Week Ten: Cultural

After a week spent on the beach, it took a few days to get back into life at Ole Miss and especially to get back into the extreme onset of work which seems to be increasing by the day.  With the beautiful weather it's hard to concentrate on the amount of work we have to do, but needless to say I managed to get it completed anyway.


This week saw my last two days at Willie Price.  As I said goodbye on Thursday I realised that it was a lot more anticlimactic than the end of teaching practice at home is. This week as my peer's at Stranmillis finish their teaching practice they will be showered with cards, and small gifts and kind words, as the teacher and children have come to know and respect them over the past few weeks.  However here at Willie Price my role in their classroom was so small, that a simply goodbye is all that is said as myself and Sarah leave Willie Price for the last time.  It does make me slightly sad to think I'll never get to see the children again, although hopefully if I have spare time I will be able to go back before I leave.


This Saturday was probably my favourite day since I arrived in Oxford.  It was a beautiful day with the sun shining high in the sky and a slight breeze as we made the hour and a half journey to West Point, Mississippi, to visit the infamous Waverly Plantation.


The Plantation was built in 1852 by Colonel George Hampton Young and his wife Lucy, and was home to there family until 1913, when there last surviving son passed away.  The house was then left alone for 50 years to endure the harsh weather conditions, and the vandals, until in 1962 it was bought by Mr and Mrs Robert Snow, who restored it to its original beauty.

Today the Plantation stands on 50 acres of land, much less than the initial 5000, and has been almost perfectly restored, with the exception of the pool and bathing houses.  When we arrived I was stunned by the size and beauty of the house and its gardens.  We were warmly greeted by the Daughter of Mrs Snow, who now lives and looks after the house.  She gave us a wonderful and very informative tour of the house, describing the life, and parties of the Young family, and the people who have since came to visit the house.


We then had the opportunity to walk around the grounds by ourselves, and see where the old ice house was, and view an old Magnolia tree which is said to be over 200 years old, making it the oldest and biggest in the state.

I have always had a passion for history, so the opportunity to visit this wonderful plantation, and learn all about the history and culture of these people was unbelievable. 

Week Nine: Personal

Entering Panama

On Saturday 10th march I set off with some of my new friends for my first ever spring break experience!  As we loaded the Jeep on a beautiful spring morning my excitement increased at the thought of a week on a beach in Florida.  However I had the 8 hour drive to conquer first!  I have never been a good traveller, and realistically there is no where at home that I ever go that is more than a 2 hour drive, so the idea of 8 hours stuck in a car was not at all appealing.  Thankfully the car journey flew by with various food stops, and at 7 that night we drove into Panama City, where we would spend our spring break.


Our hotel was right on the beach, with a beautiful view of the sea.  Initially on Sunday it was a bit cloudy but warm, however Monday to Friday were warm sunny days, which we spent lazing on the beach and swimming in the sea.  It was so relaxing to be able to spend the days lying in the sun and playing beach volleyball, or swimming in the sea and collecting shells.  It was a perfect way to spend the week after the hectic few weeks which have just passed.  We also ate out at numerous local restaurants, and I experienced various forms of fish which seems to be the local food source in Florida, from crab, catfish to calamari and shrimp.

View from the hotel

One of the highlights of the week was the free concert on the beach by one of my favourite country singers, Luke Bryan.  I have always loved country music since I was a child and in America my love has tripled as country music is everywhere!  On Tuesday I headed down to a restaurant by the beach where I queued along with thousands of other college students to see Luke Bryan.  Finally after about an hour we got out onto the deck where he was playing, and I spent two hours standing in the sun on a beach in Florida listening to one of my favourite singers play.  It probably was one of the best afternoons of the trip and I am definitely going to try and see him again before I leave!

Unfortunately St Patricks day fell on the Saturday we were due to drive home from Florida, so I didn't really get to celebrate it.  However everywhere I looked American's were wearing green T-shirts and hats and making more of a fuss about the holiday than we do at home!  On the way home we stopped at Burger King, where we were given green ketchup and green drinks, I was half expecting my chips to end up being green.


Despite an amazing week away with some amazing people, I found myself slightly homesick for Oxford, and I was extremely glad to finally make it home late Saturday night, despite the large amount of washing, revising and work which lay ahead of me!  Although this does make me wonder how homesick for Oxford I will be when I finally leave, as a week away caused me to miss it!

Week Eight: Cultural

The week before spring break definitely was an incredibly busy one.  With the days getting longer and warmer campus took on a new life with people lazing in the sun, or frantically trying to revise for their mid terms.  It seemed as everyone was truly ready for the week break which begins for me tomorrow.


On Monday I had to give my first American presentation on a Behavioural Theorist, Spencer Kagan.  I was in a group of four and we had to talk about his behavioural strategies for 30mins.  Although I found this initially nerve wreaking, it actually went really well, and I felt that I learned a lot by watching and participating in the presentations.  The rest of the week consisted of more work for classes, and assignments which were due.


Even during my observation this week I noticed a slightly more relaxed atmosphere.  On thursday the children were hyper, running around singing or bursting into tears for no apparent reason.  I am constantly learning every minute I spend with the kids.  Its a great experience getting to work with children so young and from a completely different culture.  As Willie Price is on the University campus the children tend to be from well off family's and I found it quite amusing to hear them talk about flying halfway across the county to their holiday home for the week, or going to stay at their beach house.  For such young children they really are extremely bright!

A Professional photo of Rowan Oak

This week I experienced even more of the wonderful american culture, with a trip to a southern restaurant on the square.  It really is so strange eating so much fried food! The Americans fry literally everything from chicken to pickles and tomatoes!  Also their love of catfish and grits is something I can't quite get used to!  We also visited the house of famous author and nobel prize winner, William Faulkner.  Faulkner grew up in a beautiful southern house in Oxford, which is now open to the general public.  Rowan Oak (Faulkner's house) was built in 1844 and is situated on over 29 acres of land. He is such an influential character within southern literature, and a big claim to fame for such a small town like Oxford.  I have also had a real interest in both history and reading so visiting his house was a lovely experience.


Walking around the square on a sunny March afternoon is a lovely experience, as the grass is getting greener, the leaves and flowers are growing back, and everyone seems happier.  Sometimes I forget that I'm in a different country.  I feel lucky that along with the stress of the last week before spring break, I was still able to experience a lot more of the culture of Oxford and it's local community.

Week Seven: Professional

As part of my observation in Willie Price I have to write a three day lesson plan and teach one lesson.  As myself and Sarah are in the same class we decided to co teach for our one lesson.  This was more convenient because there is only one hour a day where the class teacher actually gets to teach so we had to make full use of this hour.  It also meant we both gained a new experience, and were able to learn from each other.

As we started to learn about lesson planning in one of our classes, it became apparent to us how much we knew about teaching in comparison to third year students at Ole Miss.  Here the student teachers don’t actually go to a school until their third year and they only teach one lesson that year. I found this extremely odd, especially in comparison to home, where we are made to teach for four weeks in first year.  Therefore having to plan and teach one lesson was something myself and sarah actually looked forward too, as we had a lot more experience than the rest of our class.

We decided to teach our lesson this week as the topic for the week was transportation, which was something we both felt we could plan good activities for.  On thursday we taught our lesson on cars, which the children appeared to thoroughly enjoy, and get a lot out of.  The main challenge for myself and Sarah was not actually the co teaching. We managed to structure our lesson very well, with one of us teaching the opening and one the closing.  We then shared the main content and activities.  However our main challenge was in fact planning activities to suit the age group.  The children in our class are all either three or four years old, which made them younger than any children we had previously taught.  The children couldn’t actually read or write, yet they were extremely intelligent.  They knew their alphabet, number, colours etc, so we had to come up with a way for them to learn without actually having to do any formal writing.

We used the idea of centres to help the children learn.  At one centre they practiced their letter C, at one they sorted their toy cars into various categories, at another they made their own car picture out of paint, and at the last centre they made car noises which they had heard in the book we read them.  All four centres worked extremely well, with the children practicing various skills.  Myself and Sarah were extremely pleased with the outcome of the lesson.

Despite the increasing amount of uni work, I am still loving life here in Oxford.  As the weather warms up there is so much more to see and do, with Baseball season starting and spring break just around the corner.  As I sit out in the sun writing this I still find it hard to believe that I’m in Mississippi, and I’m beginning to wonder will it ever sink in!