"That's another story"

Dear friends who are tired of hearing me rant about how amazing ASE was,

You probably don't want to read this blog post. That might sound a little odd, because there's a good chance that you read all the ones that I posted last year, but I promise that this one isn't for you. You don't want to hear about my wonderful weekend in Gettysburg, reconnecting and reminiscing with old friends. You don't want to hear about the memories that are back at the forefront of my mind even stronger than before.

You don't want to hear about the trip down, when Hadley and I wove through the back roads to Houghton College to pick up Elizabeth and thought that we had made a wrong turn because all that surrounded us were tiny towns and stretches of emptiness until a college suddenly appeared on the hills beside us, or how we jammed out to the perfect radio station amid stories of our senior years, or how Elizabeth and I bounced in our seats when we got close to the restaurant.

You don't want to know how loud our group was when the three of us finally arrived at almost 10 o'clock, or how a few of the girls leaped out of their seats to greet us, or the tears and laughter that mixed when we all got to see each other again for the first time in almost a year. You don't want me to describe the instant sense of wholeness we felt, as if 10 months had not gone by since we were all together. You don't want me to tell you how excited I was to finally see Megan after she handed in her senior thesis, or that we crashed minutes after and slept straight through the night.

You're not interested in our brunch at the Ugly Mug, or our trip to the campus art gallery. You'd rather I didn't describe our tour of the town, where we took pictures with Lincoln's statue and then stopped in a candy shop before grabbing ice cream at a favorite local haunt. You'll probably tune out my play-by-play of our visit to Gettysburg National Military Park and our tour of the battlefield, led by Emma with occasional help from Bobby and Rachel H. because they get too excited to stay quiet when we're talking about something that means so much to them. You aren't interested in hearing about our dinner at the Lincoln Diner, with the waiter who split the check more smoothly than any of us ever believed would be possible.

You don't care that I spent a quiet night in with Hadley and Megan, doing homework and catching a breath, or that homework eventually spiraled into the easy conversations we had had all of last spring. It doesn't matter to you that we turned in early so that we could get up and get ready for the trip home before we met Emily and Rachel P. for brunch. The picture I took with Megan so I could hold onto one more moment together before we said goodbye again doesn't mean anything to you.

But that's ok, because it means the world to me. The pictures, the friendships, the memories - they are some of the best parts of who I am, and seeing them again felt a little like coming home. No matter how tired of my stories you have become, I will never be tired of telling them. ASE friends, I love and miss you all. Next time let's meet in Bath, ok?

Love,
Melanie

One Year Later

Well, here we are. One year later. I have been sitting at my new computer (story to come later) for hours with this blog post open in an unchecked tab, trying to find the right words for this moment.

One year ago, I nervously walked through the security line at Newark airport after saying goodbye to my parents, who were more emotional than I was. To be fair, they were watching their little girl walk away, knowing that they wouldn't see me again for four long months. It was the longest single stretch I had ever spent away from them.

One year ago, I was a mile high, trying to sleep. I knew that I should get some rest, but I had taken off at 6PM NY time (just before the Superbowl kicked off) and I would land at 6AM local time, and the dark wasn't quite long enough to overcome my nervousness and excitement about the adventure ahead of me.

One year ago, I dragged a giant suitcase behind me through the winding corridors of an airport I had never seen, feeling too small in its path. In it, I had crammed four months worth of clothes, and shoes, and hopes, and fears, and everything that I thought I could possibly need.

One year ago, I stepped off a train for the first time in my brand new city, looking around until I found others who looked just as confused and lost as me. I dragged my bags across the cobblestones and the sidewalk and into the small house that would be my home for the duration of my stay. It took two of us to carry my bag up the stairs, and it would take the same effort to bring it back down after.

One year ago, I met some of my most trusted friends, though I didn't know it yet. Together we would travel, we would study and write, we would push our boundaries and try new things. We would share the adventures in a way no one else would be able to understand.

It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year. I can still remember calling my mom that day, telling her I had arrived safely, and unpacking four months worth of life, knowing even then that it would never fit back in quite the same way. I can't begin to describe the ways this year has changed me, no matter how hard I try, but I am who I am now because of this adventure and because of all the amazing people and places who witnessed it, and I will never stop being grateful for it.

Happy one year anniversary, ASE Spring 2014. Love you all.

Giving Thanks

I know, I know - this is a little late. Thanksgiving was 2 days ago, but between all the travel and then spending time with family, I never got around to blogging like I had hoped. But hey, better late than never, right? So, here it is: a list of (a few of) the things I'm thankful for this year.

This year, I'm thankful for music. I've been singing with Roc Hakol since my sophomore year, but this year we're finally starting to come together. There are so many amazing opportunities opening up for us, and as excited as I am for all of those, the best part is spending time with these amazing girls. Some weeks, we spend more time laughing and joking around in rehearsals than actually singing, but we still get our work done. I'm so grateful to have them in my life.

This year, I'm thankful for dance. Dance has been my place of refuge for as long as I can remember, but after a few injuries during high school (and then a repeat my sophomore year of college), I wasn't really sure that I would be able to keep dancing as much as I wanted. Simply stepping back on stage this fall was a blessing, and being able to do so with some of my closest friends was more incredible than I could ever imagine. There's something so special about the bonds I've formed with these dancers through hours spent together. I can't imagine how different my life would be without them, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to try.

This year, I'm thankful for adventures. I had the amazing opportunity to spend 4 months abroad this year, and I can't begin to explain how incredible this was. The people I met and the places I went have become such an integral part of the person I am. In truth, the semester I spent in Bath was one giant adventure in the littlest ways. I've barely gotten to see the others who were on my program since we got back, but that doesn't lessen the space they hold in my heart.

This year, I'm thankful for friends. I've already mentioned Roc Hakol, dancing, and my program abroad, and to be fair, these three groups have shaped who I am in more ways than I can count. However, others have also played a role - friends from my trip to Israel, friends who have moved away over the years, even a few friends from high school who are still around - and I'm so happy that they have.

This year, I'm thankful for family. My siblings and I were never close growing up, but now that we're older, we get along a lot better. I don't get to see any of my family as often as I did when I was living at home, which makes the we spend time together even sweeter.

This year, I'm thankful for change. I'm not the same person I was 4 years ago. In fact, I'm not even the same person I was at this time last year. The person I am today is a combination of all of the amazing experiences I've had and the choices I've made, and I am so thankful that I can say I have no regrets and that I am truly being the best version of me that I can.

Lucky Number 4

As I tried to sit down and write this post, I was at a loss for words. I didn't know where to start. There seemed to be no way to sum up the time I had spent abroad. No way, that is, until I started to think back further to my trip to Israel. That's when I realized today's date, and suddenly, everything came together.

Exactly 4 years ago today, on June 23, 2010, I left on my first trip abroad. I packed my giant suitcase and a small overnight bag and piled into the car. At JFK Airport, I met the 25 other students I would be traveling with that summer for the first time, and boarded my first international flight. We studied and traveled together for 45 days, and I will never stop being grateful for the friendships I made and the ways that travel changed me.

Fast forward to today. Not only has it been 4 years since my first trip began, Saturday marked 4 weeks since my semester abroad - which lasted 4 months - ended. A journey that started when I first landed in England on February 4 came to its conclusion at JFK Airport, where my first journey had begun.

At times, it feels like lifetimes have passed in the last 4 years. I'm so different today from the girl I was then. Even spending just 4 months abroad has changed me in so many ways. In the weeks since my return, I've started to pick apart the 4 months I spent in England, and here's what I've boiled it down to.

Number of visits made to St. Andrew's: 10 (to a class of 23 students)

The school placement program was one of the main reasons I had initially chosen to apply to ASE. I liked a number of things about the program, but the education program had been the first thing that pulled me to it. Thanks in part to friends in Rochester who listened to me rant about ASE and another program that had accepted me, I eventually decided to go to Bath for the semester, which was the best decision I could have made. The students in Year 4 welcomed me with open arms, and I had a fantastic time joining their class every week. 

Number of formal essays written: 6 (plus a 40-plus page education portfolio)

That's right, I did take classes this semester. It's called "STUDY" abroad for a reason. I did plenty of reading, took lots of notes, and even learned a few things in the classroom. As torturous as my Shakespeare class was, it taught me quite a bit. My Tudors and Stuarts course was equally as informative, although significantly more enjoyable thanks to a friendlier environment. My favorites by far were the education courses (one theory and one based on our placements) when the seven of us in the education program basically just hung out with Mike Rix and Andrew Butterworth. 

Number of cities visited: 19 (spanning 6 countries)

Traveling, whether with the program or for personal reasons, was one of the most fun things I did all semester. I took more train rides than I can count, and saw more landmarks and museums than I'll probably remember. I got a taste of so many incredible places, which only made me want to see more. 

Number of blog posts related to my trip: 38 

Even though I knew not many people would probably read my blog posts, I was so glad I decided to write about my journey. I would get back from a new place and pour all the memories out. I realized I became a bit of an adjective junky, but I simply couldn't find any other way to describe all I had seen.

Number of photos uploaded to Facebook: 1252 (plus 1 video)

Where words failed, my camera at least came closer. So many people have yelled at me for not being in many of my own photos, but as cliche as it sounds, I loved the way that the world looked through the lens of my camera. There were so many moments I wanted to capture, and looking back, I'm so happy I did. 

And, of course, the reason you all probably read this post, my grand total.

Number of miles logged: 269.28

I still can't believe all of the experiences I had this semester, or how long it's been since I returned. Looking back to my first summer abroad, I never saw this coming. I never imagined these opportunities, or the wonderful people I would meet along my journeys.

Here's to my next 4 amazing years.  

"Those Trees are Holding Hands"

On top of all the big adventures I've had this semester, I also got to go on a few "mini-adventures" after Spring Break that never made it into blog posts.

Just days after I got back, Rachel and I took the train to Bristol for a Passover Seder. We spent much of the ride getting to know each other, as we hadn't spent much time together during the program. We stepped off the train and split a cab to the synagogue. We arrived just a few minutes early. We found a pair of seats at an unoccupied table, where we were soon joined by a mother and her 9-year-old son; she was originally from Washington DC and recognized our accents. A gentleman in orthodox dress sat at the head of the table, followed by another gentleman. Just as the seder was about to begin, a young man about the same age as Rachel and I took the last open seat at the table. We followed along with the seder, eagerly awaiting dinner, during which Rachel and I talked mostly with James, who we learned was just a few years older than us. He offered to drive us back to the train station at the end of the night, which we gladly accepted.

I undertook my next mini-adventure with nearly a dozen other ASE students when Lindsay led us on a walk along part of the Bath Skyline. The whole route circles around the city, but we just walked on a short stretch of it. From Nelson House, our journey took us past the residences south of the city to a hill overlooking Bath. The title of this post comes from this night; as we walked up the hill, we tried to distract ourselves from the exhaustion we were feeling, and Katie mentioned it at one point when she looked across the street. For most of the rest of the evening, we wandered through quiet, empty fields. One of the highlights of the night was running into a pair of dogs and their owner. One of the dogs ran right through our group to the fence behind us, but the other stopped, knowing we would likely shower her with attention. She was, of course, correct. We paused the walk for a minute so that everyone could have a chance to play with the dog, who loved all of the friends she had suddenly made.

My next two mini adventures brought me into London to check off items of my "to-do" list. The day we returned from Stratford, Megan and I took the train in to see "Once" on the West End. I was particularly excited because Arthur Darvill, a former star of Doctor Who, was playing the male lead in the show. His final performance would be the following day, so we made it just in time. While we were there, we learned that the female lead, who had held the role for 3 years, would also take her final bows when Darvill did. Both leads were fantastic, and I was so glad I finally got to see a show in London! We ran into Chelsea at the train station, who had been in London with Emily for a concert that evening, and rode back to Bath with her.

The following morning, I hopped back on the train to London to meet up with Ambar. We realized as we talked that we hadn't actually seen each other in just over 3 years, which meant that we certainly had plenty to catch up on. Although we had initially planned to spend just 2 or 3 hours together, the afternoon ended up lasting for over 5! I was so glad to get to see her after all this time, and we found we were able to pick up our friendship right where we had left it off. Our new rule has become that we need to see each other anytime we're in the same country :)

The last item on my tourist to-do list was to see the Roman Baths, which I finally did during finals week. Jasmyne, Amy and I met at Nelson house to grab a bite to eat at the Thai restaurant across the street, and then we walked to the Baths exhibit. We spent about an hour in the museum section, and then we took advantage of a free tour around the actual Baths. At the end, we tried a sip of the water (which was warm and tasted funny) before heading out.

That's it for the mini-adventures! I'm heading home tomorrow, but be on the lookout for two more blog posts for the semester in the coming days. Until then, cheers!

St. Andrew's Visit 10: The Teacher's Role

Focus: The Teacher's Role

It's hard to believe this is my final journal for St. Andrews. 10 visits have absolutely flown by, and as I entered the school for the final time, I knew it would be a tough goodbye.

I arrived in the morning to find that Mr. Barry had a few tasks for me to complete before the students arrived for the day. He hoped that the busy work of photocopying letters and sharpening pencils could be done before the day even began, so I set about preparing the materials he asked for. When the students did arrive, they brought frantic questions; "Are you leaving today? Is today your last day? Why are you leaving?" I was touched by their concern, and when I confirmed that yes, this would be my final visit, they were quite subdued. The excitement of the moment gone, they sat on the carpet to learn about the physical aspects of the painting that they had been studying as part of the Take One Picture program. They then incorporated this information into a short paragraph (about 3 sentences) to be part of longer reports on all they had learned about the painting chosen this year, including its history, style, painter, and religious significance.

During guided and independent reading, Mr. Barry asked me to prepare the materials for a display board on the sunflower challenge he is coordinating. For the challenge, 4 participants from each of the school's tree-based houses (1 student each from years 3 through 6) have devised strategies for growing sunflowers outside the school. The sunflowers will be measured every 2 weeks from now to the end of the school year.

After a break, the students prepared for maths. They have an assessment coming up, so for the first time, I got to see them in the mode of preparing. They grumbled and complained as Mr. Barry drilled one question after another, pushing them in the hopes that they will recognize the  questions when the assessment comes. R refused to participate altogether, and he stormed out of the room when Mr. Barry attempted to confiscate the book he had decided to read instead.

My skills in interacting with R were tested at this point, as Ms. Bryant asked me to sit with him in the hall after she had no luck. When I entered, my first task was to convince him to decide to come down from an apparatus he had climbed. My second was to ensure that he didn't climb back up. I breathed a sigh of relief when he finally settled on a spot on the floor, and when Ms. Bryant returned, she praised his choice as well as congratulating me on a job well done. Though he still refused to return to class for the end of maths (by this point he had missed nearly the whole lesson) he did eventually decide to join Ms. Bryant in the library, which was a good idea since the Key Stage 1 students would be arriving for lunch any minute.

During lunch, Mr. Barry expressed his frustrations regarding R, whose behavior has become increasingly difficult lately. Although he no longer assaults his peers when he becomes frustrated, he has learned that if he does not want to comply, he can generally leave the classroom, and the school has little power to stop him. Mr. Barry described feeling like a babysitter, especially since most days R does not complete any academic work or even attempt to join the class.

After lunch, the students changed into their PE kits for my lesson on isolations. They had a bit of a scare when Andrew Butterworth, who had arrived to observe my work with them, was introduced as a representative from a "school for naughty children," described as being "like prison, but a bit worse." J in particular became fixated on the idea, only letting it go when Mr. Barry revealed that it was just a joke.  The lesson had its ups and downs, featuring a few moments of near chaos alongside moments of perfect peace. The machine game, which has always been a favorite of mine, proved to be a success among the students as well. After the lesson, I brought them back into the classroom.

Back in their uniforms, the class presented me with a card and a gift to thank me for being there this semester. A cluster ran up to give me a giant group hug. I answered a few questions that they still had about me, and then we released them for a few minutes of extra playtime. They ended up having even more time than anticipated when the day's assembly was cancelled. RJ and M convinced me to skip rope for a few minutes with them, and I laughed as they sang the "Teddy Bear" tune I had skipped to when I was their age. I left them to detangle M, who had gotten tangled in the rope ladder on the playground. Mr. Barry commented that there's no one quite like her, with which I concurred. We talked a bit about the character of the class, filled with its diverse students, before discussing a bit about my hopes for the future.

I shared a few of my observations about the teachers here, such as the larger role they play with their students. Though I would only be expected to teach the academics in a school in the states, teachers in primary schools in the UK also play the roles of art, music, PE and ICT instructors. In a school as small as St. Andrew's, they also take turns looking after the students during the midmorning break. One of the secretaries double as the nurse, and the other serves students during lunch.

As I dismissed the students at the end of the day, many of them expressed their sadness to see me go. For the first time since I have started working with students, I realized, I would not be seeing my students again, and I wished them all the best of luck moving forward. I thanked Mr. Barry for the invaluable experience and for his encouragement all semester, and he saw me out. In the blink of an eye, my day - and my experience - came to an end.

"If I had a Roman Sword, I'd run on it!"

As April turned to May, ASE - and particularly my Mythologizing Shakespeare class - got ready for a slew of Shakespeare exposure, starting with our class's study trip.

As with most trips, our class's outing to the Globe Theater started early in the morning. North Parade was the first pick up point, where we were joined by Andrew Butterworth, our chaperone for the day. Next was Widcombe, followed by Northampton, where we hit our first snag of the day. Because of a miscommunication, we waited for 20 minutes for Carrington, who had already traveled to London the previous evening and would be meeting us at the theater. Not the most auspicious start to the day.

Regardless, we set out for London, where we arrived a few hours later. We hopped off the coach and walked around the corner to the theater, although we managed to pass the street the first time around. When we finally arrived at the Globe, we met our tutor Brian Hazel, his wife Ruth, and the elusive Carrington. We were escorted on a tour of the theater and explored the neighboring exhibition before breaking for lunch. Megan, Chelsi, Carrington, Bella and I grabbed a bite at Wagamama, a noodlebar around the corner, and then headed back to the theater to rent cushions for the show.

The doors opened, and we took our seats for a particularly gory production of Titus and Andronicus. I couldn't watch much of it (as my classmates discovered, I don't exactly do well with blood), but the rest of the group seemed to somewhat enjoy it. We gathered at the gift shop following the show, where Andrew did a final head count and we said goodbye to Carrington, Kendall and Ola (who would all be staying in London) before we walked back along the river to where the bus would pick us up.

As we waited at the curb, Uriel spoke up from the back of the group. Somewhere between the theater and our pick up point, we had lost one of our classmates! Uriel and Miranda turned around to find him, and Andrew rushed after them. The bus pulled up a few minutes later, so those of us who had remained piled on, scouring the sidewalk for our classmates and chaperone. A few minutes later, Uriel, Miranda and Andrew returned with Brian and Ruth in tow. Andrew, unfortunately, looked extremely frazzled as he searched for his phone to call the student. As it turned out, the student would be staying in London for the evening and had neglected to tell Andrew. As he walked onto the bus so we could finally leave, Andrew blurted out the title of this blog.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, and before long, we were gearing up for our 3-day residency in Stratford-Upon-Avon starting on Tuesday. We piled onto the bus, where I took a seat next to Kris as we set out on our way. About halfway through the trip, Ali blurted out "Look whose face I'm wearing" from across the aisle, at which point I decided to start collecting potential blog titles. Keep a look out for those throughout the post.

We unloaded the bus and gathered in the park, where we sorted into groups based on our Bed and Breakfasts for the week. I scoured the crowd for Kendall and Rachel, my roommates for the week, and together we joined the rest of the Adelphi House group. Lindsay escorted us across the road and dropped us off with the owners, who welcomed us openly. Once we found our rooms, we returned to the park, which would be our meeting point for the week.

We split into two groups and took a quick tour around Stratford, which is a fairly small town. The tour ended in front of the Shakespeare Center, where we would need to meet for lectures during our visit. We broke for lunch, at which point Megan dragged me off to have my first fish and chips of my trip here (in my defense, I don't eat french fries, and I'm not a big fan of fried foods).

Our first lecture began with Brian Hazel, who discussed the history of Stratford and the theaters. His wife Ruth took over halfway through to introduce Henry IV part I, the first of 3 plays we would be seeing that week. After the lecture, a few of us visited Shakespeare's birthplace. A few of us grabbed a light bite before returning to the Royal Shakespeare Theater for the show. Jonathan and Lindsay met us at the entrance to distribute tickets. We found that our seats constituted 3 clumps - one group sat in the Orchestra (referred to as the "Stalls" here) and two groups sat on either side of the Mezzanine (which they call the "Circle"). After Henry IV part I, we split into smaller groups to either go out for a drink or go back to the B & B's. As Emma, Alyssa, Grace and I walked past the Dirty Duck - one of Stratford's best-known pubs - we started to talk about the name. This, of course led to a discussion of pub names in general, at which point Emma asserted that "If something sounds fairly improbable, it's probably the name of a pub".

Wednesday started early once again, this time with breakfast and a morning lecture. As in Oxford, breakfast was a chance to see other students in the program we might not otherwise see, in this case those staying at the same B & B. Lucy, who was staying at our B & B, walked us back to the Shakespeare Center, where Ruth led a talk-back session on Henry IV part I, followed by an introduction to Arden of Faversham - the non-Shakespeare play we would be seeing on our second night - with Brian. After the lecture, we had free time, so Emily, Rachel, Megan, Jasmyne and I grabbed sandwiches and set off on our adventure of seeing the city!

We started at the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was baptized and later buried.The church was much simpler than many we had previously seen, which was a welcome change. From there, we walked down the street to Hall's Croft, which had once been the residence of Shakespeare's granddaughter. One of the most interesting parts of the house was actually outside of it, in the gardens. The flowers that have been planted in the garden all come from Shakespeare's works, and a sculpture in its center features the two heads of Bottom - human and donkey - fused into one.

From Hall's Croft, we visited Nash's house, beside which New Place once stood. The former was the home of Thomas Nash, while Shakespeare lived in the latter. Nash's house featured a dress-up station, which we of course latched onto. As I prepared to photograph the rest of the group wearing crowns, Emily turned to me seriously and said, "You may bow to us". This elicited a round of laughter from us all, and we continued through the exhibit, testing our knowledge of Shakespeare's plays (which sadly was fairly low). Unfortunately, New Place was destroyed many years ago when its owner became tired of the multitude of visitors who would flock to the site. However, the gardens behind the house still remain, and we wandered through, visiting the various sculptures depicting scenes from Shakespeare's plays. From there, we crossed the river Avon to visit a monument that once stood in the courtyard of the Royal Shakespeare Theater. When fire destroyed the original theater and it had to be rebuilt, the monument was moved to its current location. We stopped in the theater on our way back to the park, where we met Lindsay and Lucy for a trip to Anne Hathaway's Cottage.

Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife, grew up about a mile outside of Stratford. The house in which she lived remained in the family for over 400 years. Surrounding the house is a vast garden, including a small lavender "maze" shaped as the comedy mask. We eventually walked back into town, picking up Sarah on our way. As we got ready for dinner, Emily yawned, which Sarah pointed out, saying "Let's go take you a nap". We were all so exhausted from the long days that it took us a moment to realize what she had said, but eventually we caught it. I split off from the rest of the group I had been with to meet Kendall and Rachel in the park. We had decided to get dinner that night at a local Greek restaurant, which was definitely one of the best meals I ate all week. Afterwards, we walked to the Swan Theater (a small theater right beside the Royal Shakespeare Theater) for the performance of Arden of Faversham.

We mingled as we waited, and suddenly, Sarah turned to me and aggressively asked "DO YOU HAVE A DOG NAMED HUMPHREY?" (for the record, she insisted that I use all capitol letters). Sensing her disappointment that I did not, in fact, have a dog named Humphrey (or any dog at all for that matter), I attempted to help her determine whose dog she was thinking of, recalling the conversation from when I sat beside her the previous night. We soon discovered that Humphrey (as well as a dog named Teddy) belonged to Emma, who had been sitting on my other side for Henry IV part I. We had decided that their names, "Humphrey and Teddy," sounded like a sitcom, which was why it had stuck in Sarah's mind. After the show, we milled about the lobby, deciding what to do next. Emily and I opted to go back to the B & B while others went to the Dirty Duck. When Bobby was asked what he would be doing, he looked at us and replied, "gotta ask the boss lady", waiting patiently for Emma to join us.

On our last day in Stratford, we packed our bags before we assembled for breakfast, sad to have to say goodbye to the wonderful hosts of our B & B. Brian began the morning's lecture with a talk-back of Arden of Faversham, followed by an explanation of what we would see at Kenilworth Castle that afternoon. The lecture ended with Ruth's introduction of Henry IV part II. We broke for lunch, taking with us instructions to meet back at the park just after noon so we could load our cases onto the coach and ride to the Castle.

The first thing we did when we walked off the coach was take a group photo, after which we spent the afternoon wandering through the remains of Kenilworth Castle. I had a wonderful time practicing my photography skills on some of the ASE students as we climbed through state rooms, dungeons, and more before finally strolling through the Elizabethan Garden. A few hours after we arrived, we loaded back onto the coach to return to Stratford, thoroughly exhausted.

Before our final play of the week, most of us grabbed dinner at a local pub called the "Golden Bee", which is part of the Wetherspoons chain. The UR students gathered in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theater to take a picture with our mascot Rocky (our first time all semester!) before we watched Henry IV part II. By the time the show ended, we were ready to go back home and happily piled back onto the coach for the ride back to Bath, where we finally arrived at nearly 1 AM. Our last big adventure had come to an end.

St. Andrew's Visit 9: Teaching a Lesson (2)

Focus: Teaching a Lesson

One of the best parts of having come in on a Friday was that I got a little bit more continuity than usual, especially in science and maths. I worked individually with I during microwriting, talking him through the brainstorming process by asking probing questions and recording his responses on a whiteboard. When he went to write his sentences, he was able to pull from the words he had already generated.

While the students read independently, I went into the library and collected additional information for their animal mindmaps, part of their current unit in science. I rejoined the class in time for maths, where they were adding geometric shapes to their preexisting work with coordinates. Mr. Barry offered three levels of difficulty for the lass to practice labeling points and drawing geometric shapes. He and I had a fun moment discovering another difference in our vocabularies - I learned when he drew on the board that what he referred to as a "trapezium" we call a "trapezoid". I wandered around the room answering questions and observing the students. One interesting interaction I observed was between J, G and X, who sit around the same table. J is one of the top students in the class in all subjects; G is excellent in literacy but struggles in maths; X is a good student when he actually does his work, but he's easily distracted. When I approached their table to answer a question from G, J helped me to explain it to her, and together they helped X understand it as well.

I sat with I for the end of maths, who was having particular difficulties labeling points. After a few minutes of struggling, however, it finally clicked, and he breezed through the remainder of the exercise. Not only did he finish labeling the points without assistance, but he was able to then build his own shapes based on coordinates he had been given. As difficult as it was to watch him struggle, the moment he finally understood was that much sweeter.

After maths, the students pulled out their mind maps to begin writing reports on the animals they had researched. By the time they left the room to eat lunch, they had completed their first topic sentences. During lunch, Mr. Barry and I discussed some of the morning's happenings, including the story I mentioned of J, G and X. He was glad to hear that his plan for seating them together was working. He also explained that just sitting next to M has brought out a better work ethic in A as well as increasing M's social skills. He also explained why W had been pulled out of the classroom starting at the middle of maths. As with a number of the students in Year 4, W's home language isn't English. St. Andrews was interested in seeing whether the difficulties he was having in class were because of the language barrier or because of an underlying problem, so a specialist was testing him as well as a few other students facing the same issues.

After lunch, the students returned to their reports for a bit before changing into their PE kits for dance. The brain dance warm-up took an extra twist this week: in preparation for our lesson on levels, they were required to do the whole thing sitting down. Afterwards, the students moved across the room at different levels. Interestingly, when I lined them up at one side so that I could give instructions, they turned it into a bit of a race. Students edged forward, ready for my cue to go. They then made poses with a partner using the same concept of levels. I dismissed them back to the classroom in pairs so they could get ready for assembly.

After the students were dismissed, Mr. Barry and I spent a few minutes talking about the lesson I would do on my next and last visit. I mentioned that I hoped the boys would enjoy it, knowing that whether they enjoyed it could make or break their behavior. Mr. Barry explained that this year, 6 out of the 7 boys in Year 4 don't have dads at home, compared to 2 out of 12 in his class last year. We talked a bit about the difference in the boys' behavior and role modeling between the two years - while he could previously count on the majority to model good behavior, this year it had fallen almost entirely to him.

St. Andrew's Visit 8: Teaching a Lesson (1)

Focus: Teaching a lesson

Because of the program's schedule, only 9 of our 10 visits took place on Tuesdays, so I popped in on a Friday to round off my semester.

The morning began with a bit of confusion on their part - they weren't used to seeing me on a different day - but they quickly settled to finish labeling and correcting maps they had drawn. I sat with A to help him complete his Venn Diagram, walking him through the process by which he would determine whether an item fell in one of the circles or in the overlap area. Students who had finished their maps and their Venn Diagrams completed a short microwriting session or added to the previous day's writing.

At 9:30, students engaged in quiet reading time. I pulled out K and I (and later M and J) to assess the progress they had made in reading comprehension since an intervention had begun for them in November. They each read a story that was 2 levels higher than where they had been initially and answered a few questions. If they answered all the comprehension questions correctly, they then tried another level up.

Mr. Barry later explained that the assessment was, in part, to test the method's effectiveness for each of the students as well as to determine their current levels. For many years, the school had simply thrown a variety of resources and supplements at students who lagged behind, hoping that something would work without knowing for certain. In recent waves of accountability, the focus has been on figuring out which interventions work and which ones don't. Interestingly, students who had tested on the same level initially and have been exposed to the same intervention have not all made the same progress. Some struggled with the initial test (2 levels higher than where they had started) while others excelled and completed tests at 3 or even 4 levels higher without issue. To me, this simply proved that students learn in different ways, and not every plan will work for every pupil.

For the rest of the morning, both before and after the break (which was sadly inside because of rain) the students researched different animals for their current science unit on food chains and predator-prey interactions. Mr. Barry explained to the students how they could create mind maps to organize the information they collected. I sat with W, who was eager to learn about sharks regardless of his partner R's absence.

Rain continued through lunch, forcing the students inside again. Containing the students within the small classroom proved treacherous as it removed their ability to put space between them and potential conflicts. More than one disagreement erupted as a result. Ms. Bryant and I took turns removing students from the classroom when the need arose. I had a particularly interesting interaction with J, who I would describe as introverted, but not shy. She has no issue interacting with other students, but I've seen her at times opt to work alone on an assignment when there is an odd number of students. She had been building with a pair of other students during the midmorning break and during the first part of the lunch hour (they eat their lunches right in the middle of the lunch hour, allowing them a chance to play before and then again after). During the last part of the lunch hour, she continued to build, but this time she gathered some materials and then found a quiet corner of the classroom away from other students. I checked in with her briefly and discovered that she was happy to be on her own. What I assessed as contented, however, Ms. Bryant thought to be loneliness. She subsequently tried to convince J to join other students, which she eventually did reluctantly.

After lunch, the students completed a short session of micromaths, followed by a chance to choose their own activities. 9 of the girls joined me for a dance lesson, although I ended up having to send 2 of them back to the classroom when they refused to listen to instructions. For those who remained, I opted for the animal game (in which they embody an animal and others try to guess) followed by the food chain game (a version of rock-paper-scissors that helps them understand the pyramid-nature of a food chain as only one person ends at the top and many more are at the bottom, with a medium number at the middle level) until it was time for the afternoon assembly.

St. Andrew's Visit 7: Planning a Unit of Work

Focus: Planning a Unit of Work

"A unit of work (sometimes described as a scheme of work in English schools) describes what earning is planned for students over a period of time"

This Tuesday was the first school day after a two-week holiday, so I was prepared for the students to be a little off their game. Their entrance was particularly morose (no one likes coming back to school after two weeks off) and the excessive chatting throughout the day indicated that their minds certainly had not joined their bodies in returning from the break.

Microwriting started the day, which went about as well as could be expected. Although the students all completed the assignment, they struggled to begin, so Mr. Barry tried to do a set on the board with them. He focused on adjectives and adverbs, which I decided to continue in their dance lesson that afternoon. As they completed microwriting, we collected their jotters and distributed FIFA World Cup sticker booklets, which they'll be using for their newest maths unit.

For the next few weeks, Year 4 will be learning to analyze and visually represent data. All the data will come from the booklets, which Mr. Barry was able to find for free. The data was particularly engaging for the boys, especially H, which was exciting because he either engages completely and does wonderful work or he doesn't engage at all and barely completes his assignments.

The assignment Tuesday was to choose four teams, find out the number of goals they had scored during the qualifying rounds, and draw a bar graph with the information. They then used the bar graphs to answer a series of questions. As is routine, Mr. Barry and I circled the room, providing assistance as needed. Unfortunately, many of the students hadn't been paying full attention when Mr. Barry had explained the instructions and the basics of bar graphs, which meant that I had to re-explain much of what had been covered all over again.

After lunch, Mr. Barry implemented micromaths for the first time, which is a series of short maths problems meant to keep the students' skills sharp and enhance their mental maths capabilities. They then changed into their PE kits for dance.

I led the class into the hall, where we started with the brain dance. Once they had warmed up, we talked briefly about the functions of adjectives and adverbs before they moved across the room based on different words. However, when I tried to put them into groups for the next part of the lesson - guessing adjectives I assigned - chaos ensued. It took nearly 7 minutes for them to settle, forcing me to rush the instructions.

After my lesson, we attended an assembly led by Mrs. East, the head teacher. She asked the students how their holidays had been and then taught them about William Shakespeare in honor of his birthday. After the assembly, Mr. Barry tested the students on time, which they had been learning before the holiday. He asked them each to answer a question before leaving, making sure that they didn't start to lose the progress they had previously made.

"They wanted their independence, and when they got it, they didn't like it"

Although our spring break had ended, students in England got another week of holiday, so on the first Tuesday back, Andrew Butterworth led us on a field trip to the local American Museum. Housed in an old country house on the outskirts of Bath, the museum is the only one of its kind in the UK. There, we got a special tour courtesy of Emily, who interns at the museum.

Our afternoon started in the heritage rooms, the museum's display on Native Americans. The space often hosts school groups and was designed to be very kid-friendly, including many interactive displays and a few dress-up stations, of which we took full advantage. Although the whole museum was fun, I have to say that one of the greatest moments was watching Andrew Butterworth don a cowboy hat.

All joking aside, we did have a task embedded in our trip. Andrew asked us to look at the exhibits not as visitors to the museums but as future teachers, bringing students of our own on a field trip. We talked about what ages would do well in the setting as well as how it could tie into different aspects of the curriculum. Emily shared some of her experiences working with school groups and developing materials for younger students.

From the heritage rooms we moved into the period rooms, which are extraordinarily unique. Each room is a space that has been transplanted directly from the US. Every aspect comes from the original room - wallpaper, furniture, everything. The rooms are arranged to move through history from just after the Revolutionary War (known here as the War of American Independence) through the early and mid 1800s. Each room features a volunteer who is knowledgeable about all the details of the room. For instance, the man who worked in the first room - an old tavern from the period immediately following the Revolutionary War - told the story of an early rebellion, which he summed up in the quote I pulled for the title of this post.

The woman who works in the lush New Orleans room, dated from the early 1800s, had a wonderful time pointing out the mustache comb and teaching us about the mirror, which was slightly curved so that no matter how close you stood to it, you could always see your feet. Although Andrew didn't quite understand why, we all delighted in walking up to it and discovering this fact for ourselves.

One of the other features in the museum is their vast collection of quilts and textiles. On the day we visited, they were actually hosting a quilting bee in the room where the quilts are displayed. The perfect place for a quilting bee, right?

At the end of our visit, we stopped in the café for tea. The chef appeared with a beautiful cake, which we topped with candles to celebrate Tory's birthday, which we had missed while on our break. When we cut into the cake, we discovered that the batter had been colored, revealing a bright, colorful tie-dye effect. Andrew brought out tea for the table, and we listened to a few of the folk tales Emily shares with students on her tours until it was time to go.

Spring Break Part 5: "I've never been serenaded by an accordion on the French metro"

I arrived back in France on Saturday morning and made my way to the hostel on the metro. Once I arrived at the right stop, however, I got a bit turned around and ended up heading in the wrong direction. Luckily, a number of kind locals helped me get back to where I needed to go. Megan and her sister Mackenzie arrived not long after I did, and we set off for the center of the city.

To get back into the city, we hopped back on the metro. Just after we got on, a gentleman stepped on carrying a speaker and an accordion. As the train began to move, he began to play, swaying with his music. Megan, Mackenzie and I just turned to each other, at which point Megan made the comment I pulled for the title.

Our first stop of the day was the Tour Eiffel, where we ate lunch. They served the food picnic style, basket and all, with each dish in a small tuperware. Although it was a bit expensive, how many times will you get the chance to eat a meal on the Eiffel Tower? The view was incredible and well worth the trip up. Although Megan and Mackenzie decided to continue up the rest of the tower, I opted to go back to the base. I wandered through the garden behind the tower for a bit and then met them when they returned. We decided it was time for a snack, so we found a stall selling crepes and at them as we walked along.

Our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe, which unfortunately was covered in scaffolding on one side. We walked along the Champs Elysees, passing the many restaurants and shops along its route as we headed toward the Louvre. We walked by three palaces on one corner and monuments to Charles de Gaulle and King Louis XIV (or maybe it was XVI?). We meandered through the gardens that led us to the Louvre, where we finally arrived. Although we didn't have the time to go in, we did get to see the courtyards and the pyramids within them.

Our stomachs started to growl, so we found a creperie around the corner and grabbed dinner there. After we ate, we found a bakery a few streets away so that we could buy macaroons to eat as a snack later that night. Snack in hand, we returned to the river bank beside the Louvre and bought tickets for a hop-on-hop-off boat tour that would bring us past many of the monuments. We hopped on at dusk and rode first to the Tour Eiffel, watching as it lit up for the evening, showered in gold light. We stayed on for the full tour, riding by the Notre Dame as we came around to the Louvre again. There, we hopped of for just a few minutes to see the pyramids again - now lit - and devour our snack. One of my favorite moments was standing in front of the Louvre and being able to look all the way down the Champs Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe glowing at the other end. We rejoined the next boat to arrive, which brought us back to the Tour Eiffel so we could take the metro back to our hostel.

When we woke up Sunday morning, we had enough time to grab a leisurely breakfast and pack our things before heading back to the train station. We took the chunnel back to London, then the tube to Paddington Station, and finally a train back to Bath. Spring break had come to an end.

St. Andrew's Visit 6: Lesson Planning

Focus: Lesson Planning

Because of the upcoming holidays, my latest day was a bit...different. The day started out the same; Mr. Barry called the role and announced the special day (it was W's turn) while the students finished work they had started the day before or continued with more challenging maths. At about 9:20, however, however, the class had to grab their coats and line up. Aside from the foundation stage students, the whole school (about 150 students total) walked to the church a few blocks away, where they held a two-hour rehearsal of the Easter service happening on that Thursday afternoon.

Two hours is a long time for kids to sit without a break, so we anticipated at least a few disciplinary problems over the course of the rehearsal. For the first hour or so, they were ok. They sat quietly and paid attention, listening to their head teacher. However, as the rehearsal progressed, the students slowly lost focus. I was in charge of the class by this point (Mr. Barry had returned to the school to get R, who had arrived late), so it was up to me to keep them quiet. I had to separate a few of the chattier students after warnings, but for the most part, they listened to me when I asked for quiet. Though I had been particularly concerned about some of the more energetic boys, many of them really surprised us with their good behavior. X in particular sat quietly through the whole rehearsal, for which he earned an extra house point when Mr. Barry was informed.

When the rehearsal finally ended, we walked back to the school just in time for lunch. I took the time to put together my first co-curricular lesson, supplementing their current science unit on food chains and predator-prey relationships. The class changed for PE quickly after they returned from lunch, and off we went to the hall.

Because it had been so successful previously, I started with the brain dance once again in order to establish a regular routine for them. Once they had warmed up, I narrated a prey story followed by a predator story in order to help them embody each one. They then paired off to create interactive predator and prey poses. To cool down, we moved from the biggest predator down to the smallest prey, working our way down the food chain.

After my dance lesson, the class returned to our classroom for a brief maths lesson, continuing what they were learning about number lines. Because they had already started the unit, Mr. Barry assigned additional questions so that he could assess which students fully understood the concepts and which ones needed further explanation or additional practice.

Other lessons I've observed in Year 4 have generally started with the students sitting on the carpet for the introductory instructions. This may also include examples of questions and solutions or other prompts. After the students have received their introduction to the material, they return to their seats to work individually, in pairs with their neighbors, or in small groups at their tables. As this occurs, Mr. Barry circles the room to provide additional assistance or pulls a chair up to a student who he knows does not understand. Later, he'll mark their books, commenting on the work they had done, and return those that need corrections. 

Blenheim Palace

Friday morning one last Oxford breakfast, we piled our cases back onto the coach to head back to Bath. On our way back, we stopped for a short day trip to Blenheim Palace, just outside of the city where we had stayed for a week.

Blenheim Palace is the only palace in the UK that was not built by royalty. Queen Anne rewarded John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, with the land and money to build his estate after he won a decisive battle in Germany against the French during the War of Spanish Succession. His wife oversaw the process, which took 28 years from start to finish, while he was away with the military.

As we pulled up, the imposing building stood before us. We piled off the coach and wove through school groups, also there on a field trip, to start our tour. The guide took us through the ornate east wing of the house (the family still lives in the west wing), which houses the former state rooms and a large dining hall that can seat over 40 people around its table. The space is used once a year for the Duke's annual Christmas dinner because it is the only room in the estate that can hold all of the invited guests.

Our tour dropped us at the long library. From there, we explored the Winston Churchill exhibit. In addition to being the cousin of one of the Dukes, he was born prematurely when his mother and father attended a banquet at Blenheim. Churchill spent quite a bit of time at the estate growing up and considered it a second home.

Having completed our exploration of the palace, we grabbed a quick bite at the cafe and then set off to traverse the grounds. Megan, Emily, Rachel and I began with a single goal: to find the tree from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The flashback scene of James, Sirius and Severus was filmed beside a lake on the property, so we scoured the banks, searching for a clue as to where it may have been. Sarah and Jessica joined us in our quest, and we finally found it just across a small bridge. We flocked there, photographing our discovery with joy.

For the remainder of the afternoon, we explored the grounds, reveling in their beauty until we noticed clouds begin to roll in. Knowing the change in the weather that would follow, we began to walk back to the coach, quickening our pace as the sky continued to darken. Though the six of us stepped on in time to avoid the rain, others got caught in the downpour, which quickly turned to hail in typical English fashion. By the time we had driven a few minutes from the site, however, the sky had cleared again, which was how it remained for our return to our home, Bath.

"I broke Oxford"

For the record, I didn't actually break Oxford. And don't worry, I'll include the story of this title in this blog post.

For one week every semester, the students of ASE move to University "Univ" College in Oxford. The residency started this year on Saturday morning, when the coach pulled up outside of Nunes House. We loaded our cases under the bus and hopped on board, prepared for the hour and a half the ride would take. We rode through the English countryside for most of the time, eventually reaching our destination. When we pulled up outside of the College, we had to quickly unload the bus and clear the sidewalk, so everyone just grabbed any case and brought it into the main quad, where we redistributed all of them to their rightful owners. The staff picked up our keys and directed us to our rooms, where we had time to unpack and get settled.

Once we found our rooms, the process of settling in was quick, so many of us began to wander back out to the courtyard looking to find where others would be staying for the week. I met up with Megan, Katie, Heather, Chelsea and Tory among others. We wandered to Megan and Heather's suite, which had a large common room between the two bedrooms, and found seats on the various chairs and couches. Katie slid behind the massive desk and began to play with the drawers, at which point one of the knobs fell off. We were able to screw it back in, but only after she announced to the room that she had broken Oxford, hence the title of this blog :)

Our next stop was Tory's room for M & M's (no one had eaten since breakfast early that morning) and then we were off to the JCR (Junior Common Room). The JCR was ASE's "headquarters" for the week, where we could grab a cup of coffee or tea, use the computers or printers, and gather when we weren't in class. Once everyone arrived, the ASE staff reviewed various rules for our stay and distributed academic timetables so we could find our classes. Luckily, they completed all of this quickly and released us to lunch.

During my week in Oxford, despite all the other things that were going on, I found that breakfast and lunch were my favorite parts of the day. Because we didn't have access to any cooking facilities aside from the small kitchenette in the JCR, we were provided with two meals a day in the Buttery (the dining hall). We ate in Univ's beautiful dining hall, sitting on benches pulled up to long tables. For the first time since we arrived, the whole program could spend time together. I had the opportunity to interact with people I don't usually see, and for that I was incredibly grateful.

After lunch on our first day, we attended a lecture by one of the Univ fellows, who provided a formal welcome to the college. Subtle jokes wove through his speech, unheard by all but a few of us, whose laughter rang out regardless of our peers' inattention. The lecture was followed by a tour of the library (which I'm sad to say I didn't take as full advantage of as I could have), the college grounds (where we learned quickly to keep off the grass) and the town of Oxford. We had a bit of time remaining, so Amy, Chelsi and I took a trip to the Eagle and Child, where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein used to meet. On our way back into town, we stopped into Blackwell's to explore the huge bookstore. We grabbed dinner at a pub just around the corner before heading back to Univ for the night. The day ended with a small party in the campus bar, which I actually attended for once. I spent most of the night on the dance floor until it was time for bed.

On Sunday afternoon, we had our first real adventure of the week: punting. For those who don't know, a punt is a type of boat, similar to a gondola, which is driven by a long pole or "punt". I volunteered to be the first driver of my boat, trusting my ballet training to provide the balance I would need to stand on the flat back of the boat. I pushed us out onto the river, but within minutes, our boat began to turn sidelong and we wedged between a set of docked boats and the river bank. Although we caused a bit of a traffic jam, we eventually escaped with the assistance of a few other boats. I continued to attempt to guide us toward our destination, but it wasn't long before I handed the task over to Hadley.

Though reluctant at first, Hadley turned out to be our most accomplished punter, skillfully navigating us along the next stretch of our route. As we reached the bend in the course, however, our pole became stuck in a muddy patch. Instead of tumbling overboard, Hadley released the pole. We drifted for a few short moments until we were able to paddle our way back. However, just as we reached the pole again, the sky clouded over and down fell rain, quickly turning to hail. Within seconds, we were all cold and drenched. Megan managed to maneuver us around the bend after the current almost dragged us out toward the Thames, after which point she handed the pole to Ashley to have a go. Halfway down the next stretch Ashley turned it over to Tory, who eventually handed it back to Hadley to take us home. After two hours out on the boats, another boat came out to rescue us, taking us back along the last stretch. We emerged, grateful to be back on land, and trudged back up the road to Univ. There, we changed into fresh, dry clothes before heading to Pizza Express for dinner. We made it back in time to catch ASE's showing of "Shadowlands", a movie chronicling CS Lewis's relationship with Joy Gresham.

Classes started up again on Monday, and we each had an individual opportunity to sit down with Chris Pelling, ASE's head of academics, for a few minutes. Megan and I met up with Alyssa, Grace and Emma for dinner at a local Thai restaurant. The evening featured a lecture from another of Univ's fellows, who outlined the history of Oxford and of the college in a talk about "Bloody Oxford". Because we were in Oxford, Tuesday didn't include a visit to our placement schools, so Megan and I spent the morning beginning the Oxford Challenge, which was a competition to see all 38 colleges that make up Oxford University. We started by searching for the furthest colleges and slowly spiraled around, moving steadily inward toward the center of town. We found about half on Tuesday morning and finished the challenge the following day.

Tuesday afternoon, we took a more extensive tour of Christ Church, one of the more famous colleges. We began in the Dean's Gardens, which hosts the original "door to Wonderland". Alice Liddell, who inspired the main character of Lewis Carroll's famous story, was in fact the daughter of the college's Dean, and our guide sprinkled snippets about her life and her father throughout our tour. We next explored the main quad of the campus, which featured a statue of Hermes at its center. Our next stop, the old dining hall, had particular significance for those of us who enjoy the Harry Potter series. As we stepped inside, a wide stairwell confronted us. We instantly recognized it from the first movie, where Harry and his peers first encountered Professor McGonagall. Though it did not open into the Great Hall of the film, the old dining hall at the top of the steps was almost certainly an inspiration for the film set, sharing many of the same architectural features. The last stop on our tour was the beautiful, ornately decorated Christ Church cathedral, one of the best-known aspects of the campus.

That evening, most of ASE gathered for dinner at a local Indian restaurant, which seated us all in a room upstairs. As I mentioned earlier, meals were a fantastic source of socialization, and this evening was no different. I sat among girls I usually wouldn't see, and we spent most of the night laughing and joking around, free from the bonds of academics and relishing in seeing one another. Even though we don't all get the chance to see each other often, or perhaps because of this fact, the moments that we spend together have imprinted on my mind. The rarity with which I interact with some of the others on the program may be regrettable in some ways, but I have come to cherish the moments I'm granted, and I'll remember that evening for a long time.

As incredible as it was, our week in Oxford had to come to an end at some point, and Wednesday and Thursday flew by. Thursday evening, we gathered together once more, dressing smart for a three course meal. Tablecloths, candlesticks and fancy silverware breathed an air of formality into the Buttery as our week came to a close. After dinner, we moved down to the bar for one final evening before we all returned to our rooms to pack our things and get ready to say goodbye to Univ.

St. Andrew's Visit 5: Special Needs

Focus: Special Needs

Year 4 has a few students with special needs in our class. A few have learning disabilities of some kind, and I've previously mentioned R, who has autism. Because of this week's focus, I tried to spend at least a few minutes just working with each of them.

Just after he called role, Mr. Barry pointed out to G, who has dyslexia, that she needed to get a laptop at the start of the day from now on because she would need it to do her micro-writing - a new provision on her IEP. Her reading level, interestingly, is at the top of the class, although her writing lags behind it. During micro-writing, I served as the scribe for A, which I have done in previous weeks as well. He has no trouble coming up with different ideas, but when he tries to write them himself, the physical task challenges him. He also proved that he understands the relevant rules of grammar when he read it back through. As his scribe, I had to leave out any capital letters, commas, speech marks (quotation marks) or full stops (periods) unless told to include them. When he read the sentences back to me, he would point out places that he needed these.

After they did micro-writing, it was time for micro-maths, a set of short word problems using basic arithmetic. I pulled I out to work one-on-one in the ICT (information and communication technology) suite because he wasn't getting along with the girls sitting near him. Originally from Bangladesh, his first language isn't English, which is why our teaching assistant Ms. Bryant is technically assigned to him. As soon as he was in a quieter setting, however, he was able to begin working with me and started to at least understand what was required in the task.

Guided reading followed micro-maths, so I took my group into the ICT suite to work. When they were done, we went back to class in time for their midmorning break.

After the break, the students worked on their Take One Picture stories. A little more than half the students worked on their stories on laptops, but since there weren't enough for everyone, I took a half students into the ICT suite, including G. I supervised and provided spelling assistance as they wrote. Aside from needing a bit more spelling assistance than her classmates, G didn't have any troubles with the assignment. Some of the students had a lot of ideas. M and V, for instance, each wrote more than the rest of the group combined. This didn't surprise me, considering that the two girls are at the top of the class for most things. Other students, particularly D, had much more trouble with their task. I'm not sure whether she was intimidated by other students who were further ahead or if her language barrier came into play (she speaks Polish at home), but she became increasingly frustrated and uninspired until lunch finally rolled around.

After lunch, the students had creative time until my dance lesson began. I found it was much more successful to give my initial instructions before we left the classroom, although their first instincts upon entering the hall was still to run around for a bit. They warmed up with the Brain Dance. Tentative at first, I found that once a few of the students started to engage with it, the rest of the class followed suit. Once they were warmed up, I led them through an exploration of positive and negative space. Mr. Barry and I had a wonderful time watching the students create crazy shapes together. After a twenty minute lesson, we had to go back to the classroom so that the Year 3 class could set up for their class assembly. They were so good during the dance lesson that Mr. Barry decided that they could have a little extra break time until assembly, which they loved.

At the end of the day, R's mother came in when she picked him up. She asked Mr. Barry about how R's week had been so far. Her visit signified the school's commitment to working with parents of children with special needs and to keeping them up-to-date regularly on their children's progress.

#sprig

One aspect of my classes I neglected in my earlier blog posts is our study trips. Essentially, each class gets to take a field trip to add some experience to the material they're learning. My first study trip was to the Montacute House in Somerset with my class on Tudor and Stuart England.

The Montacute House is an Elizabethan mansion and expansive garden. It sits on what was once monastic lands, which were bought by a local landowner when the monasteries were dissolved as part of the English Reformation. (See, I have been learning, I promise!)

At the start of our day, the little coach picked up the class, and we started our hour-and-a-half journey. When we pulled into the gravel lot at the Montacute House, we found our tutor John sitting on a bench. He waved as we parked and stood to greet us. He led us to the back of the house first, which is a bit deceiving considering the driveway that connects it to the road. He explained that the house has seen virtually no alterations since it was first built because its owners, the Philips family, soon fell out of favor at court and therefore could not afford it. While they may have considered that a negative aspect, it turned out to be a blessing for historians!

We walked around to the front of the house, which opens onto the main gardens. As was tradition, the path by which visitors would have come when the house was occupied was separated from the house itselve by a small fenced in garden. The front of the house features 9 statues, three each from biblical, classical and medieval traditions. We entered the house and immediately walked up the stairs to the long hall.

The long hall, or the top floor of the house, is currently home to selections from the National Portrait Gallery's Tudor and Stuart collection. There, we saw original portraits of Henry VII and his wives, as well as well-known figures from the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages. The Tudor features were particularly interesting as we have just finished studying that period in our class and are beginning the Stuart reign this coming week. Once we had wandered through the gallery, we descended to the second floor, where a library caught our attention. Colorful stained glass crests adorned the windows, a beautiful contrast to the dark book bindings. We also had a chance to wander through a few of the bedrooms.

Having spent sufficient time inside the house, we drifted out to the gardens, where we imagined the lives of the house's original residents and guests, transported back to the Elizabethan age. Once we completed our exploration of the gardens, we gathered in the cafe to eat our lunches, and ASE treated us to tea and cakes.

For the afternoon, John led us from the house through the town. We saw the remains of the gatehouse I referenced earlier, as well as the only other small building, which once housed the doves kept by the monks for eggs and meat. A small pond, which once held fish, also remained on the premises. We also got to peek into the local church, which still functions under the 39 Articles of Faith established by Queen Elizabeth I and in which the Philips family is entombed.

On the walk back through the town to our bus, we passed a sign advocating local events and sites of interest. It leaned on the typical "I (heart) _____", but instead of a heart the image was of a small branch, We debated the proper term for it as we passed through the parking lot and agreed on a "sprig" which should be used to describe things which are particularly close to our hearts, hence the title of this blog post.

Our ride back to Bath was uneventful, and we arrived at our residences in mid-afternoon. I took the time after to pack for Oxford, our next big adventure!

Cheers!

St. Andrew's Visit 4: Equal Opportunities

Focus: Equal Opportunities

This Tuesday was Year 4's assembly day, which changed the whole day around. Instead of their usual academic work, the class spent their time preparing their assembly, the point of which is to present what they had been working on to the rest of the school. In Year 4's case, that meant presenting their work surrounding the Take One Picture.

One of the most interesting parts of the process was seeing the extent to which the Picture had been integrated into their other subject learning. In literacy, they read about knights and castles. History featured the evolution of weapons. Microwriting (three sentences based on a picture) images  featured the same material. Even PE had become part of the process, where they had been working on play swordfighting all week. 

I gathered 9 students who had decided that this was something they wanted to present, and together we transformed their PE into a creative movement-style dance. I let them take the lead as they moved through a battle in slow motion, separating into two "armies" and deciding who would win. A, one of the smallest boys in the class, decided that since his team was going to be the "losing" side, he wanted to be the one who died. His swordfighting partner RJ happily agreed to stand above him with her sword held high in victory. This served as the jumping off point for the other students to create their ending pose, which included two boys still locked in battle. As they rehearsed, I talked about different ways they could incorporate levels as well as guiding them through the musical cues for the ending pose. 

In the middle of the morning, a photographer arrived to take a school photograph for the local paper. The paper plans to run a story on the school's latest Ofsted report, which moved them from "satisfactory" to "good" in all categories and has been a source of school pride in recent weeks. This improvement becomes more remarkable when considering the backgrounds from which these students come. The percentage of students at the school who have Special Education Needs, who receive Free Lunch provisions, or who are English Language Learners is higher than the national average, and the school has committed to increasing the one-to-one attention each of these students receives. The Free Lunch provisions have been one of the most interesting policies for me to learn about. Instead of the US system in which a child from a poor home life or disadvantaged background receives a free meal at school, schools in the UK receive additional funding for these students in order to provide resources that the student may need in order to succeed. Although this policy, based on the idea that a child with a less-than-ideal home life requires additional support in order to thrive at school, seems intuitive, it doesn't exist in the US and seeing it here makes me wish that it would.

Aside from the PSHE lesson I observed on my first day on discrimination, the subject hasn't been discussed in the classroom. Nor, I've discovered, has it needed to. Perhaps because it is both small and diverse, St. Andrews has thus far been void of any discrimination or even bullying aside from the typical drama of pre-pubescent boys and girls. 

In the few cases of bullying I have witnessed, the nearest teacher has stepped in and proposed a solution that focused on identifying the emotions felt on both sides of the disagreement. All the staff members emphasize the respect that the students should have for each other, their teachers and faculty members, and the school. For example, when a few of the boys in the class decided to hold a side conversation while one of the girls rehearsed her piece of the assembly in front of the class, Mr. Barry pointed out that they were being disrespectful to himself, the student presenting, and the rest of the class. Suitably chastised, they apologized both to Mr. Barry and the student presenting. 

At the end of the day, Year 4's assembly went off without a hitch. They presented beautifully, proudly displaying all their hard work to the rest of the school community. Mr. Barry and I watched delightedly from the sidelines, and he was quick to express his praise when they returned to the classroom at the end of the day. We reviewed the day briefly after the students had been dismissed, collecting the peaks and troughs of behavior and noting that R, the student who has autism, had done remarkably well considering that his normal routine had been disrupted. 

"When I get scared, I don't scream, I have a stroke"

Megan and I had barely gotten a taste of adventuring our next trip began. The Thursday after our day in London, we flew from Bristol, UK to Edinburgh, Scotland. Megan and I caught a mid-afternoon flight before the others, since we were finished with class earlier in the day. Once we landed in Edinburgh, we hopped on a bus, which dropped us off around the corner from the hostel. We checked in and decided to walk around a bit to find dinner before the other girls arrived. We happened upon a small cafe down the block called Ryan's, where the food was excellent.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel to try and get some work done while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. They called just before 10 to let us know they had landed, at which point we relayed the directions to the hostel. Allison, Amanda, Hadley and Katie (who live in the flat below us) arrived half an hour later, and Cae (a friend of Amanda's) came in minutes after. We settled in for the night, happy that everyone had arrived safely.

Friday morning, we woke up bright and early to grab the continental breakfast at the hostel before we set out for the day. By 9 that morning, we were ready to start moving, and we set out for the Edinburgh castle, which was about a 25 minute walk from the hostel. We spent the morning touring the castle and its grounds. My personal favorite was getting to see the crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny. For those who don't know its dubious history, the Stone of Destiny sits under the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey, from where it was stolen. It now resides in Edinburgh after an agreement was reached with the royal family that it will be transported back to London for future coronations.

After a few hours at the castle, we were ready for lunch, so we walked partway down the Royal Mile and turned onto a side street to reach the famous Elephant House. Many authors have discovered the cafe over the years and sat in its back room to write. The most famous of these has been J K Rowling, who penned much of her first Harry Potter novel while sitting near a window overlooking the Edinburgh castle. Her view explains the striking physical similarities between the hill on which the castle sits and the similar position of Hogwarts. We reveled over the cafe's past while we munched on our lunches and took a break from all the walking we had been doing before we got back up on our feet.

Our afternoon started with a trek back up the Royal Mile (in the direction of the castle) to the small Writer's Museum. After we explored the museum, we decided to walk back down the full length of the Royal Mile to the Holyrood Palace, which sits at the other end across the street from the Scottish Parliament building. The Palace serves as home to the royal family if they visit Edinburgh. Having seen the palace, we started to walk back up the mile to take a short break at the hostel. Along the way, we stopped at the Mercat Cross to pick up tickets for our ghost tour that evening. To anyone wondering, the title of this post came was pulled from our discussion of the ghost tour as we walked back to the hostel.

Back at the hostel, half the group decided to shower and take a nap. The rest of us spent some time looking for a good pub or restaurant at which we could eat dinner. Our criteria were fairly specific - we wanted to eat Scottish food, but we also wanted to find somewhere between the hostel and the ghost tour, as well as stay in our budgets. We managed to find "Ghillie Dhu," the one pub that fit all of our criteria, so just before 5, we set off again. The food was delicious, but the service was a little slow for our deadline. We ended up having to sprint up to the Mercat Cross, which wouldn't have been too bad except that most of the journey took us up a huge hill. Even so, we managed to arrive minutes before the tour started at 7.

The ghost tour started with tales of gore from hundreds of years ago in Edinburgh, which slowly became stories of ghosts and hauntings. Although we spent the first 25 minutes above ground, we then moved into vaults hidden under the city's streets. There, our tour guides treated us to your typical ghost stories, successfully frightening all of us to some degree. We joined the tour guides for drinks afterwards, during which they continued the evening's storytelling. At one point, they discussed witch trials, at which point they called up Katie to stand trial! The rest of us pulled out our cameras instantly to catch a shot as Katie faced the "Inquisitor's" questions. At the end, they began to turn down the lights for the last story, which ended in complete darkness. Our whole group reached out for each other, officially terrified. We laughed when the lights came back up, but we had to admit that they had done what they had intended, and we stayed close as we walked back to the hostel for the night. We decided to turn in because we had to be up early for the next leg of our trip: Dublin!

St. Andrew's Visit 3: Classroom Management

You know those days when you can't seem to focus on anything and you don't want to be doing whatever it is you're supposed to? All of Year 4 had one of those days on my most recent visit.

The students came in groggily, slumping into their seats. Although they were given assignments to start the day - either word problems or micro-writing - very few got started right away. Mr. Barry spent more time instructing the students to start than actually working with them at first. Once some of the students actually started, the ones who still didn't want to work struck up conversations with their neighbors, distracting them. Mr. Barry tried to reign in their attention through call-and-response clapping patterns, which worked well aside from the fact that it had to be repeated a few times over the course of the first 10 minutes of class. Eventually, Mr. Barry resorted to raising his voice, which silenced the class.

We moved into guided reading, during which my group remained distracted for the start. D refused to participate at all, but the others eventually settled down and answered the questions I presented. We finished just in time for the next lesson, which was a preparation for Thursday's assembly. In honor of Book Week, the students prepared to present the story of Rapunzel to parents accompanied by a series of gestures. A number of the boys were reluctant to participate at first, so Mr. Barry moved them to the back of the room. They stood there while the rest of the students sat together on the carpet. The moment any of them began to participate, Mr. Barry quickly welcomed them back into the circle, making it clear that (a) he expected their best and that (b) they could deliver it.

After they took their break, the students continued the Book Week theme by beginning to create their own book covers. The project engaged them more than the work they had done earlier in the day, and their work was focused until lunch as well as immediately after, when they returned to the assignment.

As we reached the middle of the afternoon, my first real challenge loomed. Mr. Barry and I had previously discussed the possibility of me teaching a movement lesson based on the Take One Picture, but he had wanted to wait and see in what direction the students took the image. When they latched onto knights and swordplay, a movement-based lesson seemed to fit perfectly, and I was asked that morning if I could run a lesson that afternoon. During lunch, I sat in the quiet classroom and pulled together a plan, grateful for the experiences and repertoire I had gained from my class on the Art of Teaching Dance as I recalled a myriad of activities I could include for the occasion.

When we first entered the space in which we would dance, the students recognized its usual purpose as their gymnasium and took a few minutes to settle down. Once I regained their attention, I set a few ground rules (for safety purposes) and we started with a warm-up to define their personal spaces. When three of the boys still refused to participate, Mr. Barry removed them from the group. I later learned that he had read them the riot act before instructing them to write apology letters to me. Meanwhile, the other students explored first the poses and then the movements of peasants, spies, kings/queens, and knights. After the three boys finished their letters, they were allowed to rejoin the class, and they ended up really enjoying the activities. Unfortunately, about halfway through the lesson, we had to stop because the Year 5 students needed the space to prepare for their assembly on space. Back in the classroom, they returned to their book covers until the daily assembly began.

At the end of the day, Mr. Barry and I talked about how my lesson had gone. We went over what I might do differently next time (trying to establish the rules and initial instructions before leaving the classroom while the students were still in academic mode) and where it would have gone next (partner work on responding to movement leading into fencing-type movement).