Volunteering at the school has been great. The school system in Oxford is much different than back home in Calgary. I am fortunate enough to be in the well funded district in Mississippi but I also recognize that not all schools in the state receive the same amount of funding as this school district. I got placed at Oxford Intermediate School which is a middle school but I was shocked to learn it was only for Grade 6! The whole entire school just for grade 6, it is also a fairly large school as well.
This school had several supports available within the school such as a classroom for gifted kids, science, math, a dedicated classroom for retaking tests and even a specific classroom for english writing support and english learners support. The funding that this school does have does reflect in the resources that are available but the curriculum is fundamentally different. Social studies which is my major is not a state tested subject. Therefore although it is fun and interesting to learn about world history and ancient civilizations like China, India etc, there isn’t enough time to do a lot of creative projects or get through the content because social studies does not run throughout the year, but by semesters. Another interesting part of the classroom environment was students must achieve 65% or higher anything under is considered a fail on a test.
The school is beautiful inside the parent council decorated for halloween, they decorate every month which is really nice and it adds to the school spirit, also their cafeteria is huge like… my high school didn’t even have a cafeteria that actually had food. Speaking of the cafeteria they run a really nice initiative at the school giving free cafeteria lunches to students, this supports those students whose families might be struggling financially.
I was in a Grade 6 Social Studies classroom, with Mr. Scruggs, his dedication to teaching is truly honourable. I am truly grateful I got to learn from him, he gave me all the insight to the school and within the districts as well. He used to teach at the high school in Oxford but then came to middle school, he has grown up in Mississippi his whole life so it nice hearing from someone who knows all about the state and how schools are funded. When I was in his class I met the most amazing students who all said “yes maam” to me when I would ask them a question. This was a part of southern culture that took some getting used to it is a sign of respect in southern culture to refer to your teachers or any adults as maam or sir. Anyone who I met in Oxford always told me if I needed anything to simply holla at them which was so reassuring and I truly experienced southern hospitality during my stay! I taught the students and Mr.Scruggs about the importance of Indigenous culture and knowledge in Canada as well as our National Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30th. Many of the students were un familiar with the concept of Indigenous or as they call it in America “Native Americans” it was nice to be able to share lots about Canada and the differences and similarities we share. The students who start off their day with the pledge of elegance this was a shock to me because growing up we would sing the national anthem every day school whereas here they do the pledge of elegance everyday. Something that would never happen in Calgary is that there was a student in Mr. Scruggs class who’s older brother plays in the NFL. I learned that is very common in the US which was super cool to learn about. When I would sign in at the office there was a fancy machine that would scan your ID and then take your picture, it would give you options of why you were visiting the school. For me I would click classroom and it would print me a yellow sticker which I would wear so the staff knew why I was in the school. This is our equivalent to having a sign in sheet at the office. I did not realize how much of an impact I would have had on these students when I first came to the school, the entire school staff was truly so kind to me I loved every day I got to spend at the school. I truly do miss everyone at the school 🙁 Anyway until next time I get to talk about the square and going out and what you can experience here!