Tales of a Traveling Teacher

I realized this morning, while squeezed into the pews at the church at St. Andrews, that I've now spent Easter in four different countries. The first time I was away, I was on my senior trip and we were in Switzerland. Several people were interested in attending church on this holy day, so we found a small church to worship in. Although the mass was in French and I had no clue what was going on, I was moved and honored by the welcoming spirits of the congregation. The next time I was away for Easter, I was in New Zealand staying with a wonderful, giving family who happily included me in their Easter celebrations. Today, I was in a stone church, hundreds of years old with acoustics that could rival the great cathedrals of the world. The university chaplain delivered a beautiful Scottish sermon with a great mix of hope and humor. The choir led us in several unfamiliar hymns with one we knew. We headed north, driving through some absolutely stunning scenery of snow capped peaks, rol...

Mack and Stephanie seemed to bring with them the one thing that I asked them to bring with them, the sunshine! After a few flurries this morning, the clouds cleared and made way for a crystal clear blue sky and warm sun beams! How glorious! We started by walking through the parks in Edinburgh, then down the Royal Mile into Hollyrood Palace. I went here in December with my parents, but thoroughly enjoyed going again. I recently watched a film on Mary Queen of Scots (starring Vanessa Redgrave which you can find on YouTube), who once lived in the palace, and this visit things seemed to make a lot more sense, or at least I had a better understanding. Then we made a stop at the Elephant House (where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter) and to see the statue of the famous Greyfriar Bobby, a devoted dog., before heading to pick up our rental car. We are now in St. Andrews, a place famous for two main things: golf and the university of Prince William and Kate! The scenery is absolute...

Today is not just good, it's great! I caught a train this morning headed to Edinburgh. Although the train was over crowded, I was lucky enough to find a window seat. The scenery was beautiful: blue skies, snow covered hills, fields of sheep that often had more prancing lambs than sheep, and bunnies scurrying about (no doubt getting ready for the big day!). The best part though was not just the scenery, it was the reuniting that happened here in Edinburgh! Mack and Stephanie, my cousins, have come to visit for the week and I couldn't be more thrilled to once again be with family, and some of my very closest friends. We enjoyed walking around the chilly city scattered with daffodils under clear blue skies then we had a great pub dinner at The Last Drop, where people often went just before they were hung. It was so much fun to catch up and hear about friends and family back home!

Tonight, as it was our last day of school for two weeks, I joined a few fellow teachers at a local pub for a common British pasttime: a pub quiz.  The quiz was organized into different categories such as sports, this week's news, Easter, etc.  I was able to participate and contribute a few answers such as: "When Americans say they are xeroxing something, what does that mean?" There was also a song round where the first 30 seconds of a song were played and we had to guess the title and artist.  I got a couple of those, but the one that made me smile the most was "Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall and Oates.  One summer, my parents and I were on a trip to the Pacific Northwest and as I played songs on the iPod, Dad tried to guess who the artist was.  For some reason, he repeated Hall and Oates nearly every time.  So, I give credit to my Dad for that point because I wouldn't have gotten it right had it not been for him, repeating their names so many times! ...

I had a great day with my kids: giving them some tests back that they had truly earned some great scores on, helping them set up their own school email addresses, and reading a wonderful story with them. I found out today that after Easter, I'll be getting a new student.  I don't know a thing about her except for the fact that she's coming from Arizona and that is why she's joining my class!  I'm thrilled to have her and I'm hoping that I can help her with a few key pointers such as those things you wear on your legs are "trousers" not "pants." I had a few funny instances today, that I just had to share before they were forgotten. As my year 6 English class was leaving today, one of my students stopped me with the question, "So, Miss Smith, I was wondering, since you're American..."  (I always love questions that start this way!) "there's this American movie that I thought you might know."  He asked if I knew...

What do all of these things have in common?  Why, they were used in a science experiment, of course! My students are studying sound right now, a topic I'm thrilled to be covering with them as it is one I also teach at home.  The past couple of weeks though, I did something very different: I let the students plan their own experiment!  I gave the kids some ideas and some pointers, but in small groups, they planned their own experiments.   We were investigating the best material for soundproofing, or muffling, a sound.  The students had to brainstorm for ideas about what types of materials they thought might be best and then what types of materials we had access to.  They had a wide range of ideas from glass to water to metal to flannel.  Planning carefully each step of the experiment, how they would keep everything but the material the same, pupils spent several lessons planning.  They wrote step by step instructions, lists of materia...

The walk to school this morning was bitterly cold.  Although the temperature was just around freezing, the "feels like" temperature was about 18F due to the wind and lack of sunshine.  The snow that fell over the weekend covered the fields and grassy areas, as it still does this evening.  The few daffodils that had just bloomed in pots outside the local pub were bent over, heavy with snow. What's the best way to combat this wintry Monday?  Why, a delicious pub meal with friends!  Before I came to England, I received an email from one of the governors of the school (similar to our board of education back home).  Angela was very welcoming and expressed her delight in my placement at Fulbrook, but she was also thrilled as she has some very close ties to Alabama.  A very close family friend of hers lives in Alabama, about an hour and a half north of where I live, and she and her husband visit her frequently.  I was thrilled to have a connection to...

I've already admitted that I didn't really like reading as a kid, in fact if you asked me what my favorite book was as a kid, I quite possibly would have said Where's Waldo.  I was really good at finding him and just about had the books memorized.  So when I came across a Where's Wally race, I jumped on the chance. Wally, as he is known here is still VERY popular. Many of the kids have dressed up as Wally at school when given the chance; there are books, cards and postcards at all the book shops and he's often mentioned in a crowd. This morning the National Literacy Foundation sponsored a 5K in London to raise money to buy books for children who may not have the resources to purchase their own.  To make the race more fun, they gave everyone who entered a Where's Wally costume. It was so much fun to see such an eclectic group of people come together and suddenly blend into one big mob of red and white. All ages and races were represented and even some f...

Charlotte hosted Gemma and I for a lovely evening tonight - a true girls' night with three Twilight films, chocolates and Indian food.  Indian food is incredibly popular here, it is as common as Mexican or Chinese food back home, but I actually hadn't had any English Indian food until this evening - it was delicious!  It was a great way to spend a snowy Saturday night!

On this snowy Saturday morning, I'm curled up on the couch enjoying reading through some of this term's American Studies surveys.  Since yesterday was my last day with the group of kids that I've had for the past term, I decided to give them a small survey to see what sorts of things they learned.  It's a good way to help me prepare for the next term, and also they are quite entertaining for me! Some of my favorite answers: What is something interesting you learned about America that you did not know before? They put peanut butter on everything (mostly cookies). They mostly deep fry all of the food. They have Ground Hog Day every year. How to play American football. I learned how extreme the weather can be and that it isn't always warm. I learned about Helen Keller and that was really interesting. I learned why there are 50 stars and 13 stripes on the flag. They have faces that are famous on dollars. War Eagle is cool. They can't speak English. Th...

Most of my Friday was really great! My Year 6 English class was near perfect today and we had a really fun lesson where the kids interviewed a few of the other kids to see who would make the best companion for Doctor Who to travel through time and space with. My Year 5 Maths and English classes were great: participated well and seemed to truly understand what we did. Today was my last day with this group of kids for my American Studies class and they were a bit, um, eager and excited for our special Thanksgiving celebration and a guest this afternoon, but generally, we had a good time. I was thrilled to have a former UK Fulbrighter in my class this afternoon to share his experiences with the kids as well as just check to see how I was doing. It was wonderful to catch up with him and share some of our similar experiences with one another. To finish off a great day, Charlotte came over and we watched the first half of our Twilight marathon which we'll finish tomorrow. I've ...

Tonight, I did something that I often do at home, but haven't yet done here. I invited the staff to a game night at my flat. We ordered pizza, chatted and then played Apples to Apples. It's a game we play fairly frequently at home, but I was unable to find here. Thankfully my mom was kind enough to mail me the game. It's a fun way to keep people entertained and interacting. We had such a fun evening-even on a school night! There was lots of catching up to do, many laughs shared and wonderfully sarcastic comments that can only come from a group of people who thoroughly enjoy one another. It was just lovely! My new friends here added a bit of a twist to the game and decided that the cards you won described you. I decided I rather liked that, considering what the first three cards I won were, but I won't tell you about my last three... :)

Today is the first day of spring, according to the calendar at least. I've been having a bit of trouble with the weather lately. It's not been all too bad, but the temperatures haven't been far above freezing and more often than not, it's been drizzly. The days are definitely getting longer though, and every now and then the sun shows her beautiful face. As an Alabama girl, I'm just not used to winter lasting so long. Back home, people are already getting their first tans of the year and the daffodils have been blooming for nearly two months. I have seen a few scatterings of these yellow signs of spring, but the majority of the ones I see still haven't bloomed yet. Thankfully though, the grocery store has a marvelous solution, one that can even be delivered to your door with the rest of your groceries. You can buy cut stems of daffodils that are yet to bloom! These flowers slowly open over the course of a few days after getting fresh water and some warmth in the...

Once a term, we throw out the regular schedule and hold a Super Learning Day.  On this day, we teach the kids about a special topic and do it in a fun way.  Today, the Year 5 team decided to do Decades Day.  Each class studied a different decade (60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s) throughout the day, looking at the music, fashion, TV shows, famous people and even computer games of the day.  The kids dressed up in outfits that you might find in one of these decades and I must say, they went all out!  The kids looked fantastic!  Most of them chose the 80s as I believe those fashion trends are coming back into style so the accessories were easy to find and enjoyable to wear. Some of my girls and their fabulously 80s outfits, including the "leg socks" as my boys called them. To end our day of super-fun-learning, we had a cat walk where the kids paraded around showing off their outfits while dancing to music of the day. The teachers, of course, had to get in on t...

When I was in sixteen, I traveled to Ireland with four other high school friends and our English teacher.  One of our English teachers (the one who "forced" us to memorize poems) was originally from Ireland and planned a trip there every summer.  Although she did not go on this trip, she still planned it for us, so we went to all of the best places.  I remember, very clearly, flying in, looking over the land and seeing nothing but green.  The plots of land were all neatly squared with rock walls separating them into different colors of green.  I quickly saw why it was called the "Emerald Isle."  It is no wonder then that the Irish have adopted the color of green to represent all that they hold near and dear to them. I was absolutely thrilled to get the chance to spend St. Patrick's Day in Ireland with Cindy.  The city and the people there were all decked out in green - from the buildings lit up at night to the kids with shamrocks painted on their che...

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is celebrated every March 17th.  He lived in the late 300s through mid 400s, so there is not a whole lot of information about him besides the legends that have developed around him.  That doesn't stop his home country from celebrating though! I've always loved St. Patrick's Day even though I have no real reason for it to be special to me, it was just a day I enjoyed celebrating.  So, when I realized that St. Patrick's Day fell on a weekend this year and I was just an hour's flight away, I decided it was a must for this year.  Thankfully, a fellow Fulbrighter, Cindy, joined me for the adventure and celebrations. We had a wonderful time exploring the green city and people-watching.  We even got to see St. Patrick in the parade today! I hope that you have had a wonderful day as well, where ever you may be, celebrating and enjoying the coming of spring!  If you were pinched today for not wearing green, go ba...

The city is all lit up in green, including the cathedral of the man responsible for this celebration!

Today was Red Nose Day: a day set aside to do something silly to raise money for charity. The money raised "will help poor and vulnerable people, both in the UK and Africa." We all wore red, including some red noses! Apparently each year the noses are a little different. This year they were several different dinosaurs, all funny and curious little creatures. The school also celebrated by having a bake off amongst some of the teachers. Six teachers competed in the food tech lab for the Great British Bake Off, Fulbrook style, supported by thirty screaming kids and a host of on-looking staff members. It was certainly a hoot and lots of fun watching as they raced to create the batter for the fairy cakes and then eagerly watched them bake. Despite all this excitement which usually changes the behavior, I had a great day with my kids. My year 6 English class has been near perfect this week, and so they were rewarded with a little extra playtime. And I had a blast this afternoon...

There is now an end date to this adventure.  There are some days when I'm eager to get home and some days when I really can't imagine leaving the life I've created here and the bonds that I've formed.  There are some days that four and a half months sounds like eternity, and some days when it seems like I have so much more to see and do that couldn't possibly fit into that time frame. After seven months (it was seven months ago today that I boarded my flight), I feel like I'm truly in the groove of things.  School seems to roll more and more smoothly, friends I've made are becoming closer and I am quite settled into my new routines.  I know I still have lots of time left, but I also know that that time will fly by, just as the last seven months have.  I am in absolutely no rush to be home, but I know I'll be very happy to be home when the time comes. In arranging my ticket this far in advance, I feel I'm giving my friends and family back home ple...

Today I went on a wonderful, easy field trip.  It is not often that field trips are so easy and stress free, but this one was lovely.  After counting the kids and getting them all loaded onto a bus, I and a few other members of staff took the kids about fifteen minutes away to a safety center called "Hazard Alley."  Through our PSHE lessons, we have talked about staying safe and what to do in an emergency.  Hazard Alley was a wonderful addition and culmination to this. Hazard Alley - Set up as its own little town with safety hazards and precautions. Hazard Alley is a giant warehouse that has been turned into a small town, complete with a petrol station, a building site, a train, homes, a shop, a pond, a farm, and several roads.  Each of these stations is a center where the children are taught about some basic safety tips.  Children learned safe ways to cross streets, how to behave in petrol stations, what to do if someone passes out, adults that you c...