I think primary school children are learning speculative writing. I think.

I am a teacher aide. I help kids with whatever activity is set and I modify accordingly. One morning last week I was in a 1/2 classroom.

The activity last week was inferencing. Basically all they had to do was read a passage and work out where they thought they were. Using evidence from the text.

 

The sand is hot under my feet.

I am sweating.

I carry my bag filled with things.

There are people playing in the water.

 

Most kids said beach. One kid said school – he’s one of the ones I help.

It’s nice to be back in a primary school. In numeracy we use the abacus and handwriting is done in perfect cursive (which has strangley improved the aesthetic of my lecture notes). However I can see changes in how children are educated.

Perhaps as Adrian previously suggested we are trained to write essays from when we learn to hold a pencil maybe this is the baby steps towards interpreting speculative writing. Perhaps not at deeply metaphorical as Adrian’s boat metaphor; the children – mainly six and seven year olds – really had to think about this writing that did not have a set meaning. Rather hints or clue that most importantly forced them to think independently.

It had a funny reverse effect; it’s comforting think that the education system in this country is looking towards independent thinkers rather than the “empty vessels waiting to be filled” that Adrian talked about. Maybe if by starting young the new, strange and unnerving model of Networked Media will be a thing of the past.

I constantly wonder if I will ever find something that makes me feel as as happy or as alive as travelling does.

I am very organised.

I love lists, I love charts and I love pens that automatically give you nice handwriting. My diary is colour coded using various stickers and stamps. I record everything; hours of sleeps, food and alcohol consumption, my budget and the exercise I do.

Its not an attractive attribute I don’t think. Maybe in a job interview but when meeting someone new everyone would like to appear as relaxed and free spirited as possible. This blog is perhaps painting me as incredibly uptight which is very much not true; I hope. I haven’t been nicknamed anal girl; that I know of.

If I was on Girls I would be Shoshona not Jessa. If I was on Sex and the City I would be Charlotte not Carrie. The thing is; I’m perfectly fine with it!

I think there something comforting though about these self-realisations. There is no pretending. As soon as I say the word student blog all I can think of is teenagers with Nikons posting photos of beaches, coffee, and New York runways. But do these things really represent them? This is perhaps similar to the point made in my blog 01 Blogs in Media Education; are blogs a true depiction of a person, or just a representation? And if I am more honest; do I compromise on quality? Perhaps I do need to create a more ‘glamourous’ blog.

http://instagram.com/p/cp9yQLgwfK/

 

I would like to pick up on a point from this week’s reading. Adrian Miles likens a blog to a journal claiming it’s a place for ‘idea’s, reflections, activities’. However the key difference is that ‘a blog is a public document, and is written with the assumption it has readers’.

In the previous semester we had to keep a journal. One of the first readings was an essay by Sari Smith, ‘Journals and Notebooks’. It describes a journal as a ‘free space’ that ‘allows an honesty allowed nowhere else’.

The reading completely contradicted the assignment. The difference between what Smith describes and my task was that my journal undoubtedly had an audience. Even if it was simply the person marking it, I knew whatever I put in my journal would eventually be read. Reagrdless of how hard I tried, I did not see this as a ‘true journal’ or an exploration of my subconscious. I was aware of my audience.

So how will I go with a blog? I don’t know the size or demographic of my audience but again, it is a public document with the potential to be read by some, few, or many.

Of course, ideally I would love to say that this is a true representation of myself but that is unrealistic. I heard a statistic that the average person is intoxicated in 60% of their photos on Facebook yet very few people are actually drunk for 60% of their lives. So is one’s online presence at all like a journal? The audience of a blog is infinite and that will no doubt effect the content I choose. Perhaps a blog is it actually a representation of how we would like to be seen? 

I had a pretty skewed view of what it was going to be like to be a university student. Perhaps it was from serval American TV shows where I thought of a hub of young people, clubs and societies and lots of partying.

But it was very different, in fact, I felt rather unengaged and underwhelmed. So like many, or rather, most, I started skipping lectures. Why am I here? This isn’t for me.

Of course this wasn’t wholey due to the content, nor due to the lecturer and very much could be to do with me and my undoubted addiction to my iPhone and my lack of study habits.

So in my holidays I took a trip. Although not at all exotic or adventurous, I travelled to New Zealand. As cliched as it sounds getting away re-energised me. I had so many affirmations; I’m going to go home, get fit and healthy, be nicer to my mum and really, really try harder at uni this semester. It’s quite comical that my friend messaged me from Mykonos having had almost exactly the same epiphany.

First day back at uni, I struggled.

This brings me to last Tuesday. Our lecturer Adrian Miles proposed the idea of the “unlecture”. Rather than speak at us, the lecture would be more of a symposium where questions could be asked and discussion between several would flow and thus be more engaging.

I am excited to see if this will work. I complained that I get bored in lectures because I don’t like getting talked at, I preferred being talked to. Miles directly addressed  my qualms with university style learning and offered an alternative. 

I’m excited to see what Network Media brings but not without some caution. Will the symposium work? Will I be more engaged? Will my attendance go up? Will I enjoy university more?

 

We shall see.

 

I am so tired. This is not unusual for a Sunday morning. Just like uni and work, going out on a Saturday night is routine.

I think it’s fair to say I’m a pretty healthy person. I eat quinoa, I drink green tea, I do pump class.

However, this is perhaps countered by drinking. I heard recently that having more than 4 standard drinks in one sitting is binge drinking. If thats the case I binge drink before I leave my house.

I often wonder the implications of a young person that didn’t drink, or rather, a young person that stopped drinking. If you never start you never stop. That has been my policy with smoking, drugs and Coco Cola. However when someone has a reputation as a big drinker for them to stop, they need to have a reason.

I was out the other night and not intending to have a big one. A friend asked me if I wanted a drink and I said I was fine. Then flowed a series of questions as to why/what was wrong that I didn’t want a crisp, cold glass of apple cider. Eventually I gave in and ended up going home with $120 less in my bank account.

I am fully aware of the implications that alcohol has on ones health. Weight gain, loss of brain cells and lack of self-control when it comes to McDonalds Chicken Nuggets spring to mind. However it seems unlike smoking or drugs I choose to ignore these health risks. “As long as it’s in moderation it’s fine“. I agree with that for a lot of things, however if the beginning of every Saturday night involves a bottle of white wine (or as I prefer to think of it – 7.4 standard drinks for $9) then that is not moderation.