McCartney
Undergraduate
Exceptional Education |
McCartney
Undergraduate
Exceptional Education |
Ciao! So many amazing things have been happening here in Siena since Easter Holiday! I’ve jumped right in and have been teaching many lessons and have been co-teaching and planning with my mentor teacher! My mentor teacher has been wonderful, and we have worked really well together planning and brainstorming different ideas to come up with what will work best and how the students will gain the most out of each lesson. This past week my mentor teacher went on paternity leave; I was sad that him and I wouldn’t be working together anymore but I was excited for the opportunity to work with the new teacher coming in and to be able to take almost full control of the classroom. While this has been a lot of working planning and making sure that each lesson would be beneficial to the students’ academic growth, it sure is worth it! My class is a wonderful group of students and they each bring something unique to the class community and I love getting to know them better each day. We started here at the International School of Siena at the perfect time because we were able to start and finish the unit of inquiry with the students. The UOI that grade 2 has been working on these past two months have been about water! This unit has been very fun for me since I’ve been able to bring so much to the classroom since Niagara Falls and The Great Lakes are right in my backyard! It’s been fun to share pictures with the kids of me at Niagara Falls. We have been able to do so many hands-on activities within this unit and that’s the kind of learning I love most! The experiments we have completed in this unit was water cycle in a bag, making rain gauges, and making water filters! These were all great experiments for the students to see how things work firsthand. On Monday we got to go on a field trip to Fontana Delle Monache. The students got to see underground fountains and see how a proper water filter was made and used. The students really enjoyed this field trip as they were able to connect things with what we learned in the classroom and all about a hidden gem of Siena! I also loved this field trip because I loved being able to learn more about Siena’s amazing culture and history! To wrap up the water UOI, my class will be preforming an assembly for their parents and the rest of the students in PYP. This gives them the opportunity to share all of their hard work throughout the unit. I can't believe I have less than a week left with these amazing students. While school has been a lot of work, rewarding but a lot I’ve still had a lot of time exploring Italy and making the most of the time we have left! I can't say enough how wonderful my host family is and how much I am enjoying my time with them. Having Rachael live in my host house with me has been such a bonus, we may or may not be telling the students that we are sisters and as far as I’m concerned, she is and always will be my Italian sister! Not only is our host family lovely all the families that the Buffalo State cohort got placed to have all been super welcoming of not only their own host student but of all of us! In Siena different neighborhoods are represented by different symbols and colors and they are called contrade. The people who belong to the contrade are very passionate about it. Kelsey’s family belongs to one of the contrade and the contrada were having a week-long celebration and had festivals, dinners, and parties every night of the week. Kelsey’s family so nicely invited us to come to one of these parties and let me just say WOW, Italians really know how to party. We were welcomed with a huge buffet of food (which was all SO delicious) and was followed by a DJ and dancing. It was one of the most fun nights we have had here in Siena, and I loved being a part of this Siena custom. We also made a day trip to Pisa and of course took the typically tourist picture next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa! It was downpouring the entire trip to Pisa, but we still made the best of the experience. We walked around the town, saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and ate a very good dinner. Just like every other place I’ve traveled to in Italy Pisa had its own charm that made it different from all the rest of the places in Italy. This past weekend some of the girls and I from the Buffalo State cohort traveled to Cinque Terre. I’ve always seen this place on social media and always thought I needed to go and see all the beauty for myself and I’m so happy I did because even though the pictures are beautiful it doesn’t fully capture all its beauty. We spent the weekend going to the beach, shopping, a sunset boat tour and ended it with an amazing dinner and gelato. You might be reading this feeling very jealous about how wonderful of a weekend we had and yes, we did but let’s be honest things weren’t all perfect at the end of our trip. We all had such a great time talking about how we didn’t want to leave while we were watching the sunset and eating gelato not realizing we might not be able to leave. When we finally made our way to the train station, we looked up at the board to figure out what platform we needed to go to and what did we see in big bold orange letters… CANCELLATO. There was a train strike from 5pm-9pm and all of the trains weren’t running. After waiting in a very long ticket booth line, we were able to get new tickets. BUT… these tickets could only take us to a train station that was an hour away from Siena because of the strike there weren’t any trains back to Siena for that night. Again, we were in a panic, but Orie’s host dad came to the rescue and picked us up at midnight! See I told you all of our host families are amazing. I am loving everything that this experience has to offer, and I can't believe it is coming to an ended so quickly.
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Ciao! This journey has been absolutely amazing, and I can't believe that we only have about two weeks left… AHHH. I remember feeling so nervous, anxious, and excited leading up to this trip, not knowing what was in store, but this journey has been better than anything I could have hoped for or imagined, and I never want it to end. I am extremely lucky that I was chosen to represent Buffalo State and be a part of this journey. I’ve been so lucky to have made lifelong friendships with all of the girls I have traveled with from Buffalo State, getting placed with the sweetest, most welcoming host family, and being able to work with all of the wonderful staff and students at the International School of Siena. There were definitely some days that were better than others with the language barrier and the stress of student teaching, but having such a great support system and the reality of living in Italy, there really have been only good days! I have had so many great experiences and have been able to do many things in my free time! During the Easter holiday, my boyfriend came to visit me, and we had an amazing time traveling to Rome, Venice, and Florence. We spent three days exploring Rome. The city was filled with so much history and culture, and at every turn, there was something that just seemed better than what we had just seen. The Trevi Fountain was always something that I wanted to see, and all I could say is WOW! You NEED to add this to your list of things you need to see in your lifetime. After the three days in Rome, we packed up and headed to Venice! Getting off the train and just being surrounded by all the boats and water, I instantly fell in love with this city. Of course, we took a ride through all the canals in a gondola, and that was my most favorite thing we did! We went to Murano and Burano, the sister islands of Venice, and they both were lovely. After our short trip to Venice, we headed to Florence. I was very excited to bring my boyfriend here since I have been to Florence multiple times before our Easter holiday, and I felt like a true local being able to show him all the sights and being able to navigate throughout the city without always having to rely on Apple maps. In Florence, we met up with some of the girls from the cohort I traveled with, and I loved that my boyfriend was able to meet all of my new friends! To end our Easter holiday, we went on a wine tour through the beautiful Tuscan countryside. I keep getting the question of where my favorite placed, I traveled to was but I truly can't pick. All of the cities have been amazing and so unique it was hard to compare them to come up with the answer of what my favorite place was! I am in love with Italy and feel like this is home! This was such a nice holiday, and I thoroughly enjoyed traveling, eating, and drinking all around Italy! I am so excited to get back to school to see my students and hear all about what they did over the Easter holiday!
Ciao! First week of school is in the books! I am student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom, there are 12 students in my class and they all have been so wonderful and very welcoming! The first day we had a short tour of the school and got to say hello to our mentor teachers and the students. All of the staff have welcomed us with open arms to their school family! I already know that this is going to be one of the hardest goodbyes. The layout of the school was very interesting and very different from all of the schools I have been in at my Buffalo placements. The primary years to the high school years are all in one building, creating a community. The school is located on the top of a hill and although the hike up it every morning can be difficult the view over looking Siena is worth it every time! One thing about my class that is different about the schools back in Buffalo is the size. The classrooms are much smaller but with a smaller class size this is not an issue, it makes for a great space for deep conversations and attentiveness to each student. The classroom has easy access to outside with a big open space for the children to use during break time or can be used for instruction! This placement is going to allow me to have great findings in my research topic, which is the role extracurricular activities play in academics. The school week allows the students to participate in many different specials including drama, art, music, dance, physical education and many more. This allows the students to try many different things and to help them know what they want to specialize in. The school held a sports day for the students to compete in, this event was amazing to be apart of and gave a great opportunity to see the students in a social setting rather than in an academic one. I am very excited for all of my weeks to come here at the International School of Siena! Outside of school I also have been having a wonderful experience! My host family is extremely welcoming and makes the best meals for dinner! I have not eaten a bad meal in Italy in the entire two weeks I have been here! My favorite is to try all of the gelato places! The city of Siena is beautiful and I have loved to explore all of the things the city has to offer! Rachael and I spent the day on Saturday at the farm and were fascinated by all of the animals, especially the peacock! I love how you can go from the city to a farm to a residentially neighborhood all within a ten minute walk from each other!
Ciao! The day I have been waiting for is quickly approaching as I depart for Italy tomorrow morning! I am filled with so many different emotions and feelings. The two emotions that I have been feeling most are nerves and excitement! The idea of living and immersing myself in a new culture excites me, and it’s hard to think about what I’m most excited for when everything is going to be a new experience! The nerves are definitely present and it’s going to be very hard to leave my friends, family and life at home, but they have been so supportive, and I am ready to take on the world! A lot of the nerves I’m feeling are coming from the fact that I still have to pack… for someone who always over packs this task is going to be difficult! I have been lucky enough to be placed at many different schools and observed different grades and styles of teaching but the placement in Siena is one I am most ready for! I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher and work with children and this experience to build relationships and learn from each other will help me grow as an educator and as a person and give me tools that I can use for the rest of my life. I am going to be researching and observing the way that extracurricular activities play a part in students’ education. I hope to do all I can to be involved in the school community and making the most of my time! I am very excited to live with a host family as this is going to be a very new experience for me. I am very excited that Rachael will be living in the same host house as me and that her and I will be able to continue to grow our relationship and navigate living with a host family together! I am extremely ready and grateful for this experience to deep my understanding and love for teaching, build relationships with everyone around me, and immerse myself in all the Italian cultures and traditions! I can’t wait for you to follow me along on this amazing journey!
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AuthorCiao! I am extremely excited about the opportunity to student teach at the International School of Siena! I have always had a passion for travel and working with children, and this will be a great opportunity for my dreams to turn into reality. I am thrilled to build relationships with my mentor teachers, students, host family, and all the amazing people I will meet along the way. I can't wait to immerse myself in the Italian culture and create memories that will last a lifetime! ArchivesCategories |