"Queen of Peace primary school is where I was fortunate enough to do my student teaching. The principal, Sister Anna, welcomed me with open arms and a warm smile into the rather large Irish school consisting of pre-school aged students through sixth class girls. The school is in the Ruxboro area of Limerick City, which is an area of disadvantage and some low-income housing. I was assigned a classroom of my own immediately and I merely dove in headfirst to learn as I taught.

I began my school days at nine with a small group of junior infants, four year olds, who were having trouble in a certain areas. We would work together on their delayed behaviors for approximately forty-five minutes, and of course they thought they were merely playing "games." Then, I would quickly push the small tables to one side of my universal room and pull the large tables and chairs out to accommodate the fifth and sixth class girls. The oldest students were in mixed classes and split for English into three groups. I taught the twelve remedial students, assessing them the first week to understand even where I should begin. The girls were quite a handful at times but it was very rewarding and I anticipated ten o'clock each day. Their progress was slow at first and I was not able to see that I was actually teaching at all. I set up a reward system with American bracelets and then their achievement was visible. After my whirlwind English class, I would skip tea time to prepare my room for the junior infants again. I taught a larger group to relieve the regular teachers of their large class size and implemented their curriculum. These young students were very well behaved and I was amazed at their capability to actually sit and learn in a classroom setting. The later part of my day was full of energy and exciting learning, which the students and I thoroughly enjoyed.

The experience was an eye-opener to another culture on a whole. I am glad that I had the opportunity to live in the city and work in the school to meet children, other teachers and parents on a more personal level than just passing by as a traveler on the streets. However, because of my student teaching experience, I was able to travel all over Ireland and parts of Europe on the weekends. Monday through Friday, I was a teacher in Limerick, but when the weekends came I took the role as a true American tourist."

Erin poses on the one of the highest edges of the Cliffs of Moher