Submitted by Megan Scott on the 2012 summer session program in Australia sponsored by the School of Education…
What a week! Last weekend we went on two bus tours to see some of the sights outside of Melbourne. On Saturday we went on a tour of Philip Island, where we got to pet koalas, feed kangaroos, and even see wild penguins! It was great to finally experience some of the wildlife that Australia is famous for. Monday was the Great Ocean Road tour. We traveled by bus along the twisty road that runs alongside the Australian coast, where we were able to see some surfers as well as some famous rock formations (the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge).
On Tuesday and Thursday, we were able to go on two more school visits. On Tuesday, we visited Andale primary school and Rossbourne secondary school. Both are very small schools focused on helping students with mild intellectual disabilities. The teachers and students were once again extremely welcoming, showing us their classrooms and even treating us to a “sausage sizzle” for lunch. Thursday, we saw a public primary school, Princes Hill. This school had some very interesting philosophies for teaching and it was interesting to see a different approach to teaching the primary grades. The school was very focused on the students, allowing them to decide what subjects they wished to pursue and then building the curriculum upon those ideas. It has been very interesting to see these different teaching philosophies in the classroom and then be able to connect them to the topics we’re learning about in our Classroom Management and Assessment classes.
Friday started our free weekend for the trip. One group is headed off to the Great Barrier reef for the weekend while some of us stay in Melbourne. Today we’re headed off to Brighton Beach and tomorrow we’re going to visit the Melbourne zoo!