Winter Splinter..

     Hey there folks and foxy ladies! Well what is happening in Old Man Robb's realm of reality? Where do i frickin start?!?!?! Well im finally facing fears ladies and gents..i've finally started my course, Education 4673: Teaching English as a Second Language...what fear? Lots! I mean the last time Old Man Robb was in a university classroom was May of 2005...that is a long time ago folks! As of today that was  4 years and 7 months ago...almost five years since i had any academic involvement with an academic institution. Sure i have been a representative for Acadia Alumni during Welcome Week for three consecutive years...actually i want to do more for Acadia Alumni as this Friday is the deadline for the the position of Executive Director of Alumni Affairs for Acadia University..will they take me? Well im imagining i may not be the best person for the job, but i gurantee i would be the hardest working..i would make sure everyone on that campus would know who i was and not just some suit tucked away in an office somewhere.

And how is my course going? Well i just finished my first online question asking about which teaching approach, or approaches, would be most suitable for your classroom..and here is my response that i submitted.

My teaching journey has taken me to two distinct places, Japan and South Korea. Most of my teaching experience comes from teaching young children and adults. Although there were some difficult times adapting to a different culture, i learned many things along the way that helped in my teaching. So begs the question, what approach or approaches work with a group of students?


An approach that stands out is the concept of art-craft approaches. With art-craft approaches there isn't a general method of teaching. The teachers in the classroom are allowed to develop a teaching approach that lets them be themselves. Teachers can assess the needs of their students and can see what works well with a particular group of students. They can change the dynamics of the classroom to fit individual needs. What works well with some students does not work with others.

What works the best with an art-craft approach to classroom teaching is that there isn't one defining method, but rather the combination of several different ideas. Teachers can discover beyond the classroom and textbooks what works. What might work on paper does not necessarily work in the classroom. However, what does not work well with one group of learners can be discarded, but yet retrieved for another group. Art-craft approaches allows for innovation in the classroom and for teaching beginning their career personally i believe it to be an approach worth trying.

Im trying folks..im really trying here to do my best..and isn't really that all you can honestly do? I have been answering my questions online and that is out of the way, so now i have to post my own question to the site and then do a quiz and i am all finished module one on the website and onto module two. There are always going to be things in life that are hard to take, things we do not want to face and eventually have to. Sometimes we imagine fear in advance, that fear of the unknown..what the hell is going to happen to me? Stuff like that.. How do we deal with these weird frickin situations? It is ironic how sometimes things you do fear happen to you and sometimes they do not..like it was a bad dream...sometimes it pays not to think too much....

It was definitly a fun Friday though..got to go see the Axemen stretch their winning streak to nine games in one of the best played college games i saw this year against SMU. SMU lead, the Axemen caught up tied it and then won the game in OT..it was a better crowd at the game than usual as well. Sadly the Axemen's winning streak was snapped Saturday night against STFX... oh well cannot win them all eh...i will be checking out more action this Friday night in Wolfville against UPEI

I think the used store with no name in Wolfville is growing on me as well...almost bought this one for a friend...

Of course it was topped off with a trip to Dooley's in New Minas to watch Dressed2Kill...a tribute to KISS..great show..was funny as the minute i walked in the door i saw a drunken dude by himself doing the frickin robot! Always at least one in ever bar eh? D2K was good as usual, would love to see some rarities get played like something off "Music From The Elder" but however then ou get the usual people who wouldn't know what they were playing and all that good stuff..too bad eh? Criminally under-rated album and the only KISS album that is not at least certified gold.

However the guys with D2K were cool enough to pose for this awesome snapshot with me after the show..

Note Old Man Robb wearing the Black Sabbath Tour 1978 t-shirt? Well i remember this awesome line from PCU..

Droz: "What's this? You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy."

Of course i cannot forget that i subjected my old pal Barry and his wife to this 1983 classic a few weeks ago..

I almost forgot to mention it...i didn't really wanna remember it..but i must babble about Team Canada's loss to Team USA at the World Juniors. Was a complete heartbreaker eh? Team USA up by a few goals, Canada mounts a furious comeback only to lose in OT. We slowly realize that hockey is not OUR game anymore...actually that happened a long time ago with the 1972 Canada-Russia series and Team USA winning at Lake Placid in 1980..we've won how many of the last World Juniors? However, what would have happened if the Junior NHL players are released for the World Juniors and allowed to play? I think it is a case of woulda shoulda coulda...Team USA won and now we can look forward to next year's World Junior's being held in Buffalo..

Anyways folks that is all for now...chat at ya next time...