Just Another Monday

Before I get to today...
Yesterday I woke up sore!  Did not feel like going anywhere so I took a lazy day.

Today I taught my second year students.  It was the first lesson I taught in Scotland that was something I had taught in Waterloo.  So that made it a bit easier.  Having students draw tangent lines to a circle is difficult because you have to walk them through how to use a protractor, compass, and ruler.  Okay, you don't have to teach them how to use a ruler, but they always forget how to use a protractor!  My Scottish students are much better at using compasses than my Waterloo students, though.  And most of you have no idea what the heck I'm talking about... but this is a blog about my student teaching math experience -- you should expect this.  I also gave them a problem solving activity to do, which was funny because none of them got it.  But I think if I give them 10 more minutes tomorrow I will get a few people with the answer.  How bout you try it? http://www.mathsisfun.com/logic_puzzle2.html

Rest of day went well.  The weather is absolutely "mental".  Cold and wet - yuck!  I did have a lovely surprise waiting for me when I got back - another job interview!  So I have that in about an hour and a half and hopefully I can pull it off!  I'd really like a job - I should stop saying that, it's probably getting old.  Apologies.

Best thing about my day?  I just booked another tour for the weekend.  I don't have school Monday so 3 day tour it is!  I will be going to Loch Ness, Inverness, and the Isle of Skye with MacBackpackers.  Check it out: http://macbackpackers.com/index.php/tour/3_day_loch_ness_and_skye/more

Day Trip with Rabbie's

So Thursday and Friday at school were BORING... every single one of my classes was taking a test, so I had prep periods instead.  Needless to say I finished all of my prep for the week and had time to research for my interview Friday.  My interview hopefully went well.  I'm only unsure about it being a middle school job when my focus has been high school and that I will not be able to make on-site interviews in the chance I am selected for a 2nd interview.  Here's hoping though!
So last night (Friday) I was looking at my lists I've compiled of places I wanted to go, and with the help of my facebook friends, I decided to book a tour to Alnwick Castle!  The tour is through Rabbie's (http://www.rabbies.com/tours_scotland_edinburgh/alnwick_castle_berwick_borders.asp?lng=en) - they have several tours throughout the UK.  I really want to take a trip to the Isle of Skye, so that's a possibility for next weekend or my other long weekend.

So I woke up early on a Saturday and walked to the Rabbie's headquarters on the Royal Mile... about a 30 minute walk.  Got on the small bus (it's really more of a van, but I'm going to call it a bus) which sits 16.  We had 10 people on our tour plus 3 tour guides.  There's usually just 1 (I think), but since this is a brand new tour, some other guides are trying to learn the route.  Our first stop was Melrose, Scotland and we only had 30 minutes!  I decided to go to Melrose Abbey - absolutely gorgeous.  This is where Robert the Bruce's heart was buried... crazy!  You can also see in this picture how high up a spiral staircase I climbed... how's that for someone afraid of heights?

Then we got back on the bus... next stop: crossing the bridge from Scotland to England.  For those of you wondering, you can do this without a passport - both still part of the UK!

Our next pit stop was Flodden Field, where the Battle of Flodden took place.  Kind of a sad story... Britains lost a lot of lives there.

Next stop:  Alnwick (pronounced Annick) Castle!  This is where the first 2 Harry Potter movies were filmed.  I bought the castle & garden ticket.  The garden was nice, but probably not worth the money.  The castle grounds were also disappointing until I realized I was standing in the exact spot where they filmed the flying lesson scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone! Here's the clip in case you want a refresher or you want to see where I was standing: http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=10372  So that was pretty awesome, thought about buying a broomstick until I realized I would have no way to get it back to the US. The best part about the castle was the State Rooms.  The Percy family lives in the castle and these rooms were absolutely gorgeous! I would have take probably 100 pictures but no photos allowed.  Bummer... you will just have to go and see for yourself.  I also went on this underground tour (for free)... some actors tried to make it scary, but I wasn't scared.

We got back on the bus.  Made a stop at Bamburgh to have a look at their castle.  Then we stopped at Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town that has switched hands between Scotland and England 13 times!  Most people living there (70% I think) are Scottish, so maybe it will go back into Scotland territory soon.  After we crossed back into Scotland we stopped in the town of Dunbar, known for being sunny and the birthplace of John Muir, the founder of national parks! 

My favorite quote of the day was when my tour guide pointed to his map and said "North Berwick - it's like the nipple of the top of the land".  I think I was the only one that really found that funny.  When we got back to Edinburgh I stopped by this underground bar and got some fish and chips!  Pretty sure my new tradition is fish & chips once a week... I am going to be highly disappointed when I get home.

So that was an extremely long but wonderful day.  Thinking of going on a long trip again next weekend since I don't have school Monday.  Near London to go to the Harry Potter exhibit OR Isle of Skye, Glencoe, and Loch Ness.  Decisions, decisions.

First Week of Teaching = Done

Yesterday... I taught 2nd year again (this time arc length and perimeter of sectors), but it did not go nearly as well as Monday's lesson went.  The students kept telling me they didn't understand and they were talking too much.  I think they understood much better than they thought they did, but they were just being lazy.  Therefore, I reflected on how I could change my next lesson to make it better.  Today I taught area of sectors and it went much much better with my new improvements.  I did several things: I tried harder to explain the lesson in more depth, I "threatened" the students that I would give them homework if they weren't working hard, and I gave them a mental maths test at the end of the period.  Giving them something to do and a reason to work hard really seemed to work well with this class.

This afternoon I also taught one of my 1st year classes.  I had arranged a lesson on ratio and proportions, but when asking my teacher what I would be teaching next week, I realized I had planned the wrong lesson!  I had a planning period right after that, so I planned the lesson for the afternoon.  It was on notation of ratios, so it was not much different than what I was going to do.  The lesson went well - so well that they finished the exercise in about 10-15 minutes.  Since I still had over 20 minutes of class remaining I decided to teach the next lesson as well (especially since some students already moved on to it).  The students picked up on it quickly and some of them finished all of that exercise as well.  What a bright group I have!  I hope when I teach this to my other 1st year class next week they do just as well.

So overall, today was a good teaching experience.  I learned how to deal with a talkative class while also explaining at their level, and I also learned how to adapt my lessons quickly.

No more teaching for the week because of a math competition throughout Scotland...

Mission for the rest of the week: find a job!

Funny thing a student said to me yesterday:  "Are you from America?" yes "Are you from Canada?" no... "Isn't Canada in America?" "I thought it was warm in Canada." ......someone needs a geography lesson!

First lesson

I taught my first lesson today. Graphing linear functions. It was just a review from what they were taught last Wednesday but they improved greatly. I saw a lot of my favorite teaching moment: that lightbulb that goes off and the students say "ooh I get it". That always makes me feel good. Plus a couple girls told me that I taught them better in 10 minutes than they usually learn in 2 weeks. I am going to give their teacher the benefit of the doubt and assume that's a huge exaggeration. It still felt good to hear, though. After class my cooperating teacher told me I did an excellent job.

Not bad for my first day, huh? :)

Epic Fail + Our Dynamic Earth

So first off, I slept in today!  Woo!  Then I got round 2 of laundry started, but when I realized I needed to catch a bus soon I had to stop it... and 6 hours later I started it from the beginning.  Alright so the bus... I couldn't figure out which one to get on because there are like 5 bus stops on my street that all pick up bus 36.  So after chasing one bus (that would have been perfect to get on), I wait 15 minutes to get on a bus that took me to Ocean Terminal.  I thought that would be okay since it was going to Scottish Parliament afterwards, but that was a bad plan.  I ended up going to Ocean Terminal and looping back to where I started... so 1.5 hours later I reached my destination.  Then after going down the street the wrong way, I turned around and finally found Our Dynamic Earth.  Edinburgh is confusing! 

Anyway, so Our Dynamic Earth was great.  It was the perfect thing for me to do by myself since it allowed me to take my time to read all the signs and move at my own pace.  It's an exhibit that starts from the beginning of Earth until today, talking about the way the earth has changed, how animals changed, etc.  I would highly recommend it for science nerds and children seemed to enjoy it as well.  There was a 4D "ride" and a dome show included in my student ticket price of less than 10 pounds.  I would say it was worth the price, plus it was the perfect thing to do on a rainy day.

After the tour I walked until I found a good place to eat.  I stumbled across No. 1 High Street and got some fish and chips and a cider.  How British of me!  After dinner, I decided I would use my map and walk back to my place until I found the 36 bus.  But I never found the bus on my route.  It actually ended up being a nice walk - the weather wasn't too bad and I got to see some beautiful architecture.  Plus, this helped me see what was down the road from my place.  And much faster than my bus ride!

For the rest of the night I will stay in.  I'm tired and I need to save some money.  Maybe I should go to a local church tomorrow or do something touristy.  I also have to plan for my lesson!  But that shouldn't be too hard because the students have already learned it and they will spend most of the time working on problems individually/with a partner.

One Week Down, Six to Go

Well, my first week student teaching (or shall I say observing) came to an end.  I really like the faculty, even the staff outside of the maths department have been nice to me.  And yes, I put an s on the end of math on purpose.  That's how we do it over here in Scotland. 

The department chair gave me six different classes with four different teachers.  Fourth year students go on exam leave starting next Wednesday, and since my fourth year class is WRF, I am already done with them.  Now I get to use that time as prep or I can go observe a different class.  I will teach my first lesson on Monday!  I can't really tell you what subject it is because their classes aren't set up like America's.  In America, classes are divided by subject in math (ie. Algebra, Geometry, Trig), but in Scotland, maths is divided by difficulty.  I will be teaching 2M3, which is second year of secondary mathematics (equivalent of eighth or ninth grade) and they are the third from the top of their class... out of 6? or 8?  I will be teaching linear equations on Monday and various things about circles on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I will also pick up 1X1 and 1Y1 this week, which is the equivalent of seventh or eighth graders.  I can't wait.  Weird thing... they don't have the technology available that I'm used to - it will be strictly white board unless I can find/think of a manipulative.

We had a half day today.  All Fridays will be like that unless there is Staff Development.  I spent the rest of my day relaxing and doing laundry.  Unfortunately there's no dryer, so I have to hang dry everything.  Bummer!  Saturday and Sunday I am going to go do something in Edinburgh!  Check back tomorrow to see what I picked.

Day 2 (for lack of a better title)

My second day went pretty well. I met the rest of my classes. I have 3 pretty good classes and 3 that seem very lazy. The teachers are pretty great overall. One seems to be a bit strict and another has trouble controlling his classroom. I don't think I have ever heard a person say "shh" so many times! I think I will have to enforce my own rules and expectations when I go to teach them.

So funny things the kids asked me or said today:
"You look like you're from here." :)
"Have you been to a Snoop Dogg concert?"
"Do you have a swimming pool?" (they think everyone has a pool and it makes me feel very stereotyped that I do)
"Do you own a gun?" (another stereotype)
And of course they're all trying to find me on Facebook.

Something strange about the UK (or at least Scotland)... People don't typically keep their dogs on a leash. The dogs just roam freely. I always try to figure out if the dog has an owner or if it's just a stray. Sometimes it's hard to tell because the dogs will be so far behind or ahead of their owner. Random observation. :)

First Day

Well today was the reason I came to Scotland - I started student teaching today!  I left at 7:30 and walked through the "park" to school.  I only had to cross the street in front of my place and the rest of the time I stayed on the walking/bike path.  It's about a 30 minute walk and luckily the weather cooperated.  Just need to find a way to carry less with me so my bag is lighter.  I carry my dress shoes and wear my "trainers". 

So the school... everyone there (and everyone I've met in the UK for that matter) was really nice.  The kids have to wear uniforms which consist of black bottoms, white shirt, black tie (even the girls).  They like to make the uniform their own by wear skirts and tights, making the ties loose, wearing sweatpants?... the list goes on.  I will be working with 4 different teachers, which is a LOT!  Hopefully I will like doing that though.  Mike gave me 6 different classes to teach/observe and each day is different.  Each class meets 3 days a week, but the times and days vary.  I will be attached to my schedule so I don't get lost from room to room or teach the wrong lesson to the wrong class.  Right now I am just observing, but I am jumping in to help students when possible.  Another strange thing I've noticed: the students are allowed to have their phones/ipods out to listen to music during class.  I don't think I will like that rule.  Another thing, they have an "intermission" after 2nd period, which means I go down to the teacher's lounge for 15 minutes.  They had cinnamon rolls for us today!  Oh yeah! :)

Alright, so the kids just might be more fascinated with me than I am with them.  And trust me... they are very interesting.  Here's a list of questions the students asked me today...
"Where are you from?" -America, St. Louis "Where is that?" -right in the middle "Is that close to New York?"....
"Do you like football?" -American football or soccer football?
"Do you like ice hockey?"
"Do you like basketball?"  -college, not pro  "It's because you like the college guys...ooohh"
"Do you have Yazoo (chocolate milk) in America?"
"I like your accent.  Say Manchester."  "Your accent is cute."
"Is it true that Americans have to be 18 to eat at McDonald's?" (she thought we did this to cut down on our obesity problem lol)

Needless to say I had a lot of fun and the kids made me laugh a lot. :)

I also decided that I will make a blog with words that are different from American English to UK English.  I will update that often.

Back "Home"

After all the traveling across the UK, we finally made it back to Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Yesterday we went to Edinburgh Castle.  For all you history fans out there, you would really like this place.  I got a little bored with all the museums inside, but the rest of it was great.  We saw the Crown Jewels!  I wish I had a picture to show you, but that was prohibited.  We were around to see the world famous "One o'Clock Gun", a time gun that people use to set their clocks/watches.  My watch was a couple minutes off, so that worked out well.  The picture was taken right after the cannon was shot. 



After we went to the Castle we walked down The Royal Mile.  We didn't make it very far due to stopping for lunch, souvenir shopping, and watching street performers.  Lots of men in kilts, some playing the bagpipes!  How's that for my blog title?  All 3 in one day! 

We came across the most beautiful church, St. Giles' Cathedral.  Would highly recommend going in for a peek.  Note to self: attend mass there sometime during my stay.

At night we went on a haunted tour.  The tour took us to Edinburgh underground, a place with a dark, deep history.  After the underground portion, we went to Greyfriars Cemetary, which holds about 450,000 bodies... on top of one another.  Yuck.  One of the nine places in the city where they dumped bodies from The Plague.  Creepy.  Don't think there were any ghost attacks on our tour though.

Today I moved into my new home in the Leith neighborhood of Edinburgh.  I unpacked all my stuff and explored the neighborhood a bit.  I found a wonderful cafe and I made my first trip to the grocery store!  That doesn't sound very exciting, but I think it was a significant hurdle.  It's conveniently located across the street, so I will be stopping by often since I don't have much space and I have to carry my groceries up 4 flights of steps.  I have spent my day applying for teaching jobs... maybe I need to spend the rest of my day praying to get hired!

School starts on Tuesday... nervous & excited!

Northern Ireland

(Sorry for the extremely long post)

For the past couple days we have been in Northern Ireland.  N. Ireland is still a part of the UK, separate from the republic of Ireland - and thank goodness because without my work visa I can't leave the UK until my student teaching is over with.  So here goes my LONG list of what we did when we got there.

We first took a ferry from Troon, Scotland to Larne, N. Ireland.  Then we traveled the Causeway Coast with the North Channel right next to us.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We had great weather, only driving through a few short showers - totally normal for the UK.  We stopped at a cute place for lunch, but there was no food served in the entire town!  Sooo we moved on to the next town!  Very unlike America with food (and gas stations) everywhere.  We stopped at the Glen Cloy Inn - I would recommend it.  Here's another word to add to your UK food dictionary: champ.  It's mashed potatoes with green onions.  Yummy.  Then we stopped at Ballycastle, which does not have a castle.  It was a bustling place with a beach though - the locals even thought it was warm enough for t-shirts and shorts.  Next comes my favorite adventure of the day: Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge!  Although I am terrified of heights, I walked the 80 foot high rope bridge right over the water [as slowly as possible].

My legs were shaking after I crossed.  Luckily they shook themselves back into place when I crossed back over.  The view was definitely worth the 1 km trek there and back.  I would highly recommend it.  Then we headed on to Bushmills, where I stayed at my first ever B&B.  I would not recommend staying in Bushmills simply because the town is very small without a lot to offer.... other than.... Giant's Causeway! 

Giant's Causeway is what happened when volcanic lava met with the water.  Most of the stones are hexagonal, but various polygons appear. (I love how I sound like a total math nerd.)  Legend is that a giant built the stones as a path to Scotland, although he did not make it very far.  We spent a couple hours climbing and taking loads of pictures.  Next destination = Bushmills Distillery.  If you are a whisky fan, I would recommend.  I, however, am not.  It was interesting though.  Not as large as the Anheuser Busch facility/tour.

The next stop is my favorite castle so far - Dunlace Castle.  It wasn't commercialized like the Stirling Castle and it was mostly ruins.  It was built on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  Absolutely beautiful!

Believe it or not, we stopped at one more place that day - Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne.  Unfortunately we had to hurry that visit up since the park was closing.  It was worthwhile, but not as cool as the rope bridge, Giant's Causway, and Dunlace castle.

Alright... greatly slowed things down today.  We headed to the Dark Hedges outside of Ballymoney (which was actually 20 minutes away).  These "hedges" weren't really hedges at all - they are trees that have intertwined above the roadway.

This makes you wonder... why do I live in America?  Northern Ireland is so unbelievably beautiful!

Then we headed to Belfast to see the brand new Titanic Belfast exhibit.  Walked you through the building of the Titanic, the sinking, and the discovery of it underwater in 1985.  Very cool.  Here's a picture of the building. 

Back in Edinburgh tonight.  Exploring the castle, the Royal Mile, and a ghost tour tomorrow.

Exploring Castles

This morning it was snowing in Edinburgh (pronounced Edinburra).  Luckily that didn't last long because we had a long day ahead of us.  We first went to Linlithgow, a very small town on the way to Stirling.  There, was the Linlithgow Castle where Mary, Queen of Scots was born.  We did not pay to go into the castle, but we did get to go inside a beautiful church.  Then we headed on to Stirling, home of a huge castle.  It was very cool being inside of a castle just thinking that kings and queens lived there.  The town was crazy because it is built on a very tall hill, practically a mountain (which is called a ben).  We had lunch there before continuing on our journey.  Then we proceeded to drive the long way around Loch Lomand (a loch is a lake).  It was beautiful with all the bens, the water, and of course, the sheep.  We definitely took the scenic route.  I will include my favorite picture.

Now I am relaxing at the hotel in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland.  We did not do anything in the city and tomorrow we are leaving early to catch our ferry to Northern Ireland.

St. Andrew's

Today we met with my flatmate, Clare.  I dropped off a bag, and she took the family on a walk through the park to the school I'll be teaching at - it's about a 25-30 minute walk.  I will be walking or riding the bus each day.

After that, we went on a day trip to St. Andrew's.  It's a very old university and my dad is madly in love with the golf course.  I suppose I will post a picture of the 18th hole for all you golf lovers.

Then we explored the streets for a bit.  My favorite part, though was walking around the old cathedral.  There, we could see the remains of the castle and the gorgeous view of the shore.  Not a whole lot to say, but pictures say 1000 words...

"You Sound Like You're From London"

Day late on this one...

Woke up in London yesterday ((as I start singing that song)) and starting feeling sick.  Guess that's what jetlag feels like :(
Decided to take an asprin and suck it up. Glad I did. We took a free bus to "The Tube" (London's subway system). The Tube took about an hour and we got off in the center of London where we proceeded to get lost. Finally we found the place to purchase and get on a tour bus. This open-top bus took us around the highlights of the city. All my 300+ pictures are on facebook. Total overload, but better to take too many than not enough, right? We did make a brilliant stop on the bus to get off and see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace! I don't think I have ever seen so many tourists in one place, but it was pretty awesome. Too bad the queen, William, and Kate weren't there! Then we popped back on the bus and proceeded to take even more pictures. Then took the Tube back to the hotel and jumped on our plane to Edinburgh! London was an awesome place and I really wish I could spend an entire week there - several hours is just not enough!

Unlucky travel day

Well we have made it to London but it was not easy. On our way to the airport this morning at 3:30 we got a call that our flight to Chicago was cancelled. We managed to make a later flight in just enough time to get to our London flight. The flight was fine because it had lots of empty room so we were able to spread out. 8 hours later came customs... I was apparently supposed to haves work visa. Nobody told me that! After 15ish minutes of persuasiveness the customs lady let me in. THANK GOODNESS! So no traveling outside of the UK while I'm here.

All packed and ready to roll

Well the family's all packed. We weighed our bags and it looks like I'm bringing in about 70 pounds of clothes and such to the UK. Only 2 of the 4 bags are mine, though. It's about 10:30 and we are heading to the airport in about 5 hours. We are flying to Chicago at 6 and then we have a small layover before heading to LONDON! How cool is that? If you've been and you have any suggestions for our Easter Sunday, let me know soon!

Thanks for all the "safe travels" and "have fun"s. I'll be updating as often as I can. As Desmond always says, "See ya in another life brother."