September 2009 October 17, 2009

I have been teaching at Menno Simons for more than a month and absolutely love it! The school is amazing. It is a place where the staff and parents work together as a team. All of my other practicums were in schools where it was next to impossible to get parent involvement. This last Friday was a day where our school spent the afternoon making bracelets that we are going to send to an African school. The parent volunteers that came out to help were amazing! We had parents in the school all week making examples and cutting string. On Friday the gym and classrooms were full of volunteers helping kids. Next week we go to camp with more parent volunteers and I am so excited. I love it this school!

One another note, this week has been a pretty tough one for me. I have been so busy lately. Our youth pastors took opportunities with other jobs this past summer and I am part of the team of youth leaders that are helping run the youth programming. I have been busy with planning lessons for school, going to meetings for youth and going to youth events on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. And then . . . I found myself volunteering for the kindergarten to grade 5 Sunday school class leading worship! What was I thinking???
This week was one when all this stuff hit me. I have been really emotional and stressed out and I feel like I am floating over my life. I am not really experiencing it because I don’t have the time to slow down and be part of what is going on. I was thinking the other day as I was driving home that I actually like to be busy. I like to be busy and be a part of things like youth and Sunday school because I feel useful and needed. I am scared that if I stop volunteering for things that I won’t be needed or even known to people. I will fade into the wallpaper of life and disappear. Depressing, I know.
I talked with a friend tonight about our youth pastors leaving and how this week was a particular tough one for her as well. She figured it could be us going through the stages of grief. I looked them up and the order goes denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acception. With the whole youth pastor thing I know that I went through denial when I couldn’t believe what was happening, anger when I didn’t understand this was happening, bargaining when I hoped they would stay and something would be figured out, and now depression sets in. This week has probably been the first one when all of the youth stuff has slowed down and I have had a bit of time to feel. I found myself welling up with tears in the car when a song came on that spoke to my soul or when a friend would answer questions with short one-word answers or when everyone was busy. I felt like I wasn’t worth their time.
I am a person that longs for relationships that are true and meaningful. I pray for friends that spend time with me and want to really know me. To know the way I think and the way I feel. To know what makes me happy and what upsets me. To come to my house when they know I am having an off day to just give me a hug. I yearn for relationships with people where we can pray for each other without it being awkward. I want friends to support me in these busy times and can tell me to slow down and take time for myself. I need to remember that I do have people that care for me and weeks like this don’t happen all the time.
It’s been a tough week. One that I am still processing, but I know that I will feel better about life. I know that God will carry me through. Thank you to those of you that love me for me.

A Long Time Overdue September 5, 2009

I can’t believe that it is already September!
The summer has passed by so quickly!

I worked for a bead store for the months of May and June called Beads and Plenty More. I had worked there during high school and they were excited to have me back. I love working at that place.

During the first week of July I went with my church youth group to the Mustard Seed. We volunteered downtown and learned a lot about the homeless in our own city. For the last part of that week we ran a youth retreat weekend for the kids in our neighborhood. We played games and fed them meals throughout the day.

For the rest of July and August I worked for our church camp, Camp Okotoks. This meant that I helped with the creating, organizing and running various childrens camps throughout the summer. I had such a great time and I hope to work there next summer!

I am currently in my final practicum in my schooling to become a teacher. I am teaching grade 6 at Menno Simons Christian School and love it! I always thought that I would only want to teach in the public school system, but being in this school has changed that. The teachers, parents and children are a large family and everyone cares for each other. I’ve only been there for a week, and I already know how difficult it is going to be for me to leave.

My life at the moment is full of change. There are days when I quite enjoy it, but many where I am finding it difficult to cope, but I know that God has His hand in every day and that change is the only way that we can learn and grow.

This Past Semester May 7, 2009

I had a tough time this past semester. It was my second practicum out of 3 in my program. January and February were spent in classes doing projects and writing papers. In March I began teaching 1/2 time in a Catholic Elementary School in a grade 2 class. The main subjects that I taught were Social Studies, Science and Art. Throughout my time at the school I also taught my class Gym, Health, Math and Language Arts. I also taught my class songs with actions for a Lenten Assembly.
Throughout my time at the school I spent my evenings and weekends preparing to teach lessons about how boats float, how Inukshuk’s are built and all about fractions.
It was an intense 4 months and there were days when I thought that I would not make it through and nights spent falling asleep at 2 in the morning in tears, BUT through it all I learned a ton about myself and teaching. And through it all I had a huge team of people praying for me. Those days that I should have felt a huge amount of stress were surprisingly calm and I know that it was those days when God carried me through. There were so many people praying for me and I felt those prayers. To my family, friends, my parent’s home group and everyone else who prayed for me during that time.
And now, I am relying on my Lord and Savior to provide for me this summer. Last year I had a summer job set up in March and I still don’t have one now. I went to a Job Fair today and found nothing! It is all so frustrating. So . . . I wait and have faith that a job will come.

Hillary Bergen April 22, 2009

I know I haven’t posted anything in ages, but I’ve been so busy with school that I haven’t had time. I only have 2 more days left of teaching before my practicum ends and then I hand in all my projects and I’m done. I will write more about my life these past couple of months later, but for now I am showing you this video.
This is my sweet, awesome and very talented cousin Hillary Bergen. Take a look and listen to what she has been up to.

Why My Life Has Been So Crazy These Past Weeks Part 2 January 28, 2009

I left you with being awkwardly pulled out of class to talk to one of my profs in the librarians tiny office. She told me that the situation was not all solved and that she was going to have a meeting later that morning with a couple other profs, the administration people and the Dean of the Education Department about me! I was to go up to the education offices after class to sort it all out.

So a bunch of teachers and the Dean had met up to talk about me and when I got to their offices they had a plan.
It seemed that they had made a mistake and I was supposed to be in section A, but they had given me the wrong package with the wrong information about my courses. The issue now was that since I had already been going to section D classes, they wanted to keep me there and 2 profs that I knew from my previous practicum were in the separate sections and were fighting to have me in their classes.

Their final solution was to register me in all of the A courses (the ones I should have been going to in the first place) BUT go to section D’s courses instead. Section A’s teachers would have me on their lists, but would be informed that I was not going to their classes and section D’s teachers wouldn’t have me on their lists but I would go to their classes. All the profs in both sections would have to switch my grades somehow to make sure I passed my courses.

I thought this was the worst idea and tried to just make everything easier by saying I’d just stay in section A and the whole hassle and confusion of emailing profs and figuring out registration wouldn’t have to happen. But they didn’t agree with that idea because in their minds I had already formed bonds with the people in my class and it wouldn’t make sense to put me in the other section.

So I spent more than a week getting emails from the profs I didn’t have and missing the emails that I needed from the profs whose classes I was going to. I tried to get some people from my class to email me what I was missing, but it is isn’t the easiest thing to rely on others to email me every single email they got.

One of my classes is online. So in order for me to get my assignments I need to log online, but since I am not registered in that class I don’t have access to that website. I told my prof  for that class the issue about me not getting his assignments last week and he became quite upset about the whole situation. He told me he would figure it all out and that the faculty was treating me poorly with leaving me to deal with the whole course and schedule mess.

A couple days ago I got an email from the assistant to the dean of education with the subject “The Melissa D. Issue”. It was addressed to all of my profs and the Dean. It said that they figured everything out and I am now in section D!

So now most of the education faculty knows my name without me ever meeting them and I am finally in classes that I am registered in, and I’m getting the emails I should.

Why My Life Has Been So Crazy These Past Weeks Part 1 January 28, 2009

I am in the education program at the single greatest University in Western Canada for education and I am currently in my second practicum semester out of 3 (well there is actually more than that, but they call it our PS2).
I went to our orientation meeting back at the beginning of January and picked up my information packet that told me all about my life for the next few months. You see, in the Ed department to keep our spots, we had to register before Christmas in an Education placeholder. Our packets gave us the information needed to drop that placeholder course and register in a new 5 courses. My packet told me I was in group D and when I went to go register a couple days later it wouldn’t let me. That started the weeks of craziness….

So, when I realized that I couldn’t get into my classes I had already been to a couple days worth of school. I emailed one of my profs right away (a sweet little old lady who is in charge of the social studies part of my course). She sent me an email back saying to call her anytime before midnight, so I called her around 11:30 (that’s when I go the message) and talked to her for a good half hour about the whole ordeal. She told me that she would sort it all out in the morning and that I should call her just before my first class.

I called her at 8:50 the next morning and she said it was all sorted out and that I wouldn’t have to do a thing. So I went to class thinking everything was fine.

Then after an hour into my first class of Educational Psychology for Students with Exceptionalities, one of the curriculum librarians comes into class asking for “Melissa Dyck”. Now, you have to understand that I am not the type of student that speaks in class or even wants people to know my name, so for the librarian to pull me out of class was a big deal. I ended up going into a back small office to talk with the prof that I had talked to the night before and that morning and she didn’t have good news….

YC 2009 January 15, 2009

I must tell you that the YC 2009 website launched today and this year’s theme is Live It Loud!

It is one of the weekends in the year that I look forward to because I have seen God move in the lives of our students every time we go. This year in particular is very exciting for me because Judah Smith is speaking! He is a pastor in Seattle Washington and I have been listening to his podcasts for years now!

The line up of some of the speakers and artists are:

Reggie Dabbs

Judah Smith

Toby Mac

Hawk Nelson

Bluetree

Vicky Beeching

Reliant K

Pillar

Parachute Band

David Crowder

Panic Squad

Lets just say I’m excited for May 22, 23 and 24th!

I’m Back! January 15, 2009

Hello to the internet world. No, I am not dead and I have not forgot about my blog. Life has just been extremely busy this past month. I’ll give you a quick run-down on what’s been going on.

Christmas was really nice. I love any excuse to be in Calgary and spend time with my family and friends! Although I had three weeks off from school, the time went by so fast that I don’t remember exactly what I did. I had coffee with friends, movie nights, games, Christmas presents, church stuff, family get-togethers, a trip to Lake Louise and Banff and so much more!

The new school year started with a 7 hour long lecture back at school with all the other teacher-wanna-be’s. We sat on our butts all day as we started this semester of info-packed lectures and a 6 week long practicum. So far it’s been manageable, but the pace is picking up very quickly!

Christmas Stockings December 4, 2008

There is just something I love about Christmas stockings. They are usually the last thing that we get to open on Christmas morning and are full of all sorts of neat things. I remember finding things like chocolate, socks, earrings and little gadgets in them.

I think the part of them that brings me joy the most is guessing what is inside before you get to look inside.

In the house I am staying in Lethbridge we don’t have stockings and didn’t want to go buy them so one of my roomies came up with an idea. We are using our actual socks! So, we’ve hung them on the railing that you see when you come in the front door. It makes me smile just to look at them and I already know that there is something in them . . .

The Saga of Tom A. Toesoop Continued November 25, 2008

I know that many of you have been waiting in anticipation to hear about Tom’s predicament and if is still in the air duct or if we (the humans) were able to rescue him. Here is the continued story.

Melissa’s human friend Victoria arrived late Friday night to the house with tools that Melissa’s daddy made to rescue Tom. He too was concerned for the little can so he went to work creating a long tube with a magnet on the end to pull Tom out of the dark, warm, metal hole.

Tom became excited with the sound of Victoria’s arrival for he knew that his rescue would be soon. However, the humans decided to go out shopping instead of rescuing him from his predicament. They returned to the house quite late and seemed to forget that he was patiently waiting for their return. It seemed that Melissa had forgotten that he was in the dark, warm, metal hole as the humans went to sleep.

The next morning the humans made pancakes in the kitchen and Tom was sure that this was the day that he would be rescued.

“Soon” he told himself, “they will finish eating and pull me out!”.

Much to his sorrow, they did not. The humans went grocery shopping and didn’t return until lunch.

“Oh now they will rescue me” Tom thought after they ate lunch.

They did not.

Tom began to think that he was no longer important to Melissa and the other humans that he could hear talking. It seemed that no one was going to come to his aid.

Suddenly, he heard all the humans in the kitchen talking about how they were going to get Tom A. Toesoop out of the dark, warm, metal hole. They did care for him after all!

Melissa got down on the floor and forced down the hole a long tube. She tried to reach Tom but sadly could not. “What will I do” she cried in tears.

The bold Tracy stepped up to help. She had felt him before and knew where Tom was sitting in the hole. Her first couple of tries were with no success. She tried different to place the tube in different positions, but feared that Tom must had fallen further down the hole.

Then, her facial expression changed. She had found him with the magnet and was pulling him up through the air duct.

The humans rejoiced when they saw Tom A. Toesoop was alive and well. Melissa is so happy that he is alright and has moved his home. Tom no longer sits in the cupboard above the stove, but on a shelf in her room far from any open holes that he may fall into.