Tag Archives: Teaching

The End of First Session

This was the last week of classes. With the expectation of a new baby from Prince Williams and Princess Kate, the class took another field trip on Tuesday to Buckingham Palace to see the baby. Unfortunately when the class reached the palace, the gates were surrounded by people; it was difficult for anyone to get a shot of the gate even. Therefore, it was even more difficult to get a glimpse of the queen or the princess and her new baby. Nevertheless, I managed to take pictures of the gate and the surrounding beauty of the area. The class also walked to St. James’ Park which was nearby and I snapped some photos. I especially enjoyed the birdlife at St. James’ Park. The park was filled with types of birds most prevalent throughout Britain, and for the first time, I saw a swan! Other than the amazing birdlife, I saw the London’s Eye at a distance from the park.

The main reason for the field trip was to go to the National Art Gallery at Trafalgar Square which is what the class later attended to. The gallery was very educational with paintings of fashion/style from 1500’s to recent times! The paintings mostly brought the clothes we studied to life, showing more context along with hairstyles and societal statuses of the wearers. The class explored the royal way of dress, the scholar, and middle/working class ways of dress of London. It was very educational seeing how outfits can be elaborated and decorated to express high status, but torn-down and humbled to express poverty or lack of money. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the National Art Gallery.

At the end of the class (Thursday), the class had to turn in final essays on whatever essay topic chosen. The essay was a lot of work, but I realized I learned a whole lot in the class. I had so much fun learning about fashion in these four weeks(to my surprise)! Too bad the fun is over for now until I begin my next class. Also, the class was not as rigorous as the Americans stereotype the British classes; it was surprisingly relaxing and fun!

Location: Buckingham Palace, London; Trafalgar Square, London

The Fun is Coming to an End

It has been three weeks since my fashion class began. After this week, I have only one more week left in the class before beginning my second class. I am extremely fond of everything I’ve learned about fashion in the class. I still am surprised at how similar (if not more lenient) the British way of learning and teaching is compared to the American way. This week, Tuesday, we went on another class field trip to the Museum of London. There, we received more detailed teachings of the historic fashions in London. The museum was better than the previous museums and textbooks because it showed the dresses we looked at in motion. There were videos by the dresses we studied that had animated women in them showing the movements the women made while wearing the dresses. Dresses from the 1800’s especially, had restrictions on movement and the class could see and feel what putting on 19th century dress was like. The museum included context very unique to all other museums the class has been to. It included an indoors park that the elite British could stroll in with beautiful, fancy gowns. This way, we were able to easily picture what wearing the gowns we saw would feel like if we had to stroll in the park with them ( we had a chance to stroll in this museum-made “park” also!). The museum was an interesting and extremely unique experience. And the features mentioned were only a few of the entire experience!

After the museum, the class took pictures together as usual and we rode on the train from London back to campus in Falmer (two hours away).

Location: London, England

Teaching Outside of the Classroom

Last week I mentioned about my goal to convey the differences between the American and British way of learning (if there are any). I am beginning to believe that these so-called differences are merely stereotypes. I’ve heard the British learning system is harsh, rigorous with high education quality that would leave you extremely intelligent. However, I haven’t encountered this yet. If anything, the British learning system is similar to my studying in America. Of course, I’m only speaking from only two weeks of experience in one class (The London Look) that is a fashion course. Perhaps when starting my second class, I would see more rigor or “British” learning, being it’s a Psychology class.

Not only am I finding British learning similar to American learning, I’m seeing that it also is more relaxed! This week, Tuesday, the tutors and the class embarked on another field trip; this is the second in two weeks! We visited both the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum in order to analyze deeper into the architecture, politics, and art that influenced dress. I found it brilliant to study fashion outside the classroom and the textbook. It was a very great experience in the end because I had an opportunity to view fashion “alive” and “in person”, as if I was there. I had a deeper knowledge of not just dress, but also setting and context of dress.

First, we went to the Royal Pavilion. There, we looked at the architecture of the building. We couldn’t quite enter it, but the outside was enough for one to become excited about. It resembles the Taj-Mahal with an Indian look and is cream-colored. According to one of the tutors, it was being built in late eighteenth century and early nineteenth, but the design was actually out-of-style during that time period. Therefore, these architects were attempting to revive an old style–very similar to what fashion does. The Pavilion was a building in which the wealthy class could attend its events, mingle, enjoy balls and dance parties. The outside of the building was absolutely my favorite part of it. From the look of it, it seemed to captivate the attention of people. This is perhaps why the wealthy took to liking it; it had a “wealthy” look to it. What a beautiful sight!

Next, we went to the Brighton Museum. We looked at furniture/art that influenced dresses as far as pattern and design. Then, we saw portraits of women from different time periods in dresses. The Art Deco was my favorite. It was a period that influenced fashion greatly with its geometric shapes of triangles, rectangles and circles and bold colors such as orange, black, red and brown. This inspired dress patterns and earring designs with shapes on them. These designs are still seen today. We then looked at portraits of dresses, seeing dress in a different light. Art was hugely important throughout history, and it showed in the paintings. I saw dresses from the 1600’s, 1700’s 1930’s and ’40’s. But aside from that, I saw the settings in which these women would wear the dresses, the hairstyles they would fix to go with the dresses, and also different types of shoes. The amazing difference between viewing a bunch of dresses in a book and the museum is that I can see the full context of a dress and gather all of that information together. It was the best way of learning.

So far, the British learning is more relaxed than the American. I feel that if I were in an American classroom learning about historical fashions, I would be staring in a book for the most time. And they call the British harsh!

Location: Brighton, England

Difficult Lecture

Today in class, we discussed the difficult topic of coping with children in the classroom who have experienced loss. As an education major, you don’t often think about the sad things that you may need to deal with. Today’s lecture was particularly difficult, and made me a little nervous about my future profession.

When I was in third grade, my best friend Natalie lived down the street from me. She was one year younger, and we got along like sisters. She and I would constantly play together, get into plenty of trouble, and spend hours at either her house or mine. This same year, Natalie’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember my mom telling me that Mrs. Bradon was sick, but I just assumed she would need to go to the doctor and she would be fine. Only a few short months later, Mrs. Bradon passed away. I remember my mom telling me that we were going to the funeral, and when there, I sat next to Natalie and colored for hours. We sat there in silence, coloring.

At the time, I never really thought about what happened much. I assumed that Mrs. Bradon was away on holiday, or that she would come back soon. Natalie and I continued to play, and nothing seemed to have changed. However, subconsciously I think I knew that Mrs. Bradon would never come back, and would never be there to make us lunch or warn me not to touch the radiator (when every time I ignored her and did it anyway… getting burns on my hand to prove it). Looking back now, especially after this lecture, I can see that Natalie was going through the toughest time of her life. As a future teacher, it is more than likely that I will go through dealing with a bereaved child. In such a case, I will look back to my past and remember Mrs. Bradon every time I come across a similar situation. Perhaps my sitting there, coloring with her, was the best thing that I could have done at the time. Allowing Natalie to know that I was there for her, that nothing had changed for me, and that I would still color with her even though her mom wasn’t going to be there anymore, supported her in a way that was subconscious. I would like to imagine that that helped her a significant amount, but I don’t know because of being so young at the time.

This lecture was particularly necessary. Oftentimes, as stated before, teachers do not think that anything will go wrong. We have this presumption that every child is happy and fine, but the reality is that children are often going through a lot more than we think. Learning methods to help children deal with troubling times made me nervous about teaching, but also put me slightly at ease, as now I have some ideas of methods I could use in the future. We as human beings do not like to discuss difficult topics, but they are very necessary and will prove to be helpful in the future.

Location: jonkoping, sweden

Skiing, Teaching, and A Trip to the Emergency Room: Three Unrelated Events

Hei alle! What a week it has been here in Trondheim! Here’s what’s been going on:

Last Friday Megan and I did not have school. Apparently it was supposed to just be a day off for the students and a work day for the teachers but somehow the teachers managed to get the day off too. I spent the day walking around the city with Megan and we met up with her mentor teacher Gunvor and her daughter for coffee at a cafe. That night Megan and I made a real homemade meal…which was delicious! We were quite proud of ourselves! All in all it was a very relaxing day that was much needed.

Photographic proof of our delicious meal!

On Saturday Megan and I went on the skiing trip to Mer�ker through SiT the housing office. We met at the Samfundet (basically the off campus student union) early in the morning to board the buses for the approximately 1 hour bus ride to the mountain. It was a beautiful drive through the Norwegian countryside. I began to notice that the weather was getting quite bad the closer we got to the mountain. I knew it was going to be an interesting day when our bus got stuck in the ice and started sliding backwards down the road. We eventually got that situation figured out and we made it to the ski lodge. By this time the weather had gotten pretty bad. I didn’t take a picture but I found one that describes the weather conditions well:

No, there is nothing wrong with your browser. This is actually what it looked like. It was a complete whiteout, but not the Penn State kind. You couldn’t see anything! The students running the program reminded us of an old Norwegian saying: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing”. And with that, we were off to get our skis.

After being fitted for my skis the staff sent me down the mountain, without direction or instruction. I must have been quite a sight to see. Unfortunately the ski lift (which was more like a people mover: you stood up on the ground and this contraption literally pulled you up the mountain) wasn’t working on the beginner hill so we were on the “childrens'” slope. Well another Norwegian saying goes “Norwegians are born with skis on their feet”. So naturally the kiddie hill was a bit more difficult than the equivalent would have been in the States. Honestly, skiing was really hard, especially with very little instruction (mostly from strangers willing to help me out) and the conditions. I made it down the mountain twice before deciding I should probably quit while I was ahead (i.e. still in one piece). All in all I would say that the trip was a success because I had the opportunity to chat with some other really cool international students and try something I’d never done before. I would like to try skiing again, but probably on a bunny hill with a patient instructor. =)

Monday was my first day teaching my own lessons. Honestly, my lesson was a bit of a dud. I was teaching my students the causes of World War I (which is difficult in itself), but adding the language barrier on top of that made it even harder. It was a great learning experience because now I know the type of language I need to use, how much content I should try to cover in one period, and general classroom management. My other lessons for the week (another social studies lesson, an English lesson, and a current events lesson) went much better. Being here has really made me aware of how difficult communication can be and that I really need to make a conscious effort to make sure that my students understand my vocabulary, the content we are covering in class, and the work that they are responsible for.

Tuesday was quite a day. In the morning Megan and I had by far the worst bus driver I’ve ever had the displeasure of riding with. Not only was the bus late but the driver kept slamming on the breaks for every little thing! By the time we arrived at school both Megan and I were feeling a bit queasy. Unfortunately things kept getting worse for Megan. After eating food prepared by our students, she began to feel quite sick. She made it home after school okay and we parted ways to our rooms. When I woke up from my nap I saw that Megan had Skyped me saying that she wasn’t feeling well…at all. Long story short, she had been stomach-sick all afternoon and needed to go to the hospital. I think that is the worst nightmare of every student abroad. Norway is known for having a health care system that is very different from the US. Did we go to the hospital? A private doctor? Th emergency room? Did we need our HTH medical cards? We had no clue what the rules were here. Megan’s phone was broken so I called our student assistant Ingrid (who did not pick up initially) and our program director Randi, who told us to take a taxi to the hospital. I finally got in touch with Ingrid who arranged to have a friend to take all of us to the hospital.

The hospital in Trondheim (St. Olav’s) is very similar to the hospitals that I have been to in the States, although there is way more art on the walls. Trying to make people feel more at home? I don’t know. We (Megan, Ingrid, Ingrid’s friend, and myself) got to the emergency room waiting area and took a number. We were called fairly quickly and Megan was taken into an examination room. They took her temperature with by far the coolest thing I have ever seen: it was hand-held instrument that the nurse put on Megan’s skin, moved it around to different areas of her face, and then waited for the beep to see what her temperature was. It was so cool! After the nurse (who spoke wonderful English) left, we waited for the doctor. And we waited. And we waited. About 2 hours later the doctor (who did not speak any English) came in and told her that she needed to get treatment in the emergency room. I’m still not sure what we were in for the first 2 hours, but regardless, we were moved down the the emergency floor.

When we got to the emergency floor Megan’s bed was placed literally in the middle of the hallway. There we waited again. Doctors and nurses just walked around us as if we weren’t there. (We later found out that there was a very serious car accident that required much of the staff’s attention, which is why we were kind of ignored for a while.) Once we waited in the hallway for about 2 more hours a nurse finally took Megan. It was the first time anyone had asked us for identification. Unfortunately we had absolutely no identification or proof of address for Megan because we left in such a rush. Apparently that was no big deal. No one seemed to be particularly worried that we had absolutely no form of ID. I guess that’s just how health care works around here: treat first and ask questions later.

It was about midnight when an emergency room doctor finally saw Megan. He determined that she either had food poisoning or the Norovirus (a.k.a. the Norwalk virus: a very contagious stomach virus that is highly contagious and is usually common in crowded places such as schools and cruise ships). Supposedly the Norovirus strikes Norway pretty hard every year. In fact, many kindergartens in Trondheim have been closed in January and February due to outbreaks of the virus. After hearing that the Norovirus is common in enclosed spaces the daily recess for my students (regardless of the weather) began to make a lot more sense. The doctor basically said that there wasn’t much to do so he sent us home. We had to take a taxi home because Ingrid and her friend had left about an hour earlier (they are teachers as well and had to go to school the next day). We left the hospital around 1am and I was home by 1:30am. Needless to say school the next day was less than fun. I’m happy to report that Megan is feeling much better now! She was really a champ throughout the entire ordeal. It’s scary being sick abroad but she handled it really well.

The rest of the week has been relatively uneventful. I’m trying to get in the swing of things: teaching and writing lesson plans. My social life is a bit dull since I have so much work to do and I’m exhausted after school. Hopefully I’ll be able to get more energy and experience some of Trondheim’s nightlife soon!

So a recap of the week:
-Days off from school are a much fun for the teachers as they are for the students.
-Skiing is hard.
-You don’t need ID to get treated in a Norwegian hospital.
-The Norovirus sucks.

Location: Edgar B Schieldropsvei 42-18 7033 Trondheim Norway

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