Day 3

Bild!! Which is art class in Swedish! At first I was a hit nervous for this class but , the teacher that I am working with really made me feel comfortable. The students were also really welcoming in these classes, they even taught me some Swedish. I am feeling a lot more comfortable here at this school, and next week I will start the exchange project with one of the 7th grade classes. I am getting really eager to start teaching!! But just for this week I will look and observe, and hopefully by next week I can start working with the students! The first class was a 8th grade class, these student were working on a travel poster, also what I found to be really interesting is at the end of every art class they reflect on new things that they learned that day, which I thought was really cool, because then they get a chance to think about what they had done for the day. The second class was working with pencil, in this class they had a lot of questions about me and where I came from, which is great because this is the class that I will be using for the project exchange! My day then ended after lunch which was new to me considering I stay at school in the US until 4:00. I can't wait to continue seeing what goes on in the schools!!
Talk to you all soon!
Theresa

Day 2

Second day!
Today was a really light day compared to yesterday, my music classes didn't start until 9:10 today so to kill some time I went and visited a wood working class. In this class students were making handles for knives and leather cases to hold them. These were 6 year students and they were working at the level of high school students back home it was amazing!! Finally when my teacher arrived we went for the first class which was very similar to yesterday's class where they evaluated the songs that they created, these students were a lot more reflective then yesterday's class. Also I went and observed a Swedish class, where they were working on a project for class. They looked at different type of literature, art, and music from different time periods then they have to talk about it in class. Finally my short day ended with lunch, which was rice and curry, and it was actually pretty good! Tomorrow it will be my first time in the art room! Wish me luck!!
See you later!
Theresa

First day in the schools!

Hello everyone!
Or I really should say "hej" which is how you say hello in Swedish it is pronounced like the English word "hey". So I road the bus all the way to my school by myself! I was really nervous because I didn't know what my cooperating teachers looked like or how they were. I have been placed in a middle school here in both art and music, now I know most of you are thinking "you are getting certified in art not music"! True I am, however they placed me in both because they wanted me to see how the liberal arts is incorporated into the school system here. I also think it will be great so that I can see if I want to get my certification in music as well! It is going to give me a great opportunity to expand my music minor. Also I found out that the teacher who teaches art doesn't have classes until Wednesday.....so I will be in music classes Monday and Tuesday then art the rest of the week. I also got invited to one of the English classes which I think would be really exciting! The first two classes that I had today were a blues composition class and a music history class. The blues class is a class of 8th grade students that are very creative, and the teacher really encourages this, they were writing their own lyrics in two different groups, and then they can later attach that to a chord progression provided or create their own. The second class was a 7th grade class, this was a music history class they were learning about the different eras of music, and today they were learning about the classical period. I had a chance to talk to the teacher about assessment for this class, and he said he is experimenting with this class because there has been a change in the curriculum for Swedish schools. He is going to play different songs in class, and student will have to guess what era they are from based on the style, and then they will create a home test that they will take home.The last class was a class that my teacher mentored they evaluated themselves on the most recent project that they did was write their own song and lyrics. They then listened to each others songs and discussed as a class about them. It was a very exciting and busy day, but everyone has been so welcoming and friendly! I can't wait to learn more!
See you all soon!

The Spring 2013 Sweden International Student Teaching Group from UWW!

Here we all are! The US delegation teaching in Sweden Spring 2013! We range from Special Education, Elementary Education, Art Education, and History Education! Wish us all luck these next four weeks!

Art in Rome, Barcelona, Paris, and Brussels.

Here is all of the Art that I saw during the first half of my trip!!

Update

So tomorrow I start class at Umea University! Then after this week I start teaching in the schools next week!! Ahhhhh! I don't even know where I am teaching yet but it is all very exciting! I have learned so much from these two weeks that I have been gone! I will post pictures and more information about Umea very soon!
Bye for now!
Theresa

First few days!

Hello all!
Umea is a beautiful little town! It's really quite cold here too! Everyone has been really nice though! Today is Easter so I went to church, the church that my travel mates and I went to happened to have an English translation which was really great, and the congregation invited us for cake and coffee afterwards which was really truly wonderful considering we didn't have anywhere else to go for Easter. It has just been a wonderful time here, and I really appreciate everything that everyone has done for us thus far! If anyone ever gets the opportunity to travel abroad please do so you meet so many wonderful people! Keep reading picture will be up soon!
Bye for now!
Theresa