January 26th's class

I couldn't help think about Vicky after Prof. Hlynka made the announcement. I didn't know her that well, but well enough to know that she was a good person and certainly had a passion for being an educator. It's very sad.

The funny thing is that last class we were talking about the apology that the government made about residential schools and I was thinking that it is too bad she wasn't in class because I'd like to know how she felt about it. Her childhood school experience was in a residential school and she told all of us in front of the class how traumatic it was for her. My question for her was whether the apology was a bit of a slap in the face or maybe very much appreciated. I wonder if it is one of those situations where an apology doesn't do very much after a certain point. It certainly can't undo any of the damage done.

Secondly, I wanted to comment on Duchastel's criteria for a study guide. Doesn't the criteria for a study guide depend of what it is you are studying for? Why does Duchastel get the credit for making the criteria for a study guide? I think a study guide could look like many different things as long as it prepares you for what you are studying.

On a final note, I thought I'd mention my thoughts on the Discover Canada guide. At first glance, I thought is was quite good because I'm currently teaching the Grade 11 Canadian History course and all of what I just taught is mentioned in there. I thought it would have been nice to give the students a copy of this as a supplement to the course. However, the closer I looked, the more I could see that this was almost like an informational brochure. In terms of content for new Canadians, I don't think they'd need information like transit, banking, grocery stores because that is just logistics of moving somewhere. (I have lived in 4 other countries besides Canada and it's just information you need to acquire to live there. However, if you want to understand and learn about where you are going to live it is helpful to know some history and some of the immediate parts of the culture.) So, if I were moving to Canada I would like a brief history, but primarily to learn about some of the daily traditions. For example, living in Malaysia, it would have been nice to know what the city wide siren was that I heard 5 times a day. It would be nice for a new Canadian to know the national anthem,(living in Mexico, I heard the national anthem so many times that I could sing it, and never heard the Malaysian anthem once in the whole time being there) some famous Canadians that people actually can have conversations about, popular places to see (UNESCO) and geography of the country, some of the resources and industries, (we can't grow bananas or coconuts, but it would be neat to know what are our major exports), cultural and religious make up and the restrictions on people (it would have been nice to know that I wasn't allowed to leave the country of Malaysia for 185 days after arriving. My Christmas trip home got cancelled pretty quick.) I'm rambling now, so I'll stop, but in a nut shell I think it would be nice in general to be educated about the information that Canadian born people know. My last critique is the grammar. We analyzed the grammatics and realize there must have been a reason for the style, but it does seem rather weak to me that an official government document can be so careless.

January 19, 2010

I guess it's my time to be defensive!!! When Professor Hlynka brought up the 4 issues about education in the media I had to take a tiny bit of offense, not toward our professor, but the fact that these issues point the finger at teachers. The four issues he brought up were all negative media about education and the frustrating thing is that we never hear the good or positive media. It makes me think about how teachers really need to have tough skin to be in this profession because we always end up as the scapegoat. Secondly, other industries and professions are also taken to the guillotine, such as the RCMP or the Police and also doctors. As soon as someone doesn't take care of their health, someone asks why their doctor never advised them or when someone leaves their house unlocked and they get robbed, it is because the cops weren't patrolling the neighbourhood. Perhaps during his school career, Michael Phelps was an underachieving student for whatever reason or the comment the teacher made has been taken out of context. I'd be willing to bet that Michael Phelps had some GREAT experiences and teachers at school. However, naturally, it's always the teacher's fault.

January 12, 2010

Well, I must say I have never listened to Christmas music in January! The songs actually made me think of my grandmother. I wondered if time has been a factor for the marketing type songs like Rudolph, etc. The reason is I never EVER heard my grandmother sing those and she used to get mad that my brother and I sang them. She also said they weren't about Christmas!