MSTIE 2

The second week of MSTIE is over, and we're all counting down the five days left until the end of another prac. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it. I'm loving the team-teaching and the chance to teach an on-going topic. But working under someone else (the supervisor) with limited scope (one specific topic) can get tiring. Probably the worst thing about pracs is the added pressure of trying to impress and be professional so you can score a job in the future (you don't have that pressure once you've landed one!).

Some days I think the people who come back beaming and gushing how they love prac must be from another planet. I used to think I must be the weird one; the teacher-in-training not enjoying the training-for-teaching. I know I'm not a 'natural' unfortunately. But having my own 'classroom' at Flora Hill is a completely different story to prac, which gives me hope that I'm not unteacherlike after all.

I guess the people who 'love prac' to such an extreme are also the ones who think that report writing isn't so hard, the holidays are longer than everyone else's, and teachers are appallingly underpaid.

Between two worlds

It appears I exist in a place between two worlds... that of the 'old people' and that of the 'teenagers.'

A common problem faced by highschool teachers is the issue of mobile phones in class. A sneaky tactic in recent years is the "silent" or "mosquito" ringtone - a tone at a frequency too high for 'adults' to hear. The sound is like a high-pitched squeal, similar to what you hear when you turn on a TV before the sound comes on. Due to the natural shift of the human hearing range over time to lower frequencies, these sounds are likely to disappear from your range by your early to mid-twenties. You can of course speed up this 'degeneration' by lots of iPod use and exposure to loud sounds, or slow it by taking good care of your hearing - but it will happen.

Being the ripe old age of 21, most of these high frequencies are still within my hearing range. I busted a kid when his 36 year old form group teacher couldn't catch him. On a similar note, I busted a kid for playing games and could actually name the game correctly. This place between two worlds is a handy place indeed.

It's interesting to try and find out what frequency you can hear.

IMPORTANT: DON'T PUT YOUR EAR CLOSE TO THE SPEAKER OR TURN THE VOLUME UP REALLY LOUD. EVEN IF YOU CAN'T HEAR IT, A SOUND IS STILL PLAYING, AND IT CAN CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR EARS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER SOUND PLAYED LOUD AND CLOSE!
(I didn't know that before :$)

First day

Exciting news - I got my first job! Actually, I'm calling it placement, because I'm hoping to get credit points for it, and I was trying to arrange a LOTE practicum at the time it landed on me. I'm teaching two German classes (7's and 8's) at Flora Hill Secondary College as of today - my first day. It all began on the day of my last exam, Friday 22nd June. The official call came the following Monday, with the interview that wasn't really an interview the very next day. Before I knew it, I was spending my three precious weeks of holidays madly planning units of work.

And today was my first day. It went well - considering it was the first class, first day back after the holidays. Hopefully I'll get better at it quickly and the kids will settle down too. I enjoyed it, however the inconsiderate nature of the university looks likely to threaten the whole position at the moment...