Australia 2007 Week 6

Student Teaching in Australia-Spring 2007 Week 6: May 28-31 Dr. McDonald and a group of CMU student teachers are currently in the Perth, Australia area. Dr. McDonald is sharing his diary and pictures of the students as they experience student teaching 'down under'. View other pages of diary < 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 River Trip Service Learning >
May 28: Aaron taught a lesson with his Year 8 students on ultimate frisbee, which is played internationally. Aaron stretched with his physical education students, had them run a few laps, and then introduced this new game to them. Aaron had them practice throwing and catching a Frisbee. Then his students had a try at playing their first game.
Aaron stretching with his Year 8 PE class at Govo	Aaron's students playing ultimate frisbee at Govo in a PE class
William taught his personal finance class about budgets at Govo. They learned about categories to include in a budget, income, and liabilities. A sample budget was shared. Personal finance is something that Australian students need according to some authors. A book entitles Rich Dad, Poor Dad was shared with students and William talked about his own budget and getting through college. The students then figured out some budgets and did some calculations.
William going over a lesson on budgets with his personal finance class at Govo.
This evening we started making our didgeridoos with Robyn and David. Seven people are working on this optional project as part of a study on aboriginal culture. Robyn and David were kind enough to host us at their house and even provided dinner. This is a project that will take several evenings to complete. Thanks to Robyn and David were got off to a good start. It is peaceful yet labor intensive to burn designs into a didge
Robyn painting for the students who have placed orders with her	Robyn and Melissa dot painting
Robyn and David helped us with didge designs and were kind enough to host us at their home	We worked on our didges for about 5 hours, late into a Monday evening
Dr. McDonald, Aaron, Stephan, Sarah, Jenny, and Jared are working on their designs	The metal wire can burn straight lines or a curved wire can make circles. Traditional didges are made from hollowed out eucalyptus branches. They are hollowed out by termites in the bush
Dr. McDonald is using metal wires heated in a charcoal fire to burn images into his didge	There are 7 of us making didgeridoos as an optional activity on aborginal culture. Robyn looks on as we get started
May 29: Michelle taught her preprimary students about how to group or classify Australian animals. They have been learning about possums, kangaroos, emus, quokkas, and lizards. Students grouped animals according to scales, fur, feathers, or other. This was simply and awesome science lesson for this age student and I commend Michelle for her preparation and creativity. The students were engaged and had a lot of fun.
May 30: Lauren taught a math lesson to her Year 5 students at Guildford Grammar. The topic was geometry. Lauren used a smart board to illustrate how to flip, rotate, and spin a polygon. The students were engaged by the technology and many of them got to come up and try some attributes of their polygon.
Lauren used a smart board during her math esson with her Year 5 students	Lauren's cooperating teacher Ben at Guildford Grammar Preparatory School.
Stephan continued his food web unit with his Year 7 class at Hillcrest Primary School. Each of the students had done research on an animal’s habitat, predators, and eating habits. They took a picture of that animal and used yarn to build and understand their own food web and food chains. Stephan used well constructed questions to show how students could apply their knowledge.
Stephan beginning his science lesson with his Year 7 students	Each student has done extensive research on an animal. They know what they eat and who its natural predator is. The foodweb lesson is an application of the knowledge learned by theYear 7 students
Stephan finishing his lesson on foodwebs.
Natasha taught a lesson on healthy and unhealthy choices in physical and mental health for her Year 1 class at Anzac Terrace Primary School. Students brainstormed various good and bad feelings and who they could talk to about not feeling well. Natasha even played Charades with them to act out the feelings and how they affect you.
Natasha helping her students with independent work on who they can talk to when they do not feel well	Natasha sharing a lesson with her Year 1 students at Anzac Terrace Primary School on healthy and unhealthy feelings.
Alison taught a science lesson to her Year 3 class on the hibernation of Michigan animals. The class filled in a 5W chart (why, where, what, who, and when) as they established what animals would need to hibernate. A very creative lesson held the students’ attention at the end of the day.
Alison's class is filling in a 5W chart during her science lesson	Alison teaching a lesson on how Michigan animals hibernate to her Year 3 class at Mt. Lawley Primary School
Tonight we had our student teaching seminar. Len Sparrow from Curtin University was our speaker. The topic was effective teaching. Students learned about engagement, enquiry, student talk, and challenge. The students actively participated in the lesson.
Students practicing active learning during Len Sparrow's seminar	Len Sparrow, chair of the Education Department at Curtin University in Perth, and maths methods instructor, giving a seminar for our students on effective teaching.
May 31: I am off to Broome to enjoy the holiday weekend. Western Australia is celebrating Founder’s Day, the beginning of the colony in WA.
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