Merging
27 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: UVic BSW Distance BSW distance student distance BSW student social work
Photos (above):
~ The quilting cupboard. ~ Quinn the Jack Russell and study companion. He naps while I work.
~ Various mini-quilt projects. ~ The sewing desk.
My fourth year practicum begins next week. I feel a bit like a driver accelerating and merging into traffic. So far, the transition feels pretty smooth and natural. I’m a diligent shoulder-checker; I put a lot of effort into determining where I wanted to be for the final practicum of my BSW: somewhere positive, supportive and anti-oppressive. A place I’d feel welcome and comfortable as a student-learner.
It’s been six long months since I arranged my placement at a non-profit agency that offers a wide array of programs for families. On a whim, I volunteered there during Winter Break. I found it such a positive, welcoming environment that I inquired about practicum possibilities.
My practicum will span over 400 hours. Along with it, I’ll be completing my two final fourth-year electives.
I can hardly say how excited I am to be in a workplace setting and look forward to getting to know everyone and spending time with different clinicians, helping with different programs.
I have been bidding farewell to my last three weeks that were completely free of studies. This past week, I really kicked up my heels: I watched the first season of Game of Thrones (“Winter is coming!”) and rented Chocolat, half of which I leisurely viewed during the day as unwashed dishes and uncompleted housework lay scattered about me.
I delightedly plowed through piles of pleasure reading books from my own shelves and those in the terrific little Enderby branch of our Okanagan Regional Library. I re-read The Sunday Philosophy Club (love, love, Alexander McCall Smith) and enthusiastically dug into The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon (love, love Lord John Grey).
I am pointedly making no mention of housework.
I spent more time outside with my animals, taking my sweet time doing chores and enjoying the moody spring weather. I avoided (until this weekend, aarrgh….) calculating what early hour I will have to rise at to do morning chores, get ready for work, then drive into work.
I even picked up the dangling threads of a few unfinished quilting projects (see photos) and while I did not complete them, got them to the next stage, at least.
But once again, I’ve rather happily stashed my various projects for my school books.
I’ve had my rest. I’m ready for UVIC’s Summer Semester to begin!
Happy Birthday BSW?
23 Mar 2012 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: UVic BSW Distance BSW distance student distance BSW student social work
~ Birthday ~
May 2012, when I begin my last semester, will mark the second “birthday” of my entry into the UVic BSW program.
I began back in May 2010, frantically planning my week on-campus in Victoria. Not sure what to expect, still buzzing with happiness at being accepted into the program. Helping my family plan how they would manage without me for a week (they did great). Feeling like I was beginning a long and interesting journey (I was).
The point I’m at now seemed impossibly distant.
Would I ever really be a fourth year student, in my last semester? Taking my last BSW courses? Doing my last practicum?
Back in my very first third year term, in class introductions, I wistfully envied those who introduced themselves as students wrapping up their degree. Would I ever get to that point? I knew that I would but it was just so far off.
Well, it’s time to bake a little cake and put a few candles on it. My almost-BSW-degree is two years old this May. My degree, framed and hung on the wall, will be a birth certificate of sorts.
Name: BSW
Weight: Darn heavy
Length: Spanning more than a few years
Joyful Parent: Tammy Thielman, proud, weary and ready-to-work
~ Now, the all-important question can be deliberated…What dress will I wear to convocation? ~
Reluctance….
09 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
~ Like this kitten, I just want to stay where it’s comfortable! ~
~ Cup of the Day: My favourite tall fluted racehorse mug! ~
How can you be nostalgic for something that’s not over?
This term hasn’t ended, but I already have that farewell feeling. Ironic, as I have another large assignment due in two weeks. While I’ve started, it’s certainly not completed. So, my courses aren’t officially “over.”
However, we are concluding Week 9 and heading into Week 10 (of 12). I think that’s what has started my nostalgic, melancholic kick. We are submitting, or preparing to submit, final assignments. More and more marks have come in on our student grade books. Registration for next semester looms. We have a few learning activities to do, then the final one in which we bid everyone goodbye, the Closing Circle.
I’ve enjoyed my two 400-level courses immensely this semester. Both had a high level of on-line involvement, both had excellent instructors with a steady, encouraging on-line presence. Both instructors offered continual words of encouragement and open lines of communication. They were only an email, phone call, or Moodle message away – and they reminded us students of that regularly, should we need help or have questions. Not all instructors are as generous. On the Moodle course sites, there were interesting links, extra information, and encouraging messages.
Once again, as one semester concludes, another will begin soon. That’s the cycle of academic life. We’re faced with new courses, new instructors and new experiences. After a less-demanding semester (only two courses), I’m heading into what will likely be a more intense term, with my fourth year practicum and two final academic electives.
While I’ve learned to positively anticipate new experiences, I can’t help wanting to hang on to the old, too. It’s familiar, it’s comforting. It’s been really, really good.
Who would want that to end?
My thanks this term goes to instructors Betty Taylor (Social Work 400), Kirsten Mikkelson (Social Work 451) and also to other UVic staff who made this term a terrific one: Nancy Pike, a wonderful practicum coordinator, and instructor Cheryl Moir van Iersel who despite cutbacks, continues to kindly coordinate and chair student rep teleconferences and distribute the minutes of these to all of us reps across the country.
~ MY HEARTFELT THANKS TO ALL OF YOU! ~
You help make the student experience a rich and rewarding one!
Gratitude…
08 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: BSW UVic DE student practicum Social Work university courses
This term has introduced me to two amazing, motivated teachers. The kind I cherish as a student, because I know they have my best interests as a learner in their hearts. Moreover, they radiate that they love teaching. Now, if a teacher can do all of that on-line, that’s pretty great. For all that’s expected of us as students, they are really fulfilling their role as excellent instructors. What more can a student ask for?
UVic has many amazing social work teachers. All the courses are different, just as all the instructors are unique. I think it’s very fair to say that the courses are all quite a lot of work. To get a high grade, the student has to dig deep into the material and really submit work of a high quality that meets quite rigorous standards. Some courses I’ve enjoyed more than others. Only one was quite a disappointment in terms of what I expected of the instructor, who was rather distant for the duration of the course. Despite that, the high expectations were still there but the learning environment was not as warm, inviting or collaborative as the ones I’m student in now.
These teachers, like many others I’ve had in the memorable social work courses, really stand out for their regular encouragement, inspiration, involvement, gratitude, humility and innovative delivery of a wealth of learning material.
I feel lucky that the two courses I’m taking this semester both happen to have great teachers: it makes doing coursework that much more of an opportunity for learning.
To the instructors who put in that extra effort and thought, thank you! We students notice and appreciate it. It makes our social work education that much more rewarding.
~ The Daily Cup of Inspiration: coffe in a “tartan mug” and strawberries! ~
Sadly, the strawberries tasted like pumpkin but smelled wonderful
Cup of the Day on Day One
09 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: UVic BSW Distance BSW distance student distance BSW student social work
You know you’re a social work student when…you critically reflect upon your mug as being a symbol of colonialism.
If I were a racehorse, I’d be called a slow-starter.
Last week, I dutifully clicked around on Moodle (the on-line course delivery system), posting introductions and generally scanning the course content, but today seems like my true “first day” of class. I feel inspired to really engage in dialogue and post responses to introductions. I also feel excited to dig into course content. I wondered why I felt so reluctant last week, then realized I was working on a Friday and was really already in weekend mode.
Today, however, is a new day. The start of a new week, and it really feels like, the start of a new term. 400 Health Care and 451 Indigenous Policy, here I come.
The photo included here shows my companion cup for the morning.
What Pets Do While One Works on One’s BSW…!
06 Jan 2012 2 Comments
Two Dogs and a Cat: Clearly, I cannot look to these guys for inspiration to keep my mind awake. While I work, they snooze in front of the woodstove!
