Differences

I love finding the differences between the schools here and the schools in America. Yesterday I was talking with Helen about having the students write to a pen pal in Alabama. My friend, Brittany, is doing her student teaching in Tuscaloosa and we thought it would be neat to have the kids write to one another and learn a little bit about the others' culture. When I asked Helen about where to get stationary and what would be the cheapest way to mail the letters, she told me, "No worries, we'll use the school's budget to buy stationary and mail them." I was shocked! In the states, the budget is tight and even if you do get to spend the money, it must be on something just for the classroom. I do feel like I'm in fantasy land here and that money is no object. I wish America would wake up and spend more money towards education and then maybe the kids would enjoy going to school more. Although Western Australia is big on providing their students with all of the learning materials needed, they do lack on the inclusion of special education students. At my school there are no special education classes - not even gifted. There are specific schools in the area that are just for special ed. children. However, the learning disabled students are helped with education assistants who are in and out throughout the week. I found it very difficult today when I was teaching my multiplication lesson about the multiples of three. About half of the class understood what I was teaching and then the other half looked like deer in the headlights and you could tell that it just went over their heads. Then, when I finally had all my students settled and working on independent work, I went over to my weaker students' table to provide assistance. Before I knew it, the above average students were finished and asking what to do next. I was very frustrated in the gap of learning abilities. Yes, I probably should've had more extensions for the above average group, but I was really hoping that the below average group would hop on the bandwagon with the activities I provided. I kept thinking about how much these kids would get out of the lessons if they were provided with a small portion of the day in an LD class. (I know my mama would help em!) So those are just a couple of the differences I have found in the education portion of my trip. I also picked up a package of Starbursts at the store tonight...



















How bizarre is it to eat a baby????