This week, I will be talking about my first week of school as a grade 10 student. Unlike the previous year, there was no orientation. This meant my first week of school was only three days. Since I felt three days was a bit short, I will also talk about some of my second week experiences.
When I got to school at around 9:00 on Sept 10, I went to my supposed homeroom. Unfortunately, my first class was music. Unlike my other classes, none of my friends were in this class. However, although none of my friends were there, I saw a few former classmates. During first period homeroom, we did a class bonding activity. This was very strange for me. For the last 11 years of schooling, The students always introduced themselves on the first day. At the end of homeroom, we picked up a few sheets to sign. The rest of the day would be repeats of period one, introductions or activity and collecting sheets. Unlike period one though, I had some of my friends in the other periods. In period 2 careers I was with Gordon, period 3 construction technology I had Gordon again and Edward, and finally period 4 media arts I was with Jacky and Aaron.
Things didn’t get interesting until day 3. On the third day of school, we started selecting our instruments in music class. Most of the class already knew what instruments they wanted. However, since I had no idea what were instruments there, I tested out a few instruments. By the end of the day, I tried out both the double bass and viola. I ended up choosing the viola, because it was lighter and in my opinion easier to play. After picking the viola, I also found out there were zero double bass players and two fulltime viola players. This was surprising because although most of the class were veterans from last year, there were still quite a few new players. Since there were so few double players, I thought the teacher would try and persuade some people to switch. Most of the second week was spent getting the new players familiar with their new instrument.
For second period, we are still in the beginning stages. We were given a course package, and begun learning this thing called I.C.E (Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship). Most classes began with a game or some sort of class bonding activity. This might be because our teacher, Mr.Sit seems like a very easy going guy. However, we are still moving through the course package and are ahead of the other careers class. In my opinion, Period 2 is when all the interesting stuff happens. Just today, our 10 minute class bonding activity, took 25 more minutes than expected.
I find period 3 the most fun. However, the entire first week was taken up with safety videos and how to read a ruler. At the start of the second week, we began our first project. The project in question was creating a handmade trinket box. I found it very fun cutting the wood and learning what all the machines did. However, I was slightly scared that I could lose a finger during class. Although this class won’t help me find a job, I think its fun and the skills I obtain might be useful in the future.
Period 4 is not as interesting as the other classes, but I hope it will later on. Currently, we have created a poster, created a powerpoint, and watched a movie. So far, this class feels very similar to grade 9 computer technology. The thing the caught my eye at the beginning was the animation unit and is what I will be looking forward to in this class.
Overall, although these weren’t my ideal courses, I think I will still enjoy this semester. Music is fun and although I rather take ICS or computer tech, music it isn’t bad. Careers is a mandatory course and I don’t really have an opinion on it yet. Construction technologies is a very fun course, but it won’t get me into a university or get me a job. Finally, media arts is my final course and although it isn’t what I expected I hope it gets better. In the end, the courses I got weren’t what I originally wanted. However, I won’t let that fact make this year any less fun than grade 9.