193
There are 193 days until my Convocation, on June 1st at 10am. I'm looking forward to walking across that stage in front of my family, friends and classmates and finally receiving my diploma. It'll be the official end to my university journey: the culmination of four years of work on my Bachelor of Education.
162
There are 162 days until the Education Grad Ball, on April 30th. We don't have much information about it, but I'm really excited about it. There's a preliminary plan of renting limos and going all out with an after party, ending in a typical Montreal high school prom cliché: watching the sunrise on the mountain (which isn't really a mountain, as such). What a great party, that will be. Some past graduates have tried to tell me that I shouldn't get too excited, as their Grad Ball was lame, but I know that a party is what you make of it. Our Grad Ball will be awesome, because we will make it awesome.
138
There are 138 days until my last day of class, on April 6th. That will be a really big event, I'm sure. Unless it's a really shitty event because I'll have a lot of assignments due. It'll be one or the other, for sure.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Friday, November 19, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
My goals
My (short term) goals are as follows:
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Let's look at these one by one, starting with... well... the first one.
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
Okay, for my room to be perfectly clean, I have to clean it, right? Well, I'm trying. I really am. I'm up to what, part six of my room cleaning saga? This is a goal I can control, and I am controlling it. I'm setting some time aside as often as possible to clean as much as I can. As I clean, instead of just moving things from one side of the room to the other, I'm actually packing it in boxes and reusable bags. This way, I can easily stack, store, and (later) find my books and DVDs (which seem to be the stuff of which I have too much). This way, everything has it's place and it's place isn't randomly strewn around my room. This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
Ahh, this old thing. Yep, the weight thing. So, I'm fat. I'm not delusional about this, it's a fact and I'm okay with it. Well.. not really, if I want to lose weight, right? This is a health thing, not a vanity thing. I'm out of breath all this time, my knees hurt, my heart beats so freaken quickly... I'm too young to have all these problems. Also, I have an awesome tattoo that NO ONE SEES because I'm too ashamed of my fat belly to show it off. So I'm eating better, not dieting. Dieting is a deprivation of certain foods. I'm not ready to (nor do I think I have to) cut out whole items from my daily menus. Instead, I'm eating less bad stuff and more good stuff and making better choices in my day to day life. I'm also exercising more. I'm not going to the gym because a) I'm poor and b) I don't think I need to go to the gym right now. Gyms are great for those with time and money and I have neither at the moment. We have an elliptical at home and if I use it more and walk the dog more, then I think that'll be enough for now! This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
I think this may be the easiest of the goals to accomplish. Now a days, anyone can write and then self publish a book. The thing is, I don't want to be a self-published author. I want to be a real author. A good author. I want to write something that people who are not my family and friends will buy, read, and love. My mom says all I need to do is get an idea and run with it, but that's a lot easier said than done. I mean, if it were easy, I'd have already done it. My mother raised a good point by asking my what kind of book I want to write. Well, I have no idea. Whatsoever. Not a clue. But, if I persevere, I might actually succeed. This is a goal that I am in (somewhat) control of. I can achieve it, if I try.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Seriously, this is a possibility. It would be a DREAM COME TRUE in more ways than one. I'd be teaching in Asia. This could open up a whole new bunch of possibilities: I'd have my foot in the door of a teaching job in Asia. Also, I'd be going to Asia on my school's dime, which really isn't that terrible of thing, is it? Hong Kong is a beautiful city. I really want to be chosen for this... That's right. Chosen. This is NOT a goal that I am in control of. I've written my letter of intent and all I can do is hope that it gets me an interview. After that, I can just pray that I've impressed them enough to pick me as one of the lucky 8 people from TESL to go. I hope I can achieve it.
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Let's look at these one by one, starting with... well... the first one.
1. I want my room to be perfectly clean.
Okay, for my room to be perfectly clean, I have to clean it, right? Well, I'm trying. I really am. I'm up to what, part six of my room cleaning saga? This is a goal I can control, and I am controlling it. I'm setting some time aside as often as possible to clean as much as I can. As I clean, instead of just moving things from one side of the room to the other, I'm actually packing it in boxes and reusable bags. This way, I can easily stack, store, and (later) find my books and DVDs (which seem to be the stuff of which I have too much). This way, everything has it's place and it's place isn't randomly strewn around my room. This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
2. I want to lose enough weight that I feel comfortable in a bikini.
Ahh, this old thing. Yep, the weight thing. So, I'm fat. I'm not delusional about this, it's a fact and I'm okay with it. Well.. not really, if I want to lose weight, right? This is a health thing, not a vanity thing. I'm out of breath all this time, my knees hurt, my heart beats so freaken quickly... I'm too young to have all these problems. Also, I have an awesome tattoo that NO ONE SEES because I'm too ashamed of my fat belly to show it off. So I'm eating better, not dieting. Dieting is a deprivation of certain foods. I'm not ready to (nor do I think I have to) cut out whole items from my daily menus. Instead, I'm eating less bad stuff and more good stuff and making better choices in my day to day life. I'm also exercising more. I'm not going to the gym because a) I'm poor and b) I don't think I need to go to the gym right now. Gyms are great for those with time and money and I have neither at the moment. We have an elliptical at home and if I use it more and walk the dog more, then I think that'll be enough for now! This is a goal that I am in control of. I can (and will) achieve.
3. I want to write (and publish) a book.
I think this may be the easiest of the goals to accomplish. Now a days, anyone can write and then self publish a book. The thing is, I don't want to be a self-published author. I want to be a real author. A good author. I want to write something that people who are not my family and friends will buy, read, and love. My mom says all I need to do is get an idea and run with it, but that's a lot easier said than done. I mean, if it were easy, I'd have already done it. My mother raised a good point by asking my what kind of book I want to write. Well, I have no idea. Whatsoever. Not a clue. But, if I persevere, I might actually succeed. This is a goal that I am in (somewhat) control of. I can achieve it, if I try.
4. I want to go to Hong Kong to do my final field experience.
Seriously, this is a possibility. It would be a DREAM COME TRUE in more ways than one. I'd be teaching in Asia. This could open up a whole new bunch of possibilities: I'd have my foot in the door of a teaching job in Asia. Also, I'd be going to Asia on my school's dime, which really isn't that terrible of thing, is it? Hong Kong is a beautiful city. I really want to be chosen for this... That's right. Chosen. This is NOT a goal that I am in control of. I've written my letter of intent and all I can do is hope that it gets me an interview. After that, I can just pray that I've impressed them enough to pick me as one of the lucky 8 people from TESL to go. I hope I can achieve it.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Need... sleep...
1. Happy St-Patrick's day. I had this beautiful green shirt, but a couple months ago I got an oil stain on it. I gave it to my mom because she said she'd fix it. I asked her about it last weekend: she managed to lose it in her room, which is spotless and not cluttered and I have no idea how that happened.
2. It's 5:21am. I've been up since about 3:15am. And that's just when I decided to check the time! I was up way before that. Let's see, I went to bed at 11pm and I think I must have gotten maybe... 2 hours sleep? Maybe less. Oh boy, will today be ever so much fun (heavy sarcasm). For further reference, I should turn off my laptop at least one hour before bed; not play on my nintendo DS for 20mins in bed and not eat pizza sans lactaid right before going to sleep. And I should just take a freaken sleeping pill. But I took one yesterday, and I don't want to become dependent. The last thing I need is to rely on drugs to sleep. I'm trying to avoid the whole "take a pill once a day for the rest of your life" route.
I thought I'd take this bout of insomnia as a chance to be productive. I went into the living room, got my laptop, brought it back to my room, went back in the living room, got my external hard drive, went back to my room, went back into the living room, got my bottle of water, filled it in the kitchen and then went back to my room again (all under the cover of darkness and trying not to make noise for fear of waking my parents, one who is not feeling well and the other who went to bed well past 1am). Right, so after all that going from my room to the living room and back, I figured I'd work on this ugly LES due tomorrow. For those not in the field of education, an LES is a "Learning and Evaluation Situation." Basically, it's a GIANT lesson where you map out all the steps you need to teach in order for your students to be able to successfully complete a final project. For example, in a math class, the final project is: build a pool. Students will need to know how to how big to dig the hole, how to calculate the cost from the price of materials and labour, how to calculate volume, etc.
It's pretty simple for subjects in the faculty of science (at least I think so, since there are so many more clear steps in any given project). I'm teaching ESL, so it's like I have to build all these hypothetical lesson plans assuming either my students will be incredibly dumb or the school will have the most incredible funding. My group and I chose to go with the latter. Our LES is completely unrealistic and we will never be able to use it in public schools in Quebec, but whatever, it's easier this way. In our hypothetical high school, not only will students be already fluent in English (which is SO not the case, even for advanced high school students, who I taught in September during my field experience) but the school will also have a state of the art computer room that is accessible whenever we need it. It will also have at least 15 camcorders to lend out (oh man, I wish this place was real).
It's not that I think what i'm learning in school is useless (although I kinda do), it's that I find we are given all these hypothetical situations and we have to know the perfect answer... but the perfect (in class) answer is hardly ever the one used in real life due to practicality or initial reactions or mostly the unpredictability of everything. When you learn to be an accountant, for example, you have your formulas to complete your calculations. Your number never bully each other, never join gangs at the age of 10, you never catch your number smoking pot on school grounds, you never get sexually harassed by them... You just deal with your numbers and your dumb clients.
Give me a teaching situation and I will give you the best possible solution. I know all the right things to say and the right ways to act. Do you think that makes me feel ready for real life? Hells no. And that terrifies me.
Well, let me at least pretend to be productive this morning...
2. It's 5:21am. I've been up since about 3:15am. And that's just when I decided to check the time! I was up way before that. Let's see, I went to bed at 11pm and I think I must have gotten maybe... 2 hours sleep? Maybe less. Oh boy, will today be ever so much fun (heavy sarcasm). For further reference, I should turn off my laptop at least one hour before bed; not play on my nintendo DS for 20mins in bed and not eat pizza sans lactaid right before going to sleep. And I should just take a freaken sleeping pill. But I took one yesterday, and I don't want to become dependent. The last thing I need is to rely on drugs to sleep. I'm trying to avoid the whole "take a pill once a day for the rest of your life" route.
I thought I'd take this bout of insomnia as a chance to be productive. I went into the living room, got my laptop, brought it back to my room, went back in the living room, got my external hard drive, went back to my room, went back into the living room, got my bottle of water, filled it in the kitchen and then went back to my room again (all under the cover of darkness and trying not to make noise for fear of waking my parents, one who is not feeling well and the other who went to bed well past 1am). Right, so after all that going from my room to the living room and back, I figured I'd work on this ugly LES due tomorrow. For those not in the field of education, an LES is a "Learning and Evaluation Situation." Basically, it's a GIANT lesson where you map out all the steps you need to teach in order for your students to be able to successfully complete a final project. For example, in a math class, the final project is: build a pool. Students will need to know how to how big to dig the hole, how to calculate the cost from the price of materials and labour, how to calculate volume, etc.
It's pretty simple for subjects in the faculty of science (at least I think so, since there are so many more clear steps in any given project). I'm teaching ESL, so it's like I have to build all these hypothetical lesson plans assuming either my students will be incredibly dumb or the school will have the most incredible funding. My group and I chose to go with the latter. Our LES is completely unrealistic and we will never be able to use it in public schools in Quebec, but whatever, it's easier this way. In our hypothetical high school, not only will students be already fluent in English (which is SO not the case, even for advanced high school students, who I taught in September during my field experience) but the school will also have a state of the art computer room that is accessible whenever we need it. It will also have at least 15 camcorders to lend out (oh man, I wish this place was real).
It's not that I think what i'm learning in school is useless (although I kinda do), it's that I find we are given all these hypothetical situations and we have to know the perfect answer... but the perfect (in class) answer is hardly ever the one used in real life due to practicality or initial reactions or mostly the unpredictability of everything. When you learn to be an accountant, for example, you have your formulas to complete your calculations. Your number never bully each other, never join gangs at the age of 10, you never catch your number smoking pot on school grounds, you never get sexually harassed by them... You just deal with your numbers and your dumb clients.
Give me a teaching situation and I will give you the best possible solution. I know all the right things to say and the right ways to act. Do you think that makes me feel ready for real life? Hells no. And that terrifies me.
Well, let me at least pretend to be productive this morning...
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