Where to start...

I've had a lot of content heavy subjects this semester, that while aren't overly difficult are all kinda conceptual and have a lot of work attached. I've been spending time on and getting overviews of fractions, reading, writing, "special education" (I hate how people have to be classified) and technology (read and comment on my subject blog).

I have also realised, particularly with the numeracy and literacy subjects that I am doing, that the subject itself is only the start of the understanding. This is particularly the case for the maths subject that I am currently doing. If I don't go over the theory and class experiences again, as well as extending my own exploration, I will lose the conceptual understanding.

Lots of other stuff has been going on too. I have prac (aka professional experience aka teaching) again in a couple of weeks. It will be for 11 days over almost 3 weeks, but it kinda doesn't seem long enough. I'm with a large group of other prac students this time (8 of us, including some guys for the first time for me), most of whom I know or know of, but never taught near before, so it will be interesting to explore some new dynamics.

Which reminds me, I have a hunch that there may be the opportunity to do an extra prac in a rural area sometime this year, so I need to explore that further too.

What other insights do I have to share this time around? Group work. One point of advice - communicate; a lot, all the time, really. What else? Assignments. Do them before they are due.

That might do for now. I'm still battling with subjects / electives for next semester and how it impacts my subjects for my final year next year. (Yay, final year. Actually, while the whole final year concept is a nice one, it's an increasingly invalid one, due to the process of "academic inflation" which Sir Ken Robinson talks about. More on this in future months).

Fun. Kinda. Ish.

So orientation came and orientation went (with no flu from Melbourne and nothing sore). And fun was had by all. And I know I'm not supposed to start sentences with an "And" but there you go.

And campus tour numbers were way down on last year. Where were all you people needing to find your way around?!

Like some things in life, a lot of what you put into effort during orientation you get back. I got to help loads of people with all sorts of things and it's good to know that you are able to assist people just a little more in an environment that they are not familiar in. Not so much a warm and mushy hug kinda help, more of a little drum roll of satisfaction (with occasional staccato beats). Well maybe a few hugs.

I had a long dayed, but satisfying couple of weeks. I got to show off my exemplary crowd control skills (honed over summer employment), devised and helped refine a new system for getting people into the official welcomes, made sure a whole lot of first year Nursing students found their way around and met a diverse group of really great people.

I've already made some suggestions for an even simpler to understand and more awesomely fun next couple of orientations, so hopefully there will be news on that in the months ahead. I will let you know of any future orientation developments as they come to hand.

Changing topics sideways, can I take a moment to welcome to all the new first year primary education students at KG.

Welcome.

You may have the honour of being one of the few intakes of students to get to experience your UTS over both campuses (they really are such different places). And you are the last intake of Faculty of Education students, before we become a great big extended family with our cousins over in Humanities and Social Sciences, and International Studies. Much more on all these things later.

I have a busy semester, perhaps the most hectic of my course. More on this next time.

ps. for those KG regulars, you may have noticed the green carpet on the entrance floor of level 5, was cleaned over the summer. You were kinda right. It is a bit springier and a bit glarier in the green department - it was re-laid. And yes, you may ask yourself, why the green, again? Something to do with the heritage of the building and it had to be. Take that paisley looking mottled carpet and fake Italian tiles!

Ok, so I missed a decent chunk of the last one with a pretty nasty flu I picked up in Melbourne. No flu now, but it sent it's cousins, sore ankle and sore tooth. Alas, I shan't be stopped.

So, orientation number 3 coming up. Starts next week with a day of City and the Kuring-gai programs (or is that programmes).

There are going to be 188 people in orange shirts wandering around for the next 2 weeks and just to pre-empt the question, the tshirted ones are the new Peer Network "Virgins" (my term made up then) and the polo shirted ones are the Peer Networkers who have already completed at least one orientation. It's kinda nice for me because I've done this orientation thing (and other similar stuff) before, so it's good to have that extra level of confidence and experience.

Some of the places to find me during the middle two weeks of February:

* Giving you a kick ass campus tour. The more annoying questions you have for me, the merrier.

* If you are coming to one of the Monday's at the city campus, come to Yum Cha for lunch. Your other choices will be the food court at the Broadway Shopping Centre or the Lansdowne Hotel.

* Wandering aimlessly, while at the same time appearing to be on some sort of life mission at the three barbecues.

* If you're a part time or mature aged student, come to the part time / mature aged focused workshop on Tuesday 19th evening and another extended session on Thursday 21st afternoon.

And all sorts of other places. The orientation site has all the specifics.

A place to find me from the last week of February onwards - Kuring-gai Campus. In class. Fun. And maybe occasionally in or around the cafeteria. Do come say hi, particularly if you're in your first year of the primary education degree.

If we don't chat again soon, see you at orientation!

ps. if you come up to me and say hi and tell me you read / accidentally came across me on the blog, I will (or will try to) have a special, very limited edition, money can't buy, UTS item for you... how's that for some blogging bribery? :P

Not precisely sure what that means or entitles me too, but there you go.

Welcome to the new year everyone. Good to be back.

For current students, timetables are out.
For new students, welcome.

I could go on and on about the this and that of thinking about uni, starting at UTS, your information for orientation and new student information, but I will leave it to those quiet informative series of websites.

So, if I had to give one piece of advice, what would it be?

(Hmm, good question Richard, thanks for asking.)

I think it would be, to be yourself, but stay open minded. There are a lot of people at uni, but only one of you. Tacky, I know, but one of the truest things I have found.

More generally and especially if you've come from a high school or an area where you know many people, it's likely you are suddenly going to be the so called small fish in the very big pond. But that's ok.

You will meet people in your first semester and hopefully you'll get involved in one of the many clubs that the uni hosts. And there's events and trips and so on. There is usually something going on about the place, so try and keep busy; you can get more info during orientation and now by poking randomly about the UTS website.

For me, I'm still not quite sure what to make of starting up again. I'm half way through my degree now, but sometimes I'm not really sure where the time has gone, yet I still want it to go quicker. I guess part of the thing about being an older student is that many more things appear in context and time becomes more noticeable.

I'll have prac on during the first half of May and there is a country prac that I am maybe interested in applying to go on; I think it's in the middle of the year.

Faculty wise, the main news this year will be Education joining a new Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. No doubt, we'll hear loads more about that in the months ahead.

That's just about it for now. Next on my current agenda - timetables and orientation.

Until soon,
r

ps. For those regular readers, I'm not doing honours.

For current students, results are out next Wednesday. If you are unsure about things, you can get all the re-enrolment information here.

For people not currently students (which might be you), here's a word on the upcoming UTS Advisory Day, well, a series of words. According to the site - its "your last chance to visit the UTS City Campus and speak to lecturers, staff and students before final preferences are due at midnight on Friday 4 January." And there will be all sorts of other stuff going on too.

So, some advice from me. As we move into an increasingly globalising and technologically connected world, professions as they have generally been, will no longer be for life. During your working life, you will change jobs numerous times.

So my advice is to think about the process somewhat backwards. Think about what you broadly want to be doing in 5+ years. Even really generally, what general area of work are you thinking of. Then research the best current path of getting there. This may be through any variety of courses or institutions, one of which is UTS.

As an example, I would love to have my own brand new system of education and development. As of yet, there is no one course for such a thing. The closest thing on offer is my Bachelor of Education in Primary Education. So my course is assisting me on the path to where I think I eventually want to go in the next chunk of my life.

Still not sure? Take a look in the handbook and find the themes that interest you the most.

Good luck and whatever decision you make will be ok for the next thing that you do.

Half way through degree. Nice.

Am 3 subjects ahead of the standard offering. Nice.

Though another 2 years to go. Seems like a while. Less nice.

I was trying to think about the most positive thing this year and the only one that really comes first to mind, was actually not at uni at all. It was standing in the doorway of the class next door to mine on one of my pracs. I was listening to a group of year 5 girls singing their little hearts out to Avril Lavgine's Girlfriend, accompanied by the music teacher on guitar.

It was the most adorable thing and actually reminded me that when kids have some kind of say in their own learning, they will connect to it, enjoy it and in turn, will be more likely to actually learn.

Contrast that with with one of my other prac schools, where the kids had to recite one of those old colonial ditties, that I had to sit through 20 years ago. In an increasingly globalising and technologically connected world, I just don't get that any more.

Makes me want my own system of schooling. A lot.

It's in the works...

Changing subjects and after weeks of torment, I did end up applying for honours. Somewhat to keep the option there, but I will think more about topics over the summer, but I am still trying to piece out how it fits into everything else.

But for me now, re-enrollment has opened, and I am off to look at timetabling / class options. Eh.

ps. As it's likely that you may be an inquiring and possibly future student reading this, and it's coming to that time of the year, I will soon look into the first year of next year's B.Ed (Primary) to provide you with a little insight about what to expect. Also (and more importantly) if you are thinking about moving into the teaching area, I will share a couple of factors that you might want to think about, to think about if the education field is a good decision for you for the next chunk of your life.

So, I have been umming and ahhing a lot about honours. A lot. I was heading towards a no for ages, then a yes for a few weeks, then a no for a bit and today, back to a yes. Ideas I've been through include my new school concept, curriculum, teachers and their personal learning and then something unknown about children. Today I was talking to 2 girls who I am about to start an assignment with and one suggested a good possible theme, so that was a helpful thing. Still confused overall though... Applications close in 2 weeks.

Lots of other bits of uni going on. I heard that there is a new group of KG students becoming Peer Networker's (including some very much missed Nursing faculty), so there should be a nice bunch of us for orientation next semester.

That in turn reminds me, that I need to write to Bonnie (the staff member in charge of the PN) with some ideas about the running of the KG Orientation day, including people directing cars and in the carparks, an updated tour to allow for the new Student Centre and in turn KG PN's spending the day with their faculties and possible closer collaboration with the faculties for the day. Or maybe she will just read this and we'll chat about it!

I have to put a preference form in for my next teaching prac for next year and I have a reasonable number of pieces of work due in the next month, that I need to start giving attention too.

I am sure there is other stuff going on, which escapes my mind. Catch you soon...

You are able to focus on a significant piece of work that is of interest to you, but you do miss out on choosing 6 electives. We've been told that you have to be passionate about what you are doing and that you are very good at working independently.

There are lots of other pros and cons, but I will keep exploring. I have a few weeks before I need to make the decision to apply or not.

I was also wanting to go on exchange for a semester, but I think that's not going to work out, unfortunately. That is a whole other post in itself.

As a whole, many politicians only really recognise voting as your participation in the running of the country. That's a long story for another day. Anyway... It's really super important that you are enrolled to vote in the upcoming federal election.

The election has now been called (24th November) and you only have up to 8pm on Wednesday 17th October to enrol. This is a reduction from the usual 7 days. Apparently there are a million or so people currently unenrolled. Watch for this in the news...

The moral, enrol. And tell your friends too. After the next couple of days, it's gonna be too late.

Still here? You shouldn't be. Go enrol...

Have you seen the new UTS site? You should take a look. Super way more user friendly and accessible. Good work UTS new website designery people.

As part of the new site, I'd like to welcome to new readers and you can read a little more about me here; in a few or more words I am a mature aged, primary education student at the Ku-ring-gai Campus.

So, what's been going on? I've been out on two lots of "professional experience", ie. practising my teaching (Botanic Gardens is a lovely place). I am also kinda procrastinating on an assignment due later in the week, which I have just started to get well into.

Lots and lots to talk about in the coming weeks but just wanted to say hi again and it's good to be back.

Before I go, a quick mention about the Peer Network (you know those annoyingly helpful people in the orange t-shirts who seem to hang around orientation a lot). Planning for Orientation next year has started and we'd love to have you come join us. Yes, consider this your personal invitation.

The blurb is that it's a group of current students who assist new students in settling in to the start of their university experience. You also meet lots of interesting people from across all sorts of faculties. Pretty simple stuff really. Get the full details here, applications are closing soon.

Back to my assignment.

Until soon...

It's a weird semester though. I have 5 weeks of classes, 5 weeks off (pracs), then 5 more weeks of classes then exam, then a few months off. Not sure if this is good or bad or neutral, but I guess it's what it is. I think it would be nice to have more subjects done in blocks.

I have loads of writing units of work assignments this semester (one in almost every subject) and thankfully this is something I have past experience and interest in, so it doesn't seem too too daunting, mostly.

I was going to talk about portfolios a little, but I think I will leave that to another post soon.

So nominations are now open for all boards (you should have the email in your inbox) and I was going to renominate. Though it seems I can't. Now that I am a blog writer and technically a staff member, I can't join any board as a student. That kinda bites. I was looking forward to being part of it a bit longer, but I guess that is how it goes sometimes. Plus perhaps someone else gets the opportunity.

I still have 2 meetings left, one in a couple of weeks, so I will let you know what pops up.

So, if you are interested to see what happens in some of the behind the scenes of the uni, nominate to be on a board!

You still have a few weeks to go, in case you need / want to drop out of a subject for this semester.

I think I am going to do try and do a little more work in between my classes this semester. Not that I wasn't before, but I think a little more. I already have some work due in the coming weeks, plus need to get a step ahead of how to write units of work (university style), though I can somewhat already do this with my eyes closed.

On a side note, UTS often has some interesting talks on. Next Thursday evening at the city campus, there is a forum on depression and the legal profession.

From the forum blurb - "Recent surveys have shown rates of depression in lawyers are higher than in any other profession. Why are so many lawyers suffering from depression and mental illness? And what can be done to address and manage mental health issues before they become a problem?" The forum website has all the event details.

Perhaps.

You sitting in a lecture and madly scribbling notes, probably isn't going to teach you a lot. It's what we all do, but are you learning? Really?

So change what you do, so you learn. I take notes at times, but sometimes, I don't. I sometimes use my classes to be introduced to the topic and I pick it up better later on, when I am working on a piece of work for it. A do a lot of my own reading on all sorts of related things. It's really about whatever works for you.

Oh and ask questions. Remember, it's your education and if you don't know something about it, find out and keep going till you do. Say things, comment on things. It's your time and money, so use it...

ps. a big welcome to any new students this semester and apologies for not crossing your path at orientation...