In which Erin reflects on many a thing, including:

[pride_of_erin]

The weird-ass SGA dream I had last night:
My memory of the dream is fuzzy and vague, but I know it was a Christams party on Atlantis. I don't think I was actually there - more like I was watching an ep on TV, and yet not, in that freaky way that only makes sense in dreams. Anyhoo, in the dream, Rodney and John were dressed up as Santa and his elf - Hee! I can't remember what they did at the party exactly, but I could clearly hear Rodney's voice whining something like, "Oh my God, how did I let Elizabeth talk me into this - and oh, shit! There's gonna be, ugh, children sitting in my lap!" And then John said...I don't know, something snarky, which in turn made Rodney snark, "The only reason you got to be the elf is because of your stupid ears!" LMAO!!! Very good dream. And it was ironic that shortly afterwards, I read mandysbitch's great McShep Christmas fic.




The end of my teaching prac - Huzzah!:
Finished with my prac, finally. Just gotta do some final stuff in my teaching portfolio and hand it in on Monday, and then I'm free 'til my graduation ceremony on Dec 12 - Yay!

I was a bit sad to leave the pre-school actually - most of the kids are bloody gorgeous and completely melted my heart. Who wouldn't get the warm fuzzies when you put an adorable little 3-year-old boy to bed at rest time and he peers up and says, "I love you", completely unprompted? It was the 'Awww' moment of my week. And on my last days I had two little girls give me cuddles and kisses and say they'd miss me, *sniff*.

Of course, not all the kids were great - some were little bastards, but even most of those I managed to find good sides to. And they all seemed to like most of the lessons that I taught every day, judging by how many times I got asked, "Can we do that again?" or "Are you going to do that another day?" My supervising teacher seemed to agree with them, because she wrote me a great final report saying I was very "creative" and "dedicated" - Yay!

It felt odd leaving on Friday and thinking that I wouldn't be coming back. I'm going to have to get used to not having every conversation start with, "Eeeeeriiin! Can I..." or "Eeeeeriiin! Can you..." Then of course, there was always, "'Scoo' me - what's your name again?", "Erin", "Eeeeeriiin! Can I..."
"'Scoo' me" is something else I heard a lot of - apparently, a great way to get your teacher's attention is to shriek "Excuse me!" over and over, except very few of the kids could actually seem to manage 'Excuse' so it sounded like, "'Scoo' me! 'Scoo' me! 'Scoo' me!". "'Scoo' me" was also usually accompanied by insistently patting my hip or poking my bum until I looked down at them.

I think the kids liked me because I was silly and weird. Like when they watched a Bert and Ernie video that involved bathtime, nakedness and cries of "I'm coming, Bert!" and "You're always so messy, Ernie!" - they found it incredibly amusing that I was almost pissing myself with laughter, even if I couldn't explain to them about a certain icon I was thinking of. Plus I'd give them tickle attacks, or roar like a monster and chase them all over the playground. Or I'd let three kids sit in my lap at once and read them a story during free play time. None of the pre-school staff really did extra stuff like that, or at least not as often as me. They were nice enough people though - only time I got annoyed was when two of them were like ,"OMG - that's so wrong", when one of the little boys kept dressing up in a fairy princess costume every day one week. The other staff and I were just like, "He's a kid, it's not gonna turn him gay. And even if he is gay - so bloody what?" One of the homophobes actually made him cry when she got the kids to put on a play and wouldn't let him be Cinderella.

I had a good time though - teaching the kids letters, numbers, colours, etc; getting into water fights with the trainees on hot days; perving on the hot guys weeding the flower beds in the plant nursery next door to the pre-school (*g*). Yup, I was sad to go, but I can't wait to get my first job at another pre-school!




My lamentations over not doing things I've promised to do for people, and thus feeling like a mean, inconsiderate ass-hat:
Of course, all this means that I've been busy as fuck lately, staying up late writing lesson plans, preparing activities, going through all the shit in our house trying to find teaching resources - so I've barely had time to keep up with my e-mails and f-list (and even that meant giving up some much needed sleep) let alone do anything else. I've got two fics from ralu_1982 still waiting for beta after two weeks, not to mention the fact that I still haven't finished rileyc's auction fic. And I'm sure there's other stuff too, that I can't even remember right now (if I promised you something and have forgotten, give me a nudge, will you?). Ugh, I feel lousy not keeping my end of bargains - so to anyone waiting on anything from me, my sincere apologies and promise that now I've got a bit of time off I'll get cracking on everything.

Comments

[blackchaps.livejournal.com]

I think it's great you're working with preschool. I've been doing it on and off for, well, years, and I love that age. They need so much and are still so accepting. Good for you! (throws flowers)

[pride-of-erin.livejournal.com]

*takes flowers* - thanks! LOL.

[rasmus-me.livejournal.com]

I hope you don't mind me butting in...
I work with kids too so I can definitely relate. Eeeeeriiin! LOL.

They are so many boring educators, you know? So grown up and formal so when kids meet someone who doesn't have to be such an adult *all the time* they just love it… and they love him.

And I've experienced the ILU's and the spontaneous hugs and it's just sooo sweet and wonderful. So, congrats on graduating, and I really hope you find a good school to work in.

[pride-of-erin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the congrats! I know, kids go nuts over anyone who'll play with them and not tell them off every three seconds. The place I was at was very big on 'being firm' with the kids. Fair enough, so am I, but for Pete's sake - you can discipline a child and still treat them respectfully, just like you can give orders and be nice about it. It's a bit worrying when you've got all these people saying, "Wow - you're so nice to them." Like it never occurred to them that they could be too. *headslap*

[rasmus-me.livejournal.com]

Do they also say "I think you're just a little *too* nice?" :) Cause I heard that once or twice...

[pride-of-erin.livejournal.com]

Nah - I'm nice, but I don't let them get away with much either - I'm a good-natured hard-ass, LOL.

[adrianabr.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're graduating soon, Erin - and you'll find other lovely kinds on your next job, I'm sure!

[adrianabr.livejournal.com]

Kids, I mean!

[pride-of-erin.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon - I hope so :)

[ralu-1982.livejournal.com]

Congrats on graduating! Hope you won't join the *currently unemployed Ralu" club... I'm grinning here.
About the fics - relax. Just do them when you feel like it, okay?

[pride-of-erin.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie. And hopefully, it shouldn't be too hard to find a job since teachers are so in demand lately. Ugh, I hate being unemployed - before I went to university, I had to spend a year dealing with the bureaucratic idiocy of Centrelink (government welfare offices) - I never wanna do that again.