Second day, second years

Another eventful day has passed at Larbert and also here at the house. Let me start at the beginning (a very good place to start).

We all woke up this morning and ate breakfast at 8. 8:30 was our designated History of the Reformation Movement class. It was, again, very interesting. Class was over about 10:00 and Kurt and I didn't have to be at our school until 1:15. So I messed around on Facebook among other things while we waited for lunch. Emilee Wood and I had some cool bonding time. She's a cool kid. We ate lunch and then all departed for our schools. When Kurt and I arrived, we went to the Geography Base room where we were going to meet Mr. Martindale, my cooperating teacher. When we had talked about what the plans were for the afternoon, we got started. We walked around to several different classes as Mr. Martindale checked up on the teachers who were explaining the procedures for the student's Activities Day on Thursday. Then we met Mr. Pinnock, Kurt's cooperating teacher in English, and he took us to a classroom where teachers were preparing a group of students to go to Italy on Thursday for 5 days. There was so much energy in the room and the students (S3) were very rowdy. But everything was passed out and explained, after much shushing and rolling of eyes and teenage boys showing off. It made me thank my lucky stars that I was NOT a middle school education major. From there, we proceeded to our own observation classrooms. I was sent to *Mrs. McClurg's class - an S2 History class. These students were in about our 8th grade, so very rowdy, talkative, and disruptive natures because it's just that awkward stage of life. Third time I thanked those stars in two days. I introduced myself and as soon as I opened my mouth, all the kids started staring at me with their mouths open and smiling. I tell, ya, mesmeration works every time. I sat at the back of the class and just watched and listened. I actually learned stuff that I had never known before, or had forgotten if I had ever been told. Keep in mind, this history was taught from a Scottish point of view. Anyway, I watched and observed the teacher. I didn't like her teaching style - I think she wasted too much time being silent when she could have been passing on more information. It was interesting, but not very informative. But the kids were nice, and I could definitely tell who the trouble-makers were because Mrs. McClurg was the sternest with them. But they knew their place in the classroom. She had the power. Woot!

Class got out at 3:30 and Kurt found his way to the Geography Base to collect his things and he and I went out to the front to meet Mr. Wood... except, he wasn't there. At least, we didn't see him. So, we walked back to Carronvale House. It took us 25 minutes to walk. Good exercise, but I had other things to do. Oh well. We got back to the House and Mr. Wood was sitting in the foyer. He told us he had been waiting for us at the visitor's entrance, then went around to try and find us and never could. He tried twice and gave up. I don't know how me missed us, but Kurt and I had good bonding time anyway. I sat and caught up on Facebook before dinner. Ate sausage rolls and chips (yum!) and then went to games night with kids from Cumbernauld CofC. It was SOO much fun! We played a tripped out game of freeze. One side of the court was port, the other was starboard and we had to play like we were on a ship. The captain would call out a command like PORT!, STARBOARD!, Captain's coming!, Captain's wife is coming!, Up a Gum Tree!, Cannonball!, etc. It was AWESOME! I was the first person out because I couldn't understand what the Captain was saying. Oh well, it was SOO much fun to watch! We also played a game called Squishy Ball. Everyone was split up into two teams and given a number. Everyone had a number correspondent on the other team and there was a koosh ball in the middle. The narrator (for lack of a better term) would call out a number and both of the people with that number would get up, get the koosh ball and try and get it back to their spot on their team's side while the other player tried to do the same and take the ball away. It was a blast! I was on the floor a lot (and I have the bruises and cuts to prove it) but I think I would definitely play it again. Yeah, we had a good evening.

And that's been it for today, ladies and gentlemen.

Tomorrow is another day. I can't wait to see what it will bring!

Cheers, everyone!

Aimee

*Names changed to protect the innocent