Last Day of Practicum = White Man's Over Bite

First practicum, I worked myself into the ground...

The result: one of the worst 24-hour flu bugs of my life.

(Evidence from the picture above...ewwww!)

I paced much better for this second time around.

 Although it made no difference, I got sick again and this time I ended up being more tired than ever.

The result: I can sleep anywhere.

This is me in a skype interview (person took too long to get their microphone set up).

Needless to say, I didn't get the job.

But all that is water under the bridge as Simon and Garfunkel becuzzzzz

TODAY IS EVERYONE'S LAST DAY OF PRACTICUM - BOOM!

Alors on dance?

Indeed, I am plugging my nose.

Check. Still looking cool Ms. Wells.

Getting the head into it.

I ain't fooling around - RAISE THE ROOF!

Ohhh wow. 

Maybe I will refrain from dancing in front of the class today.

Yes - yes.

 Don't worry, I am making a mental note of what I look like dancing.

It's official - no dancing Ms.Wells.

Weekend of SLEEP and ASSIGNMENTS here I come :-)

BOOM!

What do you do?

What do you do if your stove top kettle stops whistling to let you know when it's done?
Estimate.

What do you do when you gave up chocolate for Lent but one of your favourite students gives you kitkat?
Stick with it (a.k.a fake it, put it in your mouth and pretend to swallow---then pitch it!)

What if your roommate is using WAY too much toilet paper and all you want to know is - HOW & WHY??? 
Don't say a thing, you are moving out in less than a month!

What if you keep eating/snacking while cooking/especially baking?
Tape it shut...hah! (correct, get some tape and put it over your mouth if you have no freaking self-control)

What if you really need to remember something? 
Write it on your skin, that's why you have a lot of it!

What if you really feel alone in your bed at night?
Get a good book or no wait...buy two large pillows and sandwich yourself in between them...for now :-)

What if you are really afraid of running in the dark, early in the morning?
Have your earphones in your ears but NO MUSIC playing...that way you will hear the evil attacker coming up behind you and then you can...well, catch him off guard and yell "AHHHH - HA!"
 Then run?
(might have to re-think that one)

Smile.

This is what I do when things don't work, bother me, or needed problem solving.

Random, yes.

Welcome to life in my head.

Why Have Teachers Then?

This was an interesting TED talk that I listened to recently, about a fabulous man from India name 

Sugata Mitra.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

All I'm going to say (without giving the whole TED talk away) is how unbelievably different teaching has really become....

Different you say? Not really you think?

BULLOCKS!

I have seen students correct the teacher in class DURING a lecture with information that they googled from their phones or computers...knowledge is at everyone's finger tips and that's not something that going to change in the near future. 

Then why come go to school if you already know what's in the teacher's head? 

Teacher's can still teach students how to use and find the specific skills they need in order to better understand the knowledge. Without the right skills students would be lost in knowing how to apply the their knowledge.

So yes, I believe we still do have something useful to teach students but  MAN oh MAN! 

This might mean re-writing the whole teacher's college program in some cases...

Errrr, maybe someone should get on that? 

Still need chewing on this idea.

Poop Pop Quiz

Poop Geography....the town of Badfart is located in which country?

A. The United States 

B. Sweden

C. Hungary

D. The UK

If you guessed SWEDEN you are RIGHT!

Tell them what they've won Bob!

Ugh.

It's only Tuesday....giddy-goody-gum-drops!

:-)

New Standards of Eating Mash Potatoes

This weekend I went to a wedding.

Correction: My best friend & I were MC's at the wedding.

I think the wedding was beautiful NOT because the food was amazing, venue was killer or the guest were outrageously fun...nope. What it really came down to was the mood of the couple;

Sophie and Geoff.

Very few times have I seen or WANTED two people to get married so badly!

They understand each other and are genuinely grateful about finding love. 

I slept sounding last night knowing the world was almost perfect; Sophie and Geoff are forever bonded.

Boom!

(well, that is at least how I feel about it)

Not to mention, the mash potatoes were served in a MARTINI GLASS!!!

Talk about the world being right again, I have been eating mash potatoes all wrong for so long.

How embarrassing.

Okay-okay.

Don't judge too harshly from the photo below, I tend to mix a lot of different foods that wouldn't normally go together but I just wanted to show you all the different toppings!

This is my martini-mash potato glass with the following;

Pesto, Red peppers, onion confit, goat cheese, BLUE cheese, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, mushroom sauce...the list goes on and on!

This was only ONE picture of MANY that will be posted about the food...I just haven't got the camera to show you all yet...tee-hee!

(I am all about stealing pictures from the professionals and posted them on my blog as my own)

Here we are, the ROOKIE MCs of the evening....Lauren & Tina biggest nerds ever!

But kinda cute, non?!?

Alright, back to reality...weekend is over :-(

Off to teach my last week of practicum for 2012.

BOOM!

Get excited.

Happy Monday everyone.

What You Should Never Attempt

Students and adults are fascinated with the cinnamon challenge.
I don't get it.
My stomach cringes even at the thought...not to mention the two times I have watched it happen in real life!
For example?
Ugh - here we go...

...sweet-smelling cinnamon no longer cheers me up now.

Thank goodness Fridays still do.

:-)

Book Club with 11 year olds

That's correct.

The last three books I have read are suggestions from my students, particularly one 11 year-old boy who (I kid you not) is so sweet and shy your reminded of a kitten but then he speaks and BAM!

There is suddenly an adult in the room sharing ideas and teaching YOU a thing or two!

*I have to remember to not let my jaw drop every time he speaks - bad habit.

 So far these are the books he has lent me...

I didn't even know about Craig Kielburger before this student introduced me to the book 

"Free the Children"

To my surprise, the book is about a  12 year old boy (Craig Keilburger) who becomes an activist against child labor in developing countries like....DHAKA, BANGLADESH!

Amazing coincidence, no?

This is another book that was recommended to me. Another amazing resource for students.

I recognize my bias; I'm a teacher who loves her students. 

BUT

I'm impressed with these students! 

Actually, all the students I have taught so far in both of my practicums are so much more socially aware of things than I ever was in Gr. 6.

 I never read stuff like this when I was 11 years-old.

Heck, even now at 29 years of age I would not have read books like the ones above.

Thank gawd for my students, really. 

Is this embarrassing to admit? A little.

Does it really matter though? Not really.

Why? 

Because it's more important that I was shown something new and to be frank, I'm really much too excited to worry about being embarrassed.

I just added more little wires to my brain, more wires means more connections to bigger ideas.

And bigger ideas always tickle.

Or maybe that's just me.

What learning goal? Just smile already.

Ohhh stop! How can you not like this even just a little?

hee-hee-hah!

Maybe it's just my sheer exhaustion but everything is making me giggle lately.

AND Oh WOW check it out - it's Wednesday already.

*sigh

How perfectly marvelous in every way.

:-)

My Road-Runner Music

Songs that make me move, most of the time.

Okay, so the outfit isn't gRRReat but her dancing IS!

Everybody needs to know at least ONE cool french song.

I live for da' drum beats at the end of this song.

Just because...hah!

Yes; overplayed on the radio but if you don't listen to the radio, then ideal for running.

It's official.  I like Rihanna, especially for exercising.

Don't hate.

The Beautiful People

I will never understand how or when someone decided that Marilyn Mason's song
 "The Beautiful People"
was a good song to workout to...?
If anything it makes me more unfocused and then I just lose my balance while doing step aerobics.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Step aerobics is hard and anyone who says otherwise can BEAT IT!
;-)
I have the utmost respect for those instructors now because really, you need to be on the ball
a-l-l-t-h-e t-i-m-e!

Of course I was miserable! Completely miserable at keeping up with everyone, staying on the beat, and most importantly changing moves on the fly...ugh.
My dislike for techno Marilyn Mason song did not help the situation none.
Evidence of the frustration.

On a completely different note (cuz it's not all about me all the time).

Big shout out to these two guys in the pictures above.
David and Bryan, are my two older brothers and well, they continue to humble me with their athletic abilities that completely surpass my own.
David killed the beat: never once saw the guy lose the beat in 60 minutes - unbelievable!
And Bryan, who was at the front of the class, would suddenly get creative and incorporate his own move into the routine (how he did that I have yet to understand).
The little brown-noser actually impressed the instructor so much that she made us follow one of his moves....for real Bry?
Ugh.
Thank gawd my youngest brother Everett wasn't there, I really wouldn't have been able to compete with three Wells'sssssss.

And where the heck was Rhiannon? Good question.
I dunno but had my twin sister been there too she would have put us all to shame with her dancing/aerobic abilities.
Probably would have called us a bunch of "amateurs."
Yup - that what she would have said.

Boom!

happy monday.

Sobering Thoughts

Here's the thing that has been bothering me the last couple days...

I am going to teach in Bangladesh, the decision is made and there are no regrets about it. 

However, what is making me a little sad about all this, 

(other than the OUTRAGEOUS costs in shots - that's another whole freaking story) 

is how this experience will, without a doubt, will change me...

Hey, don't roll your eyes!!!

It may seem foolish to you but tell me then how often you've faced a simple "Yes" or "No" question that you know will ultimately change you and your life for good?

Okay, so maybe I'm just a rookie at this. 

And yes-yes, of course I'm being over dramatic about the whole thing!

 (I'm an Aquarius, remember? Bah-hah)

I just can't get over the fact that I will come back changed and although it's very exciting, the idea of not being able to go back to the old Lauren, sounds kinda awful.

  I think for me, this is the hardest part.

Indeed you're right, I'm just being scared.

sigh*

( I hate when you are right )

I guess that's how I ultimately know this is right for me; being scared and doing the unknown has always put hair on my chest and made me a better person over time...but really, Lauren?

Don't you have enough chest hair already? 

Apparently not.

Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

And thus why I am recycling through these sad, little, melancholy thoughts.

(No worries, at some point the hamster will get tired and the wheel will stop)

UNTIL THEN...
THANK GOODNESS FOR GREEN BEER AND JUST BEING JOLLY!

Gonna consume copious amounts of green liquids and just avoid thinking....

...OH WAIT....

...I'm working today @ an Irish Pub!

Brutal.

Things just went from bad to worse.

On second thought, just send me to the "Desh" right now, please. 

Baby, I was born this way!

Do men really understand the obscene amount of time it takes to make some women's hair functional?

(a.k.a How to make a messy mop turn into more or less-straight mop?)

Didn't think so.

And so the lesson begins.

Wash thoroughly and brush out knots while blow-drying.

Boom! Hair-in-socket explosion.

But wait for it, it gets better...

I said WAIT!

Sides done!

Almost there...

TAAAAA - Daaaaaah!

 Ready to go pick me some apples in the orchard... 

Okay fine, learning how to dress can be tomorrow's lesson.

Until then BEAT IT! 

Happy Friday

:-)

Can I Teach Drama?

The other day I was asked whether or not I would be okay teaching drama...?

Errr...yeah, I guess so.

Then I saw this video taken in Switzerland at my students' graduation from The English Club...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=24451776187&set=t.511407834&type=3

...maybe just stick to drama and NOT dance Miss Wells.

Smiling Cuz I Dunno How to Frown

I hate people who are always happy.

But I do tend to smile a lot myself and this week has been no different.

Here is an assortment of visuals that have already made me smile this week.

A pretty skirt without a name...

...wet nose kisses...

...four unbelievable thumbs..

...lovers in a dangerous time...

...toupees...

...amazing sunset taken by far away friends...

...old men running...

...pretty men sitting...

...big ears...

..."I shall call him Squishy"...

...ahhhhhh! Sigh*

Thank goodness for sunshine, rainbows and black delicious addictive coffee.

Amen.

Yes, These Are Real Towns....

Shitterton, England

Middelfart, Denmark

Crapstone, England

It's a cheap thought of the day but did I mention that it's March Break pour moi and I JUST WOKE UP?

Wow - that felt good.

(the sleeping, not the bragging :-)

But don't worry while you are working/going to school/rowing I too am working, working, working...like a busy bee but in the comfort of my own jammies and disheveled 80's hair :-)

C-H-E-E-R-S to March Break for real teachers and those wanna-be teacher candidates like me!

p.s.

Post-Camp Trip at Kearney

The consolidation of my experience at Camp Kearney?

If the opportunity presents itself, take students to an Outdoor Educational School because it might help shed some light on what kind of "people" you are teaching-raising in the class.

Does that make sense? 

Being a student is one thing but seeing the "person" that student is outside of class is remarkable.

It's kinda like moving in with a significant other... you know the person well but gradually you learn even more marvelous things about them - and no, more than just the bad morning breath - hah!

Some of the things the group experienced together?

Cross country skiing for the first time...I was the expert skier (and I'm terrible so this should give you an idea of the skill we had as a group -hah)

Map orienteering...here is a map, read it, now go find this in the woods - QUICK!

Survival games in the woods...Ms Wells got to be the poacher - boom!

Some students were stuck in waist deep snow...that was a little scary.

Facing extreme changes in weather together: it rained first day, warm the 2nd, then dropped down to -13 on the final night...ugh.

Practice wolf calls at the top of a hill, in the pitch black, in the middle of a wind storm - I excelled.

 My favorite: Going crazy-carpeting/tobogganing with students down slick hill - sooo FAST!

To sum up: I made mistakes, got messy but LEARNT about my students...

...and hopefully they learnt a lot about me Ms.Wells

:-)

   

Brunch AWAITS...safety first!

Check out my new biking glasses... Trop cool, I KNOW!

Forget Oakley when you can get LEATHER-BOUND ECO-FRIENDLY PLASTIC

(whatever that means - purchased at local bike repair shop)

They do their job and that's what counts!

Note: Pretty sick with the Tennessee Orange-White leather sleeves, n'est pas?

I am all style

;-)