This paper has started to piss me off in how they are so blatantly portraying this.  Lets start with who wrote this thing:

David Johnson =  Economist, member of C. D. Howe Institute
Abigail Payne =  Economist, Social Policy analyst, Canada research council, member of C. D. Howe Institute
John Richards = Social Policy analyst, member of C. D. Howe Institute

"David Johnson is a professor of economics at Wilfrid Laurier University, Abigail Payne is a professor of economics at McMaster University and John Richards is a professor of public policy at Simon Fraser University. All three are fellows-in-residence at the C.D. Howe Institute."

Well, that explains the emphasis on how awesome the standardized testing is for social policy!  Not to mention the glowing review they give for the C.D. Howe Institute (possibly because they all work there???)  There is absolutely no disputing that; the information is very useful when multiple years are combined.  Unfortunately....

THAT IS NOT THE ONLY WAY IT GETS USED!!!!!!!

First off, these three authors are all professors.  They all rely on statistics to do their research. 

Inquisitive Voice:  "Oh!  OH!!  I bet they're in favour of standardized testing that can be used for data mining!"

Moo:  "Gee, you think?" 

Not ONCE do they mention that the results are also used to assess teaching ability.  They are 100% focused on how great it is for understanding social policy because.......you guessed it.......2/3 of them have specialized research in that area!  Look how quickly they gloss over the socio-economic point:

"The teachers are right that socio-economic conditions matter. In explaining differences across schools, up to half the difference may be attributable to differences in parental income and education across school catchment areas. But other factors also matter."

Translation:  "Yeah....it can change the data by 50% but that's not THAT big a deal.  Other factors also matter but we won't tell you what they are in this article.  Next paragraph!"


A margin of error of 50% when you take socio-economic conditions into consideration?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!  How can they even begin to call that reliable data when your margin of error is that huge?

And finally, what's this bs about the test only costing $7.50 per student?  Does that include

- paying researchers to develop the test
- printing it out and sending it off
- paying teachers to administer it
- paying people to assess it
- having teachers spend time just to teach what is on the test
- having students waste a few days writing a test that has no developmental merit when they could be learning something worthwhile

Somehow I doubt that the final bill for all that will be $7.50.  The bullshit stinks pretty bad on this one.

Look for this to be popping up on the 6pm news in the coming weeks. 

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=df6e340b-920a-4009-8a29-56652b6a1bba

This isn't about Provincial Exams.  Standardized tests are used purely for statistical data on student achievement.  Sadly, the Fraser Institute likes to use this same data as a way of showing which schools are better than others.  Damnit I hate them....

Inquisitive Voice:  "Ok, so what does this test actually tell you about a school?"

Moo:  "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING"

Inquisitive Voice:  "I don't follow...the article said it tests students' academic ability"

Moo:  "Right, their academic ability to write a test under pressure in X amount of time.  How is that a reflection of the school?"

Inquisitive Voice:  "Well then that just means the teachers at the school aren't doing their jobs, gov funds are being wasted there, and education at that school is sub-par."

Moo:  "ohhhhhhh dear....."


Tell me where they factor in IEP's into that test?  Or whether there is an Aboriginal Reservation 500m away from the school?  Or whether the school is host to X number of adapted learning programs?  Or how many students in each class are special ed?  ESL?  living in poverty? 

FYI, 1 in 6 children in BC lives in poverty.  Chew on that statistic for a minute.

Inquisitive Voice:  *chews*.....*chokes*

So the FSA's gauge student ability in core subjects.  Great!  But that tells you nothing about the KINDS of students that go to the school.  How many students at a private school arrive hungry because they have no food at home? 

ARe the teachers in the DTES any worse than teachers in North Van?  NO!!!  In a perfect world, every school would have a proportionate number of ESL, special needs, etc.  students.  Vancouver, as beautiful as it is, will never be this way. 

But the Fraser Institute and, evidently, Ministry of Education don't see it this way.  They feel that every school is perfectly proportionate and on a level playing field.  The fact that Point Grey has a Musqueam reservation next to it is irrelevant despite the fact that Aboriginal people have very different learning needs--not difficulties--than the majority of students.

As weird as this may sound, I actually don't agree with many of the BCTF's political actions.  But this is bloody insane.  The article closes with the suggestion that teachers should be reprimanded for not administering this test.  Way to bite the hand that feeds. 

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/?jp=cweycweymhmh

50 Cent has decided to write his own childrens book. 

Am I a bad person for having more interest in the parents who would actually BUY this thing than having concern for the kids who may read it? 

I have only bought 4 albums in my entire life:

1.  Aqua - Aquarium   (high school....grade 8.....'nuff said.  Their music will always be fun to listen to)

2.  Linkin Park - Meteora   (durrr....don't need to explain this one)

3.  Limp Bizkit - Results May Vary    (guilty pleasure.  I think I'm the only LB fan left on the planet.  The album is pretty good too)


.....and the 4th one which i just bought today is............ *drumroll*


4.  Creature - No Sleep At All

I can pretty much guarantee you have NOT heard of these guys.  I sure as hell hadn't until I heard them playing at UBC today around 1pm.  They are doing all these "First Week @ UBC" events right now.....lotsa tents n' stuff..... and of course they have a few bands come in and play. 

Well today Creature was playing and holy shit they are AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!  Sure, you haven't heard of teh group before.  That's understandable since they are from Montreal and are relatively unknown.  But I am willing to bet that you have never heard a sound like theirs before.  There's such incredible energy in their music.  Listening to them live @ UBC though?  You should've seen hwo many people were gathering around just to absorb it......

AND THEY'VE GOT STYLE TOO!!   Just check out this video and make sure you listen to it pretty loud with a good amount of bass (I just can't imagine listening to their music on low volume....)

Creature - Pop Culture

The guitar player (the guy in that video that  sorta has a goatee...but not rly) is probably the best guitarist I have ever seen live.  He was all over the stage, twisting and inverting the guitar constantly.......he even jumped up on top of a pair of amps that were on the stage and started hammering away on some really intricate guitar riffs.  The female vocals weren't just standing aroudn either....they woudl be doing some contemporary dance moves in between lyrics, or even contributing to the percussion.

And what about the drummer?  No matter how many times I listen to the song, the drums are what always what attract my attention.  It never gets old and he constantly changes his loops up during the song.  

Needless to say, after they were done I bought the album....$15 may sound like a lot for an album, but when I'm handing the $15 right to the guitarist, at least I KNOW that 100% of that money is going directly to support the band.  

Naturally the album cannot make up for hearing them live, but it's pretty damn close  (.....and yes, they are much better when heard live.....you can feel the bass hit your chest every time the drummer kicks the bass drum).  Their style is totally unique, they don't pose as something they aren't (talking to them afterwards, you quickly find out just how true to their music they are).  Everything about this band shows in their music.   Not sure what else you can ask for in a band

Their music may be hard to download using a P2P program but seriously, buy their songs on iTunes if you like them.  They are the real deal, 100% genuine, no-bullshit certified.  The previews on iTunes will at least giv e you an idea of how varied their songs are too. 

Inquisitive Voice: You DO realize that you have your practicum in like 7 weeks, right?

Moo: ...........yes

Inquisitive Voice: No car....

Moo: I know....

Inquisitive Voice: No idea where you're going to be placed

Moo: Yeah.....

Inquisitive Voice: ...and you're STILL going to be just beginning your B.Ed program classes.

Moo: Correct.

Inquisitive Voice: Not to mention you may not even have a job waiting for you when it's all said and done. You still sure you want to go ahead with this whole teacher thing?

Moo: More so than anything else I have taken on in my life.

---

Resolve

---

So here's the deal. I've been to all my classes now and have a rough idea what this program is all about. There is no question in my mind that I'm on the right track with this degree (as if the summer tutoring job didn't already remove all of the doubt I had about my career choice). I can`t remember a time when I was THIS engaged in what I was learning....not even with my English courses did I ever start going out of my way to read up on material outside of the assigned readings.....

....and I can`t describe how refreshing it is to sit in class and NOT have to devote 100% of my concentration/focus toward understanding some random, ridiculously abstract literary/sociological concept. I can actually take some time to think about what is being said.....

....and despite the reality of whether I will pass my practicum, or wait years just to get a permanent job, or have to move out of the city, or even have to move out the province...despite all that, I am still determined to do this.

---

My Path

---

I got a lot of stuff that I need to work on too. My public speaking skills are very erratic....some days I will be absolutely brilliant, cohesive, confident, with good projection and virtually no ``ums.`` When I'm speaking to small groups or sitting down I'm even better.

But other days, I get frazzled.  My points don't make sense or have any logical connections, and I actually even start twitching a lot (not shaking....my face starts twitching for some reason, especially my cheek muscle....its REALLY weird because I don't feel nervous or anything but it'll start up I can`t stop it, almost like it`s a muscle spasm or something. Maybe too much coffee lol)

I also gotta start collecting stuff for this E-Folio thing I need to do.  E-Folio is basically an online blog/portfolio/resume detailing your progress and growth as a teacher insofar as it applies to meeting the standards to teach in BC.  It's a pretty neat idea and every teacher candidate must create one in order to graduate.  The good news is I can use/contribute anything I want to it.  I may ask some of you guys to help me create things to add to this, feedback or impression about my personality...stuff like that...so WATCH OUT!!! 

---

Over Time/Overtime

---

My course schedule is posted on Facebook, which I have been updating pretty frequently this past week.  Just click on the "Courses 2.0" tab on my profile page and you'll see all my courses, plus information on what each course is and the instructor who is teachign it. It's a pretty weird schedule, but I know of at least 2 other people that have NEARLY identical ones to mine.  When you are autimatically signed up in a cohort, it pretty much limits your options for change the times of the other courses....

I'll talk about my actual courses are going in another post.  It's late, I'm tired.......so cyas : )

I had my Bachelor of Education orientation today. Honestly, I can't see any reason for them to waste a whole day on this when they really couldve just sent home a pamphlet or something.....

---

Foundational Course Orientation

---

Arrived at Neville Scarfe building (Faculty of Education) wayyyyyyy too early so I sold my 6 textbooks for a whopping $97.25! Not bad considering they were all paperbacks.

So I went back and walked into the room and actually recognized a few people that will be with me in the cohort (take the same classes together pretty much). Seems like there's lots of English majors going into teaching......

....but what's this......no instructor? 15 minutes later he/she still wasnt there. Our whole class pretty much sat there waiting until finally my friend suggested I go up and figure out what's going on. He actually was saying tha tmore jokingly than anything else but I was tired of doing nothing so I went.

Got upstairs....found one faculty supervisor....who took me to another faculty supervisor....who went back with me to the room and started our orientation. 10 minutes later our REAL instructor shows up and says that he had no idea he was supposed to be doing the orientation right now which seems a BIT weird considering a) its the first day of UBC and b) everyone inside the Education Building was there for an orientation. Hell, they even had these tropical fruit kebobs in a bowl for people to take right at the entrance!

If skewered fruit doesn't automatically register as "Welcome to your first day of _______" in your head then something is seriously wrong.

---

The Instructors/Supervisors

---

The interesting thing about being in a generalist cohort (as opposed to a specific cohort that they have for science, music, home ec, french, etc.) is that you get a REAL mix of people. Phys Ed....english...socials...math....

It was easy to peg our instructor as a P.E. guy right when he walked in (30 mins late). He's really outgoing but I'm a bit worried that the suggestions he makes will be more relevant to a P.E. class than to a "normal" classroom setting. Meh, we'll see.

Following that orientation, we had to go to a Practicum Orientation as well with a different supervisor. He was also pretty outgoing and did his best to make a lot of boring information as bearable as possible.

---

Those Who can't.....

---

One of the slides our practicum supervisor showed us outlined what kind of teachers had been accepted into the program and what % increase/decrease it was over last year. Most were +/- 15% with +19% being the SECOND largest increase.

The largest was English with an 80% increase over last year. Holy...hell. No wonder there were so many English majors I recognized. But this is actually REALLY bad news for me because that means there will be lots of competition and not NEARLY enough demand for that many English teachers. Im not exactly sure why they would admit that many applications from a single faculty. Furthermore, the program itself is made up of somewhere around 800 students which, when you think about it, is a LOT of teachers to be graduating each year.

Maybe all this worrying about not finding a job in the lower mainland is a bit permature....the instructor said that in the next 10yrs half of all current teachers currently teaching in schools will have moved on/retired. *shrug* I'm still going to talk to one of the program supervisors to get some more insight onto why they admitted so many of one teachable concentration.

---

This is boring....Wrap it up, Moo!

---

Yeah, boring post. Too lazy to make it witty. FYI, this is what my writing looks like when I don't try to add any character or personality to it.

One last interesting thing that happened is after our last orientation of the day, which took place at the Chan Center, we walked out the doors and the Teacher Education Office had a couple of tables outside. On each of them were a few baskets completely full of apples. I thought that was a really really nice touch to end a whole day devoted to saying that you are now teacher candidates.

Anyways, I have too much else I could type and, really, I should be asleep right now. Wednesdays are going to be absolutely brutal: First class starts at 8am and the day ends at 8pm (12hrs!!) so I need to be up around 630AM!!!! Pretty insane. I'll post a schedule tomorrow

Inquisitive Voice: "Ok, I'll bite....what's with the title?"

Moo: "Ever tried switching from XP to Vista?"

Inquisitive Voice: "Oh....oh dear.....can I get you anything? Cookie? Tea? Mentos?"

Moo: *sizzle*


As you probably guessed from the significant period of time between this post and my last, my installation did not go as planned. Here is a bullet point list of what happened:

• Bought a new 320gb SATAII Harddrive
• Installed New Harddrive
• Power Supply decided to die
• Bought a new, more powerful Power Supply (550W instead of 400W)
• Removed old one
• Installed new one incorrectly....plugged a 5V wire into a 12V connector on the motherboard and......
  


• .....melted wire.....on a $55 power supply that I JUST bought...... *grumble* I can't believe I made such a newb mistake hooking it up.
• Try to disconnect the cable but it has melted onto the motherobard.......




• Ripped out the wire that was melted to the motherboard and it ends up taking a chunk of the plastic connector with it. (see the above black spot in the white plastic...you can sorta see how a chunk has been taken off of it)
• Use a weak power supply to test to see if motherboard still works
• Pray
• Pray some more
• .....................IT WORKS!!!! THANK YOU JEEBUS!!!!

So at this point I really only need a new connector. I can just wrap electrical tape around the melted wire (which I don't need) and buy a new connector for 6 bucks and it'd be good to go. But my parents wanted a faster computer so here was the deal:

1. I back up all the important files and media on my parents' old system.
2. I fix my old computer and back up all of my media and files
3. Trade my computer system for the new one
   
4. Reinstall all their stuff onto my old computer for them to use.
5. Install all of my stuff onto the brand new computer

Thats basically what I did over the 3 days last weekend. It took a shit load of time just to even back up everything. Then my stuff took even longer....especially the program installation files.

Reinstalling Windows XP for my parents took a day. That included installing all of the programs again, tweaking a whole bunch of settings to make it run faster, setting up the wireless network, transferring music, etc.

THEN THERE WAS VISTA..............holy.......hell........You hear stories about how the transition from Windows XP to Windows Vista is really rough. It is nothing compared to actually experiencing it. The only analogy I can think of that works is if you think of something you know very well. Imagine coming back to it when you are completely stoned out of your mind and trying to recognize it. That's exactly what Vista feels like. It sure is fun to look at...and you sort of recognize things....but the rest is just FUBAR.

"Add and Remove Programs" in teh Control Panel? GONE
"Network Properties"? COMPLETELY CHANGED
How folders/files are displayed? TOTALLY DIFFERENT
Security? DEFCON SIX, AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED FOR EVERYTHING
Hardware Drivers? 50% NO LONGER WORK!!! (just try finding the right correct Vista sound card driver for a 2 year old card...i dare ya....)
Wallpapers? PRETTY!
Alt Tab? COOL 3D-effect!

So you can see where Microsoft has put their priorities. Things look really nice, but the rest of it is like a foreign country where everyone is speaking pig-latin instead of English (that's also a good analogy! I'm so gellin' on this post.....)

Anyways, I've finally got Vista working FOR THE MOST PART. I doubt it'll get much better than it is right now. Oh well.

---

TEACHING

---

I met my final few students today for the last 3-week session of tutoring.  Only 4 new kids, 3 returning.  No matter how hard I try, I can't really imagine a job being much better than this one is right now.   I'll update more on this tomorrow

Yeah, I know....BRB implies that you were there in the first place.  I'm in the middle of reformatting my computer but I'll update as soon as I'm done with that.

Inquisitive Voice #1:     then why bother posting this?  Get on with it!!

Moo:   ......you've got a point. 

---

B-Day!

---

It's my birthday!! I'M ALIVE!!! Time to celebrate that!!

What a great few days this has been. Strange as it may sound, I usually don't celebrate my b-day, aside from MAYBE my family taking me out for dinner.

Inquisitive Voice #1: "but moo....don't you have friends you can celebrate with??? o.o"
Moo: Yes
Inquisitive Voice #1: *blank stare*
Moo: ".........updog"
Inquisitive Voice #1: "what's up...heeeeeeeeey, wait a minute"

.......and that's pretty much how it's gone on for the past 4 or 5 years at least. This year was different. Not sure why exactly....I really owe a lot to B for insisting I celebrate it this year though. First off, the biggest surprise was all these happy b-day wishes! I hate to say it, but I don't really use facebook that much despIte importing these livejournal posts into my page. So to suddenly get all tehse posts on my wall, even from people I have hardly spoken to in years, was raelly REALLY cool.

Others also took me out for dinner at the Water Street Cafe in Gastown (highly recommended.....soooooooo good and not too expensive). The pasta there is really amazing. It's literally right next to the steamclock in gastown, if you are wondering where it is. Really easy to find. After that, we all saw a movie right after.

Inquisitive Voice #1: "what movie?"

I'm so glad you asked!!!

---

WALL-E

---

When I try to think of whether this movie is better than Ratatouille, my brain gets stuck in an infinite loop. They excel at different things I guess.....I can't imagine telling a story in a CG movie being any better than the one in Ratatouille. The presentation and dialog in that movie is in a league of its own.

Wall-E is perfect, but for so many other reasons. I have no idea how the writers managed to create such a heartwarming story with hardly any dialog. That must've been a REALLY tough decision for Pixar to make....normal talking robots just seems so natural, given past movies.

So its a story with lots of emotion, all done with minimal dialog. No problem, right?

Inquisitive Voice #1: "Right!"

Wrong!! They managed to cram in these major themes into the movie. Unsustainable living is an obvious major theme, but the multinational corporation that has control over every facet of human life? wasn't expecting that one to be in there...a bit grim for a kids movie.

So humanity leaves earth because it is too polluted and covered in trash to sustain life. Everything is dead. That may SOUND like a preachy message, but it doesn't come off that way because it is not preached through dialog (how can it be...there is barely any dialog!!). No, its the visuals that do it. Showing the aftermath of earth being polluted....the hundreds of Buy N Large Corporations's ads promising a better life in space continue to play on infinite replay as Wall-E compresses a bunch of trash into a cube.......THAT is more effective than any speech could be.

I dont want to talk about the movie too much more because it woudl probably just give away more of its spark. Watch it and you'll see what I mean.

---

Tutoring 101 Complete!

---

I don't know why I've been so drawn to children with learning disabilities.  Part of it is just how the opportunity to teach has come up for me.  I never imagined myself doing this kind of work, let alone with children as young as 7 years old.  Sure, they're cute as a button at that age....but I just handle myself a lot better around students I can talk to like adults

The thing is that through all this experience, though, I've come to some kind of profound, personal realization that the way the education systems teaches students is not ideal for every student's learning style. Straight-up lectures and assignments are the way things are done right now, but that's probably only ideal for a very small percent of all students.  Others need to learn differently,....either by engaging with the subject material on their own, or even just relating it to their own life experience. 

I think most people can identify with this.  Lectures are boring.  Assignments are just meaningless busywork with no real worth to anyone but the teacher.  And while some kids can simply accept this fact and simply adapt their learning to follow in suit with this "lecture/assignment" focus on education, a child with a LD simply can't adapt because they are born like that. 

So i guess what I'm getting at is this:  the difficulties a child with a LD face really don't seem that different from those that most other students face.  Both are taught the same way until the LD is discovered.  The only difference seems to be that the child with a severe LD cannot adapt their thinking in a way that better suits the lecture/assignment style educational system.  Most other students, while not enjoying this same format, ARE able to adapt their thinking.

ie.  the Study / regurgitate / forget  process for doing a test.  The second the test is done and a student moves on to a new unit, they start to forget everything they just learned. 

"Learning Things the Hard Way."  That sums it up pretty nicely I think.  Talk about a kicass title for a future-essay, too!

 

Thank you all for your words of support.  It really means a lot to me.  I can hardly believe I'm so lucky to know such wonderful people. 

---

New Job!!

---

Got the job at the Learning Disabilities Association!!!!!!!!! Weird how I seem to end up in places with EXTREMELY generic names, but i dont think any of them will be the name of the program at Killarney: "Learning Services Program." Could there BE a more generic name? I think NOT!!!

So what is so great about it? I dont think that I could have imagined a more perfect summer job.....mahybe one thats a bit closer but w/e, iPod FTW!

- Teach a set of learning disabled students aged 7 - 14 for 13 weeks.

- 13.50/hr (Thats more than I got at McD and while this may seem like not much for teaching, tutors do not make much money.  The tutoring company usually takes a good chunk of what parents pay to have their kid tutored.  Not to mention you may only work 20hrs/week)

- They train you for 7 days on how to identify disabilities, adapt to them, cater teachign methods to suit individual needs.....its amazing and SOOOOOOO useful.

- Ends right when my B.Ed program starts in sept

- Non-profit  (this is a big thing for me)

- Easy to get there by transit. 13766 72nd Ave. Surrey, BC.   GoogleMap it yourself and do the public transit directions.  I'll bet they all come to around 1hr to get there.  Thats about what it takes me to get to UBC.    I just need to Skytrain to Surrey Central, take ONE 15min bus ride, then walk a block. Piece of cake

- Work Mon-Thurs 4 days a week, and every 3rd Friday for a few hours.......that means 3 day weekends most of the time!!!!


PLUS! having this job on a resume is going to look fantastic.  Tomorrow is the first of 7 training shifts (Thurs, Fri, and mon-fri next week) so i'm really excited about that.  Ive been sitting around doing bugger all lately...TV....MOVIES.....GAMES....ugh.  Such a waste of time.  I cant believe I've gotten into this season of So You Think You Can Dance -_-

Anyways, I like this format of giving headers to my posts.  Organization +1!  Only one thing today cuz i got training tmr (3rd time i have said that I think, lol).  9am is when it starts....must get up early for transit!  I'll post on friday to tell how it went. 

I GOT MY PHONE BACK!! Just thought I'd say that before posting this:

---

Dear Mr. Adamson

I am pleased to inform you that your application for re-admission to the University of British Columbia has been accepted. You have been admitted to the Bachelor of Education - Secondary (Vancouver 12 Month) option - Major English for the 2008-2009 Winter Session. Please notify the Teacher Education Office of your intent to accept or decline this offer by returning the enclosed form no later than two weeks from the date of this letter.

Your UBC student number is ******** and will be required for registration. Any time you contact the University, please refer to this number.

The attached Admission and Registration statement provides you with information on your admission and the date when you may register in the teacher education program. Please keep this statement for future reference and advising purposes.

The Registration Guide is available in early June from the Faculty of Education web site at http://www.teach.educ.ubc.ca. We encourage you to register on the date indicated in this letter in order to secure your place in the program.

Pursuant to the Criminal Records Review Act all students registered in the Bachelor of Education program must provide a criminal record check authorization to the Teacher Education Office. Please see the enclosed instruction sheet for details.

Welcome to the Faculty of Education, UBC. We wish you every success in your studies.

Sincerely,
Dilys Chiew
Admissions Officer, Secondary Programs
Faculty of Education
The University of British Columbia

---

School + Grades!

---

I think I am more happy about this than my actual graduation. This is a HUGE deal for me. I was worried that I would have to take a year to do random teaching-related work in order to get enough exp to level up and qualify for the program. Looks like Killarney and my GPA were good enough to get me in!!!

*does the MSN happy cow dance*

Grades Before Leaving McD: 73.58% average mark for courses taken while working mostly weekends at McD.
Grades After: average above 80% while volunteering 2 days a week at Killarney.

I'm amazed at how much of a difference that made. I knew work was affecting my marks, but I didn't think that it would be THAT much of an influence on everything. It's not like the courses were "easier" either.....Contemporary Sociological Theory, English Majors Seminar - Puritanism and Indigeneity, Statistical Methods, and Sociology of Work.

Last semester alone was, by far, my best. All A's and A - 's which is pretty incredible I think. Before I would have been lucky to even see the letter A for a final grade. And getting an A - in my English Majors Seminar......holy crap, thats probably the best academic achievement I have right there. K.....enough braggin

---

Job Search:

---

THERE IS NO WAY I AM GOING BACK TO MCD. No, its not that I hate the place. Quite the opposite. I loved working there, the ppl were nice. But I was always tired, and was getting tired of answering to people who cared even less about the store than I did. I could understand it being difficult for the first few months, but then everyone started running back to their old store or leaving or transferring out. Having to repeatedly do maintenance (kitchen and lobby) duties AND Closing Manager Duties was the final straw for me.

What about kingsway? Most of the ppl i knew there are gone. Plus, I didn't get nearly enough respect as a manager there. Only when i went to Marine and Byrne did I actually get treated like a manager

Bleh, probably better not to get into all that stuff again... *goes to his happy place*

So what's the alternative? I interviewed for a job at Learning Disabilities Association - South Fraser. It's an awesome summer job for me that only lasts until the end of August, pays 13.50 (a lot more than McD did) and is 100% related to a career in education. Only bad thing is its a lil far away...down in Surrey - Newton. Transit there isnt a problem but 1hr or so each way. But whatever, I really hope i get this.

This wednesday is my last day at Killarney.  We'll see how that goes. 

Y'know, I didn't expect that when I started volunteering at Killarney that I would end up running into students that have such incredible writing abilities.  I absolutely suck at straight-up creative writing.  For some reason I have just never been able to hold on to a single image or feeling long enough to put it onto paper.  Writing dialogue?  thats a whole other can of worms.....

But there's this one girl in the LSP that is insanely talented at this!  She struggles a lot with math and science, but when it comes to English and creative writing......its just incredible.  I'm actually lucky enough to have a sampel of her writing.  Not a "physical" sample, but an online one.  She posts to this online site for fanfictions which are fan-made stories about popular shows.  Anime is a HUGE component of this and, YES, she is a huge anime fangirl over yaoi...BL...and all that other 'stuff' that I'd rather not get into cuz I really don't understand it myself

>.>

Righto...here's the link:

Stealing Cinderella


Not only is she wayyyyyyyy better than I will ever be at this, but she is still only in Grade 10!!  That's a CrAzY long story too....13 chapters and still growing!  It's all very well written.  She was telling me that she has had roughly 100k views of it with a few hundred set to track it.  Here's a few lines:

"I'm getting this feeling that you arent looking forward to staying in the same house as me..." she gasped as her head snapped up, her electric blue eyes locking on to a pair of mischevious amber ones. He smirked at her as he climbed into her room, tapping his shoes on the outside of the window sill so as not to get dirt on her nice, clean bedroom floor (Kagome was really easily irritated by the pressence of dirt in her room.

Pretty incredible eh?  Such vivid imagery.  Didn't even have to look hard for that passage...it's from the first page.  This is an Inuyasha fanfic, btw.....i've never seen the show, nor do I intend to.  Why?  I think VGCats answers this one best. but it turns out that I'm one of the few who think this way.  Apparently ppl put it right up there with Sailor Moon so I guess it must be better than I'm giving it credit for. 

.......meh.......


She also wrote this REALLY sexually charged (but not at all explicity) BL story for her short story assignment that was also expertly written.  I know at LEAST 3  ppl off the top of my head that would have loved to read it but, alas, she lost the electronic copy and no longer has the hardcopy with her (friend has it, apparently).  Oh well

So what was the point of this post?  I think I've been focusing on too many of the quirky, negative aspects of teaching in my past posts.  These students, despite having trouble in one area, (usually) are all very capable of great work and, in this case, work that can far exceed expectation.  Just when you think all you'll ever hear is "did not meet expectations," something like this comes along and reminds you that occasionally they will far exceed them. 

I'm really starting to see how some of the teachers around Killarney have lost faith in the education system. Some of the students coming through our doors (an ohhhhhh yes, we are STILL getting new enrollments into the Learning Services Program) are so incredibly far behind that you gotta wonder how the hell NOBODY could notice there was a problem there at all.

EDIT:  I had originally planned a Phoenix-wright sorta format to this post but i dont have the time.....SRY!  Gotta wake up early tomorrow : ) 

---

CASE #1: "Turnabout Reading" Grade 10. Number of books read: ONE

---

We got a new student a few weeks back who is in Grade 10 and has only read one book in her entire life. That's right........ONE book. How the hell does that even happen???? Hell, I was expected to have read at LEAST a couple books just while in elementary school! The Secret World of Og and Number the Stars come to mind right away, and that is just from what I can remember from grade 6 or 7.

So what exactly does this mean? Well for starters, she has NO concept of genre at all. Anyone who has studied the signficance of genre knows how important it is. Everyone relies on genre when they read so recognizing it is crucial....if you dont, then you will have a tough time figuring out what the whole point of the book is.

ie. The mystery genre. You expect clues will be left for you to try and solve the puzzle, all leading to some sort of a resolution at the end.
ie. Adventure novels....you expect a strong central character that you would want to follow as they experience an adventure.

Basically this means that everything she reads will have no resemblance to anything else. It'd be like taking The White Pages, an Encyclopedia, and a Shakepspeare Anthology, and reading them all the exact same way. Same thing with genre....you take a mystery novel, dystopian novel, short story, poem.....she will read them ALL the same way.

How exactly can you make up for that many years of lost reading experience? I have no clue....that kinda question is waaaaaaaaayyy beyond my skill of teaching (just havent learned how to do that yet...). What i DO know is it will take a shit load of specialized teaching for her to get to the level she needs to be at.

---

CASE #2: "Turnabout Disability"

---

All Grade 10 students need to do a Resume and Cover Letter for their Planning 10 courses (used to be called Career Prep when i took it but w/e).  I was helping this one student who normally slacks off but was willing to do some work.  Typical "everything is a joke waiting to happen" kind of attitude, if  you know what thats like. 

Anyways, so I was helping this student with his resume but did not want to type it out for him.  He is very bad with words and vocab and was trying to get me to do all the work (very common for these students).  I said I would help him with the sentences but he would have to type them out.  Finally he makes an attempt and THATS when i started to notice something is goin on...

When i said the word "significant" he spelled the word "simplement".  I thought this was just a typo or something...so I went on and later said the word "reliable" and he typed out "relive".  This happen many other times, even with small words like turning the word "breath" into "batch".  By the end of it i was all but certain of one thing:  that kid has dyslexia and can barely read. 

I came to my supervisor after school ended that day and told him about this and he said "oh yeah, thats really something eh?"   I'm thinking great!  he knows!  But then i remembered that this same student hadn't been classified as learning disabled....so WTF??  Why isn't someone teaching him to read!!???

Turns out that the student had been tested many many times and they couldn't figure out what TYPE of disability he had.  Because he has no classifiable disability, he gets no access to funded resources.  Could that possibly BE any more idiotic?  Right now it's like if your disability does not resemble others' then tough luck!  And sure, he has behaviour issues and other chips on his shoulder.....BUT THE GUY CANT EVEN READ OR SPELL!!!  Seriously, how hard is it to get working on that?? 


I mean WOW, imagine how much "damage" that student's illiteracy could have done.  His parents must've known, and certainly some of his teachers.  But when u think about the fact that he is in Grade 10....allllllll those years, all those tests and assignments........he wouldve been struggling on every single one of them.  It's easy to imagine him just giving up on all of his schooling when he realizes he is having trouble with everything he is asked to do....all because he can't read properly!! 

God that pissed me off but really there is nothing that can be done.  Right now he has no Learning Disability classification, even though he is in Grade 10 and reads at a Grade 5 level.  If there isn't something wrong with that then I think I have the wrong idea about teaching.  But IF there is, then the VSB needs to seriously re-evaluate how it distributes its resources. 


PHEW.  That was long.  I have one other anecdote i can post about next time.  til then

Geez, has it really been 1 month since my last update? Didnt realize it had been that long :(  Next post will probably be a teaching one cuz i have a lot to say about it and havent done one in a while. 

I wish I could say that I was spending my time doing something worthwhile but no, i pretty much just vegetated for these past few weeks.  I think I watched more TV in these past few weeks than I have ever in my life......just downloading episodes via BitTorrent or Bearshare. 

Battlestar Galacticca - All episodes (over 3 seasons worth....so like 50 episodes, each 40mins long).  GOOD SHOW THOUGH!

House - Caught up on this...maybe 10 episodes?  They are into Season 4 and this show is still just as good as it was in Season 2!

Supernatural - Finished 1st season, then watched the rest up to the most recent one in the 3rd season

Robot Chicken - All of Season 3 so far.  This show is just too funny and is actually getting better at what the type of humour it does.  Go to www.alluc.org to watch the episodes....much easier than downloading them

Rome - Last few episodes of Season 1 and all of Season 2.  Easily the best made show I have ever seen on TV.....the visuals are so incredible that it doesnt even look like a TV show; you'd swear you were watching a really really long movie.

Lost - I never actually stopped watching this.....but I am getting pretty fed up with it.  The show is just getting too damn weird and ridiculous.  Nothing makes any sense, nor is anything EVER explained (even when you expect it to be explained!)

Bleach and Naruto - Bleach was great but now they are back into filler episodes.  I'm also remembering all the things I hate about Naruto...how it can possibly take 5 or so episodes to show ONE battle is beyond my understanding. 

So yeah, thats a shit load of doing nothing in front of a computer monitor.  The sad thing is that I actually have a few other series I want to get through.....The Office and The Sopranos both look worthwhile.  Who knows

Come to think of it, I did go pick up my grad tickets at the end of April and suddenly found myself in a line up for a presentation by Richard Dawkins at the Chan Center.  For those that dont know him, he's the guy that wrote The God Delusion.  If that still doesnt ring a bell, then he was also the guy that fell in love with Mrs. Garrison on an episode of South Park last season....the one about the futuristic war over atheism fought by a bunch of moles. 

Anyways, so that was actually pretty boring.  Videos of him are much better and edit all the other academic stuff he includes in his talks.  Those videos are definitely worth listening to, if u havent checked them out yet.

Other than the above, the only other thing I have been doign is looking for a Job.  NO, i will NOT go back to McDonalds.  Working at McD when i have a University degree just seems stupid.  Plus, Im wayyyyyy too comfortable there and need to get out and get some new experiences.  Something relevant to teaching....community center work would be great.  Who knows.  So long as I earn at least waht I did at McD and its worthwhile!

K, It's like 230am when I am typing this and have done this post in lrecord time with almost no proofreading.  If any of it made sense to you then good....it was bound to happen sooner or later. 

Yeah yeah, its been another really long time since my last post.....term papers, group projects, and TONS of readings pretty much limited my time during this last month.

I just handed in my last Term paper today.  As of this moment, I am completely done ALL of my assignments for this semester which meaaaaaaaans I'm completely done my Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature with a Sociology Minor!!!

Everyone keeps telling me how proud of me they are but for some reason it still hasn't sunk in for me.  I keep wondering if it will....like I'm supposed to be somehow moved by the whole experience?  I dunno.  It's kind of weird to think about it though....I've been going to school full-time since kindergarten and just thinking that it all was to lead up to where I am right now is pretty cool

What DID get me really pumped up, though, is The Arts Last Lecture, held each year for all graduating students.  No, it's not an actual lecture but instead an hour or so speech by a really notable figure like Peter Mansbridge (the longtime host of CBC's The National). 

I know what you're thinking.  Sounds pointless, right?  Bunch of famous people giving advice on how to approach life from now on...etc etc.  I probably wouldn't have even attended the thing if the one and only DOUGLAS COUPLAND was not the speaker for the class of 2008. 

Who the hell is he?  Ever wondered where the phrase "generation X" comes from?  COUPLAND.  Ditto for "McJob."  That's what he's most known for, but his fictional books are what set him apart from everyone.  So far I have read:

Microserfs  --> Pokes fun at microsoft....hence the name

JPod  -->  This was turned into a CBC original series just recently.  A look at Electronic Arts and life in Vancouver.  SOOOooooo funny

Eleanor Rigby  -->  an astoundingly beautiful novel about a mother who reconnects with her son.  I dont often get emo about books but this one really got to me

1/4 of Hey Nostradamus  -->  Words really cant describe how powerful this book is....If i had my way, it would be required reading for every highschool student.  While I've only read 1/4 of it, i know It tells the stories of four individuals as they experience a highschool Columbine-style shooting.  I'll never forget what it felt like to read that first narrator's experience of the shooting.  How she describes how she was killed during the massacre and is writing from the POV of a spirit or ghost in limbo.  How she writes "God is nowhere.....God is now here" repeatedly in her notebooks.  It's things like that that really set Coupland apart from other writers.

I havent read Generation X yet, even though I own it.  Ran out of time to finish it as part of my summer reading last year.  It's right at the top of my list of things to read, though.

So really I could not possibly have asked for a better speaker.  He is either my first or second favourite writer, really modern, and very funny.  How did the lecture go?  AWESOME.

After his name was announced, he walks up onto the stage and walks over to his laptop which is projecting onto a screen for the audience to see.  His presentation was led along by a series of images.  The first image said "Congratulations on graduating with a Bachelor of Arts" in bold red letters in the middle of a white background.  Surrounding these words were images of baskets of fries, fry cartons, shortening vats, etc.  That pretty much set the mood for the whole speech.  Ridiculously cynical, very funny, and dotted with the occasional piece of incrdibly insightful advice. 

I really hope I can get the video of it because the whole speech was so inspiring, even through the cynicism.  But as if this wasn't good enough, after the speech he was out in the Chan Center lobby signing books.  Check it out!!!


(click image for MUCH larger view...you should be able to read the text on that first page of Hey Nostradamus!)

Yep yep, I shook his hand and he happily signed the two books that I had with me.  Signed mint condition copies of Hey  Nostradamus! and Generation X  = too cool.  Problem is, I kinda ddont want to read these copies now because it will mess up the binding.  Bleh....

Okay, I've rambled on long enough about this thing.  I gotta get my grad stuff in order.....renting that smock out, getting tickets, etc.  I'll have more details about that in another post VERY soon.  No school = no readings/assignments = more time to post onto LJ! 

Up til last wednesday I had only been marking math assignments (mostly).  Why?  Cuz its incredibly straight forward.  I even created a few answer keys because we arent using materials from a textbook, per se. No, no....the curriculum is more like a mass of assignments that have been donated to us by other teachers....USUALLY without an answer key.  Now I'm not a total idiot when it comes to math so making a key isnt as bad as it sounds.  Most of these kids struggle with fractions so it's not like I am doing quadratic equations or anything like that.

Last wed, tho, I was asked to mark an English assignment.  Those that have given me an essay to look at know how insane I go with comments.  Well, that doesnt quite work with students, as it turns out. 

First off, the assignment is out of 20 yet there are 6 questions and none of them said how much they were worth! 

supervisor:     "students can usually tell where they lost marks." 
me:     "but some questions are more about making an argument.....how do i take marks off of that?"
supervisor:      "focus on how much thought they put into it"
me:      "they also answered an entirely different question for one of these.  he thought you asked 'how is age defined' rather than 'how is age defied'....?"
supervisor:      "mark the question he answered then, but take that misread question into consideration"
me:      "Ok"


Great!  That cleared up absolutely nothing!  Wtf does "take into consderation" mean?  The student answered the wrong question!!  Is that automatically half off what the question is worth??? But then its not worth ANYTHING on its own cuz the whole assignment is outta 20!!!  *explodes*

Ultimately I did everything I shouldnt have.  First off, I gave each questions a total for how much it is out of because not having a total for each question just annoyed me....the student should know how much is missing and from where.  If I took off marks then I felt the need to justify it with a long comment saying how they went wrong.  For a short paragraph the student wrote I commented with:

"Good example, but your explanation does not say anything other than there is sometimes a difference in lovers' age.  Use evidence from the text to support your response."

Thats a really long comment for a paragraph that couldnt have been over 60 words.  Was that overkill? I dunno, I'm second guessing myself on that one...the student needed to know that error...plus all the comments were written at weird angles and all over the page!  looks really messy -_-

I also was wayyyyy more lenient than I wanted to be because these are students who are having trouble already.  Not that I am makign it easier for them to pass....just that I am looking more for them to show improvement than them to show a particular understanding.  In this case, this was the student I had been helping with English since day one and he has improved immensely since then.  I never thought he would be able to deal with poetry and write thoughtful sentences about it but he managed to get something down on paper so that in itself is huge leap from where he used to be.  I think i was more happy to just be able to read a complete sentence from him rather than expect any degree of cohesion in the paragraphs. 

I was almost embarassed to give back this marked (up?) assignment.  I explained that I had given each question a total but I dont think my supervisor liked that too much.  He didnt really say anything else when I returned it to him so.......*skulk*

Anyways, boring anecdote eh?  Giving out marks for English is a lot harder than I thought it would be, though.  I wonder if i'll just have to get over this urge to justify my marking all the time.  Cant stand profs who dont  provide enough  feedback.

Background story: How the Bomb was Built

Not all graduation requirements completed. 3 credits of a Canadian Content course missing for my English Lit major. Cant graduate if all requirements arent met. Cant get into the the Bachelor of Education program if I don't graduate first. No B.A. and no B.Ed program.

*looks to my right and waves goodbye as Plans A, B, and D go right out the window.......Plan C was lost in the fire*

SO that's basically where I was at around January. How can i leave it that late? I didnt.....sorta. See, I went to Arts advising back in August and they said I had everything all A-OK for graduation so i, stubbornly having faith in the human race, believed them and left it at that. I decide to check this Degree navigator thing online (shows your degree requirements and what courses you can use to fulfill them) and guess what? Theres 3 credits missing!

*facepalm*

Here's the thing. I knew about this requirement but thought that I had completed it a long long time ago at a college not very far away. I took a 2nd year English course called Canadian Literature course back at Langara. Of course when I did my course transfer to UBC I, stubbornly having faith in the logic of the the BC Transfer System, thought that they would give me credit for this course as a Canadian content course. It's titled "Canadian Lit"...how could I go wrong?

But of course this made too much sense. They allowed me to fully transfer my two Survey of Literature courses. Hell, they also allowed me to transfer my American Literature course. And I wouldn't be mentioning this all if they ultimately didn't give me credit for the one course i was counting on: Canadian Lit. I got 3 general credits of 2nd year Engl instead.

I suppose it makes SOME sense.....the course I took was titled differently.  Maybe they looked at the two and thought "Look at the title of his course!  His says 'Canadian Literature' but the UBC one says 'Studies in Canadian Literature'.  I guess they aren't the same then 'cuz based on this title he didn't do any studying" 

-_-  .....yeah, ok, that's accurate but for ALL the wrong reasons. Time to dismantle this academic bomb

Step 1: Find the Bomb Maker

I go back to Arts advising and speak to this really cute girl that tells me to go to the Student Records people to change the course from general credit to full credit. Already I sense that this is going to take a while....

Step 2: Request someone Dismantle it for you (is this metaphor doing anything for you guys yet? Im just seeing how long I can keep it up at this point.....*resumes listening to U2*)

I go to Student records, which also deals with admissions, and this other cute girl has me fill out a paper and write my reasoning for asking my course to be changed.

Me:	OK! So how long will t his take?
Other Cute Girl	Hmmm, maybe around a month or so?
Me	O_o *sweat* Deadline for graduation application is Feb though! Thats just a lil over a month!!
OCG	Come back after about a month to check up on things then
Me	*grumbles* ok......

One month later (late Feb) I went back and, no surprise, still no word.  Now I'm REALLY starting to get worried that this bomb will go off.

1 week after that I get this:

Dear Graham,

 Thank you for completing and returning the transfer credit request for Langara College ENGL 2225.  You have had an inquiry regarding the transferability of LANG ENGL 2225 (3) as UBC ENGL 222 (3).  You completed the course in question in 2004, but the start date for this transfer rule was as of May 2006.  As per the BC Transfer Guide, LANG ENGL 2225 was recognized as ENGL 2^nd unassigned if completed prior to May 2006  

......and somewhere deep inside my head I hear a *boom* ....    (<-- omg best melodrama EVER...I are write English good!).


Step 3: Find someone else to dismantle it!!

I appealed that decisions right away and fired off an email to them.  Even now the course is still the same: same professor teaching it at Langara,  same textbooks.  The only difference is it counts as Canadian content now and didnt back when i took it.

But of course I cant just say "I appeal that decision and you guys are full of shit"....no, no....academics dont badmouth each other's decisions like that.  So what did i do?  Same thing I do when I dont like the service I'm getting at a store:  ask for the supervisor!  Next thing I know it, i'm emailing with the Senior Arts Academic Advisor for UBC.

Step 4:  Plead for somone to dismantle this Bomb

This guy is nice.  He responded really quickly:

"In fact it is the English Department that can choose to accept the course you completed at Langara as completing this Major requirement.  If you do not have an Advisor in the English Department that you normally consult with, please contact...... "

Wait, what??  Did I read that incorrectly or is he ACTUALLY telling me to go talk to an Arts advisor about this.....the SAME kind of person that told me to do go to student records in the first back in January!!?!?!?  ARgghhhh

*facepalm*


Step 5:  Screw dismantling it.  Strap the bomb around your waist, go back to the bomb maker, and start making demands

Ohhhhhh boy, was I stressed and pissed now.  All that time wasted, my graduation in jeopardy, time running out to hand in applications.  This advisor, surprised i had talked to the senior advisor, referred me to the person who verifies all course requirements for the English Department.  Why the advisor didnt say this in the first place is totally beyond my understanding.  I sent yet another very long email explaining, once again, all the reasons why I think I have done enough work to satisfy the requirement.  2 days ago i got this message:

Hello Graham,

Thank you for your message.  I have applied three of your ENGL2nd transfer credits to the Canadian Literature requirement, and put a note on Degree Navigator to indicate that they will fulfill that requirement.  All the requirements for your degree are now checked off.

Very best wishes for your graduation!

Cheers,


It's hard to put into words how I felt when I read this.  All this stress adn anxiety and pressure and time spent sending emails and contacting my old prof about course content and worrying and worrying and worrying...and...and.   All that shit when really this shouldve only taken 2 days. 

I don't think words can describe how stressed out I am right now.  People have even been telling me I look stressed out.  So many things just haven't been going my way at all lately, and this last one was the worst of all.  If nothing changes with this latest incident that has come to my attention, then there is a slim chance UBC might not let me graduate this May.  I'm not gonna get into any details right now since I'm fighting to get this all worked out.  

I think by the time im done volunteering at killarney I will safely be able to lay claim to the title of "most willing conversationalist in the history of student teaching."  I end up talking to students about the most RANDOM things and 99% of the time its them that raises the topic....lets ingore that last 1% for now......

Oh, and when i say 'random' i dont just mean disconnected topics either.  no no no...these kids apply their 'creativity' to all the wrong areas.  Im talking about the kinda randomness that makes you stop for a second to think about whether or not they are speaking the same language as you. 

Yeah, THAT kinda randomness

Student:       (From across the room) Hey can you help me with this?
Me:                  *walks over*  K what's up?
Student:        Do you have a girlfriend?
Me:                  -_-
Student:        you do dont you?! I bet she's into Spiderman 
Me:                  O_o  (did i just hear that??? wow that was random)
Student:        yeah totally, you kinda look like that actor guy from the movie so she must like you cuz of that
Me:                 ................. -_-

FYI I do not LOOK nor ACT like this.....usually




'Nuff said.  The sad thing is i knew they didnt even really have a question or need help.  But I cant really ignore the bugger right?  I need to develop some kind of Jedi near-death death grip...barely incapable of killing them, but just enough to make them wish they were reading about the Irish potato famine instead. 

Student:        Do you have breast cancer?
Me:                  *decides to acknowledge the stupid question* nope
Student:        is that cuz you're a guy?
Me:                  It doesnt matter what sex you are
Student:        So guys can get breast cancer too?
Me:                  yep,
Student:        will i get breast cancer?
Me:                  doubt it...it's not as common with guys
Student:        y not?
Me:                 *tries to think of a way to not mention different breast sizes........FAILS*
Student:        ........
Me:                  prostate cancer is a bigger issue for guys
Student:        what's a prostate??? 
Me:                  (ohhhhhhhhhhh boy....here we go...good job Graham)  erm....look it up on Wikipedia
Student:        why?  cant you just tell me?
Me:                  *sweat*  .....just look it up  *i resume helping another student next to them*
Student:        ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, THAT'S a prostate
Me:                  erm....yeah
Student:        geez.......I'd rather have breast cancer


And yes, by now I had given up all hope of trying to hide my laughter on that one....I'm only human yknow!  heheh

[scroll down to the line for how teachign is going...this will be a long post cuz its been so long since last one]

"reading week" = UBC's euphemism for Spring Break!!!

It came......it went....and I did absolutely nothing! Thats great for a change cuz usually I have a dentist thing (been 6 times in the past 8 weeks!!!!) or student loans to figure out or a bday here or movie there. Not this week...just sad down, did some course reading, played a bunch of games, and watched some downloaded tv. Good times, good times.

movies:

Across the Universe (again, but after seeing it a 2nd time finally recognize how incredible it is)
Disturbia
You Kill Me
Bleach - The Movie (OMG STAY AWAY!! DO NOT WATCH!!!)
Zeitgeist (Interesting at times, but I was actually disturbed by some of the things this movie did)



Supernatural (tv show)

This show is GREAT. Not amazing and not on the same level as Heroes, but its really well done....plus its shot in Vancouver! so thats pretty cool. Its about 2 brothers who, after going separate ways, get together to search for their dad who has gone missing in his search to kill the demon that killed his wife back with the brothers were still children. While searching for their dad they fight other spirits and supernatural stuff, using the knowledge their dad passed onto them. Its sorta like Buffy but with less angst and likeable characters.

Whats so great? Theres TONS of character development and its way more suspenseful than all of the horror movies i have seen in the past few years. Those tense moments are just executed wayyyyyy better and dont come off as cheesy or simple quiet moments followed by a loud noise to 'scare' you. I'd definitely recommend it if you are into this sorta thing



Juno (movie)

This movie is awesome. Its so original. The characters are so fleshed out and believable, despite how quirky they are. I'd definitely recommend watching it if you are not sure what kinda movie you are in the mood for or just want something diff than all the other formulaic movies that are out.

Elite Beat Agents (nintendo DS game)

I
LOVE
THIS
GAME

It's essentially DDR except instead of using your feet you use a stylus to tap circles at the right moment on the screen. If you do it right, the 3 beat agents in background do dances according to where the circle was on screen. It's better to just watch a video of what i mean...this one has one of the really funny stories that intro each song as well



THIS GAME IS SO FUNNY!

Little things like the cat in the first video going "meow meow" and then yelling "Meeeee-ronimo" when it jumps out the window and then "meowowowow" when its about to land....funny little things like that that make the game so much fun.  This game has got absolutely everything you could ever want. The songlist is fantastic (lotsa famous song covers that you'd recognize...material girl....the anthem (good charlotte)....jumpin jack flash (rolling stones)...ymca....).

Each song's story funny as hell except for this one really this really touching one to "You're the Inspiration" which is such a beautiful song (and this coming from someone who usually hates sappy junk like that too)

hmmm this actually got me thinking....the 3 beat agents would make an awesome cosplay for AE that wouldnt be too expensive. 



heheheh, maybe : )

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney & Phoenix Wright: Justice for All (nintendo DS games)

FYI, i have a DS now....dotn think i've mentioned that yet......

Its a lawyer game....'nuff said. Why did i play these games (the original and sequel)? I heard it had some pretty good stories. The games are divided into chapters, each chapter with a case that you need to investigate. The cases are always homicides. You collect evidence, hear testimonies and present the evidence that contradicts the testimony. Simple

Holy crap are some of tehse case stories well thought out though. Particularly the first game which has 5 cases, 3 of which are really really good. I think the only reason i play most games anymore is for the story....treat em like books.....so this is really refreshing to see. You dont reallly expect video games to have really great writing like that, but i guess times are changin (and thats a great thing for the medium too....20yrs from now I have a feeling gaming will be treated quite similarly to novels at the rate things are going)

Warcraft III DotA (pc game)

Damnit, I keep telling myself I will not get addicted to this game again but alas...here i am back at it. A 5vs5 game that usually lasts aroudn 45 mins each game. Tons of fun if you know what you're doing.

Diary of Emily Montague (course book)

Gawd that a boring title, eh? THis is apparently Canada's FIRST novel....published back in 1769. I have no idea but I've been finding my English Majors course on 17th Century Puritan settler writing really really intersting. The novel, as a format for writing, didnt really exist until around this time....fictional writing was extremely rare. The closest thing was usually a testimonial (conversion narrative) basically describing how you found God, and even thats pretty limited.

So this pre-dates the existence of novels, even though it is a novel. It also predates the concept of "race" and "ethnicity"....race simply didnt exist for them as a concept, so its really interesting to see how they write about indians without considering "Indian" as a race/ethnicity.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


One of my students that I help out somehow got a hold of my email address. They tried to add me on msn but of course thats a HUGE no-no so that was promptly ignored and I had to have a chat with them at school.

Unfortunately, this hasnt stopped them from sending me emails asking for help when im not there (i just got one last saturday asking for help:

"messege me back asap i need help on something in science omg!"

Yes, i didnt get this in time but here's the problem: I go to Clarendon 2 days a week for the entire day and this person doesnt really ask for much help at all and is always too tired to do anything. I also have never committed to tutor these kids at a moments notice. I'm not sure how many tutors work on-call like that. All this means is that I gonna have to have yet another tricky talk with the student...cant make it seem like I dont want to help them but at the same time get them to recognize that teachers are their own people as well and have a life outside of school.

I wonder if its just my personality that gets people to do this though. Maybe im so used to being at McD with crew around that 16yr old age and not holding a terribly high authoritative position over them (mgr-crew gap is nothing compared to the teacher-student one).

Note to self: killarney is NOT mcdonalds

So far I've had too many to count ask me if I have a girlfriend, what video games I play (if any), etc etc....a couple of girls even asked me out, which is awkward as all hell. But when you think of the types of girls that get into Clarendon (lots of broken homes) then I guess it isn't THAT surprising. I think the reason why some of them even go to school at all is not so much to learn but more because it's a secure environment with stable, attentive people there for them. Makes sense that students would naturally "gravitate" towards that. 

Alright-o.   I'm thinkin more anecdotes and less "what i do" in next post.  Til then