Progress? More Like ' I Question Everything About this Course' Rant

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tonight I read ahead in the course material – glanced through to the end to see what was in store for me, you know? I can’t say that I’m too impressed with the idea of having to go out and buy a book in order to (essentially) destroy it. I’m not comfortable with that. I would liken that to book burnings or the defiling of art pieces. I’m not comfortable with compromising my beliefs (that books are to be treasured because they are words written by people in time who had something to say, be it good or bad) and I’m not sure what scrap-booking has to do with a writing class. I’m not comfortable with any of this last assignment.

Why do I have to go out and purchase someone’s book in order to destroy it? And I’m certainly not going to use one of MY books for this project – there’s a reason why I buy the books I buy and there’s a reason why I keep them (and in pretty darn good condition, too).

I find more and more with this course that I am falling into the abyss of apathy – my group mates do not comment on anything I post and I, in turn, do not feel all that inclined to post responses to anything they put in the forums. This was one of the concerns I had from the start with this course, especially when the Tutor Marker doesn’t check anything during the weekend, a time that I believe most of us are finally able to sit down and crank out the work and be in the position to request feedback.

I know I’m being critical, but at this point, for the amount of money I’ve dished out (honestly, how does the government expect to get students fresh out of high school in this economy that they have allowed to backslide to this point into post secondary for more than a semester before they cannot afford to take classes?!) and the level of the course itself, I expected a lot more out of it. Dozens of times I have logged on to check and see if anyone had posted to something I’d put into the forums to generate discussion, only to see that nothing had been added…or the fact that there is the resource of having a chat room that no one goes into. It’s…sad.

Tomorrow I begin a new intersession for my Education 471 class: Curriculum. It should be interesting to see what happens as it’s an evening course and we can be expected to have up to 50% of our grades based on attendance and in-class responses to whatever is going on. I am wondering how strenuous this new course will be in comparison to this course or my EDUC 475 course with Peter.

On a very positive note (and one that will hopefully continue to be positive, please, please, please!), I am going to be getting an interview with Langley school board soon. This means I have to finish my portfolio (7/12ths there!) and start practicing my responses to possible questions. I don’t want to, but I know I will inevitably stress myself out over this – my only hope is that I don’t stress too much and I get into the district. Everyone I have told has been of the opinion that Langley isn’t hiring…here’s hoping I’m the exception to the rule.

I’m also hoping that this good news pulls me out of the funk that I have gotten into these last few weeks. I haven’t felt like I’ve made any progress (mostly in a personal way, not so much with my writing as I’m confident I’m ‘getting’ the assignments) so I haven’t felt like I’ve been worthy to write in my progress log. Little accomplishments like doing well on my math problem log and the group problem assignment help boost my confidence that I can do this, and getting a reflection of a good mark for a good writing piece (‘Henry’) helps, too. It’s tough to be more than half way through a course and not be more than 20% of the marks, though.

Really?

I'm taking this online writing course - it's 8 credits (no, I didn't hit the wrong key, it's really 8 credits.  Believe me, it hassle enough for 8 credits).  One of the BIG final projects for the WRITING class?

Basically, a scrapbook that tells a story.  

'Seriously?' you're saying.

'Yes,' says I, 'that's the sad reality of it.'

I have next to NO idea how to do scrap-booking, so I'm really hoping that I'm not penalized for my lack of enthusiasm in this. 

Did I mention that I have to DESTROY a BOOK to do this?

Yes, gentle reader, I have to destroy a book in order to complete this assignment.  I can't just take any old book and ruin it by painting, pasting and befouling it - no, NO!  It has to be a book with MEANING for me.  

Really?  How about I video tape me burning it instead?  That would hold more significance than be ruining it any other way.

Ten Years Already?

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but I'm going to my 10 year reunion.  I hear that there will be about 50 people there, including their dates/spouses.  Should be interesting to see who shows up.  I would be spending the night at home doing schooly stuff or *gasp* some glass work, but as Nathan is a social butterfly and this means something to him, I'm going.

At least I'll have Bre there to talk with, and Darryl and Carly are always up for conversation.  I imaging Nathan will be circulating amongst the crowd, talking to people he will assure me graduated with us.

Lots happened!

• I got married
• We had a reception in a ridiculous heat wave!
• The store I worked at was robbed while I was there
• My sister got married
• My friend from the store who was working with me the day it was robbed died
• My best friend since grade 4 got married
• Nathan's best friend got married
• I drove up to PG to visit Nikki and emotionally detox
• I started SFU's PDP and absolutely immersed myself into it to get away from the rest of my stresses
• I got through my 405 semester with flying sparkly colours
• I'm still gainfully unemployed even though I got stellar reviews from my FA and SA
• Nathan's dad wants us to go up to Quesnel for a weekend to check a couple of his places out.

 In the ENTIRE time I have been doing PDP, I haven't TOUCHED my torch...it's sitting there collecting dust and glaring its little eyes at me...all seven of them. 


I really should be doing the finishing touches on my math right now but I just needed to write some stuff down...so there.

Our super awesome pattern block fun activity results!  I love my EDUC 475 class!!

Newest addition

Nathan and I don't have children - we have plants.

So far we have three boys: Mortimer (Nathan's fuzzy cactus and tiny aloe plant with lots of leaves), Reginald (a medicinal Aloe I got a few months ago) and Winthorp (an aloe plant Bre gifted to me and I adopted on the spot at my bridal shower). There was just one thing missing: a girly plant.

So...I present to you, Abigail!

Married Life

So far, so good.

And by good I mean okay but could be better because I barely see him.

We're both busy, but at separate times, which is kind of lousy :(

On the plus side, the reception is coming up in a couple weeks and we'll get to see some familiar faces :)

Also, the day before the reception Nathan and I are goin to a mutual friend's wedding where (and I've been told by the bride-to-be herself) Corban is going to be dressed in drag...as a bride's maid. I might have to buy extra batteries for my camera.

Count Down...less than 3 WEEKS!!

AAAAHHHHH!!! Where is the time GOING?

Less than 3 weeks to the wedding....can that be RIGHT?

I can't believe that the time is going by so quickly.

Okay - LIST!

Location: booked and paid for

Rings: Both here, paid for and ready to go

Commissioner: booked and the meeting went great (when we walked into her office, Nathan saw we'd interrupted her game of W.O.W.)

Vows and ceremony: re-re-written from original to reflect Nathan and myself and to make the ceremony last more than 5 minutes

Marriage licence: purchased...mwahahaha.

Dress: DONE!

Things to still do:

E-mail our commish the re-worked vows

Get Nathan going on ordering the flowers so he can make my bouquet (and HOW excited am I that he's cool with this? You have NO idea!)

Figuring out what to do afterwards - Mom has suggested an afternoon 'Tea' so we don't have to worry about doing dinner, and more importantly, drinking