My second week in Melbourne has been much easier and more awake. As I cross roads and look to find my way around the city, the places are starting to look very familiar, and I am becoming a professional at taking the trams to get me to the destinations I need. As the weather gets cooler, it has become evident that Melbourne weather is much similar to Vancouver. Lets just say it has a mind of its own. It rains followed by the sun shining, and once in a while a hailstorm. It is surely unpredictable. The coffee in Melbourne is the greatest coffee I have ever had. I can for sure say Melbourne is the coffee capital of the world.
After work snack
At Fitzroy, I started Monday morning, by partaking in a woodworking class. Here if a teacher is away, they usually find internal coverage. Monday morning, we had a free block; therefore we were assigned to the woodworking class. It was great to observe one of the many electives offered by the school. The students were all doing a very good job on their projects. Some were working on bookshelves, skateboards and jewelry boxes. It is amazing to see how creative kids can be if we give them the freedom and option too. The rest of Monday consisted of me running around, preparing, and talking to the lab technicians about my “Cool Science Day”, for the year 10 students next week. I also did trial runs of all the demos, to make sure they work, before I present it to the kids.
Tuesday morning we started the day at a university or as Australians say it “Uni”, in the city. They had provided an information session about how students can apply to different courses at university, and what they need to consider. It was followed by a bit of a gallery walk where students could check out the different universities. It was a great and informative session to learn about how the post secondary education system works. It reminded me of my grade 12 year, when I was nervous about applying to university and figuring out my future. I shared with some students that even though everyone knew I would be a teacher, I had several different career ideas, before I followed through with teaching. I found it very interesting, that unlike North America, applying to universities outside of the sate is not very common in Australia. Most of the students apply to universities in the state they are living, and usually live at home. This is also because there are number of big universities available in one state, and students are generally happy staying in their own city.
Getting Chemicals Ready
Woodworking Classroom
While the year ten students are still on work experience this week, we had some extra sessions to cover for other teachers. The rest of our classes were physics 11, 12 and business management 12. In physics 11, the teacher makes videos of lessons, with examples. This gives the students independence to watch the videos and go at their own pace learning the materials. It creates differentiated learning. The school provides laptops to the year 11 and 12 students, so if students don’t have their own electronic device, they can use the schools to watch the videos. After they have watched a video, the teacher provides questions, and makes himself available for students to be in charge of their own learning, and be successful. The videos are very helpful, and a great tool for promoting self -regulation. The videos take a lot of time and effort to make, however I believe that it is a great learning tool for students.
A Fitzroy Classroom
As the days go by, I am becoming more accustomed to the language, which is very different even though it is English, and as well as the education system. Working with an older age group is extremely different. The number of highly motivated students increases, especially in a physics class, however you still have students that need the extra help with self-regulation, as well as encouragement. I look forward to teaching a lesson, as well as conducting a lab with the year ten students upon their return to school after their two-week work experience.