Xerxes' Errata

Well, my three week practicum went by in a hurry I must admit. I was just getting to the point where I had three classes worth of students' names and was also becoming more confident in myself and my abilities. Still, it was great experience and I learned a lot. I learned, that as organised as I am, I have to much more organised in my life so as to avoid the mornings where I can't find my books or stuff for class. I also learned that, as much as I've left my lazy, high-school self behind, it isn't out of sight yet.

Nevertheless, despite some not-so-stellar days, I still am committed to becoming a teacher

But now it's time to relax. No more getting up at 6:30 in the morning, no more wishing I could stay up with my roommates playing Rock Band till whenever, and no more passing on parties (well for a few weeks at least)

For Spring Break !!

I must say that I am continuously being impressed with what a real winter is like here in Prince George. I can honestly say I have never, ever seen so much snow in my life.

And it's great....at least to look at. -30C isn't particularly pleasant to experience. And neither was this morning as I drove to school only to find that the roads were virtually unploughed, much less sanded. Though, because of all the snow I'm becoming a better driver.

for reckless drifting..

On that note, I'm finally at the point where I get to try my hand at teaching and I'm both excited and nervous to death at the same time. The only thing that sucks is that I have to actually act like a responsible adult now.... what a concept

But it's a great nonetheless. I'm teaching Socials 10 mainly and a bit of Socials 11 over the next three weeks which, I'll admit, has forced me to relearn some parts of Canadian history. (On a side note, here's something for the usefulness of the CBC thread: the Canada: A People's History series. It's a great series first off, it covers about 3 grades worth of Canadian history, and the CBC made up a bunch of handy resources for teachers to use which is totally reducing the amount of work I have to do to plan lessons)

Ultimately, the old adage is true: "You don't really know anything until you have to teach it."

Well, I’ve been living in Prince George for about a month and a half now and so far so good.

Dorm life is everything I thought it would be and then some. Though I do have one complaint about one of my room-mates: he’s a stinkin’ Leafs fan and a Chelsea fan. However, there haven’t been any episodes of Caligula-like debauchery (yet, though I’ve heard UBC is the place for that ). Nevertheless, for a lot of people 6:00 Friday night is the official kick-off time for party time and it doesn’t end until Sunday morning; at least judging by the music coming from the dorm across the hall from me.

Though, this Friday night, something quite serious did happen here on Res. In the residence across the way (there are two residences here at UNBC), there was your standard university party happening (this week’s theme was CEO’s & Office Hoes). Except at this party, one of the partiers felt compelled to create an impromptu flamethrower using a can of hairspray and a Zippo.

I’m sure you all can guess what happened next.

After the fire department arrived and managed to turn off the sprinklers, about 5 or so dorms were thoroughly waterlogged and the students won’t be able to move back in until Thursday or Friday. As for the pyromaniac, he was evicted of course, and then expelled from the university, and is being forced to reimburse the university $15,000 or so in damages and compensation they’ve had to pay out.

But apart from that, life here is pretty good. I drove back to Abbotsford for Thanksgiving which was great except for the speeding ticket I got on the way back up. Naturally, I got busted by the one cop I saw on both trips. So there went $110 I didn’t have.

All things considered though, things are pretty good here. The teacher education program is going well so far. Though, everyone in my class is really starting to loathe one of our Profs who is both annoyingly patronising and condescending at the same time. While we realise that we have a lot to learn before becoming fully fledged teachers, she treats us like we’re in our first year of high school. I mean, we all have other undergrad degrees and a few of us have already had a fair bit of teaching experience already. But whatever.

Apart from one crazy Prof, our practicums are going well. At this point, all we are doing is merely observing various teachers and the different ways they teach their lessons and keep their students under control. So far it’s been pretty interesting seeing the various methods employed especially at the extreme ends of the grade levels. That being said, most of us are itching to get to the next semester when our real teaching practicums begin in earnest. I’m also itching to teach for real, though I’m equally nervous as well as it’s those situations where my insecurities come out and wreak havoc with my self-confidence. I’ve managed to overcome my anxieties in other situations, but it’s always a fight with my shy guy/anti-social tendencies.

But enough self analysis. Here are some pictures I’ve taken recently. The first is on the road to Quesnel while the second is on the Trans-Canada just before Cache Creek. And the last is of my coffin like dorm room.

Well, I’ve been in Prince George for just over a week now and as expected, it’s been a big adjustment.

Firstly (with all apologies to RUEZ), the roads here suck (though I realise that’s a by-product of the winters here). Next, it gets really cold really fast at night. So far, those are my only gripes about PG.

The dorms here at UNBC are another matter though. They’re much smaller than I expected them to be, though I am already getting used to them. And my roommates are really cool and so are the other people I’ve met here in residence. The only thing that I really dislike is the internet access here. It’s kind of slow and worst of all we are only allowed 10GB of bandwidth per month and they start cutting back the speed at 5 GB. I’ve already used up just under 2 GB and it’s not even halfway through September.

Other than that, the UNBC campus is really nice, especially since we’re on top of a small mountain like SFU and are mostly free of the pulp mill smell PG is prone to.

I’m also beginning to quickly realise just how much work is involved in become a teacher in BC. It’s so much more than just following a curriculum and creating your own lesson plans. On our first day, our first class was on our duties and responsibilities in the event that a student ever discloses any sort of neglect or abuse, (be it physical, sexual, or emotional) which was an eye-opening way to begin the program to say the least.

Nevertheless, I’m still excited to finally be on this path as daunting as it seems right now.

As some of you here may know, I've set my sights on being a teacher as a career, but so far I've been rejected from all the universities I've applied to (UBC, SFU, et al).

That is, until now.

I had also applied to UNBC (in Prince George) but was told I was on the waiting list, which didn't fill me with a lot of hope I must say. Well, that non-hope was misplaced as last Monday I got a call saying that a spot had opened up for me.

So needless to say, I was thrilled. No more going to my crappy job and dealing with the endless BS everyone there has to deal with on a daily basis (though I will miss the great people I get to work with and the money of course). No more sitting around stuck in my sorry, yet sadly comfortable rut here in Abbotsford.

Now I can get my ambitions back on track and try to make something meaningful out of my life. So with hard work and a bit of luck in about 2 years I'll be indoctrinating students in the glories of Marxism.......I mean uh, the 3 R's.

But it's also going to be a big change for me on a number of levels. First of all, I've lived here in the Fraser Valley my whole life, so now I'll have to live somewhere where it actually gets cold during the winter. Moreover, this will be the first time I'll be living on my own so I also have to figure out how to cook meals other than the bachelor staples of Kraft Dinner and hot dogs...

But what I'll miss most are my friends who I've known since high school and still hang out with regularly. Most especially my best friend who's been studying in England for the past year and a half and who I haven't seen since last Christmas.

Still and all, I'm restlessly excited about this new chapter in my life and I can't wait for it to begin. !!