Friday was a good day of school. I administered a Maths test that I had created, and from what I've corected so far, it seems as though the students have done particularly well! Which hopefully means I've done particularly well at teaching all week too. Friday was also fun because we finished the day with an aboriginal art project - painting, as well as library.

After school, my host mum and I rode the train into Brisbane again but this time went to Wesleys. Tina was planning and staying there to watch Zander as Trevor and Wesley went to a soccer game, and Shannan and I went out to supper and bowling with a few of her co-workers. After Shannan said her hellos to Zander, we hit the road for Toscani's, the restaurant we were meeting at. There was a group of 9 of us, and sadly the service was EXTREMELY poor.... for the other 8 in the group. We all ordered a drink, and then put in our meal order. About 20 minutes later MY meal came out, but no one elses. The restaraunt informed us that there had been a mistake and for some reason the computer glitched and sent my meal in as a separate order (I was the 4th one to order! weird!). They assured our table that their meals would be out in about 20 more minutes, whereas, they asked me what I was drinking so they could give me a free drink because of the way I had been inconvenienced. The table was pretty steamed throughout the entire meal, but several of them got rather upset when they found out that the restaraunt also paid for my MEAL! So, for my two drinks and 15 dollar plate of pasta, I paid $7.20... which is even cheaper in US dollars! :) SCORE! After eating we went to bowl a few games. My first game I bowled a decent (FOR ME!) 84. But I blew myself away with bowling a 105 in my second game! Everyone kept saying, "Gosh, look at that yank bowl!". For some reason the people here call Americans, Yanks, and the English, Pommies. In the end, it was an extremely fun, but late night.

Saturday I was able to sleep in, thankfully, until 9:30. I then got up, showered, and got ready for the day. I also took about an hour to talk to my mom, dad, Jessica, and Daniel on the phone. It was nice to reconnect, but I felt bad because that meant my host family and I didn't get out of the house until around 11:30. We then drove to the beautiful Bribie Island. Bribie Island is just as its name says, an island. However, unlike several of the other "resort-type" islands, Bribie is connected by a bridge to the mainland and therefore has a decent size population. While there Tina Trevor and I ate a splendid lunch. I had a BBLAT (Bread, Bacon, Lettuce, Avacado & Tomato, minus the tomato). It was the first time I'd ever had avacado though. I don't much care for it, but ate it regardless. We then drove to the other side of the island, the "surf" side and walked along the super soft, super WHITE sand beach! It was magnificent. After that we drove around a bit and eventually stopped for a coffee (I had a milkshake :D). From where we were sitting we could see a wedding happen. It definitely made me start thinking about mine, and getting me super excited for it!

When we returned we jumped in the car again and took off for the city once again - this time for Shannans. When we got there Tina and Trevor picked up Shannan, drove the two of us to her friend Jemma's house, and then went to lunch. Shannan, Jemma, Eliza (another friend) and I walked a bit to the bus station and caught a bus to the city. The girl who had aligned this had it planned that we were going to a restaraunt called Wagamama's... a Japanese restaraunt, and a first for me! When I told mom I was going to be having Japanese in the evening she told me, "Good luck with that". But, luckily, with some coaching from Tina and Trevor earlier in the day, I decided on the Negami Yakatori... can you get anything more Japanese sounding than that?! Basically it was chicken and onions cooked on skewers with a yakatori (don't ask me...) sauce over it. It was delicious! After Wagamama's we booked it across the city to a comedy club at which Shannan had won tickets. There were six of us and Shannan only had 4 tickets, so we split the cost of the other two and ended up only paying 8 dollars to see 6 great comedians live, again another first for me! I was able to catch most of the jokes, and if someone used an Australian name or reference Shannan's friend Tamara would lean forward and explain it to me so I could get the joke. After that we walked all the way back across town to the Treasury Casino. I was dressed quite nicely this time and the guards actually let me in. It was definitely the most GRAND casino I've ever been in! The 6 of us pushed our way to the front of the dancefloor and pretty much danced the night away! It was a BLAST! :) After that we caught the train back and needless to say, I didn't get back to Burpengary until about 1:30 in the morning. This was unfortunate because Jodie and her family would be picking me up at 8 am the next day!

Jodie, the media specialist at Morayfield East State School had invited the 8 Minnesota students to go and see a few historical monuments of the area for the better part of Sunday. We started at The Big Pineapple. It is just as it sounds, a great big pineapple. Surrounded by working pineapple and macademia nut farms, the Big Pineapple recounts the history of pineapple and macademia nut farming in this part of Queensland. We got to go and see several of the animals native to Australia (again...) but really enjoyed hearing the Cockatoos repeat when you said "Hey Cocky!" and the baby joeys coming in and out of their mother's pouch. It was quite amazing! We took a train ride around the plantation, and then another in the shape of a macademia nut to where the macademia nuts are grown and harvested. I've picked up a few to bring home... don't worry, it's legal. After that we headed to the Ginger Factory where we rode on a boat ride to "find the gingerbread man" around the world. After that we shopped a bit at a few shops along the way. We also went on a walking tour through the actual Ginger Factory to see how the ginger we eat is harvested and processed. We then took another train ride around the premises and watched an informational bee demonstration teaching us about how honey is harvested. After the ginger factory we made a quick stop off at a strawberry farm where we each picked almost a kilogram (approx. 2 lbs) of strawberries to bring home to our hosts. It was an extremely fun and informational day... and we were definitely in good compay with Jodie's family!

The "blues" part of my title is in regards to the fact that I have found myself SICK. On Thursday night I felt a little tickle, but nothing major. Unfortunately that tickle has steadily progressed to me completely losing my voice, having difficulty swallowing, blowing my nose constantly and feeling a bit feverish. Jodie instructed me to STAY HOME if I feel like this in the morning, and I told her I would. Unfortunately it just feels like one of those colds/sinus things that needs to be slept off and cured with water! I'm planning on having a shower tonight to hopefully get some relief from the steam as well as get my body back to a normal temperature.

Think of me as I go into my second week of teaching... :)

written by  cowane1 on August 29, 2010 from Burpengary, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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Oh well. Hopefully I'll feel well enough to return tomorrow. I only have 13 days left with those little guys and want to maket he most of it! Even if my teaching consists of me writing everything I want to say on the board. :)

Think of me... because I'm often thinking of you all :)

written by  cowane1 on August 29, 2010 from Burpengary, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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My teacher, Kyryn, was also happy to see that I was back. Upon arrival she told me that she had switched the planning up a little bit though. I was entirely fine with that because that's just what happens as a teacher. She needed to make SURE she got the students assessed in each subject before the end of the term (which is also my last week). And, starting next week, for the last two weeks of my time here, the students will be swimming from 10 am to 1pm everyday! That definitely cuts out of classroom time that should be used for end of the term assessments. Nearly all morning I was placed with 3 students and asked to help them write a draft of their final information report. These 3 students worked fervently, but I found myself having difficulty explaining to them EXACTLY what a sentence is. They were given bulleted notes like - a red dome of rock, and they had to put that into a competent and interesting sentence. The students I was working with, lower level, could not understand why that wasn't a sentence. So I would try to work with them by asking them, "if you had to describe Ayer's Rock to me, what would you say?" in hopes that they would respond with, "It looks like a red dome of rock"... instead I incessantly got "a red dome of rock". It was a long, but productive morning nonetheless. We'll likely be doing the same thing tomorrow to finish it.

I also taught the whole group maths today. Before maths, I introduced the new behavior system, which I still hadn't had time to fully get ready. The students appeared excited at the new opportunity to win something, but didn't prove to me that they were giving extra effort. I awarded those I thought deserved being awarded, but was still very stingy about giving awards to those who did not prove excellence to me. I taught for a complete hour and a half, but it proved very very successful! The students displayed good behavior, appeared to finally ALMOST completely grasp subtraction with regrouping, and are rockstars at creating equivalent equations. My vocal cords were SCREAMING at the end of this time, but I didn't have to talk for the rest of the day, so I didn't mind.

I learned today that Prep (equivalent to our Kindergarten) is NOT mandatory here in Australia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Kindergarten is mandatory in the US and I was quite surprised by this! Imagine a kid walking into 1st grade not having all of the skills he/she would've learned in Kindergarten (or Prep)! The teachers assured me that the great majority of kids do attend Prep though because it is practically free childcare if nothing else. I thought that was a rather sad way to think of it, but also quite true.

I also recalled a couple Australian words/phrases you may find interesting. Several of these come from what we would think of as an Old British type of wording:
dearer: more expensive
fortsnight: 2 weeks.... this word is used ALL THE TIME, and they are amazed that we do not use it in America
fringes: bangs (like in your hair)
pardon: what did you say?... I know we've all heard this before, but it's SO adorable to have the kids say to you, "pardon", instead of the "WHAT?" that we'd get in America.
docket: receipt
I reckon: I think... again I know you've all heard this, but it is used CONSTANTLY down here... as well as the word MATE. You'd be amazed at how many times I've actually heard or been spoken to with the phrase "G'day mate!" They truly truly use it!
How's you going?: How are you?... My host family asks me this often, and I've heard it from grocery store cashiers among other people.

Okay, I'm going to guides again tonight. They are making Father's Day presents because the Australian Father's Day is coming up this weekend on September 5th... Definitely different than ours. The strange thing is that their Mother's Day is always the same as ours! :) Oh well!

I'd best be off! - G'day Mates! :)

written by  cowane1 on August 30, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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Yesterday was a fairly good day. The kids were a little wild but enjoyable. I taught handwriting in the morning, which was even more of a challenge than teaching money! This is because, Queensland (the state in which I am teaching) has its own form of manuscript. And, it's goofy. Google it and you'll see what I mean! My teacher had my try my hand at it and write half of what the kids would be copying off of the board. I was proud because only ONE student had to ask me what one word said because he couldn't read it. I was supposed to teach the students where they needed to pick up their pencil in the middle of certain words... I can't even hardly write it, and they're supposed to believe me?! I was very impressed with the perserverance in the class today, as several of them took their time, truly giving me quality not quantity! :)

Math was successful, but a little wild toward the end. The students pleasantly surprised me with their success in learning group equivalence as well as their ability to help their peers if they didn't understand. One of my FAVORITE things to see is when a student is truly HELPING another student and not just giving him/her the answer. Following that we broke into groups and had them cut out nets of shapes to create 3D shapes. One of the groups was a bit too chatty after I had prompted them several times, and so I stood my ground and made the 6 of them stay in an extra 5 minutes during recess and tell me one thing they plan on doing different to prevent this next time. I love teaching Elementary school because I could do that, and they were still my best friend at the end of the day. I was a super super mean teacher yesterday though because I even gave out two pink tickets (slips that say that students need to stay in during recess in a behavior room). I had warned them repeatedly, but they continued until I had enough and wrote them up!

At the end of the day, we started doing Father's day gifts. Father's day is September 5th here. For one of the gifts, I needed to take a picture of each of the students individually. It was fun to get to do this, because now I will have them all to remind myself of this wonderful class. While I had my camera out I also took a few pictures of the "late slips" in the late book. The reasonings are quite humorous... "traffic", "slept in", "mum slept in", "went to bank", and my personal favorite, "no idea". :)

Last night Tina, Trevor, Shannan, Sara (another Minnesota student) and I all went to "Animal Kingdom", an Australian movie. It was quite disturbing and depressing... but fascinating at the same time. It was a definite change watching a movie where the steering wheel was on the otherside of the car, and they had an Australian accent. I found them at times hard to understand even though I can almost always understand Australians in person!

Today was a particularly easy day at school. The 3rd years were pleased to watch an Aboriginal man share his artifacts, paintings, skills and stories with them. He explained to us all of the different tools the aboriginee people used, as well as the interpretations of a few paintings. He played the didgerdoo, and sang a wonderful song. But the part the kids thought was the total coolest was when he showed them how the aboriginals threw a spear as well as a returning boomerang. This guy was a pro, so don't expect me to be coming home capable of doing it! It's quite a science of wind, speed, and angle! It was fascinating and I think it made his day to have 80 3rd years clapping and cheering for him too! It was wonderful to have the students enjoy and be presented such an intregal part of their culture!

I ate my short lunch with some of the grade 4 and 5 teachers where they introduced me to the wonderful Australian book "Possum Magic"... a book I plan on buying! In this book it lists a variety of different Australian delicacy foods. To top off their introduction to the book, they fed us these delicacies! I absolutely LOVE pavlova! Look it up! I'm going to try to make it for everyone as an Australian treat at holidays. It's fantastic, but very sweet. I also am madly in love with Lamingtons (white cake, dipped in chocolate coated in coconut), and enjoy the white Tim-Tams better than the chocolate ones.

I finished my day by eating a place called Louise's...aka the KCP Cafe in Naragba. Tina and Trevor have boasted that they have the BEST burgers... and they were VERY delicious!

I have best be off, but want you to know that I will likely have some wonderful pictures to put up when I write next. The 8 Minnesota students and I are leaving tomorrow for Tangalooma on Moreton Island for the weekend! One of the teachers has arranged transportation for us to and from the launch, over and back from the island, as well as letting us stay at her apartment there for 2 nights for free! Boy we are spoiled! :) I need to get packing, as well as preparing for next weeks lessons because I won't be back from Tangalooma until late Sunday!

Hope you all have JUST as fun of a Labor weekend! I'll be thinking of you as I am sand tobagganing, snorkeling, and attempting to windsurf... maybe. :)

written by  cowane1 on September 2, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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Waiting for our ride to the launch that had been arranged for us, we simply sat in the staff room at the school. Eventually one of the teachers came in and asked who the LIMO was for! We insisted that it couldn't be for us because we were getting a van or something, but when we told her that Jodie had lined it up for us, she was positive it was for us! We were in DISBELIEF! I've only ridden in a limo once in my life during a 13th birthday party! That was 8 years ago! What a GREAT way to start a great weekend!

At the launch, we got our tickets, boarded the boat and enjoyed the trip over. I even got some correcting done on the way... a true teacher. :)

Upon arrival and finding Jodie's apartment, we were once again in complete shock. It was MASSIVE. Two king size bedrooms, a kid's bedroom with 2 beds, a master bathroom with a jacuzzi, as well as yet another bathroom, a spacious kitchen, flat screen TV complete with Wii! But most amazing of all was the balcony that overlooked the jetty and the beautiful Pacific Ocean! How did we ever get so LUCKY! Thus far, our trip had been completely FREE!

After grabbing a quick bite at a Beachside Cafe and splashing in the ocean a bit, we all pretty much went to bed. It had been a long day at school and quite an exciting evening.

Like usual, my body clock woke me up at 6am the next day! Thankfully, several other people were up too... We've all seemed to have this silly body clock issue since being here. After we all were showered and ready to go, we headed down to the tours desk to schedule a Desert Safari Tour for all 8 of us... complete with sand tobagganing. Our group was definitely much more energetic than most others on this tour, and the bus driver found it quite funny. The 4 wheel-drive bus ride out there was much more exciting than we had expected. We were going near very sharp enbankments, climbing hills I didn't think would be possible, and getting thrown around within our seats several times. It was an amazing change to go from a very vegitated scenery to what seems like the Sahara.... a desolate sand-filled area in only a matter of minutes. Actually, it's quite remarkable to see the vegitation on the island because of the fact that the island is entirely made of sand! Regardless... our 4 wheel-drive bus kept on trucking towards the biggest sand dune I've ever seen. Once we arrived, we were prepped on how to sand tobaggan correctly, without eating a lot of sand (literally). We then began our climb up the dune. It didn't take long, but I was definitely winded from the climb. And tobagganing was amazing!! I was able to do it THREE times! It was seriously awesome. I could've done it all day! Once we were all finished, the Tangalooma people asked to take pictures of the 8 of us in our group.. and we ended up with some pretty fantastic pictures! I ended up buying a picture of me sand tobagging, as well as a group picture that I haven't put up on here. You'll all have to see them when I get home! :) This was by far the best part of my weekend!

When we returned, the group all grabbed a quick snack then headed down to the beach to catch some rays. Unbelieveably we were the ONLY people doing this! We later had an Australian tell us that only Americans and Victorians (Southern Australia) would be laying out during this time of the year! Unfortunately, the beach was NOT the place to catch some good rays. The sand is so fine and the wind was so strong that we were constantly getting whipped and stung. 6 of the people in our group went and sat around our apartment pool (something I didn't even know it had), while Sara Sickels and I went and enjoyed great privacy at one of Tangalooma's pools. I read nearly 100 pages, and enjoyed the Australian sun! It truly was the most relaxing part of my trip thus far.

After relaxing for a while, we all decided it was about time we rid ourselves of some sand. While some of the other girls were showering and getting ready to go out for the night, I needed to stretch my legs. Dave offered to go on a walk with me to the wrecks. The wrecks are a series of "wrecked" ships along the coast that Tangalooma planted there as an attraction. They are quite interesting however and attract a quite a few fish for people to see when snorkeling. It was a nice walk during a perfect time of the day.

When we returned Dave and I got our showers in and ready for the night. Kelly, Kari, Dave and I all ended up going to the Steakhouse (Beachhouse Rotunda) for supper. Although we paid an arm and a leg, our meal made it WELL worth it! Dave, Kari and I all had steaks while Kelly had chicken. Our meal was TRULY complete with the bottle of wine that Dave had bought for us three girls. We constantly joked about how Dave probably felt like he was on The Bachelor... on an island with 7 girls. During supper we were teasing him telling him that this was a 3 on 1 date and that he'd have to give a rose by the end of the night. I told him that I already forfeited my rose because I had a ring. :)

After supper, we ROLLED out of the rotunda and straight into our sweats! We then went and sat on the jetty and happened to spot a few dolphins right below us. The ocean truly is an amazing place!

I began my Sunday with an amazing run on the beach. It was something I have always wanted to do, but never really gotten the chance. It was a windy, but refreshing morning and probably the best run of my life. Along the way I spotted a few dead carcasses that had been washed up during the night, a couple starfish, and TONS of jellyfish. I knew to steer clear of them! After my run and another lengthy walk with Kelly and Kari, I showered and got ready for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side this day and it was a cloudy, dreary day where it eventually started raining. We spent the day relaxing within our apartment.

When it was time to go back, we were quite sad, but knew that we had had a GREAT time at Tangalooma! Our trip back was also a memorable one for the Tangalooma people. Just upon arriving back at the launch (yes, we had a limo there to pick us up too!), one of the engines on the boat we were on got stuck in reverse. Although the captain tried turning it off and restarting it, it simply was stuck in reverse, which made it IMPOSSIBLE to dock it correctly. They had said that it was going to take overnight for it to be fixed. So, instead of docking it correctly, they simply let us float up next to another docked Tangalooma boat and we had to hop from one boat to the next to get off! It was CRAZY, but exciting!

Sara Sickels had read something quite interesting in the "What's On" book and enlightened us with it on our trip back too. She said that the movie, Scooby Doo... the newer one with Freddie Prinze Jr in it, was actually FILMED on Moreton Island, the island that Tangalooma resort is on! The place where WE WERE! So if you've seen that movie and remember the beautiful scenery... that's what we were surrounded with all weekend long! Simply amazing.

The only downfall of the weekend was that 6 of us had planned on going parasailing. Unfortunately both days it got cancelled due to the wind and other weather issues. Kelly and I have decided to do it while we are in Cairns during our last week of traveling> I am EXTREMELY excited! :)

Well, it's 9:20pm here and I still have to come up with lessons for tomorrow! That's what a vacation on my "vacation" does to me!!

While I'm in school tomorrow I'll be thinking of you all relaxing on your Labor Day! You lucky ducks! Oh... and Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! :)

written by  cowane1 on September 5, 2010 from Tangalooma, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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Today was like any typical Monday in the life of a teacher. I was busy planning for the week, reviewing what I was supposed to be teaching for the day, revising any schedule issues, etc... However, unlike any other Monday, today was the day that the students began swimming. At the school that I am teaching at, the students are offered the opportunity to pay for swimming lessons that are done during school hours. It is a great deal for several students, because living on the ocean almost requires every child to know how to swim, and considering their family lives, I doubt they would get lessons any other time. Unfortunately, this swimming endeavor takes out half-of-a-day's worth of teaching. School usually commences at 9:00am and releases at 3:00pm. Swimming (including changing the students into their suits, loading the bus, the bus ride to the pool, the lesson, riding back, and changing into dry clothes) takes from 10am-12:30ish. This only allows for us to teach from 9-10 in the morning, 12:30-1 in the afternoon, and 2-3 before they leave. 2 and a half hours of teaching doesn't leave much time to accomplish all that I need to accomplish! Oh.. and that doesn't include the 2 hours of specials we need to fit in a week too! AH!

Regardless, I am now teaching the entire day, all 2 1/2 hours of it. Behavior was a bit out of the ordinary today because the students were extremely hyped up for swimming beforehand, and completely exhausted and crabby afterward. My spelling and handwriting lesson went went, as did the beginning of maths. The last thing I had planned to do was to do some group work on telling time. (It is unbelieveable the number of 3rd graders who can't tell time!!) Unfortunately for some of the better behaved students, the majority of the class was rude, rowdy and in my eyes incapable of working in groups after I had arranged them into them. Because of this, I was the mean teacher (believe it or not, I can be quite mean when the moment calls), and told the entire class to go back to their seats. We were going to do rote work at their seats instead of the time game I had planned. I also made the entire class stay 1 minute after school for wasting one minute of my time. The class didn't think this was a good idea, but hopefully it will prove as a success tomorrow when we try and work in groups again.

After school, Tina asked if I would cook afternoon tea. I agreed and we all enjoyed a pan of tater-tot hotdish. Here in Australia, tater-tots are called potato gems or potato jewels. Trevor is quite excited because there were some leftovers that he can take to work as lunch in a couple of days! My host family is so good to me... Tina even checked out a country music video DVD from the library that I enjoyed watching/listening to while typing my lessons. I was introduced to several Australian country groups that I believe are more appealing than some in the US! One of the groups actually grew up just down the road from where I am living! Crazy!

Another "up" in my life is that I am currently only blowing my nose ONCE a day! A big improvement from the once every half hour that I was doing last week!

I hope everyone's Labor Day was a wonderful one... And that the kids have a smooth transition into school! :)

written by  cowane1 on September 6, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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The school days go quickly because of the large chunk that swimming takes up. It is fascinating to see how quickly the students are progressing during their swimming lessons. My teacher and I jokingly say that we wished that they could learn EVERYTHING that quickly!

Teaching is going fairly well. Because of swimming however, the kids are SO moody, which makes EVERY lesson an unpredictable one! In the morning, the kids are bonkers. They are so excited about swimming, and worked up about it, that they have trouble focusing, however they are quick to learn things and acitvely engage in my lessons during this time. Immediately after their swimming, the students are EXHAUSTED. Several of them continue to lay their heads on their desks after I ask them to sit up, because they are simpy too tired to obey. Teaching during this time is a breeze because they are simply too tired to misbehave, however, very little deep learning can be done during this time. And then the students go to big break (their hour lunch/recess time). When they return from that, they are absolutely irritable. It is usually during this last 45 minutes that students will be fighting with eachother, calling out, and non-compliant with anything I ask them to do.

Everyday after school, Tina asks me (in one sense or another), "So, were you mean today?", and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. My teacher approves of my meanness and wrote, "would like to see her be more firm with the students" on my mid-evaluation, but sometimes I feel bad and wish I could solve the problem in a different (more positive) way. Nearly everyday I tell Tina about one "mean" thing I had to do during that day. For instance, today the students had to stay in for 3 minutes at lunch because they were being much too loud during an independent work time, and 3 of my top students had to stay in even longer to finish their handwriting assignment that they SHOULD'VE finished during class time. I was also forced to write out two pink behavior tickets for students who could not get along and refused to do the tasks I asked them to do.

I did start something really neat during school today though. I read about this in the book I'm reading, "Three Weeks With My Brother", by Nicholas & Micah Sparks. In the book, in their childhood Nicholas and Micah would fight and every night their mother would come in and talk to them individually before bed and have them tell her one nice thing the other brother did for him during that day. Over time, the boys either started being nicer to eachother or were able to more easily see the nice things that were done to them. So, today during roll call I asked the students to tell me ONE nice thing that one of their classmates did for them yesterday. I also pre-warned them that I would be asking them the same question tomorrow and that they could not say the same thing then. It was wonderful to have kids come up to me and say, "So-and-so did THIS for me, isnt' that nice?". We'll see if this little experiment has the same outcome as it had for Nicholas and Micah. :)

On a bit of a "kids say the funniest things" note, I had a student volunteer at the board working out a math problem yesterday and as he was writing a number, he quickly erased his 8 and said, "Oops! I wrote that one backwards". Ha ha! If anyone can explain to me how to write an 8 backwards, please do so. :)

I also had quite an inspiring moment yesterday as well. After my lesson, the kids were required to attempt a worksheet reinforcing the concept I had just taught. 5 of the students that finished early (the same 5 that do all the time) and so I assigned them each a classmate to help finish their assignment. To my surprise, this worked far better than I had expected. I was then NOT swamped with questions by these struggling students, the students who were teaching it learned it even BETTER and it kept them busy. As I supervised their "teaching", I was also extremely pleased to see that they truly were TEACHING these students, and not merely giving them the answers. I plan to do something similar in a couple of my upcoming lessons.

It has been exciting because for the past 2 days in a row, ALL of the students in my class were present! Granted, 8 or 9 walked in late each day.... We just take what we can get.

Last night I saw yet another Australian movie, Brand New Day. It was definitely more "chipper" than the last one and I enjoyed it greatly. Tina and Trevor insisted that we play the pokies (slot machines) too. Together, we ended up winning 10 dollars! Woo!

Some new vocabulary for you... togs=swimsuit, crack (or chuck) a wobbly = throw a tantrum or fit, boomer = big kangaroo, among others! :)

Tonight I plan on doing some of the normal work I MUST complete every week, but ALSO, starting my final presentation! Its hard to believe that it will be over in ONE week! Ahh!

written by  cowane1 on September 9, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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The kids were okay to start, a bit more down than usual. Because we had an issue with spelling last week (when the students were asked to exchange papers to correct, several of the students cheated and changed their friends' answers to the right answers while others changed their paper's answers so they would get them wrong!) I was a bit more strict during the test this week. The students were not allowed to have anything but a pencil on their desks during it. Once the test was over they were to put that pencil and any rubbers they had away. I warned them that if I saw one I planned to take their paper and give them a score of 0 for cheating. The students then had to correct their own papers in colored pencil, that way I could be assured that they were not squeezing in needed letters. It worked :)

I did feel a bit bad though because I overheard a student say, "You better stop doing that or Miss Cowan will write you a pink ticket!" today. I've become THAT teacher! Miss Wright said I should be pleased with this comment, but I can't help but feel bad.

While the kids were eating before swimming I introduced the kids to the game of tic-tac-toe. They said that they called it knots and crosses in Australia. Needless to say we had several competitions throughout the day, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed.

The combination of crabby tired kids, Friday, swimming lessons, and an indoors rainy lunch time simply DOES NOT mix, which made for a long afternoon. Unfortunately we did not get much accomplished due to the students' attitudes. Hopefully this weekend does them some good!

I've gotten off to a good start on my final presentation. My teaching grade is dependent on 4 weekly journal entries and 1 major final presentation. Next week we are required to present on Thursday to our cooperating teachers and other M.E.S.S. staff, as well as on Friday to some MSU staff, QUT staff, and the principal of M.E.S.S.! Needless to say, I think it is very important to make it a FANTASTIC presentation! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful fiance today! :) He's a whoppin' 22!! I'd best be off, Tina, Trevor and I are going to Nan & Pops for supper tonight... and also to play some cards. Hopefully I'm better this time around!

written by  cowane1 on September 10, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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Friday, we went to Nan and Pops, and AMAZINGLY I actually won some money playing cards! They said I was officially the big winner of the night; I still haven't figured out whether that was because they let me win, or if all of the practice I've had at home has actually paid off! :)

Saturday meant GOLD COAST day! :) Tina, Trevor and I hopped in the car and headed South. At one point Tina told me that we were crossing into New South Wales, but we turned back north shortly after that. Some of the most amazingly beautiful sights I've seen since I've been in Australia were in Coolangatta. The rocks and the waves crashing up against them were unbelievable. It was also REMARKABLE to see the beach LINED with surfers! I definitely had a good time observing their skill.... I don't know if I could do it! After Coolangatta we headed to Burleigh Heads. Much to our pleasure, there was a whole assortment of sculptures lining the beach on this particular Saturday. We enjoyed those as we walked the coast, sinking our toes into the silty white sand. It was also at Burleigh Heads that I had my first sausage sizzle... essentially a sausage in a piece of bread. I simply LOVE hot dogs, so I found it quite good. Tina explained that sausage sizzles are a popular fundraising idea. After Burleigh Heads we stopped at a cafe for morning tea (lunch) on our way to Surfers Paradise. CaffeRepublic served me a WONDERFUL BLT sandwhich that I enjoyed very much, all the while soaking in the ocean air. Eventually in Surfers Paradise, Tina and Trevor showed me Cavill Street.... the main shopping drag of the city. We were greeted by an extrordinarly tall, skinny lady clad in a gold bikini and heels. She explained that she was a "Metermaid", someone who goes around putting money in parking meters that have run out. I, however, did not take a picture of her (I'm sure that this is much to the disappointment of my fiance and brother). After doing some browsing we headed across the street to the Surfers Paradise beach. It was humorous to see the amount of people laying in the direct sun and avoiding any shade! It's no wonder Australia has the highest number of skin cancer patients! After our time in Surfers, we headed home. I was WIPED and fell asleep for much of the trip. When we arrived home, Tina and Trevor went to a show while I stayed home and worked extremely hard on my final presentation for my time here!

Sunday was my day with Shannan on the Sunshine Coast! After I showed her much of my final presentation, and she corrected me on a few things, we hit the road! Our first stop was Kings Beach in Caloundra. It was simply beautiful outside, and we had a nice walk along the coast. I was stricken by the fact that there was an outdoor swimming pool RIGHT on the coast. It was so close that Shannan told me that when it is high tide some of the ocean water splashes over the pool walls into the pool. Apparently the water in the pool is actually ocean water anyway, so they don't have to worry about mixing or anything. After Caloundra we headed to Cotton Tree, another little beach along the coast. It was here that Shannan described for me the unreal effects nature has on itself. For instance, there was one point of the bay that at one point was connected to the other side, then was an island and has recently (as in the last 5 or so years) connected to the other side. She also had me walk through a caravan park (campground) in which half of it has eroded away. Where her grandparents had once had a plot was now a big piece of Pacific Ocean. We then went to a mall and I had a wonderful milkshake and pancakes for lunch. After that we headed to one more beach a little further down the road, and Shannan described "cable skiing" to me. Apparently, instead of being pulled behind a boat, there is a place here that has cables hanging from above that pulls you on kneeboards, skis, wakeboards, etc... I've never seen or heard anything like it! Once leaving here, we accidently made a wrong turn but made the most of it by visiting one of Shannan's friends. For tea, we went to Bethany & Wesley's for pizza. Zander, as always was a darling and a stinker at the same time! He's at that adorable age where he knows what he's doing, but can get away with it. :) We all enjoy a good laugh with him.

Tomorrow marks my first day of my last week at M.E.S.S.. UNBELIEVABLE! Hopefully things run a bit more smoothly this week. I'm planning on being in charge of EVERYTHING this week... lining them up, all lessons, etc. I'm QUITE excited. :) Wish me LUCK!

written by  cowane1 on September 12, 2010 from Burpengary, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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Overall, school this week went VERY smoothly. I did not write a single pink ticket, because I believe that I have the behavior of the classroom under control. I did however keep a few students in at lunch to finish work that they did not finish when they should've. I also did a random desk check this week and gave those students who kept their area nice and tidy a "Good Work" ticket. As a result of this random desk check, I also chose to keep a few more students in at noon to clean their DESKS! One student's desk was jammed so full of papers we were unable to slide the tray out from underneath it. Once we got it out, we found not only a million half finished drawings and assignments, but a piece of cheese, a cut up apple, a fruit cup and madarin peeligs too! GROSS! I used this as a learning opportunity and gave him a speech about how letting this go this far could've been dangerous to his health and those around him! He promised me he wouldn't let it get that bad again.

Swimming lessons have been quite entertaining. Unfortunately, the students have become TOO familiar with some of their teachers and have begun to push their limits. At the same time, so many of them have become REMARKABLY better than they were the first day!

This experience has only strengthened my desire to become a teacher. I have come to terms with the fact that not EVERY student is going to understand everything I teach them the very first time. But, it gives me GREAT pleasure to see that when I review it, they sometimes get it the second time around. This past week I have done a lot of review, and have been amazed (and extremely proud) of the information I have taught the students and their retention of it!

Tuesday was the night of the Minnesota BBQ that Kelly and I had organized for the MSU students & their host families, the QUT staff, and our cooperating teachers. Turnout for the event was REMARKABLE! Of the people I invited, ONE person did not make it (with the exclusion of 3 MSU students/families too)! Over 35 people showed up! The Minnesota students did all of the cooking, so the meal consisted of Tater-Tot hotdish, a chicken and stuffing hotdish, a rice/broccoli/ground beef combination, snicker-apple salad, meat/cheese/salsa dip with chips, caeser salad, and rice krispy bars.

Unfortunately I had to leave the BBQ for a short while though. But - it was for a GREAT reason. It was the last night of Girl Guides that I would be able to be present for, as well as their last one before school holidays! Although I only stopped in for a short while, the girls had signed a beautiful certificate of appreciation for me and gave me a Girl Guides chip clip/note clip with a picture of a koala on it. I LOVE IT! :) I'm so happy I was able to be a part of such a wonderful organization while I was visiting.

Today was the last day of our prac at school. It was a bit sad, but I never once teared up! :) My students and I spent all morning working on a maths assessment. Poor kids :( I even enjoy math, but I could tell they were miserable. After that they went to swimming then to PE, then it was lunch! After lunch, I was able to spend my last little bit of time with them. :) I gave them each the personal note I wrote for them and a picture of the class. They simply LOVED the notes. They were running around the classroom showing eachother what I had written to them. I also had made them rice krispy bars, and handed those out as they were headed to Drama. I thought that one of the students was crying because I was leaving, and I was touched. I later found out that that wasn't the case, but that he had received a pink ticket during lunch and was upset about that. Ha! Kyryn and the class were ever so kind and gave me a box of chocolates, a package of carmel Tim-Tams, and the book Possum Magic. What a wonderful way to end my time at M.E.S.S.!

Tomorrow is my final day in the Burpengary, Morayfield, Caboolture area. The plan is that all 8 of the students are to give their final presentations to much of the QUT staff, the principal of M.E.S.S. and Carol Werhan and Ginger (I don't know her last name) from MSU. These presentations, essentially reflections of the cultural and educational differences between the 2 places, are a huge part of our grade for our Australia experience. :) Wish me LUCK! :) Mine is particularly creative, but for that reason - I'm slightly nervous to present it!

Hope all is well at home! 12 days until I get to see for myself. :)

written by  cowane1 on September 16, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!
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