Interview Week

My last post was about being stressed out but not really about my interview on Wednesday. Tuesday was weird because I was totally not stressed at all. I just went about getting my portfolio done. I think it turned out pretty good. There's some things that need to be added but going into to the interview I felt like I had a solid representation of who I am as a prospective teacher. Anyway, that night was horrible. I was tossing and turning all night. I dreamt I was at an interview at GVSD and after some preliminary talking they sat me in front of a computer and said I had to answer all my questions by typing the answers into the computer. I was so ticked off. Anyway, the next morning I was a little nervous about getting to the school on time because I wasn't sure what the highways would be like. But I made it to school with time enough to buy a tea and help relax. I was pretty relaxed but a little tea never hurt. Oh, and I looked pretty darn good too. While I was looking through my portfolio before the interview I came to an important realization. My editing skills at 8:45am are way stronger than at 10:30pm. I have some changes I need to make. Oh well. Anyway, interview went great. The only problem now is I want to stay in job search mode. I'm finding going back to homework mode a bit of a struggle. ugh

cheers

A Quick Hit

I thought I was pretty laid back about my first interview this week. I'm going into Winnipeg tomorrow to meet with a school division from my area. It's a general interview which means they just interview a bunch of people but have no specific jobs in line for the people they are interviewing. But I've had a lot of trouble sleeping over the last two nights which leads me to believe I may be a little more stressed than I originally thought. Sometimes I try to make it look like I don't care but usually that is just a coping mechanism on my part. Inside I'm generally freaking out. So I'm going go and finish my portfolio and hopefully get something half decent together and then make sure I know what I said in the portfolio so I don't contradict myself. Good times.

cheers

Alt Ed Project

I had a lot of fun doing a project for Alternative Education. One of the things we did was an audio historical art tour of the University of Winnipeg. We prepared podcasts that people downloaded and then listened too at the different sites. Lots of fun.

Here is the link to the website I set up for the project.

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World Simulation Game

Don't let me forget. We played a world trade and conflict simulation game on Wednesday in my War Affected Children class. It as a lot of fun. I want to go over some of the rules and guidelines and stuff.

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My Brother is Funny

After my post about At-Risk Education my brother told me I reminded him of Mr. Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter. Here is link to a great clip from the show.

I love Mr. Kotter. He's awesome

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I hate my Car

Ok, I don't hate it that much. I'm just tired of it. In the month of January I spent more than 50 hours in it and drove almost 5000 km. Not fun. That's a lot of study time down the drain. On the bright side I only have 6 weeks left.

Yahoo!!!

cheers

Bud

Where Am I Being Led

I've mentioned this to a few people but I thought I'd say it here anyway. I've been wondering if God is kind of leading me down a certain path or if these opportunities are presenting themselves because I am open to doing them. Where do I start. About 6 years ago I worked at GVC as an EA. I spent time with students who were considered at risk of dropping out. I really enjoyed this opportunity and really felt a connection to the students there. I got to work with them again the next spring. It was great. Fast forward 5 years later. Last semester I had the opportunity to do some student teaching in an alternative track classroom. Again, with students who either a: had not succeeded in the regular classroom and/or b: were at risk of dropping out. What a great bunch of students. It was chaotic at times but also fun. This semester I had the opportunity to take a class at university called Mentoring At-Risk Youth. Instead of going to class I'm doing mentoring in the Aboriginal Centre at the University of Winnipeg. There are some students who are working towards getting their GED. And I'm being asked to teach Math for one of the GED sections. AND this semester I will be spending time at the Teen Centre as one of the classes I'm teaching for my practicum. So again, is God leading me down a certain path or are these opportunities coming because I am open to doing them? Tina said it's both. God is providing opportunities to places where he knows I can serve and for some reason I'm smart enough to recognize the fact that I can be used in these areas.

I had a friend tell me last week that I have the heart of a great teacher. I also had someone tell me the school needs me. It's all a little overwhelming. I wrote a paper during my first year of university about how I wanted ALL students to know that there was a teacher who cared for them. I was going to be that teacher who cared beyond the classroom and treated my students with respect. I've tried to maintain that credo throughout my years in the education program.

It's time to walk to the talk.

cheers