Week 9 - Personal (Spring Break)

Well the week of Spring Break began on a very interesting note as the car we were travelling in unfortunately broke down on the interstate leaving us stranded. We had to call for help and our tow truck arrived almost 2 hours after we had called because we were so far out from any of the small towns or cities. This then resulted in our travelling time doubling and a trip that was only meant to take 7-8 hours took almost 13!

I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to go to Ava’s beach house for Spring break which is located along Gulf shores. The first few days consisted of us just relaxing and enjoying having no work to complete for school. At the beginning of the week the weather was terrible with constant rain and thunderstorms which made the beach house sway a little. Thankfully as the week went on the sun came out and on Tuesday we were able to spend the full day lying on the beach. Unfortunately for me I accidently fell asleep out in the sun and got burnt to a crisp. Needless to say I will not be making that mistake again!

One evening we all went to this restaurant called Lambert’s which has now become one of my favourite places to eat. It is not only known for the delicious food that is served but also the food that is thrown. Yes, they actually throw deliciously warm bread rolls at you when you raise and wave your hand. I was rather proud with myself for managing to catch all of mine! The waiters also enjoying pulling the odd prank as they have a pretend bottle of ketchup that squirts out a red lace and a clear jug of gravy that when tipped seems like it will cover you when in actual fact it is plastic. I also found it interesting to learn that last year they baked 520 dozen rolls per day, resulting in a grand total of 2,246,400 individual rolls being used in one year!

My friend Sarah also gave me the fantastic opportunity to visit Fort Morgan which was built in 1812. The fort was attacked repeatedly during the civil war. The main aim of the fort was to prevent enemy forces from entering Mobile Bay. I found it interesting to be standing on a site that was used not only in both World Wars but also in the Spanish American war. We toured the museum and the remains of the buildings which were once the coast artillery officer’s living headquarters, a hospital and post bakery. On Thursday, Sarah, her boyfriend and I drove to New Orleans which quickly became one of my favourite cities and this conclusion was only drawn from first impressions! Its cobbled streets are lined with beautiful paintings and buildings and I enjoyed having a look around the shops. This also included a quick glance around a Voo Doo shop which was an experience I will never forget! Sarah has been kind enough to invite me to join her when she revisits New Orleans at Easter so a more detailed description will follow in the near future of this amazing city!

Week 8 - Cultural

One of the main differences I have found here in the States is the existence of sororities and fraternities. These are Greek organisations that focus around friendship (sisterhood and brotherhood), philanthropies that are the charities that the sororities or fraternities support and help to raise money for and keeping a high overall academic achievement. Some of the names of such organisations at Ole Miss include Pi bataphi (pi phi), Alpha omicron pi (a o pi) and Delta delta delta(tri delt).

I have been fortunate to make friends with girls who belong to some of the sororities and they have given me an excellent insight to what goes on within the organisation. Firstly to even be considered for a sorority you have to go through the rushing process. This is typically held at the start of their freshman year and is a week long process. The girls get to visit all of the houses and their admittance is based on mutual selection, i.e. the girls pick their favourite house and the present members decide whether or not you are the right material for that sorority and invite you back. I was shocked to hear just how expensive it would be to join a sorority with the range from as low as $600 to as high as $2500 a semester! Some students even take out loans just to stay in a sorority!

When you are invited to join you must go through an initiation process which includes a ceremony. At this point the girls cannot divulge any more information about what is included in the ceremony as it is regarded as secret and only members know. As a new member (aka a pledge) you must sign your name in the house book and raise your right hand and swear loyalty. The President of the house stays with you for the rituals and also tells you about the foundation and history of the house. You are usually only a new member for a few months and you can continue to remain in a sorority through your sophomore year.

During the pledge ship the girls find out more about the history of the house and also begin attending weekly meetings which are called chapter meetings. The girls usually have to dress up in formal attire including dresses and heels and sometimes professors would be invited to join the meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to keep up with events as the girls maintain a high presence on campus through attending main events. The sororities also would do things like sell cookies and community service to help raise money for their chosen charity and this is all discussed at their meetings.

As mentioned earlier the sororities also have to uphold a good GPA and have appointed study hours to keep their grades up. Some of the sororities even make their members sign into the library and if they do not complete the required hours they can get fined $15.

The houses are very grand looking with the majority having big white pillars on the front porch along with the symbol of the house engraved on the front wall. Both sororities and fraternities have house mothers who help them out with their chapter meetings. The fraternities on campus even have an in house chef who cooks their three meals a day which is included in their semester fee. They have also got sweethearts who are girls chosen by the fraternities to help them get things ready for events, bake cookies etc. However to even be considered to take on the role of the sweetheart you have to have been dating one of the male members of the house for over a year.

This Greek community is very close and is a great opportunity to meet a lot of new people and make friends for life. In being in either a sorority for fraternity you are also securing a good strong social network which would benefit many members in their future when looking for jobs.

Week 7 – Professional

This week we got to teach our first lesson together which meant that we got to try out what it would be like to co-teach. This was a very useful experience as it may come up in our future career. Needless to say this was a rather interesting experience for both of us as we are both used to having our own classroom and having all the control of the content and how it would be taught. I found it helpful to have another person to share the workload with and when planning we were able to bounce ideas of each other and decide together which way was the most effective teaching strategy for learning.

We already had some background knowledge of what co-teaching would involve not only from our classes in Stranmillis but our Special Needs Class had introduced this teaching strategy as it is very popular in the States. We also discovered that there are many different types of co-teaching such as one teach, one observe, station teaching and alternative teaching. Each type of co-teaching has its own advantages and potential pitfalls. We decided to use station teaching as this is also the type that the children are familiar with and seemed to be most effective. Station teaching is when ‘the teachers divide instruction into two, three or more nonsequential components and each is addressed in a separate area of the room.’ (Friend, 2008) We decided to divide the children into their four separate groups which had already been decided by the teacher due to their different abilities. After around 10-15 minutes we would rotate the groups so that every group had the same chance at each station. Kelly and I both looked after two of the groups at one time whilst providing support and guidance.

The lesson we conducted was based around cars and began with Kelly briefly recapping on their previous lesson followed by introducing the new form of transport with the help of the story of the ‘Rattletrap Car’ by Phyllis Roots. After reading half of the story and leaving the children to predict what would happen next, she then quickly explained the objectives for the day. After that the children then divided into their groups. Each station brought something different aiding the children’s stimulation and motivation. I had expected it to be extremely difficult to keep the children’s’ attention but the majority of them seemed to concentrate very well considering they are only 3-4 years old. I believe it helped to only have short, structured stations which meant that the children always had something to do. Stations included getting the children to practice writing the letter C, making their own 2D car, playing creatively with some instruments to represent the noises of the car from the book and sorting the cars into different categories via their colour, height, number etc. The lesson then finished with me reading the last part of the story, seeing if the children were right in their predictions and discussing what they had just learnt.

In hindsight I found it was a lesson that could not have been conducted by one person and having someone to share the responsibility eased the pressure. If I was to do this lesson again I think I would substitute the instruments for another station as the noise levels tended to rise and fall making it sometimes difficult for the children at the other stations to focus. Overall the lesson did go well and the children’s end work helps to show their success as shown in the picture.

References

Friend, M. (2008) Special Education, Contemporary Perspectives for School Professionals, Pearson Education Inc, New Jersey

Week 6 - Professional

As mentioned before Kelly and I are taking a course that is about people with severe learning difficulties. The course so far has been very interesting and I am learning to be thankful for everything that I have and not taking anything for granted. As observed in one of the videos we watched in class, a young boy who has a condition that results in his skin constantly coming off has to suffer a bleach bath four times a week in order to keep his immune system and hygiene levels high. It was heart breaking to watch this but made me realise how easy it is to moan and grumble about things that we don’t have instead of concentrating on the good things we do have, like our health.

The course also included a 10 hour trip (spilt between two days) to a centre that cares for people with all kinds of severe disabilities known as the North Mississippi Regional Centre, located just 15 minutes’ drive away from our apartments. Before entering the centre I believed I had a rough idea of some of the sights I would encounter due to working in a nursing home and also having some experience with children with Special Educational Needs. But I don’t think any amount of preparation could have prepared me for what I found.

The North Mississippi Regional Centre provides a range of services to individuals with intellectual and related developmental disabilities and has done since 1973. The campus is huge and well kept, giving the residents plenty of room to walk around and enjoy the beautiful surrounding gardens. The services provided include that of its own nursing, education and dentistry department and many more which are all located on campus, making it almost a little city within a big city. One of the most shocking facts is that the centre has over 1000 members of staff just to look after 280 residents as their conditions are so severe.

On our first day there, I was put into a classroom of adults who had a wide range of different disabilities and difficulties. The residents were all very affectionate and the staff helped to provide a very positive and friendly atmosphere. As I am training to be a teacher the staff were able to share a lot of information with me about the residents and I was rather shocked to find out what each individual’s annual goals were. For example one resident by the end of the year was aiming to independently load and reload the dishwasher. It was strange to hear that such an easy task to me would be a very difficult task to someone else. On our second day, Kelly and I were in a class that had younger residents and their conditions included those who are blind, deaf, autistic and who had very little means of verbal communication. One resident, who has dementia, is prone to self-abusing and but due to their condition they doesn’t even realise how much they are hurting themselves.

This whole experience has opened my eyes to the wide range of disabilities out there and has widened my knowledge in this area. It warmed my heart to see so many people willing to help and everyone seemed to know each other making them part of one big family.

(28/02/2012)

Week 5 – Professional

‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’ (United States Code, 2006)

For part of one of our modules we must partake in 30 hours of observations which began this week. Kelly and I are observing a kindergarten class of 3-4 year olds in an on campus school called ‘Willie Price’. We are in the same class which was strange for both of us as we are used to having our own class. In the near future we may also have to co-teach some lessons which will also be in a new experience. The school looks very much like a typical primary school back home with its colourful tiles and displays of students work collaging the corridors. However one big difference was seen on one corridor which displays the children’s handprints in red. With them between white lines and beside the stars in blue, the combination represents the American flag as shown in the picture. This, along with the children standing with their hands over their heart and quoting the pledge of allegiance (shown above) every morning further reminded me of how patriotic the American people are.

Kelly and I were lucky enough to begin our observations on 14th February, also known as Valentine’s Day. I had predicted that the children would possibly produce a card each to send home to their parents which is what commonly happens at home but what we observed went further than any of my predictions and expectations. Firstly each child brought in small presents/cards to give to every other member in their class resulting in each child going home with a bag full of presents! The day was filled with free time and parties, some of which were organised by the parents who also came in to join the fun. What amazed me was just how enthusiastic the parents were. The mums especially, seemed to be very involved in making this a memorable Valentine’s Day through providing activities such as making heart shaped bird food holders and providing heart shaped cupcakes and sweets. They had everything organised right down to the very last detail. For example the table cloth was bright red and held red cups and heart shaped plates for lunch. I found it so surprising that such a fuss was made, especially for children who are not fully mature enough to understand what it all means.

The children are very outgoing and even within the first 15 minutes of Kelly and I being in the classroom they were jumping over us and getting us to read story after story. Back home there is such an awareness of the restrictions with regards to even picking the children up or giving them a hug. Here the children have a very strong relationship with their teacher as she is able to hug them and sets them on her lap if they feel upset which is rather unheard of at home. Furthermore I had expected to be called Miss Doone as this is the normal procedure in schools at home. But I quickly learnt that the children call you by your first name and I had to learn to respond to Miss Sarah. On our second day we witnessed more structured plan which included a Spanish lesson. Their level and ability in speaking Spanish was incredible which further emphasized the fact that young children are like sponges as they can absorb and retain so much information. I have learnt so much in the first week of observation and I enjoyed observing the comparisons and similarities between education here and at home. I thoroughly look forward to growing professionally during the time I spend at the school and not only will the children learn from me but I also hope to learn from them!

(23/02/2012)

References Title 4, Chapter 1 of United States Code (2006) The Pledge of Allegiance, available http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/4 (accessed 21/02/2012)

Week 4 - Cultural

It’s hard to believe that Kelly and I have been here now for almost a month. We have been kept so busy with classes and seeing all the new sights that we don’t even realise how fast time is going and this week has been no different. Classes have now started to pick up in work pace and over the next week we have a number of tests to complete. However unlike home, we get to do these tests online and there doesn’t seem to be as much pressure and stress to coincide with them which makes a nice change!

But the most exciting events of this week took place in a Mobile, Alabama which is where we were fortunate enough to spend the weekend. Ava (global ambassador) and her family were kind enough to open their home to us and we learnt more about the southern culture. It was a 5-6 hour drive to Alabama from Oxford, which despite being very long, was a pleasant journey with the help of good old country songs to sing along to. I still have not got used to people driving on the opposite side of the road and on the left hand side of the car over here. As I am a passenger I occasionally forget about the differences and have attempted to get into the driver seat before realising I’m on the wrong side!

On Friday night I went to my first Mardi Gras Parade. Mardi Gras is a carnival season and represents the time of celebrations before begin people begin to fast for Lent. The parade was filled with all different kinds of brightly decorated floats and very entertaining bands. In addition to having captivating appearances, the floats also carried people dressed up in costumes with masks who would throw colourful beads and cuddly toys out to the crowds who gather to watch them. In order to try and secure some of our own beads, we had to stand with our arms up in the air shouting and waving at the floats passing by. The entire parade was fascinating and it was impossible not to get drawn into the enthusiasm and excitement that overcame the crowd. During the parade I also noticed that the police patrolled the streets by horse which is something I have not witnessed at home!

On Saturday we had the opportunity to go shopping in Mobile in preparation for the prom party that we were attending that night. The prom is very similar to the formals which we would have back home although Americans do seem to put more effort in and go all out with expensive dresses and make-up. The party was more of a reunion of some of Ava’s cousin’s friends and represented bringing back some of their memories from their actual proms. Her house was decorated beautifully with balloons and a red carpet running into the house. There was even a prom ‘king and queen’ which I thought was a lovely idea. It has inspired some discussions between us about throwing our own formal party when we return home!

Week 3

"Then I'm walking in Memphis, walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale" (Marc Cohn)

One of the main highlights of this week was the international shopping trip to Memphis and the international Market on Saturday. On our way there, I noticed a lot of police cars passing by with a number of cars in tow with their headlights flashing. We were told that the reason for this is because the police escort those attending a funeral to the graveyard. If you were driving over here and came upon this scene it would be courteous to pull over and let the cars past. I thought that this was a lovely, respectful gesture and one which again highlights the sense of community in Oxford

I really enjoyed walking around the shops and seeing the comparisons to home with regards to the style here. It is also customary here for the sales assistants to bid you welcome upon entering the shops and to constantly ask to make sure you know where to find everything. Upon leaving they also make sure to wish you goodbye, with the common phrase ‘ya’ll have a nice day now!’ The day was finished with a trip to the international market. It was fun walking around, trying to guess some of the foods as they were in all different languages. The thing that amazes me with regards to food over here is just how many types of the same produce you find. This makes it very difficult for me to decide which one is the closest to the type we get at home!

We finally got our fourth class sorted this week after much debate and patiently waiting. It is not the class we were originally meant to be in but rather a backup plan which turned out to be a rather interesting choice. The class is called Nature and Needs of those with Severe Disabilities. I have always ventured towards teaching those with Special Educational Needs and this class is giving me an even deeper insight into those students who have severe disabilities and how we can help them. I have enjoyed learning about the brain and what different areas do. We were also taught a little history in the videos we watched in class and I discovered that the first gas chamber build was in a hospital, in order to commit mass genocides of those who were classified as being ‘disabled.’ It was also heart breaking to learn of a man who had cerebral palsy being locked away in an institution by his own father for over 40 years. This was due to the lack of knowledge at that time about people with disabilities and the attempt to keep them separate from the outside world.

Towards the end of the week we were also taken to Ya Ya’s, a local frozen yogurt shop on the square. They have many different flavours of frozen yogurt, my favourite being the triple chocolate and birthday cake. It was delicious way to take a break from all the work we have been doing for our classes and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to relax and chat.