. It is very rare to find them awake and moving, but we were lucky enough to see them cuddling with one another. The bottom picture is me having a freak out moment because the Emu was so close to me. We actually fed them right out of our hands! They are very greedy creatures because once we fed them something they wouldn't leave us alone.

Young Leaders/AFL visit

On Monday I attended a National Young Leaders Conference with the Junior School Council Members in Grade 5/6. There are two representatives for each grade (one boy and one girl) who represent their class and meet bi-weekly to discuss school issues, improvements to be made, and ways to get involved in the community. I was very excited and curious to see how the conference would be organized because Lauren told me there would be about 5,000 students attending. I am so thankful for the opportunity to attend, and below I have included some of the notes I took during the conference. Each speaker was to share their life experiences in regards to leadership. Some speakers used their own life to make their point to the students, while others reflected on the lives of other people.

Premier John Brumby

• Thanked the Warundjari people for their land
• Leaders are "Ordinary people doing extraordinary things"
• Sound Relief Concert was the biggest benefit concert (in music industry) in the Southern Hemisphere
• The Government schools in Victoria have raised over 925 thousand dollars towards the bush fires
• Leadership = having a vision, taking action, making a difference, and working together
• "Perseverance" --> If you want to do something, don't ever give up

Kirsty Murray

• Have integrity- tell the truth
• Take time to reflect on your life and who you want to be
• "Readers are leaders"

Drew Ginn- 3-time Australian Gold Medalist in Rowing

• Do your passion to the best of your ability no matter what the outcome is
• Put "it" out there and it will come back to you (threw the Frisbee out in the crowd)
• Take a challenge to improve yourself; you have to start somewhere

Mike Martin- General Manager of the Halogen Foundation

• GREAT leadership= influence and responsibility
• "When leaders fail, life really starts to stink."
• Jack Sim- World Toilet Organization (informs people of adequate toilet systems worldwide and is working to minimize deaths from inadequate systems) Also shared that Nov. 19th is World Toilet Day
• Use influence to help others- Things go bad when you start to think about only your life and forget what others need
• Talked about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Obama: He explained that even when the odds are against you, your voice can be heard and people will support you. It is about giving yourself a chance and believing that you CAN accomplish your goals

Catriona Rowntree- Host for travel show, Getaway

10 things she wishes she would have known in Grade 5/6:

• Be careful who you listen to (choose the positive)
• If possible, make your passion your profession
• Push what is unique about yourself- don't waste time being what your not
• You will most likely not marry the person you are in love with RIGHT NOW
• It's okay if you can't do Maths
• The friends you have now are likely to be your friends forever
• LIVE IN THE MOMENT!
• Feel the fear and DO IT anyway
• Remember your karma- how you treat people is what you will get back
• Persistence leads to victory

Each speaker really made me think about how I approach my life on a daily basis. It made me think about how I can change the view (to be more positive) I have of myself as a leader, as well as the leaders around me. The speakers all had very positive messages. One of the most surprising aspects of the day was listening to the many references that were made to life/leaders in America. I think there are many leaders and people who have succeeded against the odds right here in Australia, but instead the speakers chose Americans.

Another highlight of my week was a visit from 5 AFL players from Carlton. The school has players come visit every year and talk about their experiences both on and off the field. However, this year was extremely special because the number 2 rated player in the league came to speak. Usually the kids do not recognize most of the players who come to speak or the players have only played one or two games in their career. It was great to see the kids react to a professional athlete being in the school and also listen to the questions they had for the players.

I was able to get a photo with all the players as well, but my computer has crashed so I am not sure when I will be able to post photos again on the blog. I am doing my best to keep up with blogging and lesson preparation without my computer. It is hard to believe that things were done with little to no computer access only a short time ago! I will look at this as another surprising/memorable moment in my experience here in Australia.

Multiple Intelligences

This past week I have been looking through some resources that the Vice Principal, Helen keeps in her office and one has really caught my interest. I believe that students need different opportunities in the classroom to express themselves and show me what they have learned. Not every student is going to be great at Math or write the perfect story. The Multiple Intelligences are a fascinating part of the human brain/body and I am really enjoying the information that I have been finding. Here are some quotes I picked out from just the first few chapters:


"Knowing one's own unique pattern of intelligences empowers a student to translate a different learning situation into an opportunity to operate from strength."


"Multiple intelligences empowers us to be more successful. We begin to see ourselves and others in more differentiated ways. No one is smart or dumb; each of us has a unique pattern of intelligences. Of our students we stop asking, "How smart are you?" and begin asking, "How are you smart?"
**I absolutely love this quote because sometimes it is so hard to remember that it is not always about how much a student knows and to what extent they know something, but more importantly that they know how they are getting to these answers and why they are able to figure things out (what intelligences allow them to solve these "problems").


"Each student has a very different mind; each is attracted to, comfortable with, and in turn becomes skilled with different kinds of stimuli."


"The more often we use our non-dominant intelligences, the stronger they become."
**This is another fantastic quote that really rings true for myself. In working with Lauren, I have learned that I need to be more comfortable with myself and the "silly" side of me. Students enjoy the animation and enthusiasm that you put into teaching. It is necessary to approach teaching from all different angles, whether that means singing a song, acting out or signing to the students; each opportunity can give yourself and the students a different view of who you are and the intelligences you possess (whether weak or strong it does not matter). Without practice you will never get better or comfortable with something.

Also from reading this book, I really want to try and make the teaching and learning more even between myself and the student. I would like to create lessons and activities that push the students to discover their own learning and also give them the opportunity to teach one another what they have discovered. This way they are held responsible for the information and also have to come up with how to discover what they want to know. As I read more, I hope to find ways to implement this at Greenhills in my last few weeks of teaching here. The students have such a variety of talents and all think so differently that I believe it would be a learning experience not only for me to try in the classroom, but also for them to discover things they do not know about themselves as teachers and learners.

This past weekend Susan and I went to a concert, Sound Relief. It was a benefit concert for the bush fires and between the Melbourne and Sydney concerts, over five million dollars were raised. Over 80,000 people attended the concert we went to at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) in the city. It was a fantastic experience, despite the rain that was definitely needed here. We arrived when the gates opened because we had tickets in the open lawn area. Unfortunately it rained for the first hour and a half we were there and it was rather cold. It took us a while to figure out that there was a place where we could sit inside and stay dry, so we did our best to warm up before the actual concert started. There were both Australian and American artists that performed at the concert. Each group or individual performed for about 30-45 minutes. Some of the artists included: Split Endz, Jack Johnson, Jet, Midnight Oil, Kings of Leon, Gabriella Cilmi, Paul Kelly, Augie March, Hunters and Collectors, Liam Finn, and Wolfmother. There were a few other artists and I really enjoyed the majority of performers. I think one of my favorites was Hunters and Collectors. The crowd was very active during their performance and the style of music was comparable to Journey or Kansas. I will definitely be downloading some of their music!

That's all for now. I have more to say on the concert, but need to have a sleep for now!

Sweet dreams:)

Another Week Gone By

Maths:

I wanted to explain some of the activities the students have been doing in Maths over the past week because I have not gone into detail about many of the lessons I have been preparing. Like I mentioned in my previous entry, we were able to get through all three rotations plus two teaching sessions which was not originally planned. One of the biggest challenges in 5/6 is trying to fit everything in and being prepared to have to spend more time on topics than you plan for. I think this is very common for all teachers, but because of all the 'extra' things that happen in 5/6 the pressure is really on to get the content to the students.

This week our focus was on positive and negative numbers as well as finishing up discussion on chance. The students were exposed to chance and probability last week so one of the rotations this week was Yahtzee. My students really enjoy hands on activities or games so I thought this was a great way for them to stay engaged and also work on their basic multiplication and addition skills. After my second explanation of the game it seemed to go very well. I definitely learned from the experience, and realize how important it is for me to slow down, explain, and demonstrate how to do something before just letting them 'give it a go'.

In another rotation I split the 50 minutes in half and took four students to do instruction with the Interactive Whiteboard and had the other four or five students use the Nintendo DS's to do Brain Training games. Each Grade 5/6 classroom has 6-7 Nintendo DS's that they can use. The Brain Training game helps students with their problem solving skills as well as speed and accuracy. Last week we had World Maths Day where students spent time on mathletics.com (this is a school wide program) working on all types of Maths problems. I noticed that a lot of my students are very slow to solve basic subtraction and multiplication facts so I gave them an opportunity to practice these types of problems for part of the session. On the IWB I worked on negative and positive numbers by providing various examples for the students and either slowing down or moving into more complex problems based on the group that I was working with. Any chance the students have to work on the IWB is great for them because their interest level is so high and they are enjoying the learning experience.

While I do not like to use handouts, this week I decided to use it for my third rotation. I found a great sheet in the Maths curriculum book on negative and positive numbers that would assess show me how much the students knew after my instruction earlier in the week. The problems were both application to the real world and basic concepts such as placing numbers onto a blank number line. From the sheets I have corrected thus far, the students seem to have a strong understanding of our focus for the week.

A few other things happening-

1. Our lizard, Junior, has shed his first layer of skin and is growing very quickly
2. We had a "love letter" incident in the classroom this week- It was interesting to observe what Lauren decided to do with this situation.  My instinct was to stop the chatter and talk to the students involved during tea or afternoon play, and then possibly have a class discussion about it.  Lauren has not addressed the situation yet with the class and right now has decided to let it go for now.
3. I have been reflecting on what I was like when I was in Grade 5/6 (Some comments from the students this week... "Weird, as in I'm weird." and "Do you want to go do some handstands in the oval for a bit?" They never fail to amaze me with their comments and I can really relate to some of the interests they have
4. My focus in the next week or two will be proper Assessment Tools. I have been using various types since I have taken on more teaching responsibility, but I really want to take this a step further.

I will leave you with some Australian Lingo:

have a go- give it a try
rubbish- garbage, trash
dodgy- sketchy/not quite right
I reckon, What do you reckon- I think, what do you think
good on you- nice try, way to go
muckin' around- goofin' off, wasting time, doing something you are not supposed to be doing