Week 15 – Professional

As finals approach the atmosphere around campus has tensed up as students rush around handing in last minute assignments and attending their last classes for reviews before their exams. However in comparison to the feeling of dread, fear and anticipation that I have felt building up around this time at home due to upcoming exams, I feel the opposite here. I feel more confident in my development. The additional advantage of having small tests along the way shows how I have been progressing and I feel a surprising sense of ease and only a small amount of tension about my upcoming finals. Another big difference about finals over here is the added bonus of being able to take some of my exams on Blackboard from the comfort of my own bed! This has made learning and assessment a lot more enjoyable as I’m sure you could have guessed.

The exams here differ from the ones back home as well due to being more selection type based assessments. For example the majority of my exams have been multiple choice questions with having the opportunity of earning a few more points with personal answers to a few open ended questions. There is also no time limit on any exams that I take within the classrooms however the online exams do have a time limit. From my classroom management and assessment class I learnt that there are three parts to multiple choice questions. The stem is the question or statement presented needing a solution. The alternatives are the choices available and the distracters are the incorrect answers.

My understanding of formative and summative assessments has also been developed through having to produce 5 different types of assessments that I used on my teaching practice and identify which ones are formative and which are summative. As I was teaching such young children I was unable to use any tests as the majority of the children can barely read or write their own name yet. I made a KWL board which helped me to engage in discussions with the children about what they already know on transport, what they would like to know and finally at the end of the unit we would look at what they had learnt together. I also was able to follow a simple guideline and produce my own cooperative checklist. I used my observation skills to assess how well the children worked cooperatively. My other 3 types of assessments included a smiley faced questionnaire, a list of verbal questions that I used during my lesson and finally a small, short and basic worksheet that I used as my summative assessment to assess the children’s understanding at the end of the unit.

I have already completely finished two of my classes and with only two more to finish this incoming week I am beginning to enjoy last minute sightseeing at the weekends. I intend to see as much as I can in my last 2 weeks here in Ole Miss as I know I will miss it a lot once I return home. 

Week 14 – Personal

It is scary to think that now I only have 3 weeks left in Ole Miss. I have been reminded of this a few times this week as our professors are beginning to ask us to reflect on our courses and how we have felt about the Ole Miss Campus and education system. I firmly believe that I have learnt so much this semester and I believe a lot of it is down to having fantastic tutors, engaging classes and challenging yet rewarding assessments. Kelly and I both agree that we have been blessed with the classes and professors here and I personally feel that I will go home with a more in-depth and greater understanding of multiple education issues.

I have noticed that along with growing professionally, I have grown personally in a number of ways. This week was rather hard as someone I loved dearly unfortunately passed away at home and I found it a real struggle being here when I believe I was needed more at home. I found myself having to put on a strong front and still attend classes when I would rather have been elsewhere. It was hard not being able to say a final goodbye by attending the funeral but I was comforted with the thought of much happier memories which I focused on as I realised there was nothing else I could do. Being away from home at such a time has not been easy but I am proud of myself for sticking it out and continuing on as normal as possible.

One of the main things I will miss when I leave Ole Miss is the independence that I have gained from as they say ‘learning to stand on your own two feet.’ I will not deny I have made some funny mistakes while here. For example I recently discovered that sometimes I was using fabric softener rather than detergent to wash some of my clothes. Of course upon discovering this I was a little embarrassed to say the least! But I have learnt to always make sure I read the labels and to not make assumptions based on observations alone. We always encourage our students to not see their mistakes as failures but rather opportunities for improvements and I couldn’t agree more! As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘all life is an experiment.’’The more experiments you make, the better !’ 

During my time here I have also learnt to cook (without burning my food) which to me is a huge success! My dad was always teasing me saying that I would set of the smoke alarm even from making toast and he was not far from the truth. However I am now not only cooking decent meals for myself but have also found pleasure in baking. (To my surprise and delight my cupcakes seemed to have gone down a treat with my roommates as they quickly disappeared!) I will not deny that when I first arrived I was living of a diet of ramen noodles every night but as the weeks passed I began to try-out new things and through trial and error have developed a much healthier diet! I have also taken advantage of the free exercise classes offered at the Turner Centre at Ole Miss and have worked hard to get my fitness level up, something of which I am proud of!

My time at Ole Miss has helped me to step out of my comfort zone. I am thankful for the opportunity to do so as I would not have done otherwise and I am looking forward to returning home and being able to cook dinner without setting of the fire alarm! 

References

Deonaraine. R, (2003) Power Quotes to energise your life, Lincoln, iUniverse Inc