I have a bittersweet countdown on at the moment. 8 days of school left until the end of my practicum block.
Sweet: Summer, camp, freedom, lack of alarm clock, paddling, time, relaxing, reading.
Also sweet: Done with cheating in gym games, done with loud children (oh, wait.. done with these ones, anyway), done with tattling, with chasing after kids to hand in their work, with attitude (until September), with lesson planning, etc.
Bitter: Done at Holy Cross. Everything that goes with that. Toni. Kelly, Anne, Holly, Myra, etc. The mini-Klusies. Being silly in gym classes, love and hugs, little children in uniforms. Not seeing them next year, how they grow, etc.
Also bitter: What am I getting myself in to with camp, with last year how it was?
I couldn't have imagined a better practicum experience, so it's going to be really hard to say goodbye!
Camp folk head out on Monday, walking across the ice. By the time I'm done school, it should have started to break up, which means that I will likely be in a holding pattern for a week or more because I won't be able to get across to the island. I'll be impatient to get out there and get going, but it'll be nice to have some down time instead of a 48-hour turn-around from school.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
In the same day last week, I made two very different observations about kids and how they behave in public. Last Tuesday morning, I ran in to a bunch of my HC grade 8s at Tim Horton's. Now for the most part, they seemed vaguely embarrassed to see a teacher outside of school, but they still said hello and were polite. One of them even asked me a question, initiating actual conversation. Even in a pack, they weren't loud or disruptive in the store, they waited for their orders patiently, etc. I was proud of my kids!
On the way home on the bus that afternoon, I saw a couple of other kids. They looked to be in about grade 9. One of them had his cell phone going as an MP3 player, just playing in the bus (no headphones). The music wasn't the most pleasant I'd ever heard. An adult asked the kid to please turn it down. The kid looked up, didn't even look at the man, then looked down again, not even acknowledging what was said to him. And the music just kept going.
When at HC, I'm often unimpressed by the grade 8s, but I have to say that from seeing different kids and how they all behave out in public, they are a pretty good group.
On the way home on the bus that afternoon, I saw a couple of other kids. They looked to be in about grade 9. One of them had his cell phone going as an MP3 player, just playing in the bus (no headphones). The music wasn't the most pleasant I'd ever heard. An adult asked the kid to please turn it down. The kid looked up, didn't even look at the man, then looked down again, not even acknowledging what was said to him. And the music just kept going.
When at HC, I'm often unimpressed by the grade 8s, but I have to say that from seeing different kids and how they all behave out in public, they are a pretty good group.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
if I had a boat
Latest news on the non-school front:
Effective in just over a week, I am the president of Paddle Manitoba.
School today was really good, despite it being Thursday. The first class I have is one where the subject material can be dense and less tangible, but twice today, the whole class was laughing so hard that people were crying. We were doing mini-presentations about different types of teaching (direct, indirect, transmissive, transactional, etc). The group doing indirect was doing a mini-lesson plan on gravity and Aristotle's hypothesis that heavier objects fall faster than light ones. One group dropped an empty nalgene and a full nalgene as their two objects, and the full one must have hit at a point key to the structure of the thing because it shattered! To understand the other funny thing, you'd have to know the prof involved, but we were dying laughing. It made the day good.
Effective in just over a week, I am the president of Paddle Manitoba.
School today was really good, despite it being Thursday. The first class I have is one where the subject material can be dense and less tangible, but twice today, the whole class was laughing so hard that people were crying. We were doing mini-presentations about different types of teaching (direct, indirect, transmissive, transactional, etc). The group doing indirect was doing a mini-lesson plan on gravity and Aristotle's hypothesis that heavier objects fall faster than light ones. One group dropped an empty nalgene and a full nalgene as their two objects, and the full one must have hit at a point key to the structure of the thing because it shattered! To understand the other funny thing, you'd have to know the prof involved, but we were dying laughing. It made the day good.
Friday, January 23, 2009
busy!
If we weren't passed the initial calm of starting off the term, we are now.
I just realized that I have 8 things due for school in the next 3 weeks. That does not take in to account normal readings and little things that come up in classes. The 4th week is Reading Week, during which I have one thing due. Then the week we come back, there are 4. Oi? Where did this come from? And I'm only taking 4 classes right now!
I just realized that I have 8 things due for school in the next 3 weeks. That does not take in to account normal readings and little things that come up in classes. The 4th week is Reading Week, during which I have one thing due. Then the week we come back, there are 4. Oi? Where did this come from? And I'm only taking 4 classes right now!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Going back to university classes after student teaching is laaammmmmme.
Four classes this semester. Two are very practical and the prof (same for both) is great. One is a drier subject material, but I'm starting to really appreciate the prof. The fourth makes me want to poke my eyes out. It's completely useless.
Four classes this semester. Two are very practical and the prof (same for both) is great. One is a drier subject material, but I'm starting to really appreciate the prof. The fourth makes me want to poke my eyes out. It's completely useless.
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