Category Archives: Study

Another placement over

Posted in Life, Study by

Once again I have been on placement and just like last placement my blog has been neglected while I was there, and a little bit after too while I get my life sorted out… but here are some things I have learnt this time around:

  1. I actually know more chemistry than I thought I did, I just need to not question myself
  2. I still suck at physics… it really isn’t a strong point
  3. I am definitely a structured person… I like the bell, I like lesson times, I like break times… I like organisation and know what will happen… I love the timetable!
  4. I think it’s all going to be ok, if I can survive study and full time work and the lack of holidays that it causes… I can do anything… seriously anything.
  5. Even if you have officially finished placement, you can still take home a pile of marking!
  6. Real people actually fall for online ‘Nigerian customs’ scams and lose a lot of money… please see public announcement to follow in the days ahead.

So there you go… that’s my wrap up from the second placement for 2012… no more placement until 2013…

It’s done for now

Posted in Study by

Well I have survived semester 1 of part-time study while working full-time… here is what I now know:

  1. Study is much harder when you have had a break and go back…
  2. Study is much less of a priority when you have a life and a job and a husband
  3. I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew
  4. I am glad for mid semester time

Don’t get me wrong, despite the fact that all of the above except no. 4 are a little pessimistic, I am still glad I am doing the degree but I think that it has been a bit of a shock to the system this semester, perhaps it’s because it was the first one, maybe it will be easier next semester? Maybe not, but it’s all done and now I wait until my undefined mid semester break finishes.  

To be honest, even though I have only had a few days off studying, I am feeling a little restless, like I should be doing something, or that I have forgotten something… I have that post semester void, something I thought I had left behind long ago… so instead I am busily trying to knock some things off the list… we will see how I go… but hopefully I will get a break too… that would be nice.

Just call me “Bear George”

Posted in Life, Study, Work by

Well I survived my first placement… camp and all.

I was actually much more nervous about teaching than I though I would be, I think I had had a lot of friends that had had (wow that’s a lot of hads) bad experiences on teaching rounds, so I think I spent my first week waiting for it all to fall apart, but it didn’t.  I did realise though, that my chemistry knowledge is apparently buried a lot deeper than I thought, and will need to excavated (more than just dug back up!) before I go on my next placement in August.

Prior to my placement I was also a little worried about camp, because lets face it, I am not that outdoorsy and the possibility of a hike/rafting trip was not really my idea of fun.  The thing is though, I have spent a long time convincing people, mostly Dave, that I would be fine hiking or even rafting if needed… but deep down inside I wasn’t so sure.  But the camp has come and gone and other than a few stiff muscles the day after, I survived the hike, camping in the bush and all, luckily I didn’t need to prove my skills in a raft though.

Anyway, here are three things I learnt (well three random things… not necessarily the only things)

  1. Year 8 boys can have an offensive smell on a hot day… what ever the time.
  2.  I don’t know as much as I thought I did about chemistry… but I will
  3. And when it comes to camping… I am a pro… I can set up the tent, cook my dinner, get a good nights sleep, carry my pack all by myself and return home still looking awesome…

Oh and just in case you were wondering, yes yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday was a picture of were I had camped the night before… pretty amazingly beautiful if you ask me… I felt like I could have just walked off the set of McLeod’s Daughters… almost a dream come true.

Here we go…

Posted in Life, Study by

And so it begins… Today I started two weeks of teaching placement… my first of 10 that I will complete across the next two years… I am not really sure how I am feeling about it all yet, I think it’s a mixture of apprehension and excitement as well as a healthy dose of feeling like I don’t know much.

I am sure it will be full on especially as I am going on camp next week… but who knows… I guess we will find out… I let you know soon.

I haven’t grown out of it yet

Posted in Study by

Yesterday I handed in my first assignment for my second degree.  As I have previously blogged, I have just started my dip ed while continuing my full time work and if it is going to be like last week all the time, it may just kill me.  I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s true, last week was busy, really busy and of top that, I had this stupid half sickness (which continues, just FYI) and my first assignment due. 

To be honest with you I thought it would be different this time around, I mean this time I am a fully fledged adult… and perhaps I even classify as that annoying mature aged student (although I am not sure that 24 really counts as mature… just yet).  I was ready and organised but then stuff just kept happening, my motivation lagged and while I am not behind yet, I am pretty close.  Completing my first assignment also brought with it a lot of memories… I have also referred to myself (when talking about my school/uni work) as a perfectionist, there are lots of things I don’t do perfect but when it comes to my academic life I just can’t cope with the P’s get degree’s philosophy of my husband.  As I prepared to hand in my assignment all the anxiety I used to feel came flooding back, did I answer all the questions?  Will my word count be ok? Is this the right way to submit it? Have I proofread everything a million times? Is my reference list done correctly?  All these things stress me out and unfortunately take a toll on those around me.  Last night as I got Dave to check something for the 100th time he rolled his eyes and told me it was fine, I have to admit I was a little shocked and explained that he knew I was like this when we got married, and he responded ‘well I did think you might grow out of it” and in fairness to Dave, it’s probably fair enough.  I thought I would have out grown stressing about that part of uni too, but I haven’t, not yet anyway.  It made me realise though that the next two years are going to be really intense, there will more than likely be more weeks like this… it isn’t always going to be easy and there will probably be times I wish I could give up, but I am in it now and I will keep going… perhaps I will learn how to not stress about assignments as I get further in?  Perhaps it will help me become the super organised person I always wanted to be?  Perhaps it will leave me stress and exhausted with just an extra piece of paper?  But here’s to hoping that I do ‘grow out of it’ but in a good way and this expereince makes me stronger and better…

Saying goodbye to life as I know it

Posted in Life, Study, The List by

Well it’s official last night I enrolled myself into a uni course… again, this one is part-time and off campus which means I will being keeping everything else in my life the same just adding this on top of it all and perhaps I might have bitten off more than I can chew… but it’s too late now, it’s what I wanted, what I had been hoping and praying for and its now in my hands so I need to make it work, but I think it will mean two things… I really really really need to get organised and I am about to become a hermit… a full on hermit…

The thing is I am already busy, over the past 2years I have made a real effort to strip back my life, so to speak, to get rid of the things that I don’t need to do, things that might be good, but not great or the best option for me.  But even with all this saying no, I still find myself busy, but I guess the saying is true, if you want something done ask a busy person.

I am really excited about this next chapter in my life, it will be an interesting process learning how to balance everything again, but it might finally push me into becoming super organised which is something I wanted to do anyway.  In fact it all ready has, almost every night this week I have been sorting boxes and organising books and throwing out stuff that I should have thrown out years ago all in preparation of whether or not I would get the offer and now getting my study backing working order, ready to start.  I am pretty sure that my new course is probably the end of my current social life, which let’s face it, was already becoming non-existent and it will probably make achieving my list more of a challenge, but I think the thing that it will impact most is my holidays… I haven’t had a holiday since our honeymoon and instead of booking something massive and awesome, I have just agreed to make all my annual leave time, placement time for the course, so no long holidays in site for the next 2years… I am guessing that my ADOs are about to become quite sacred.

This isn’t the first time I have been a nerd hermit, and unfortunately I don’t think it will be the last, I survived back then, and I will survive this time… in fact, like last time, I will most likely come out better for it…