Do something worthwhile

There have been recent reports on trainee teachers failing NIE, inadvertently breaking their bonds, then having to repay their entire tuition and allowances owed with interest. The total amount for repayment was a non-trivial $70,000 for a four-year diploma course. In one report, the trainee in question failed her practicum course twice — I can’t remember the exact reasons reported, but they were something along the lines of her having deviated from class material and not submitting her lesson plans on time.

Great, that doesn’t bode too well for my upcoming NIE PGDE course. When I was teaching as a graduate course assistant in school, I had the habit of making up lesson plans while walking to class, among other random stupid shit I tried to get away with. Which I realise I shouldn’t talk about now that I know one of the people who used to manage the course staff reads this blog. Ah, what the hell.

My favourite was when I got my friend Kirk to pretend to be me for the first class while I sat in as a student (the class had students from all levels, so it wasn’t too difficult to blend in). I then proceeded to behave like the obnoxious know-it-all I’d always dreamed I was capable of being, attempting to correct everything Kirk said, until he got all annoyed and yelled “If you think you’re so smart, why don’t you teach this class, then?!”, and left. At which point I took over the class, having earned the, umm, trust and respect of my students. Mwa ha ha! I don’t know how they were so easily convinced a white guy could be called “YJ” (full name undisclosed) though (they knew the course assistants’ names beforehand).

I’d also managed to sleep through a couple of 9am classes after either sleeping too late programming or getting horribly drunk the night before. On the occasions I did wake up on time, though, often after four hours of sleep or so, I received feedback that I was very much unintentionally funny attempting to teach while half-awake. At least they got some entertainment out of it.

The one prank I never managed was getting Luis to show up to class in his Batman outfit and just sit there throughout, while I pretended nothing was going on. It would’ve been hilarious, especially considering his costume:

Oh, Batman, you should never have gone eco-friendly with your Batmobile

To my credit, though, I did stuff my students full of snacks, ensuring they left the class enriched with much potential towards developing coronary diseases (though not as much in education).

Alright, back to work. Three and a half more days before I clear leave!!