My first day at school!

Wow. So I really enjoyed today, but my feet are very glad to be without shoes at the moment. Quite an eventful day. Let me de-brief you if you so desire.

After a very short breakfast, Kurt and I (the other HU student at the High School) were met by my cooperating teacher, Mr. Martindale, at the front door of Carronvale House. He took us to school (Larbert High School) this morning to show us around, which was very nice of him to do. We got there, signed in, got security passes which basically gives us free reign of the grounds while we are here, and took a tour around the school. It's HUGE. It is in the shape of the letter "P" and is the second largest high school in all of Scotland. It has around 1850 students from ages 11 - 18. They call this age S1 to S5, so basically grades 6-12. I was completely amazed at the number of different programs that are offered here. I know many of the programs I saw there either are not offered in most public schools, or I just don't hear about them. They have wood work, culinary arts, a morning "Breakfast Club" that offers a 7:30 aerobics class with free breakfast, dance classes, table tennis classes, music classes and tutors of all kinds ranging from piano to oboe to harp, etc., a fairly extensive language arts program offering French, Spanish, German, and hopefully Mandarin Chinese in the near future. There are more but I just can't remember them all at the moment... there was so much to see and learn!

I met about a hundred people today, or so it felt like. I only remember 2 people's names, but I will get better as time goes on and I learn my way about the school. The Humanities department is very large and offers History, Geography, and Religion and Moral Studies (History RMS). There are (I'm guessing) about 20 or so teachers in this department alone and about 150 on the campus itself. Everyone I met was very friendly and courteous. Several were pretty amused that Americans were there as "baby teachers" to get a feel for what life would be like in the school. Others were very excited, since next week after testing and the short holiday are over, the history department will start a unit on United States History, and they want to use me as reference. Yay! Our "quick" tour took about an hour and a half and I almost could never figure out where I was. It all looked the same to me. But I'll get it eventually. At least, I hope I do.

After our "quick" tour and a tea break, Kurt and I headed to the assembly that was going on. A group of Masai Warriors from Kenya had traveled to do a demonstration for the students. Since the location the students were in was very small, each grade had a time that they were designated to attend it, unless you were in isolation. Then you didn't get to go at all. Anyway, the group that just so happened to be there were the S2's (13-14 year olds). After watching them for about 5 minutes, I was SO very glad that I was not a middle school teacher. I honestly don't think I could handle students as rowdy and disrespectful as they were. However, the problem here in the UK is that there are so many rules about how you can and cannot discipline children, even as a parent. There is a law that says that a parent is forbidden to spank their child after age 3. Most children don't need spanking until they're almost 5 (at least in cases I've been a part of), therefore, it serves no benefit to the child. Many of them grow up wrecks and stay that way, making them a nightmare for teachers to handle. Society here does not discipline the growing child and it is such a shame to see the state that the kids are in today here. A lot of them could use a good licking and community service.

One thing I do really like about Larbert (because I don't know if this is the standard for schools all across the UK) is that they do not have Behavioral or Learning Disabilities centers. They are called Learning Support centers, and Behavioral Support centers. Students aren't labeled as a negative when they walk in the door. They are there to get help, yes, but under a more positive atmosphere than someone saying "You have a learning/behavioral disability." Maybe it's just me, but I like the more optimistic approach of the "Support Centers" than the "Disability Centers". It makes it much more likely that a student will walk in the door because they are not seen as a problem that cannot be fixed, rather as a learner who needs a little boost in their educative juices.

After the awesome assembly, we were able to get lunch and then it was time to leave. We had two classes of our own to attend back at Carronvale House and had to be back by 2. Since Mr. Wood was at the school with us for some of the day, he drove us back, but not before we picked up 4 more passengers in a car that only holds 4. Put 3 and 4 together and you have 7 people in one car for 4... we had one ride in the trunk and another laying across laps. We're pretty sure that's against the law... Oh, well. Fun times!

I really enjoyed our History of the Restoration Movement. Yes, it's a Bible class, but it's a HISTORICAL bible class. Yay history! AND it's taught by a Scottish man, Mr. Ferrie. He's pretty awesome. I can't wait until class tomorrow morning!

So far, that's been all the excitement of the day. Tomorrow I will get to be in a classroom, but since the actual high school students are gone out of the country for after-testing holiday, there won't be many classes to attend. But that's ok. It's better to start slow, I suppose.

Now, off to go play Mafia with the gang.

More updates coming later!!

Cheers, everyone!

Aimee