Getting started...[spontaneous entry]

So I just got this LJ, my plan is to use it to post my daily journal entries when I don't have access to my usual webspace (from my ISP) anymore (that is, when I'm at university next year). Right now I've just made some back posts of relevant entries from my journal regarding the whole Antonuk deal...it's been an item that has been very difficult for me to talk about and explain every time someone asks about it. There were too many vague references to the Antonuk thing, so I've only posted the important ones. The build-up of hate really began about a year ago (last January) but obviously I won't go back that far.

In other news, I've been procrastinating on posting a copy of the speech I wrote to deliver at the regional speech arts tournament next Saturday (7 Feb.). It's about the whole Antonuk thing, of course. Shaily talked me out of attempting to audition for valedictorian with this speech, most notably because it'd probably offend Antonuk if I didn't approve the text with her beforehand.

So here it is:

Those who know me...know me as a goody-two-shoes, someone who goes by all the rules, hands in all her homework on time, and generally always does the right thing. But tonight, I must make a confession. I skipped class once, and not only was I caught by my teacher...but that lead to my expulsion from that class. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a story about skipping class, guilt, or decisions. It is about all of the above, and more. This is a story about being able to deal with and accept the consequences of the choices we make.

( It's a little long so the rest is here )

A warning

Dear Angela:

I don't know you, but Joyce told me about you and your social IB decision. I'm not trying to discourage you and make you pull out (you can't, trust me), but being now an ex-IB student (only one of the kind for my grade, I think), I thought I'd take a moment to warn you of what's coming up.

I'm in grade 12 and I remember how, like you, in grade 11 I approached Ms. Antonuk (I did this very early in the year though) and asked her if I could be in social IB. She looked at my social 10 mark and let me in.

I have to admit that the grade 11 portion of social IB isn't too bad. There are things you need to expect, though: social 20IB is more information/fact based than 30IB. If you have Mr. Klukas he's a bit boring. The document analysis thing takes a long time to master so be patient and don't be deterred by the disappointing feedback on your work. If you get retrieval charts for videos and stuff, do them. No matter what the teachers say they might just ask you to hand them in. If you enjoy 18th-19th century history enjoy 20IB as much as possible. You'll never see it again. The mock "internal assessment" (properly called the "historical investigation") is a big preview of the sort of thinking Antonuk wants of you in 30IB. It's not about research, it's about finding a conclusion from it. Maybe that would be easier for bio students. I don't know (I was physics).

I don't know how many full IB kids there are in your class this year, because that affects how the 30IB class will be organized. If a huge majority of the social IB class is taking ToK, then 30IB will be taught as a huge class under both Antonuk and Klukas (Antonuk in the spotlight most of the time though). That's what it is this year. If there's an even split or fewer ToKs than non-ToKs, then Antonuk will take the ToKs and Klukas the rest (this is what it was the year before me). Either way...

( Read more... )