Field trip day :)

Today the I/S people in my program have a field trip to Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School. Our purpose for going there is twofold:

• to use their lab facilities to explore some activities we could do with our classes (in practicum and in our own future classes)
• to tour the school, which is the Catholic system's version of the TDSB's ASE (alternative secondary education) schools.

A little point here about ASE/Mary Ward type schools...contrary to what seems to be popular opinion (which is also the opinion held by my husband), these schools are not for the "dumb kids" who just couldn't hack it in the "regular" system. They are simply based on a different model of education and do things in a different style. At Mary Ward, the students don't have timetables. Or deadlines. Or set exam times. They come and go to the various subject areas as they please, studying the subject matter at their own pace, with teachers available to provide help at any time. They hand the work in when they want to (though I assume all the required assignments have to be in by the end of the year if you're going to get your credit). They sign up for their exams when they feel they're ready and write them in a special testing centre. I see it kind of like a correspondence system with classroom/lab space, tutors and equipment and other resources available. I've taken a correspondence course myself, and let me tell you just doing that took a lot of self-discipline...we had 2 projects (each worth 10% of our mark) and 4 set exams (each worth 20% of our mark) and had the opportunity to earn up to an extra 3% by volunteering to be guinea pigs in experiments in the psychology department. I wrote the 4 exams and did very, very well on all of them and I got the bonus 3% by volunteering for a particular 3 experiments. I didn't do either of the projects, though, because I didn't have the self-discipline to do them, and in the few days preceeding the exams I was generally found trying to do a lot of cramming because I'd done some of the textbook reading that would be tested but not all of it. Given that, I don't know if I would have survived at Mary Ward due to my tendency to procrastinate, but it is a neat idea for those self-disciplined (not "dumb") kids who can hack it. I'll let you know what my impressions were sometime after I get back (maybe today, maybe not :)).

I'm also slowly working my way through the Pride and Prejudice movie version where Colin Firth plays Mr. Darcy. I've finished volume I and will probably start on volume II today. (I do have some schoolwork I'd like to do some work on and also need to do some prep for some teaching I'll be doing tomorrow, but I think I can fit some movie time in there, too.) So far it's better than I expected, though it really isn't my preferred type of story. The last time I tried to get into Pride and Prejudice I borrowed the audiobook on tape from the library. I think it was 6 or 8 tapes long. I couldn't get through the entire 2nd tape (or was it the 2nd side of the 1st tape?)...it seemed like instead of talking about events as they were happening, the vast majority of the story I heard took place in the parlour as the characters talked about events that had happened elsewhere. Blah, blah, blah. Maybe the rest of the book wasn't like that, but it was too much for me to continue to sit through. Anyway, the movie is definitely not just about people sitting around in the parlour, and I am enjoying it more than the audiobook as a result. I have got far enough in the movie to see the subtly developing plot slowly develop some tension and some things that are making me go, "Hmm, given that Emma says Bridget Jones' Diary is pretty much modern Pride and Prejudice, I think I see where this is going, but this plot is a lot more sophisticated that the modern version so I'll have to wait it out and see." I will actually finish watching this, unlike that audiobook...but I still say that so far it's not my preferred type of story. I did like Jane Eyre, though, so who knows what I'll think by the end.

Well, I am off now to get ready for my field trip. I hope the day finds you all well. Talk to you later...