UMM Admissions Blog

I don't have class until April 28th, so I could be really lazy, sleep till 2pm, and watch tremendous amounts of TV...but that is not my style and I've been staying productive. Yesterday was the education job fair at the convention center in downtown Minneapolis. I went to the fair with two main purposes: Get interview practice and meet and greet with some of the schools I’ve applied to. I ended up accomplishing both, and had a real interview with a school I’m really interested in! It went well and I’ll know by Friday if I move on to the next step of the application process. I’m staying hopeful but realistic as well.

Also, today I started my first day of training for the Irongirl duathlon. It's being held in Bloomington this September. What is a duathlon you say? Not to be confused with a biathlon, a duathlon consists of running and biking, so skipping out on the swimming section of a triathlon. I’m training early because I have a looonngg way to go considering last time I jogged outside for fun was never, and for sports it has been since 2004! So far, so good.

Until next time!

Posted at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow.
This term has gone by soooo quickly that I can hardly believe it is March and almost Semana Santa (holy week) which marks the end of my experience here at King's College Madrid. I came to this school not really knowing what to expect and was immediately welcomed into the Humanities department by my wonderful cooperating teachers, and the others that work in Geography and Economics. They gave me the freedom I needed to experiment in the classroom (some trials were errors I have to admit!) and the support I needed to gain such a vast amount of knowledge about myself, teaching, and being an educator. I didn't always say the right things--"I would kick you all out if I could!"--but I feel I have gained the respect and trust of the students I have worked with during this short time, and in general I believe they have learned from me as a teacher, and that is the most important thing to me! This next week I look forward to closing out my experience and coming back to what I hope will be a snowy Morris to start a new chapter.

I wish King's looked like this!! But it has been too warm for snow. It is throwing my biological clock off too because I had thoughts of the state fair last weekend when it was 70*...Not right when it is only March!

Until next time,
Kate Oliver

Posted at 04:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the reasons I decided to student teach abroad was to experience the ways of a different school system, and to bring back new strategies, approaches, and style. I plan on doing all three!

Right away the biggest difference I noticed was the frequency of classes. Students take the same 45 minute class (Geography for example) twice a week, some meeting three times a week. The school year is set up into trimesters, so during a 10 week term the students only meet for a class on average 20-30 times! Very different from the 5 days a week schedule like in the U.S.

Students in year 9 (8th grade) have to choose a directed path for their next two years of study, called the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Final exams for GCSEs are taken at the end of year 11, where students then choose A-levels (Advanced Levels), courses of in-depth study that count for university entrance requirements. Students can take more than one A-level for the last few years of their secondary career, the average being around 4. So while a benefit to this approach is that students can choose their path and get a deeper look into a subject, criticisms are that it might be too focused for students to get the well-rounded education with many different subjects like in the U.S. for example.

On a lighter and less confusing note (I still don’t quite understand GCSEs and A-Levels!), one of the things I like here is that when students are given worksheets or other photocopies, they stick them into their workbooks! No more of the excuse “I lost my sheet…” because that would entail loosing the whole workbook. However, teachers do need to be careful of flying glue sticks and using up time the students spend on meticulously cutting the edges so they fit--but either way, I like it!

For those of you freezing in Minnesota I'm happy to share that the weather in Madrid has stayed a pleasant 50-60 degrees, with only a few days of rain. But don't worry! I'll be back in the cold in just 27 days. :-)

For more information:
Wikipedia on GCSE
Wikipedia on A-Levels

Posted at 05:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I took a day trip this past weekend to Segovia, not too far out of Madrid. On a non-stop train it would have taken about 45 minutes, but ended up being two hours! It was worth it though. Segovia has an amazing Roman aqueduct, a cool cathedral and also a fairy tale castle. I enjoyed everything in Segovia, except the meal. I ordered cochino frito, fried pork. It sounded safe enough, and when I asked which was better of two dishes, this was suggested. Turns out, it is fried pork, but there was a foot on the plate as well! I stepped up to the plate, and ate a toe. I couldn’t eat the whole thing. I like to think I would have made Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods and recent visitor to the prarie, proud.

Notice the foot near the middle of the plate...Quite interesting!

A Shot of the Alcázar castle in Segovia.

Me and the Aqueduct.

Posted at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey there! I made it to Spain and have managed to survive two nights. The quote from the title is from last night, at 6pm. Being jetlagged is a science I think, because a person has to really change to the country´s time even if they don´t want to. While I could have fallen asleep at about 6pm here, I had to wait till at least 8pm, hence the excitement in only having to wait two more hours to sleep. My roommate Amanda is really fun, and these first few days we have spent time walking the streets, seeing some sites, and enjoying Madrid.

The food here is great, although we ordered the menu del dia yesterday and had paella first which was good, but the second course turned out to be a lot of ham, with olive oil and paprika. I speak spanish, but the accent here is quite different than what I am used to, so hearing jamon sounded like a good bet for food but then when its drenched in olive oil it is not the best. Eitherway, Amanda and I have really been having dining ¨experiences¨, which today included getting a foam heart in my café con leche...Those sneaky spaniards!

Tomorrow I officially start my student teaching experience...Wish me luck!

Posted at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

With one week left of fall semester, I am stuck thinking about my entire career here at UMM. Freshman year I would not have guessed that my experience would have played out the way it did over the years. Of course I have had many ups and downs, but all of the ups cancel out the bad things (like my failed art history exam first semester freshman year!). I have done many cool things these past few years including Habitat for Humanity in Georgia, TREC tutor program at the elementary school, Leadership Conference and college fair in Chicago, and also my study abroad experience in Venezuela. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, and I could go on for pages with the other activities, whether organized or spontaneous, that I participated in. With one semester left (and half of that being spent in Madrid) I still have 1/8th of my college life to experience, and that is more than enough time to close out my UMM career in a big and positive way.

Because winter is upon us, I thought I would upload a picture from Margarita Island Venezuela that reminds me of warmer, sunnier times...

Posted at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Secondary Ed students are all abuzz with their student teaching placements for next spring. It is really exciting to hear that my friends will be basically all around the world! People from my cohort (we call ourselves the Soc Crew) will be in the Morris area, Irondale High School, Rosemount, and also Australia to name a few locations. I am pretty jealous of my colleague who will be at Irondale…That is my dream school to work at. But I don't regret one bit my decision to complete my student teaching abroad. So this time of year although really really busy is still exciting.

I know I will be at King’s College Madrid, a school in the northern part of the city, but I have yet to find out which class(es) I’ll be teaching. The only course I feel completely unprepared to teach is Economics, but I think I could wing it day after day if I had to. :-) And I am not so nervous about the teaching itself since I feel quite confident in my abilities, it is more of the nit-picky stuff such as Where am I going to live?! How am I going to afford to buy things with the Euro!? And how am I going to be away from my boyfriend for that long! I am hopeful that everything will work out in the end.

Posted at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I child I never moved to another city or house even, so moving away to college and back home again has been a tough experience! My freshman year I drove up with my mom, sister, and boyfriend at the time. I over packed, and my freshman dorm room was bursting at the seams. I did have some pretty cool stuff though, even if I had no place to put it. That spring my sister came to help me move out, and I think I got it done in just one trip back to the cities. Sophomore year I drove up alone in my Chevy S10 and moved to the on-campus apartments. This time I brought less “dormy” stuff and more apartment stuff, but it was still a lot of stuff. That spring I found an apartment off-campus and used it as storage over the summer. I bought some Ikea furniture, got a table from a garage sale, and a couch from Slumberland. I had finally moved into my own place! It is a studio apartment, which has proven nice in the long run because there just isn’t that much space for stuff.

However, as winter break approaches I find myself once again packing away old textbooks, notebooks, office supplies (I could create a paperclip chain across Minnesota if I tried) clothes, and other crap into Rubbermaid tubs of all colors. Originally I was planning on moving next month, but renting a U-Haul in December seems like a gamble so I’ve pushed the date back until graduation and I’ll be keeping my apartment until then. I never realize how much stuff I have until I have to pack it away and transport it 150 miles across the state! Thankfully though I now have 6 months to filter my stuff out of my place and back to the cities. It should be interesting to make the big final move.

Posted at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hi there, I’m Kate Oliver, a senior here at UMM. Since most people have posted their introductions I thought it would be a fitting first post for me. I am from Minneapolis and have attended Morris since 2004. In high school I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and so I focused my studies in social studies education and have taken many history courses throughout my career at UMM. I have also been involved in different activities, from Intramural Flag Football and Volleyball, Big Friend Little Friend, Adopt a Grandparent, Habitat for Humanity, United Latinos and even Morris Campus Student Association.

I wish I had time to keep up with all these activities but as my college career progressed my involvement went deeper instead of wider. I took a position on the executive board of United Latinos and also began working at the Office of Admissions. I used to be a telecounselor (student worker who made phone calls to prospective students) and then moved to an office assistant position where I process applications, work on mailings, and other office tasks. I really like working in Admissions because I get to see an aspect of a college that is really interesting and always changing. If I can’t find a teaching job right away I might consider working as an Admissions Counselor…but I do hope to teach after I graduate!

I have taken many interesting courses here at UMM, and some of my favorites include Spanish, Physical Geology, Principles of Art and of course the history courses. But the coolest course I took was during a study abroad trip to Venezuela. I was in Mérida, a university town in the Andes. The program is through the Twin Cities campus so I did not have to worry much about credits transferring which was nice. The two courses I took were Spanish Conversation and Composition, and History of Venezuela, the latter being my favorite. Both of these courses were taught completely in Spanish…my professors did not know much English at all which was great because I learned a lot in the 6 weeks I studied there. Being out of the country and enjoying it so much influenced my decision to student teach abroad.

The Global Student Teaching program office is right here on campus so it was super easy for me to turn in my application and have questions answered in person. I decided on two places-Spain or Ecuador. I figured since I have already seen part of South America I should try to see more parts of the world, which is why Spain ranked first. About a month ago I was notified that I have been placed at a school in Madrid. I am REALLY excited to student teach and I am ready for the challenge of an international school system. My blogging will become international as of January 4th when I leave for Madrid, but I promise to make more posts before then!

Posted at 08:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)