Orientation!

Hey Everyone,

So as promised here is an update from the rest of last week and the weekend! This particular one covers Thursday’s big orientation day and class from today - so sorry if it's dry - this is for the people at home who are concerned I'm not going to school! The updates from the weekend - will be awesome!!
Ok so last Thursday (the 17th) was our grad. diploma in education (aka teachers college) orientation day. It was a full day that started at 11 - we went for an hour session with tons of information thrown at us - regarding placement, wider field experience (which I'll explain shortly) and all of the key information we will need to graduate... After all that information was thrown at us we had an hour to grab some lunch so we got some free sausage from the barbeque on campus (which we had been eating all week because well it's free you know!) After lunch we had been split up and given designated rooms to go to and pretty much split up in our programs - so my group was mostly primary with a few middle phase students. Our afternoon was then filled with four hours of sitting in the same tutorial room with name games and getting to know one another. We then talked about Wider Field Experience - which is part of our program in order for us to graduate. We have to complete 13 days or 65 hours of volunteer work - in a setting that is working with children - and broadening our skills as a teacher - for example if we do extra-curricular work in the school of our placement after hours, or there are mentor programs (from my understanding kind of like big brother big sister). I have signed up for one with indigenous students so I'll have to update you about that one when I hear back. The second half of our four hours involved a guest speaker - who is a specialist in Physical Education and teaches secondary (high school) kids (mostly). However this woman has done everything! She taught in elite schools and schools of only indigenous students, she has been head of departments and an acting principle. She has created lesson plans and unit plans when the school has had nothing and she has built the repertoire up. Currently she is a primary school phys ed teacher. She is amazing - and a little bit intimidating considering how much she does and how much extra work she puts in above and beyond her requirements! She was really cool to listen to. After all that mandatory "fun stuff" we had one last session. Sharon Hogan who is our program coordinator, and professor, and who we met at the conference in Toronto, organized, begged, planned and pulled off a social event for all of us that included some of our professors, TA's (or tutors as they are called here), current and former students. The best part about it - was the free drinks! I felt so grown up with my glass of wine, introducing myself to all of my professors... this school definitely makes you feel more like a person as opposed to a number - that much is true!
Anyway after all that - we headed home absolutely exhausted with the long day we had just participated in - but that didn't stop us because we headed out for $2 tacos... Which I will explain in the next update (remember this is the boring update!)

So that brings us to today – First day of class!!!! I had class 8-10 and 12-2 one lecture and then one tutorial of the same class (EDU 342 – Curriculum A in the Primary Phase – now doesn’t that sound like fun!) In our undergraduate usually the first day (or first week) of class involved going over the syllabus and calling it a day – well in your fifth year it’s definitely not like that! We didn’t go over the syllabus really – we just jumped into content. In our tutorial we got into pairs and started on our first assignment. Well one day down – and I can already tell what the rest of the semester is going to be like – I’m glad I enjoyed the beach when I did because I feel like the beach is going to be as foreign here as it would have been at home. DARN! Anyway our first assignment involves picking a “theme” or “context” and developing 4 weeks of a unit plan – which includes covering two or three subjects with lots of lesson plans! WHOA…. First things first – I have never done a unit plan… second thing – a lot of the lingo and groups of classes are different here than at home so I’m also trying to decipher the meaning of everything. Good thing my partner is an Aussie and she can help me out with the lingo. So far we have decided to do a “Welcome Back to School” unit with Social Justice / Society and Socialization as our context so we will see how that goes. So that basically covers the school aspect of the update… It should be an interesting semester / year – but I am glad to have started and hopefully soon I’ll settle into a good routine – keeping on top of everything!
Oh and one more thing – I have taken pictures of the University and of my “home” for the next 10 months so I’ll add those to this update.

Now that covers the worried parents who wonder if I’ll ever be in class – yes I will be! If you’re interested in all of the fun weekend events that took place – keep reading!