Kaseifu no Mita

Well, I should have been looking for jobs today, but I ended up watching the last 7 episodes (about 6 hrs in total) of Kaseifu no Mita. I couldn't help myself today... the drama was quite good overall! 8.5/10 in my books. I can see why it had such high ratings. There were some corny parts, but overall, it was able to move me.

I don't recall if I mentioned it yesterday, but the screenwriter for Kaseifu no Mita was the same one that did Jyoou no Kyoushitsu (The Queen's Classroom). With that in mind, I could "see" similarities between these two shows. Both have very stoic main actresses that had some kind of past that influenced how they acted in the present. Both had their pasts eventually revealed (special for classroom vs around episode 8 for Mita).

With that being said, the screenwriter has the ability, I think, to make a sad ending, happy, if you get what I mean. The housekeeper, Mita, leaves the Asuda family at the very end, though I both sides benefited from the interactions that took place over the last couple of months. It was nice to see Matsushima smile again! I missed her smile throughout the entire drama! =(

Today's picture

Took apart my piano to get some stuff out from between my keys. I was amazed at how simple the process was! Yamaha makes good pianos indeed! Everything fitted perfectly!

Laziness...

I've been feeling pretty lazy lately... that is why I haven't been blogging daily.

Well anyways, today was another normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary... well besides finding out that I had a flat tire yesterday (3rd flat in 3 years...)

Anything new going on in my life? Well I started watching this mystery/family drama: Kaseifu no Mita (I'm your housekeeper, Mita). It is about a housekeeper that has no emotions, but does her job perfectly. She works in a household where the mother/wife has recently committed suicide.

So far it has been very interesting. I can see why it has gotten such a large viewership (about 20% which is extremely good in these days). Also, the Queen of J-dramas (well what I consider to be the queen), Matsushima Nanako is the main star. Her dramas are simply top notch! (I should start a Top 5 actress and actors post!) She's doing an extremely good job of keeping an emotionless profile on the show.

Well thats it for today! Here's today's picture, which is the cover for the drama (found on dramawiki)

Cell Presentations

I went back to my practicum school yesterday and today to watch the presentations that the grade 8 students were working on in science. They were using iPads to create an analogy that compared the organelles within the cell. There were examples like castles, concerts, Wal-Mart, cars and to the iPad it self. It seems like the older you get, the less creative one becomes =P, I was thinking, that if I were to do that project, I would compare it to a school... which was an example that my partner teacher used...

Man, thinking about it, I can't believe that practicum is over! Its hard waking up early in the morning, but I miss it for sure... though I bet I wouldn't say that in a couple years time... 

Well since that's done for now (I may go back early June to help out with a field trip if I'm allowed too!), it's time for full time job searching... or at least back to exercising early morning! That physical check up is approaching fast. Maybe this year, I won't be considered nearly obese...

So... no pictures really to show, so this will have to do... Maybe it is time to take up photography with a real dslr. =P 

This picture was taken on the Peace Bridge... a couple weeks ago I believe...

Hot Day!

What a hot day today! So warm!

I should have worn some shorts, but I decided to go to school in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

I had to go to school today to hand in my narrative for my practicum that my partner teacher wrote up. (She wrote such a great narrative for me! =D) When I got to the undergrad office for Education, I noticed that most people placed their narrative in an envelope... while I didn't... Whoops?

After depositing my narrative, I went to my school locker to clean that up. Afterwards I went to the locker room to clean up my gym locker. (Lots of cleaning!!) I think I had it for the last two years? It felt weird to hand it back in, but I didn't want to pay for it during the summer since I'm not taking any summer classes this year. (There's none for Education).

Once that was all done, I went to Market Mall to see if I can get an engraved pen I purchased for my partner teacher fixed. An E was horribly done. Luckily for me, the store's manager was there so she said she'll give me a new pen!! The second pen was a lot nicer than the first one! =) Also, the manager shrunk the letters a bit, so it looked nicer on the pen! =D

Okay! Time for a small break

This is the next song I'm trying to play. I'm still working on Knight of the Goddess though! I can play about 3 pages at around 60% speed...

Now time for a short blurb about my practicum. For the past couple of months, I been debating on which path I should take, whether I would do something that I THINK I would enjoy, or a path that pays well. (At this point, I wasn't sure if teaching was for me since last semester's practicum wasn't a good taste in my opinion of what being a classroom teacher is like). I was at the point where I considered dropping out of the program at the end of this year and pursue a career in business by trying to find some small job and work my way up.

However, I thought that I might as well finish up my degree since I'm 50% finished.

Practicum though, cleared any doubts. I enjoyed all three weeks. There wasn't a time where I was bored! There was always something to do. True, the days were long, but the three weeks whizzed by as if I just started just a couple days ago. Sure, it was tiring, and I would go home exhausted but I enjoyed it.

I know that not all schools are like Valley Creek, and I probably will start off in a tougher school, but I'm looking forward to it!! There's something about teaching that brings a certain joy that nothing else can really bring out. Though of course, teaching isn't always great.

During this time, I learnt about the darker side of teaching. Things such as budget cuts, demands placed upon teachers and hardships that students face. It reminded me that it doesn't matter how old a person is, they have some sort of problem in their life that they have to deal with.

All in all, I know for now of the path I want to take in my life. I will pursue a career in teaching for at least the first part of my working life. This small piece of happiness is what I want in my life. =)

And thats all for now... ahha I'm not sure why... but I can't write properly today...

Here's today's picture

taken from: http://www.dalong.net/review/age/agh10/p/agh10_02.jpg (great site for gundam models! I think he built every single one?)

Perhaps this will be my next project if I'm not able to find a job for the first few months of this looooooonnnngggg break. I'm already bored of break....

Long time no blog!

Well today isn't going to be a full post... I'm battling some kind of cough at the moment (if its like the one I got after coming back from France, I'm in for a long long battle...) It's strange... I'm okay during the day, but at night, I start coughing like CRAZY... (after 6ish or 7ish...)

Well I'll blog more about practicum tomorrow! It was an amazing experience and I'm sure for now that I want to be in education for at least a couple years. I'll put back that MBA for a while. =) Or perhaps maybe not even pursue it if I do get a job in the CBE.

Thursday Week 2

Quite the day today!

I first started off my day with prep. During this time, I wrote down some definitions on the whiteboard for one of the activities that the grade 8s are going to do in math. It was sure difficult to write things straight on the whiteboard... Once that was done, I went to go copy some grid paper for an activity. Luckily this time, there was no paper jam!

After getting all that down, it was pretty much time for the next period. For leadership 9, I just had to listen to the students perform a prepared script for which they are going to read to classrooms tomorrow. The script described the activities that are going to take place next week. Overall, they did a pretty good job presenting their scripts. I didn't had much to say to those students.

After leadership, it was time for math and science. There was an emergency today that my partner teacher had to deal with, so I was in charge of the class for both math and science. Thankfully, I also had another teacher (and for the last period before lunch, the vice principal) to help me watch over the class. For science, the students had to show me their hypothesis for the osmosis lab they were working on. Once I gave them the approval, I sliced a couple of potato slices for them to experiment with. Going through the hypothesis took a bit longer than I thought so they didn't have much time to do the lab itself.

For math, I handed out a worksheet that they need to fill out as they went through the six stations that my partner teacher and her partner teacher (in that they team teach) designed. The six stations tested their skills of transformations (so translation, rotation and reflection) through various means: like battleship (knowing coordinates) and moving a treasure chest from one location of the Cartesian plane to another (all three transformations). Things were smoother in this class (as in they were working more diligently), probably because the vice principal was there.

Overall though, both periods weren't bad since I didn't really have to teach teach. Though, I did learn that I should probably give a bit more instruction when they go onto experiments or stations. =P

The afternoon was similar to the morning in that my partner teacher let me conduct the two classes. This gave me a chance to contrast the two grade 8 classes (which I have been doing over the past two weeks) to see the differences between learners. For sure, there are noticeable differences.

After school, I helped coached badminton. Season is almost up! There are two tournaments next week already!

As for the picture of the day

Only in Calgary eh? ahhhhhhhha

Day.... 9? Sleep

I need my beauty sleep. My bedtime is usually around 10:30-11ish. Anything past 2... and I'm just a zombie...

Time for bed.

Photocopier Wednesday

So today in practicum, I got the chance to use the photocopier!

Things were going well until the last set of stuff I had to photocopy. I had a photocopying jam! =(

My initial reaction was shock since I wasn't quite sure how to clear up a photocopying jam, but luckily for me that the machine was smart enough and offered a step-by-step guide on cleaning up the jam. After about 5 minutes, I got it to work again... for it to get into another JAM RIGHT AWAY. I guess it was the type of paper I was using?

Besides that, my day was jampacked but I'm exhausted (came home, took a shower and fell asleep in my study chair). So off to bed I go!

Tuesday Week 2

I think I did a lot today! I had such a jam packed morning! The first period was math, so I took around 4 students out of the classroom and taught them congruence of polygons (pretty much coordinate geometry). We went over reflections and rotations, but never had the chance to go over translation. I hope they don't have too much trouble with the math activity tomorrow, but I'll probably be there to help anyways!!! =P

After math, science was next. After a review of the organelles within the cell, I had a mini introduction to diffusion. It was a bit nerve-wracking to teach them this concept (though not as bad as microscopes since I'm starting to know these students more). There were times where I didn't follow what I had written down in my lesson plan. Also, looking back now, there were probably somethings I should have discussed and perhaps used some form of post-assessment to test their understanding. However, it was a really good experience for me, since I got the chance to conduct a longer lesson in front of the class and had an experienced teacher give me feedback. (I had a theatre play where some students acted the part of the cell membrane [more specifically, gates that represent selectively permeable properties of the cell] and molecules). 

After recess, I repeated the same activities with the next batch of grade 8s. We were able to get through translation and rotations with my next batch of math students, but I should have used more examples I feel =P. In science, after hearing feedback from my partner teacher, I incorporated her suggestions to the theatre play. It lead to some interesting conversation for a bit at the end of the activity, though looking back know, I could have probably used a bit more probing questions to get these students to talk.

After that long morning, I had supervision again and then lunch. Thank goodness that prep came right after, so I had a bit of an extended lunch. Afterwards, I helped my partner teacher prepare for a lab that the students are going to do tomorrow! It should be fun! They will be dealing with the concept of osmosis. 

The last class was leadership, but I went to go see a performing art class instead. I got the chance to see the grade 9 performing art students go through warm up exercises. This consisted of studying body language and a game called frustation. Frustration is where one person asks another person questions while trying to distract that person with some form of activity. The purpose is to make the person being asked questions, frustrated. lol =P

Once that was done, there was badminton practice. Today was all the doubles team. I got the chance to work with the boys doubles. After doing some drills, I let them play games, since they were all quite antsy =P

Ahhh, tired, so let's end it there...

credits: http://www.game-ost.com/static/covers_soundtracks/3720_480454.jpg

I really like the cover art for XIII-2's piano collection. It would be cool to have a crystal piano like this, though I guess a real crystal piano would have its innards shown to the entire world =0

Day 8: Badminton

Hmm, to be honest, I didn't like badminton when I was in elementary school. I enjoyed tennis more, since I found it easier to play when I was that young. I started liking badminton when my father took me to VSLC to play badminton in the summer before junior high started. One of the first shots I "mastered" was the smash. When I was going to grade 8, my mom put me into badminton lessons. This was where I started to learn new skills, though I tend to rely on my smash for the most part.

For a good chunk of junior high, most people my age weren't able to deflect my smash, though after some time, they started too... =P That was probably when I started losing my edge in the sport. It was at this time that I started playing badminton competitively. I never won any tournaments, but I did make it to the semi-final consolation at a city tournament hosted by the University when I was in grade... 10? I guess my brother and I were able to nab 3rd place at another city tournament back in the day. (Let's not talk nationals... ahha oh those players are soooo good).

Anyways, when I was in high school, I would train for about 6-9 hours a week in badminton. Once university started though, I quit training and played badminton leisurely for now. If I'm lucky, I can get in one badminton date every 2-3 months.

Week 2 Monday

Today marks my first ever PD Day as a student teacher! For those who are interested in what Professional Development Day is, it's pretty much when teachers sit down and listen to a guest speaker or participate in activities organized by the principal. The staff at my school (and at an elementary school nearby) had a guest speaker today. His topic was on critical thinking. Apparently its a part 2 of a series of critical thinking.

So pretty much for the entire day (from 8:30 to 3:00), we had a guest lecturer speak to us. Throughout the 6ish hours, we had a mixture of group discussion and activities. Despite how boring I thought it would be, time actually flew by pretty quickly. Even though I learnt some of these things in school, there were some new things I learnt. For example, I learnt the different types of critical challenges I could use to implement into my lesson plans, such as Critiquing, Judging, figuring out the puzzle, etc.

So despite a long day, it was actually not too bad!

Day 7 - Favorite Singer!!

Surprise surprise! It's not BoA! Well not anymore, as some people may know. I used to adore listening to her songs, but after her recent works, I'm not too into her. I know that a true fan (or is that the definition of an obsessed fan...) will like the artist no matter what, but I can't really take her new style anymore. She does have some good new tracks (like Romance and Milestone in my opinion), but overall, I haven't really like her works after 2010).

So who's my favorite singer at the moment? Well no one really... I've been listening to a lot of Final Fantasy Piano arrangements. I can probably play only 1/10 of them decently... but perhaps that will be a lofty goal of mine one day. Surprisingly, I find these songs to be challenging... maybe I lost more of my piano skills than what I initially though...

Anyways the picture is from the cover art of the FF X Piano Collection music book. I think the cover looks pretty neat, don't you think? =P

23 Years Old

Oh boy, I can't believe I'm 23 years old... I feel like I'm still 20 though, but at other times... I do feel like I'm 30... Ahha.

For the first time from what I can remember, this day doesn't feel as special like it used to be. I recall how I always look forward to my birthday since I'm a year older, thus a year "better". But for this year, it just felt like an ordinary day. However, I like to thank those who gave me warm wishes for my birthday! =D

However, I think this is the first time I ate so much in one day!

I only had volunteering in the morning today, so I went out to lunch at Nirvana with a couple of the bros. They had an AYCE buffet for $10 (Before taxes and tips). The food there wasn't too bad and I hate quite the meal there. After lunch we went to car dealerships to check out cars. I never seen so many Evos in a lot before! =P

After all that, I went home and got some sleep in. (Must be the old age!) I then had dinner with a lot of Chinese BBQ! Yum yum!

Once that was done, I got started on the questions for my partner teacher =P. I should have started on them yesterday but I was out for almost the entire day.

Ahhhh well that's it for me today!

4th Day

Boy am I tired... After coming home from school, I just sat in front of my computer for most of the time. I tried mustering some work, but I ended up doing nothing...

It started bright and early! I got to school and went over a couple of things with my partner teacher. Once that was done, school started. For science today, it was mostly a note-taking class on organelles. There was this one slide where you could slide definitions from one side of the slide to the other side, and when you did, it became that organelle! (For example: powerhouse of the cell --> mitochondria).

The grade 8s started a new unit in math: coordinate geometry. One class had a bit of struggle with review on grade 7 coordinate geometry terms but the other class seemed to breeze right through it! (This is indeed interesting and will probably be used for my final oral presentation).

After 4 classes of math and science, it was lunch time. Today, my partner teacher had supervision after lunch. We had to walk around the school and watch the students as they played outside. A lot of students were throwing snowballs at one another =P.

Finally, leadership class was pretty straight forward today. The grade 8s went around the school (and the nearby elementary school) to pick up the recycling. They worked efficiently to get that task done!

I would write more, but I'm exhausted, so here's today's picture I took before going to school (I had about 40 minutes to kill after dropping my brother off for clinical, so I took a walk at Nose Hill Park)

Day 6 (I believe?): Nature

I like nature. Its one way for me to calm down when I feel stressed. I would try and go outside and get some fresh air. I also like trying out new paths I never tried before!

Ahh... soo tired so thats it for today...

Day 3

Another big day!

It started off with a math quiz for one of my partner teacher's grade 8 classes. It was a quiz on Pythagorean's Theorem. I made the answer key for the quiz, but unfortunately I made an elementary mistake on it. I went 25^2 + 38^2 = 63^2... I can't believe I made that error, but luckily I caught it after seeing a student's work (and thus, rechecking my own work afterwards).

After the quiz, we had science class. During this time, I got to play around with a digital microscope. It looks like a hand held webcam, but one that is able to zoom in on objects. After that, we had prep. During this time, my partner teacher took me up to the office to view student files. I got the chance to view two students files and see how that works. It's strange to imagine back in the day how my old teachers used to keep a file on me... I wonder what they used to say about me back in the days...

Once prep was over, I went back to class to see that my field advisor dropped in to visit. Unfortunately, it was a leadership class so it was hard for me to do my "assignment", which was to take a group of students and teach them independently. I guess I'll just have to work twice as hard next week when she drops by and visits again!

During lunch today, I got the chance to go to a field-trip meeting. 70+ students are heading to Quebec in the next couple of weeks. It brings back memories when I went to France (in grade 12 to recognize the 90th anniversary of the battle at Vimy ridge). The students all seemed to be very excited!

Once lunch was over, the next group of grade 8 students arrived. They had their quizzes and got the chance to view the digital microscopes. Once that was over, school was over. I then proceeded to the gym to ask if I could help coach their badminton team(s), since it's currently badminton season at the moment! They accepted me and allowed me to help coach the singles team. I got the chance to work with the girls singles team. We went over a couple serving drills and a random-shot drill that I used to do when I practiced badminton.

Training went on for about an hour and half, but I swear it only felt like 30 minutes gone by!

But yes, that was my big day, and once again I don't have a picture... so...

credits: http://0.tqn.com/d/math/1/0/e/D/pythagoreantheorem.gif

I don't recall drawing these squares (to represent A^2, B^2 and C^2)... but I guess you always learn something new!

Day 5 (I believe): Arachnids and Insects

I have a MORBID fear of any creature with more than four legs... I don't know how I got my fear of insects, but I do remember how my fear of arachnids started...

When I was about 4, I was playing in my basement with a couple of toys. When I reached into my box of toys, I saw a HUGE spider inside on of those pieces (I swear it was like the size of a tarantula). After throwing that toy away, the spider scuttled away (now I can't remember if it's exactly like that since I haven't seen large spiders again in my basement...).

2nd Day!

2nd day of practicum!

I arrived earlier than I expected, but it was good because I had time to discuss things with my partner teacher. Also, it gave me some time to memorize more of the student's names. I think I almost got one class figured out! My goal is to get all the names down by Thursday, so two more days to go!!

In math, the students continued their lesson on Pythagorean's theorem. Today, I got the chance to help two individual students. It kind of reminded me of tutoring, since I'm quite familiar with working with small groups (been tutoring for... 12 years now?). However, I guess I was going a bit too slowly since the students didn't have time to start on their classwork... =/

I got the chance to give a brief intro to the microscope today. The first time was nerve-wracking since it was my first time teaching in front of a public school classroom (funny, thinking that I taught karate for the past 10 years and taught about 9 music theory classes... I thought it would come natural to me). I missed quite a bit of important points, but my partner teacher was there to help cover up my mistakes. I also got great feedback from my partner teacher, and she allowed me to try it again for the afternoon class, which I felt more at ease! =D

After the morning classes, I got the chance to supervise the students during lunch time. At first, I was positioned with my partner teacher to do line duty at the cafeteria. It was a pretty straight forward assignment for all we had to do was make sure that the students remain in line. After the lunch rush was over, we proceeded to the gym to watch over the students who ate in the gym.

Overall, I've been getting more and more chances to go around and help students out. I guess its because I'm getting used to my new environment.

Sigh... I haven't been taking any pictures lately, so today's random picture...

Poster for the drama I'm watching right now: Strawberry Night. It's a crime/suspense drama.

Day 4: Entertainment

Personally, I prefer watching Japanese dramas over any other type of dramas (ie: Korean, Taiwanese, American, etc). The reason being is that each series only has about 11 episodes at most (now a days anyways), thus less filler material. I also prefer to listen to Asian pop over American pop. The reason for this is due to the fact that I'm really listening to the song and not the lyrics itself. I must have listened to BoA's Smile Again for over 1800+ times but I cannot remember the lyrics for the life of me... However, I do know the melody almost off by heart! =)

I prefer watching dramas over gaming, since I usually watch one episode at a time. Therefore, I have a set amount of leisure time (45 minutes), compared to gaming (which can take hours away...). However, I do enjoy a game or two at times. The current games I'm playing at the moment are Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Starcraft 2.

1st Day of 2nd Practicum!

Long day today!

I got up bright and early. After a quick breakfast, I got ready and drove to school. Luckily, there wasn't much traffic so I managed to reach my school in 20ish minutes.

My first impression of the school was that it was nice being in a new school. (It's only 9 years old!). I was taken to the conference room to wait for the school liaison to greet us. After an introduction and a description of the school's philosophy, we (8 of us including me) were taken on a tour of the school. Even though it's smaller than Forest Lawn, I found Forest Lawn easier to navigate... Oh well, I'll get used to it eventually.

After the tour, I went to my classroom to meet my partner teacher. (This time, we were all assigned a partner teacher for the 3 weeks). The first class I got to see/help out (mostly see) was a leadership class. It brings back memories of when I was in grade 9 leadership. However, it seems to be more chaotic for there were a large number of activities going on at the same time. From what I could tell, Valley Creek is a very active place to be in!

The next two classes were a math and science class. I got the chance to walk around and help a couple of students with questions today. (I just realized that I probably have to memorize about 120 names! yikes =P... I think I got around 20 down today?...) They were starting their unit on cells. The teacher had a very interesting activity to see how much they knew about the content before starting to teach them about the topic. It was kind of like a KWL chart, but so much cooler =).

In the afternoon, I had the chance to visit a grade 5 class. It was a CALM/Health/What other name you could think of type of class. It still kind of shocks me to see students ranging from 10 years of age, to all the way up to 16. However, it seems to be more beneficial to be placed in a middle school than the traditional elementary and junior high school since students can gradually go through the changes they face in their education (ie: lockers, more than 1 teacher, etc) instead of it happening all of a sudden.

I wanted to go see if I could help the badminton team out after school, but I had to go home early today. Hopefully tomorrow! I better bring my gear =P

Hmm... I do not have a picture for today... so I'll just add some random picture for today

credits: http://elec.widgetinlife.com/uploadfiles/elecwidgetinlifecom-1308547027/recent-photos-of-boa-from-the-set-of-cobu-3d_1.jpg

I tend to forget adding credits now a days... but anyways, this photo is taken from the set of BoA's upcoming movie: COBU 3D. It's a dance movie that is set up to be a Romeo & Juliet like storyline. I already have a guess that it isn't going to be a blockbuster or Academy Award Winning film, but I might just watch it for the sake of seeing my old idol in a Hollywood movie as the main heroine. =P


Day Three about me: MSN

I get this question from time to time, though I guess I never fully address it. When I log onto msn/adium, I always sign in as "Busy". The reason I do this is because I dislike hearing the notification sound . I understand that I could easily disable that sound under the option settings, but I guess I'm too lazy to do that... =P

So key point is, I'm not really "Busy". If I'm really busy, I usually don't go on MSN... unless I need help with an assignment or something along those lines. Feel free to talk with me on MSN if you ever get bored!! I usually never initiate conversations since I'm not sure whether others have the same mentality as I do when it comes to MSN (ie: going on when they have nothing else to do =P).