Today was the second day of the second half of the semester here at Bangor Uni. My flat is very quiet, many of my flat mates have gone home for reading week before their exams on Friday. This is a strange transitional stage that I stand facing now, my stay is exactly half over and things are picking up. I have final assessments to get started on, a solo trip to plan for the end of term, rowing, and bits and pieces of life back in the states to tend to. The weather of late fall here in Wales is not helping me cope with my stresses in the slightest. Today I had morning lecture until one and straight away after that an afternoon lecture until three, and by some act of God my lecture after that was cancelled, which meant I had a bit of afternoon to enjoy. All the while I sat in class the wind outside was howling and the rain was picking up and beating against the roof and pained windows-- the lecture hall was literally throbbing! Unbelievable. (Kaitlyn, Kerry and I had a very nice twenty minute walk home in the poring rain. Soggy shoes, damp clothes, inverted umbrellas oh my! Yuck.) Time for some tea and wool socks.

I am really enjoying my Scaffolding Learning class though. My professor, Fliss Keffyn, is really spunky and cool and is such a breath of fresh air after half a semester with the same old lectures week after week. Fliss was a nursery teacher in England for nearly nineteen years, she worked with very young children some of whom had developmental issues and others that had various emotional hinderances. This gal knows what she's talking about. She's the type of person who wears stripy wool leggings and colorful, bulbous jewelry to lecture; she is very soft spoken and you can tell just from looking at her she is very sweet and gentle with children. She is very neat. I love listening to her lectures because it's like I'm listening to a very thoughtful conversation, not a lecture on the role of the adult in the classroom. Fliss never raises her voice or acts especially bubbly, she just talks talks talks. The things she says are a completely different story! Today we were talking about the environment that children experience when they go to a nursery or classroom for the first time and how the teacher's outfit, scent, and overall presentation is, believe it or not, a very important part of making that environment comfortable for the child. Funny, right?

"If you're wearing groovy socks or groovy shoes then that little person will recognize you by those shoes and socks... the way you go to work needs to be polite to children because you are essentially asking to be let into their world, really."

It all makes sense! I've never thought about early psychology in that manner nor have I realized how keen children are towards such simple sensory objects like shoes and socks. Sheesh! In addition to obscure discussions about shoes and stockings, we had a chance to work with homemade play dough and act as the teacher, observer, and child in a stimulus/motor skills activity. It was quite fascinating! I feel like this class has awoken a new passion in me, perhaps a new avenue for teaching. Occupational therapy? Child psychology? Who knows... at this point I am just a big sponge that's out there soaking up all I can, and man! am I loving it! I have felt especially "right" about my career choices since having come to study early years education at Bangor Uni. I feel like I have learned a lot of fundamentally valuable things that I will keep with me forever and take on with me as I progress towards my goals in teaching. I feel revived and enlightened by what I've been learning and although it has been a lot of work and many late nights lay ahead of me, I feel that this was more than worth it even if it was just for four months. I know that I will return home with a head crammed full of ideas and thoughts and a renewed sense of direction in my studies that remain, groovy shoes and all.

Best,

Zoe