Oops I Did It Again!! :s

This the first thing that came to mind when I was asked today if I blog…my answer was yes, but then it hit me that I didn’t keep my promise of updating my blog regularly after letting it slip for so long. Oops!

A lot has happened since July and my last post. I have started on my teaching career with a bang after a few discouraging thoughts as the first days were coming and going. I wasn’t sure how all this occasional teaching was going to go- would I get called?; would I get called soon?; how do I make a good report with the principle or vice principle so that I get called more often? Then enter my amazing mentor teachers from last year and the power of dropping them an email to say I’m ready to tackle the world of work. They both so generously forwarded my name to their administration and not even 48 hours later my phone rang at an odd hour of 6:10 am and the ball started rolling. I started with a full day replacement if a core French teacher and by chance visited with another colleague from last year and mentioned I’d be willing to take on anything that came my way…enter the principle & vice principle calling me over the weekend to start MONDAY morning in what could be a long term sick leave replacement. I had no clue where to start other than to look at the curriculum and put together an activity to get me through the first day so I can re-evaluate after that. The first week was…how can I say this…rough…exhausting…exciting…challenging…and a great learning experience. Teaching intermediate core French is the ultimate challenge one can have and I’ve landed this challenge. I’m entering a class that has had a different teacher for each week of the school year so far, many behavioral/maturity issues let alone the learning challenges. I am going to admit I have good days and bad days and seriously it’s been about 50/50 so far…I need to mix up the style of activities I do with them because they are a artistic group that loves to draw, doodle, sketch etc. All the while, I also have a grade 3/4 class that is happy go lucky and is so willing to learn that it is a change of pace to end the day. Science & Phys Ed is my specialties with my “Littles” and we’ve been having fun doing experiments, games and drills.

Outside of the classroom, I don’t have a whole lot going on. I’ve been concentrating a lot of time preparing my lessons and resources so that I can be as affective as possible. I am now in the throngs of long range plans & progress reports; I am so worried that I won’t do it right (the perfectionist coming out in me!) that I think I’m over complicating both. Time will tell here as I hand them in for the administration to review & edit them. Until then, I’ll keep working away within the unknown!

I PROMISE to be back by the weekend to update on quirks, comedy or troubles I’m having in the classroom. Until then, be careful & have fun! J

July Recap

Well, we’re approaching the last weekend in July and I have to ask myself, where is the time going. I was off for the first 2 weeks of the month and I have to say I needed that time off. It gave me time to get some rest, get my garden growing (more on that later) and get my running routine back on track. There were many days that I know I did absolutely nothing productive, but then there were other days that I took on the world and tried to conquer it. As you can tell, I didn’t conquer the world and I’ve been relegated to taking a French as a Second Language course.

When we got back from our travelling roadshow of a vacation, I noticed my garden had really started to sprout, but I was disappointed in a few vegetables. To my dismay, I had a little critter that was dining on my garden sprouts day and night, thus not giving me the production that I was expecting. I set into rabbit chasing mode for a whole week. I researched online what was going to keep this pesky dude out of my garden…I started with planning 3 dozen marigolds around the perimeter of the garden…that didn’t work…I then read online that they don’t like cayenne spice and that is in hot sauce so I poured Marc’s two bottles of hot sauce in and around my garden only to have it rain that night and wash a majority of it away & inviting the rabbit back. My last resort was to install a chicken wire fence all around the perimeter and that is exactly what I tackled in the blazing heat of a Saturday morning. Mission accomplished…rabbit has moved onto more accessible gardens and I finally have vegetables producing food!!! J My zucchinis and cucumbers are taking over the whole plot but my peas, beans, carrots and tomatoes are trying to hold their ground. If everything produces vegetables like their blossoms indicate, I think I can challenge Farm Boy for the quantity of food produced!!! Hahahaha

The last two weeks of the month I have spent in a French as a Second Language qualification course that will hopefully project me for a teaching position in the fall. The first week I found very tiresome as I was trying to translate all the words in my head to try and understand as much as possible; however, the second week is moving along quite fast and we’re well into learning styles and literacy strategies. I have had a great reason to stop at Chapters on a couple of nights on my way home to scout out some French storybooks that I can use in the course and then hopefully in a job in the near future. I love getting new books, putting them to the test within an assignment or sharing them with my colleagues in the course. It’s like Show & Tell for adults!!!

As July 2011 comes to a close in a few days, I only hope that August will be as exciting and productive as July has been. What has your month in review consisted of?!

New Year’s Resolution- Broken as soon as I posted it!

Ok…I’d like to think that I have everything under control and organized most of the time, but I just can’t get myself to keep up with this blogging bit! It must be that I’ve been busy living life and finishing school for the millionth time!!! School is officially done and summer has settled in well…I’ve been enjoying my time at home getting things back in order, clean out and re-organized before the fall comes around the corner and mayhem starts all over again. I’ve been busy these past couple of days jamming up some strawberry & strawberry-banana jam to put in the freezer for the winter. I don’t like to buy jam in the store because I find it tastes stale and processed and I love being in the kitchen so making my own jam isn’t so bad.

Since my last post (ekkk, in January!) I’ve successfully completed 2 student teaching placements in two very different teaching environments. I started with a great split grade class that was in a portable that felt like miles from the school and we existed in our own little world at times. The kids were absolutely fantastic to work with and I really felt like I connected to them in the 8 short weeks I was there. My second placement was right here in my own neighbourhood in two different classrooms, teaching math & English exclusively. These classes were students in the French immersion stream so their academic abilities were higher than my first placement, but they required different needs filled. I certainly had to be on my toes with both these classes and no “winging it” was possible. I had three fabulous mentor teachers that all help form me as a new teacher and I took away so many different ideas, approaches and skills that I will certainly be using in my future.

As I sit back and look at the last year and all that has gone on, a lot has changed and a lot of optimism has returned. I would have never thought that I would quit my job, return to school to earn my BA, and then head south of the border to earn my teaching degree. It has been a whorl wind time and I’ve met some of my closest friends in the past few years. Here’s to many many more years of overcoming challenges, long nights working on assignments and long lasting friendships!

New Year’s Resolution...not to let this blog slide as long as I have!!!

WOW...I’m ashamed to admit it, but the proof is right online!! It has been a REAL long time since I’ve taken the time to post something...anything...for that matter. I guess that just goes to tell you how busy life has really been since September 2009...OH MY! You all missed the last year of my undergrad at Ottawa U...let me tell you that it was better you missed it...it was a long 8 months full of reading, reading and paper writing...I have to say that it was the longest year of my life in school and at times I didn’t know if I was going to be able to finish it. I had some tough courses along with some very time consuming assignments that followed that I didn’t really ‘get’ at the time. Look back at it, I could do it all over again with my eyes closed, but at the time it was a different story. My undergrad was finally over and I didn’t waste any time starting my teaching certification at SUNY Potsdam. I didn’t get into any universities in Ontario for the “lack of life experience” (not sure what constitutes life experience! ;)), so I applied to Potsdam and was accepted right away. In the end it was the best thing that could have happened because I have had the time of my life there. Again, times were trying with the never ending, totally time consuming amounts of homework and assignments, but somehow I made it through! Every waking moment was spent writing lesson plans, unit outlines and studying for tests and so far it has paid off! I have a perfect 4.0 GPA going into my last term which only consists of student teaching (and again endless amounts of lesson plan writing and portfolios). The hard work is hopefully going to pay off come summer when it’s time to apply for jobs. I have learnt so much since starting at Potsdam, even though I’m nervous to start the practicum part. This brings me back to my online revival...seeing I won’t be with my teacher-to-be friends in Potsdam on a daily basis, I’m going to document as frequently as I can my trails, tribulations and achievements of student teaching here so that everyone can keep track of what’s happening. I’m not promising to post every day or every week, but I have made a commitment to myself (and to you!) that I will post as frequently as possible between everything else. Sooooo, welcome back and feel free to leave comments or questions on anything that I post! Chat soon! Stephanie :)

It's Been TOO Long...Fall Term Snap Shot

As I sit and reflect on what has happened since I last updated my blog, I have made a pre-New Year’s resolution to stay on top of this blog. I feel like it’s the end of the semester and I haven’t been keeping up on my homework and now it’s piling up on me. Wait- that is what it is! In my last post I sympathetically wrote about how the dog days of summer were over and I was heading back into the grind of university life. Boy, has it ever been a grind; it has had some bright spots and had some downright earth crashing spots too. I was excited to start the semester and the final year of my BA, but I can tell you now that I am that much more excited for it to be over. To give a summary of my semester, I’ll go course by course: Religions of the World I- The professor is great! She is young, dynamic and extremely knowledgeable. As with any religion course I am always so worried what some people are going to come out with and say evoking a near riot in class, but this professor seems to let people talk, but still keeping a diplomatic feeling. The classroom itself comes with the most uncomfortable seats, but it’s beyond all of our controls. I meet one of the best new friends I have ever had in this class. Finally I have met a mature student who just gets it and gets me. We have so much in common and our friendship is starting to look like that girl friend that you should have in your university days that sticks by you for life. Melissa is a fantastic person. Throughout this semester we have gone through MANY experience together- some exciting, some deadly. Not very often now that a day goes by that we don’t talk, text or email...even our men get filled in at the end of each day! Gender & Religion- Not knowing really what to expect in this class beyond the general course description when I registered, I was a little disappointed. We had so much material to cover I feel that we only did brief summaries of each without digging deeper into each faith or tradition. The professor is great entertainment for a Tuesday night course and it certainly doesn’t feel like we’ve been there for 3 hours after she’s done teaching. Of course, having Melissa in class with me helps, but the teacher tops this one. Sports Marketing- There’s not much positive that I have to say with this course other than that it’s over. The teacher was horrible and I had one of the most negative experiences with group work again. This class had no midterm exams or final exam but rather one individual assignment and two group assignments. We all know how I hate group work and this just reinforced my feelings about it. NEVER AGAIN! Methods & Theories in Religious Studies- Oh, yet another 3 hour night class in the pit of the university. Our classroom has no windows, no ventilation and is in the basement of the engineering building. Not very often has our class gone the full 3 hours simply from the depressing atmosphere that we were surrounded by. This course involved a lot of heavy reading that I had a lot of trouble with at the beginning. The reading included well over 200 pages a week and if you missed a reading, you had no clue what the class discussion was about. The professor is certainly intimidating, but shows her soft side from time to time; I HATE the TA...he’s so condescending and talks like...I can’t even describe it. This is a full year course, so I’m in for the long haul. The teacher has promised she’d look into a room change for next term. Inuit & Aboriginal Religions- Boy, can you think of a better way to spend your Friday night than wondering if the professor is actually going to show up? This is what I have gone through for the last 13 weeks. This professor has to be the worst one I have ever seen. We went a week where she didn’t show up at all and 11 other weeks where she was 15-45 minutes late for class to only talk in circles about stuff that was so hard to understand what she was saying. BUT, it’s over!!! I can’t say that I have learnt anything in this class, but Google has been extremely helpful in completing my take home midterm and take home final exam! Now that you have a snap shot of what my classes were like, I’m sure you can see why I am looking forward to the holiday break. The break this year is a very short one (just 1 week), but it makes the next semester start and finish that much sooner too. The motivation right now is the 7 teachers college applications that I have submitted and waiting to receive acceptance letters. They send acceptance or refusal letters starting April 1st, so the wait begins for that too. I will leave you with this for now, but I promise I’ll post the latest and greatest in the coming days and weeks to get back into the routine. Until then...have FUN! Stephanie

The Dog Days are Over

After a long yet seemingly short summer, back to school is just around the corner. When reflecting on the past 3 months, I can’t seem to tell you what occupied my time. I took 3 courses over the summer months, 2 in May-June and one in July-August. I am now successfully finished the third year of the BA and about to start the fourth and final year on Wednesday night. While not in school over about a total of eight and a half weeks, I accomplished a few tasked that I had on the back burner for a while. I got caught up and on top of the house chores, cleaned out closets and cupboards and started to stock the freezer for the winter months. I even have the in-law family Christmas presents done- all 9 of them! It is amazing the stuff you accumulate in a house when you don’t try too. We’ve only been in our house for 4 years, yet I seem to always be able to add a few extra bags of garbage at the curb after a week of house cleaning and pare down my closet by 30-40 hangers every couple of months of items that I no longer wear or heaven forbid no longer fit me. There are a few girls out there that I’m sure check their calendars and anticipate the cloths dump of my closet. Surprisingly after each clean out, there are not gaping holes that need to be filled in the closet; however, I am conscious with a rule that for every one piece of clothing that enters my closet, one needs to exit. It’s the only way to keep the other half from noticing the new purchases! I have two more full days off before I head back to campus and I have a long to-do list drawn up. Gardening, lawn care, laundry, baking and the no longer avoidable storage room re-organization top the list. I’m hoping to have most of it done by the time Mac gets home from work, so that I don’t need to answer the “what did you today?” My fourth year schedule isn’t the best one I have built in my schooling career, but it’s going to take some adjusting too. In the fall semester I have class every night except Monday night and only 2 1.5 hour classes during the day. I am going to despise the teacher that accepted to teach a class on a Friday night from 5:30-8:30...come on, don’t you have anything better to do on a Friday night but teach a bunch of university students that would rather not be there?! It is going to be good for getting things done around the house and to study without any distractions. It will be a revolving door at 4 o’clock every day as I head to school and Marc comes home from work...married life will be excellent...we won’t ever see each other to disagree!

Why Do I Love Clothes, Shoes & Handbags?

I’d love to know the answer to this heavy question, but I think it’s something too deep to even try and figure out. I went out to the Winners/Homesense yesterday with a mission to find some scrapbooking supplies and found myself wondering the rows of clothes, shoes and handbags. I did accomplish my intention of scrapbook supplies along with my clothes and shoe urge. There’s a method to my madness in a place like Winners/Homesense; I wander up and down every aisle looking for the clearance section of each department and see anything catches my eye or if I can improvise with anything. I often find great picture frames or the odd dish at a steal of a price, but this season I’ve found some great clothes. The latest styles of loose fitting shirts/blouses have been in abundance and I’ve capitalized on a few different colours and styles. These are great for teaching in or just pairing up with jeans to head out for a casual night. I don’t normally find extraordinary deals in the shoe section...I try lots on, but when I turn them over to see the price tag, they are quickly returned to the shelf (like the $199 pair of Guess studded sandals I loved today). Yesterday was an exception...I started in the size 6 section and slowly scowered the shelves for anything that caught my eye, and then there was one...brown, beige and orange New Balance casual running shoe (Puma style) that were just calling my name...I fell in love at first sight...I tried the size 6’s on and they were a little light...I then hoped and prayed as I rounded the end of the aisle into the size 7 section to find an identical pair...there they were, sitting on the middle shelf...I tried them on just to make sure and they fit like a glove...I NEEDED to have them! Into the cart they went! Now that I’m back to school I have discovered that I can’t wear my beloved and renowned sandals all year long...it gets a little chilly on the toes walking to 8:30 am classes across campus. Thus revelation has prompted me to invest in real shoes...closed toe ones! I am starting to accumulate a great assortment of styles and colours to match just about everything in my closet. Today I was blessed with a red pair of Hush Puppies’ from my mom that I can’t wait to wear...I just might need to hope for some chilly weather to put my jeans on just so that I can wear them soon. Along with my new runners above, I think I could pass as in style come the next school year. As I made my way out of the shoe section gravity pulled me towards all the handbags...there were so many different coloured ones, all that I wanted...One in particular caught my eye...and no wonder it was in the clearance section for $225.99...needless to say, it’s still on the clearance rack! I am proud of my urge to find a new handbag this time...I haven’t always been able to hold off the urge, just look in my closet and you’ll see the finds I have found. There’s just something that I refuse to pay a whole lot for a bag or shoes because I could have more than one for the outrageous price of one item...quantity is sometimes better than quality (as in the brand name). I do have to admit, not everything that I find is expensive...I am quite proud of a find that I made back in the spring in the Joe department of the Real Canadian Superstore; I went in for a few groceries and stumbled upon a rack of handbags that were on clearance for $4.00 each...I couldn’t believe it...I had to take 2!! So impressed with my deal, I couldn’t keep the second one for an occasion so I gave it away right away and had to explain my great deal. If anyone was to come look into my closet today they would find baskets of shoes (I don’t use a shoe rack because that would be laying out the evidence that I have too many shoes!) and handbags above and below the rails of clothes I have accumulated. I somehow am able to mix and match most things together to make different combinations of outfits and keep each piece in general use most of the time. I’m stuck on the practicality of versatile pieces of clothes, handbags or shoes...it’s almost my way of justifying it! When looking through the racks in the store I find myself comparing what I already have to what I am finding and how or where I can wear the outfit. Often I tend to go on colour binges...black, then blue, and then purple...I feel a red binge coming up!! I have a wide variety of colours on my closet but I am most attracted to beige pants...I have at least 10 pair!!! When I am done with a particular piece of clothing or it doesn’t fit me or my style anymore, I do pass them along to much deserving girls...I have the rule, for every piece of clothing that goes into my closet, one must come out...I stick pretty close to that so that I don’t have more that I really need...and it keeps my wardrobe up to date and manageable. I don’t find myself shopping at specialty clothing stores (other than my splurges at American Eagle- but I hit the clearance rack first and always bring my rewards coupon with me!) very often unless I’m looking for something very specific. Winners is by far my most sought after place to keep my wardrobe current and on budget. I am proud to say I shop at Winners and even prouder to tell of a deal or steal I found while I was there. I seem to even find Roxy, American Eagle, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren in Winners- why would I go anywhere else? I truly believe that handbags and shoes help make or break an outfit...you need to make sure you have a good bag and shoes just like you need to brush your hair and teeth before going out...when it comes to shoes I’m all about practicality and comfort above trendy and style (no point your feet hurting just walking out to the car) and the bag needs to be proportionate to the items needed to be brought along. Is it just me that has the gravitational pull to clothes, shoes and handbags?