Jump to content

Small Unworthy Things, Starting with Blue Monday


Fragile Bird

Recommended Posts

As you say.  I've been thinking of Zabzie too, who lives here and hasn't posted today, but didn't know what thread to post inquiries to. Pretty sure she's OK, unless needing to pump out basement, since we, much further down Manhattan lucked out OK.  But sheesh.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/2/2021 at 1:22 PM, Buckwheat said:

1st in high school ("gymnasium") in Slovenia - no idea how that compares to any school system you are familiar with, but basically they are 14-15 years old.

And now we are on day 2 of our introduction camp, and I have to be responsible for a group of 29 teenagers for three days, including overnight. It is just one improvised step after another. It is quite stressful.

Wow, that sounds intense.  I too am a teacher, and when I was in college, I was a camp counsellor during the summers.  I was never in your exact situation, but I know that "quite stressful" is an understatement.

Also, an educator has to wear many hats.  Teacher is obviously the main job, but improviser is a close second.  I have a colleague who wants every scheduling detail planned out months in advance.  Also, that person is incapable of making improvised adjustments if there are last minute schedule changes or if the students react unexpectedly to their lesson plans.  This causes a lot of problems within our department. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At work recently I was given new headphones to use with my laptop.  I was surprised to see that they still have a divide cord, one part for audio and one part for the microphone.  Yet, laptops no longer have dual inputs.  Plugging just the audio cord into a laptop allows the entire headset to function.  So why does the divided cord system still exist if the microphone part is always just daggling off to the side and in the way?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

At work recently I was given new headphones to use with my laptop.  I was surprised to see that they still have a divide cord, one part for audio and one part for the microphone.  Yet, laptops no longer have dual inputs.  Plugging just the audio cord into a laptop allows the entire headset to function.  So why does the divided cord system still exist if the microphone part is always just daggling off to the side and in the way?

For older hardware?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

Wow, that sounds intense.  I too am a teacher, and when I was in college, I was a camp counselor during the summers.  I was never in your exact situation, but I know that "quite stressful" is an understatement.

Also, an educator has to wear many hats.  Teacher is obviously the main job, but improvisor is a close second.  I have a colleague who wants every scheduling detail planned out months in advance.  Also, that person is incapable of making improvised adjustments if there are last minute schedule changes or if the students react unexpectedly to their lesson plans.  This causes a lot of problems within our department. 

I am one of the people who feels safer with everything planned in advance too, especially now that I am new to the role of "class teacher" (I don't know how that function is called in English, the one teacher who is the most responsible for one group of students, handles the administration and the communication with parents for that group).

I survived the introduction camp. I had a lot of help because there was another teacher accompanying us and the staff at the house we stayed at, so that was good. Now on to the workload for the next week ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/2/2021 at 12:22 AM, Buckwheat said:

1st in high school ("gymnasium") in Slovenia - no idea how that compares to any school system you are familiar with, but basically they are 14-15 years old.

And now we are on day 2 of our introduction camp, and I have to be responsible for a group of 29 teenagers for three days, including overnight. It is just one improvised step after another. It is quite stressful.

The age range is the same here, but I never would have guessed you're a gym teacher. And since you mentioned nights, do you work at a boarding school?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

The age range is the same here, but I never would have guessed you're a gym teacher. And since you mentioned nights, do you work at a boarding school?

Do you mean "gym" as in sports? No, I don't teach sports. I teach languages (including literature).

And no, we don't have boarding schools here. This was just the three-day "camp" event. We weren't camping, we slept in some sort of a dorm/home/house for school-related activities where schools usually take students for several days. I don't think there is a similar institution in other countries, but it is a really good system of such homes here, usually somewhere with a lot of nature around, lots of opportunities to do sports and learn about nature in another environment than the school, with specialised staff for various activities. Plenty of schools organise these 3-5-day outings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

Do you mean "gym" as in sports? No, I don't teach sports. I teach languages (including literature).

And no, we don't have boarding schools here. This was just the three-day "camp" event. We weren't camping, we slept in some sort of a dorm/home/house for school-related activities where schools usually take students for several days. I don't think there is a similar institution in other countries, but it is a really good system of such homes here, usually somewhere with a lot of nature around, lots of opportunities to do sports and learn about nature in another environment than the school, with specialised staff for various activities. Plenty of schools organise these 3-5-day outings.

Oh sure there is, our schools use the old socialist scout camp sites for similar purposes. Though it’s usually more about fun and entertainment than education. Especially in the case of freshmen or fraternity events where they basically just go there to get drunk. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Are you trying to describe a school/field trip, where you spend a week with your class at a hostel?

Not really. It is not a hostel in the sense that it is not open for tourists, the institutions are a part of the public school system and they specialise in school groups visiting as part of their education with their teachers. Hostels also wouldn't have teaching staff that offer various activities as part of their offer (for example, our trip included an evening hike, a kayak ride, archery, a trip to the forest; other homes offer other activities depending on where they are).

6 minutes ago, RhaenysBee said:

Oh sure there is, our schools use the old socialist scout camp sites for similar purposes. Though it’s usually more about fun and entertainment than education. Especially in the case of freshmen or fraternity events where they basically just go there to get drunk. 

I mean, it is a lot of fun and entertainment for students, slightly less when you are the teacher. :P Alcohol is generally prohibited and grounds to be sent home though. Everybody who goes there are minors, these homes usually take in kindergarteners, primary schoolers (6-15 years) and occasionally secondary schools (14-18 years).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

 

I mean, it is a lot of fun and entertainment for students, slightly less when you are the teacher. :P Alcohol is generally prohibited and grounds to be sent home though. Everybody who goes there are minors, these homes usually take in kindergarteners, primary schoolers (6-15 years) and occasionally secondary schools (14-18 years).

Yes I suppose that is the same here, at least on paper. But that didn’t really stop anybody from 13 on and even teachers stopped caring from 15 on. And the primary and sole purpose of any university social event was to get trashed. (The legal age to consume alcohol is 18 here but nobody really bats much of eye about high school drinking) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

Not really. It is not a hostel in the sense that it is not open for tourists, the institutions are a part of the public school system and they specialise in school groups visiting as part of their education with their teachers. Hostels also wouldn't have teaching staff that offer various activities as part of their offer (for example, our trip included an evening hike, a kayak ride, archery, a trip to the forest; other homes offer other activities depending on where they are).

Like I said, sounds a lot like the school trips I did as a kid. But rumoredly the food at the hostels has improved significantly over the past 20-30 years. Ok, back then the teachers had to put a bit more effort into the trips with organizing the daily activities. Damn, I hated those school trips and the awful food. Reminds me how we, well, essentially me (I was one of the first to hit puberty with the physical changes, and could pass as older), being able to buy some cans of beer for me and some friends at a kiosk when I was 14 or so, and how we were then to chickenshit to actually drink it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

I don't think there is a similar institution in other countries, but it is a really good system of such homes here, usually somewhere with a lot of nature around, lots of opportunities to do sports and learn about nature in another environment than the school, with specialised staff for various activities.

I’m pretty sure you get those in most Eastern block countries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Buckwheat said:

Do you mean "gym" as in sports? No, I don't teach sports. I teach languages (including literature).

You did literally say gymnasium, but yeah, I would have guessed you were a lit or social studies teacher. Language isn't that far off. I like to joke that I've learned and forgotten French, Spanish and Hebrew. 

Quote

And no, we don't have boarding schools here. This was just the three-day "camp" event. We weren't camping, we slept in some sort of a dorm/home/house for school-related activities where schools usually take students for several days. I don't think there is a similar institution in other countries, but it is a really good system of such homes here, usually somewhere with a lot of nature around, lots of opportunities to do sports and learn about nature in another environment than the school, with specialised staff for various activities. Plenty of schools organise these 3-5-day outings.

See, there you said sports. :P

I think it's more common than you'd expect based on SES. People with means do this all over the world. Sounds like you just went camping with your students before the academic year as a bonding experience. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

You did literally say gymnasium, but yeah, I would have guessed you were a lit or social studies teacher. Language isn't that far off. I like to joke that I've learned and forgotten French, Spanish and Hebrew. 

Gymnasium’ is the type of the school, the equivalent of what the US would call high school. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...