Mandatory Blog

Something happened this morning that I have to tell people about. I started my car, and only let it run for a few minutes because I wanted to get to school nice and early, and my interior warmer had warmed it up nicely. I get to the corner of McAra and 15th, and when I went to step on the gas, my car bogged and stalled. This happens sometimes when it's really cold, because my choke is not set 100% right. Anyhow, I normally just turn the key and start it up again, and drive off.

Well, today, it was really cold, and it had not been running very long, so my battery was strained from powering my lights and my fan at full blast. The car went "ruh-ruh... ruh-ruh" when I cranked it... SH*T, I thought. It's freezing, I have no gloves, no toque, and now I need a boost! -- AND I'm halfway blocking 15th Avenue!

I pop my hood, and put my 4-way flashers on, and hold my cables up in the air for someone to stop. Picture this: It's 35 below with the windchill, middle of a street, you're on your way to work at 7:15am. Why would you stop to help a guy in a junky plaid car with his troubles? Well, that is what the first four people that drove by thought. One guy claimed he would wreck his car's computer by boosting me... whatever. The 5th car, however, nodded and smiled at me, and pulled around beside my car.

I thanked her once for stopping, and then we got her hood open, and set up the cables. But my cables are crappy, and didn't do the trick in this cold weather. So she saw it wasn't working, and said, "Here, try these" as she brought out cables, and added, "and put these on" as she handed me mittens. I could have almost cried at how nice this lady was. Her cables promptly started my engine and I revved it up to make sure it wouldn't stall again.

I got out of my car, disconnected the cables, thanked her again for her help, and asked her jokingly if it was okay to hug her, and we laughed. She said she had a son about my age, so as long as someone stops to help him, then she would feel good. I said, "Yeah, that's really the way we want the world to work, right?" I told her that she was a lifesaver this morning.

After I drove away, I realized I had her mittens. I sincerely hope they were not her only pair :S Also, I wished I would have asked her if she believes in God. It would have been interesting. There are many people in the world who are amazingly nice, and motivated to be caring for their own reasons, that have nothing to do with God. There are also people who use God every day as their guide for how to act. I really would like to know why on earth she would stop in 35 below weather to help a person she knows nothing about. I would do the exact same thing, though. Maybe it's karma on my behalf... maybe she was sent there for a reason... maybe I should have got her name... maybe I shouldn't have stolen her mittens... maybe I should find a way to thank her... maybe ... everything. But I can't stop thinking about it.

Every time I stop to help someone out with their car, I have a few thoughts in mind. One of them is "I am stopping because they are in need, and I can offer help". Another thought is "I hope someone would stop for me, situations reversed". Someone might think that latter one is a selfish thought, but really it's just "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" in a nutshell. Apparently, my philosophy worked, yet I wouldn't have been completely shocked if nobody stopped for me. I would say that my lack of faith in God is replaced by my faith in mankind. Because for me to be a nice person, hoping for it to come back to me requires that I place my faith in the general good of people. Which I really think that I do. It's like Pay It Forward (good movie). I am constantly paying it forward, and feel very happy when it is paid back.

Perhaps I am overanalyzing this simple event. I'm sure it happens many times daily, everywhere, particularly in Canada where a person will stop to help another that they know nothing about. And that makes me happy to think that. But this lady was very special, very nice, selfless, caring, and I want to thank her. And I don't know how.

Dan

PS. Somehow, in this fiasco, my favourite red pen fell out of my shirt, and is likely lost forever. *tear*

More talking

I guess the most important note from last week was that my faculty adviser Cyril Kesten came out to visit me in class, and watch me teach. He said what I was doing here was really great, and basically was happy about how things were going. He asked me when I was leaving Martin. I said "I don't understand". He said "Well, you are only obligated for 14 weeks." I said, "I was not informed of this." He goes, "Well, now you are. So when are you leaving?"

I already have commitments right until Dec. 22nd, and plus I am loving it, so why would I leave? I might start ditching out of school early, and coming to school late though... hahaha... hmmm...

14 weeks means I could have been done my internship on around Wednesday, Dec. 13 instead of Friday Dec. 22.

Note to prospective teachers, and ok, well anyone with a stressful life. Make a week of lunches on Sunday night. It is amazing how much money you can save and how much you will start looking forward to lunches (even moreso!). This week, same with last week, I made 6 packs of noodles and a large portion of mixed mini-vegetables (baby corn, baby peas, baby carrots), and, when both were thoroughly cooked, divided them up into 5 containers (because I'm a big eater) and froze 4 and kept one out for tomorrow. If you can deal with such monotony (try different spices, vegetables, flavours if you need), then you, too, can spend only $0.60 to make a lunch, too! Or spend $7 on a sub every day... hmmmmmm.... (too many brackets?)

Danny

3 week block synopsis - 2

Seeing as I am writing this on Saturday, I don't remember day to day exactly what's going on, but it was generally a great week.

I took my CPT's from making various little shapes and things, to making stuff like this: http://uregina.ca/~benesh2d/fish1.gif. (sub in fish2.gif, fish3.gif... etc...). Thank you Cara for the fishbowl idea, it worked out great!

My IP's finished up with their photography unit. See all their pictures here and here. Then we started databases. Likely one of my lesser-knowledgable subjects, but I know enough to teach it to them, and it's going well. Some are advanced, and some are slow, and most say "why do we need to learn this" etc... but it's school! So deal with it. I find myself CRAVING my lunchtimes because I can prep and mark, and just get that mental break. Every morning I am teaching all 3 periods, so I never get to sit and rest. Advice to interns or prospective teachers reading this: Prep your entire week on the weekend, so your week can be spent marking and staying SANE!

My Accounting class is quickly becoming a favourite of mine. Again, range of skills, but it's such a yes/no, cut and dry kind of subject. I love computerized accounting. It is just so wickedly awesome, easy to mark, easy to do, and so crucial to their accounting education. I am sort of sad that I only have one week left of it, because there is more that I want to do with them. But, I will still be happy when they are done and I can get back to being on MSN all day at school :)

Lastly, my CCH class is coming to the decently fun stuff. They all just wrote me a personal letter (about school, interests, made up stuff, whatever) and they were more than a joy to read. Some of them made me laugh out loud for various reasons. I just... wow, these kids are so funny and they don't even know it. I can't wait to show some of my fellow Biz.Ed's the "quality" work! (I could piss more coherant letters!) Just over one more full week to go, and then it's back on easy street with school. This is just great.

Friday night, I won this mini-poker tournament... well, I split 1st place money with the guy. Profited $135. That will support me for a couple weeks, basically, so long as I keep not-spending like I am right now. And tomorrow I get to referee an entire day of floor hockey, so that should be fun again. That is why Saturday night consists of me sitting at my computer, planning for the following week of school.

I have a crush ^_^

Danny

Thought of the day

It is entirely an amazing task in itself for a student to do absolutely nothing in one complete hour class period.

3 week block synopsis - 1

Day 1- Kinda stressed, but really prepared going in. I expected my morning to be difficult, having two new classes to teach, and no longer having that 830am prep, but it actually went very smoothly. The kids in my CPT class are very bright, and enjoy using Macromedia flash for animation, so they are very keen at working. It's a class of like 12 computer nerds, so we get along well! haha... oh man. Accounting even went okay, demo-ing Simply Accounting on computers. More on that junk later. So my morning went totally not as expected; I would almost say perfect. My afternoon, however, was not. I was only teaching one class, but it was horrendous. My lesson plan did not suit the students, and as such, I had to severly adapt, and ended up working out "okay". I was excited to have this day done, as I was also starting to get sick. WHY on earth do I have to get sick on my 3-week block? Symptom on Day 1 was sore throat.

Day 2- Less stressed, more excited about getting on to new material. Started off with CPT, and those guys amazed me, yet again. Went on to IPs, working on digital photography, and they worked well. Then I got to Accounting where there were massive computer issues, and one arrogant student spent most of the period laughing at me for the computer issues that were happening, and I mocked him back, because they weren't my fault. Sickness symptom on Day 2 was sneezing. Constant sneezing and spitting.

Day 3- Savior day. Half day for Interviews. I taught CPT, and again, they are amazing. I have to really step up my efforts to challenge them and make their education worthwhile. I also taught my CCHs, and they were the product of what happened on Day 1, but I feel that I cemented their learning and made it worthwhile today. So I was happy with it. Sickness symptom today: stuffy/runny nose.

Day 4- What a great way to end the week! CPTs are insane through the roof awesome. IPs worked diligently, and have to be done after Monday's class, and then I can grade all that jazz. My week-long work package is working out quite well. The benefit of being a Business Ed teacher is that there is no standard curriculum (like Math or English), it is all locally put together in schools, and nobody is looking over your shoulder making sure you are teaching all prerequisites. Anyhow... Accounting... only 40% of my class showed up. Hey, that's 2/5, but still only 40% hehe. However, I WISH the other 3 were there, because it went as smoothly as possible. Yet to teach the last CCH class, last class of the day and of the week, but with the high I am on now, there is no way that it could go badly. Symptom of sickness for today: coughing, leading to sore throat.

Sorry to anyone who read this and found it less exciting than my normal posts. It is the more informational side, in case some intern actually stumbles upon it one day, wondering what a three week block is really like.

I am not going to lie: I purposely gave my IPs a one-week work project, and purposely made my CCH very easy stuff for this week to make my life easier. I would have normally considered that "cheating", but now I know it's just being smart.

Dan

If you see Kay, tell her I love her.

Interesting line from a song "If you see Kay, tell her I love her". You may not notice it at first, but "F-U-C-K, tell her I love her". Yeah... sneaky Aerosmith, sneaky!

It's 2:04am Tuesday morning. I've yet to go to sleep, and I teach in 6.4 hours. But I came to a realization tonight. I can do this. I'm looking at my daybook for the next week. And it is a piece of cake. I can do this! I can not only do this, but I can THRIVE while doing so! I've got page after page of notes on what I'm going to do, but it's all going to fall into place so well, I can see it now.

Thus begins my three week block. I almost got nothing done today because my cute kitten was sitting on my daybook and it broke my heart to move her, it did. See the above picture. I knew my material was boring, but falling asleep on my daybook? Come on, Sami, you're killing me! :)

I've come to the realization that the three-week block is HARD for interns who actually care. Those who don't can easily get by, planning day to day, being stressed, thinking "Why did I go into teaching?" But those who love it, and were called to this profession for all the right reasons get a little stressed out, but enjoy every minute of it because they love being a part of these children's lives, selflessly giving their sleep time and family time to be educators. I salute you!

This long weekend was completely invaluable to me for planning. Next weekend will feel like a long weekend because I hopefully do not have to referee floor hockey, and even if I do, it's only a half day because of Grey Cup (Go Riders!! hahaha... DE-stroyed).

Students continuously do not hand in the online blog assignments (http://mrbenesh.edublogs.org), and then say, "I forgot". Well, I have a solution and it involves me caring juuuuuust a little bit less than I have been in the past. 10% per day off, no more reminders from me (unless I forget to not remind them), up to a max of 50% off. If they choose to do it more than 5 days later, the most they can get is 50%. And then they can submit them whenever. I think that is very fair.

I talked to my mom today. I love her. I told her my whole love life story. She laughed, and is happy I'm more on the right track than I was before.

I am also starting a class Flickr site (picture hosting). I would appreciate anyone reading this to check it out around Wednesday - Friday of next week, and post some comments on the students' pictures that you see there. Here is the link to that: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbenesh7) Thanks.

Well, ten solid minutes of typing. I had a great Saturday with my Leafs winning, watching a hilarious movie, in nothing but the best of company. I hope to do the same this weekend. And the next. And the next.

Sleep.
Dan

Wake up call

Tweening?! WTF is tweening?!

I have to start teaching a course called CPT (Communication and Productions Technology), and I thought I knew just in my meager brain, what I needed to know to teach these simple grade 10s. Then I had a talk with the current teacher of that class... My busy week just got busier!

I have to download and learn Macromedia Flash... like essentially inside and out. Tweening? Bitmap? Layering? Vector? Anyhow... That will encompass my next few days here, because she wants a more detailed outline by tomorrow, so I can stretch that out to Thursday, and then I start teaching Tuesday after the long weekend.

When, as luck would have it, I also start teaching Accounting on Computers (Simply Accounting). Of course, I have limited experience in this, too, but hey, Randy and I will get through it. I don't know if there was ever an internship match up better than this one. We are just constantly on the same page, and it's quite educationally beneficial.

That's all, I teach in 2 minutes, and I have hockey tryouts in 2 hours! I'm STOKED!

Dan

PS. Note to self: If you fall asleep at school, you'll dream of the kids.
PPS. Note to self: Dreaming of the kids is creepifying :|

So I guess I post once a week now.

During the week I am just too damn busy to post, and/or too damn lazy.

Monday: Pretty fun Monday. Everyone was getting ready for Halloween the next day.
Tuesday: I dressed up as a snowboarder, and later renamed myself Ross Regliati (sp?), the marijuana smoking snowboarder who won gold for Canada. Nobody knew who he was. How sad. All the girls thought I was hot. (Aside: why did no girls think I was hot when I was in high school? haha)
Wednesday,Thursday: daily grind, I have Friday off, so I prepare a test for my InfoPro students. Spend a lot of time at the school. Typically the last car leaving. My goal next week is to NOT be the last car leaving.
Friday: Intern callback day. AKA - Get all the interns back to UofR so they each pay $5-$12 for parking all day. Essentially, I went to the welcome ceremony, signed in, then went to the Owl to drink away sorrows with a friend. Then went back to school (lol, yes, smelling of beer) to grade some tests. Realized I made a typo on my exam, and all was lost, so I have to re-do it Monday :(

Saturday - woke up, cleaned my house so that I could get work done. Watched my LEAFS KICK BUFFALO around for their first loss this YEAR! (w00t) and then I did some school work (much needed) and watched X-Men III. It was perdy good. Late to bed, early to rise for...

Sunday - Reffed floor hockey. Uneventful. Called a gross misconduct for a guy sticking another guy in the balls.

I am about to embark on the most stressful week of internship thus far. Afternoon naps will be my saviour. I love naps...

Dan