MACSE summer courses

The sun is finally shining, we have some beautiful blooms and greenery appearing in our neighbourhoods, and I am officially in my second week of summer classes. For this blog post, I am dividing it up into two sections: 1) What courses and expectations MACSE students are expected of them during the summer term, as well as 2) How I am adjusting to this semester.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FOR YOUR SUMMER SEMESTER:

1. APD 2280 Special Education and Adaptive Instruction

ALL students are required to take this course. This year, it runs from May 14 - June 20, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 1:30-4:30. It is pretty intensive, and the pace of this course is relatively fast. It is listed as an in-class course, (located at the JICS building near Spadina station), and it also has a pretty heavy online component as well.

2. APD 1201 Child and Adolescent Development

If you have not taken a course in child development during undergrad (me!) then you are required to also take this course during the summer. They currently run from May 13 - June 19, on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 1:30-4:30 at the JICS building as well. This course includes a moderate amount of work, as well as snacks in every class (yipee!).

3. Taking an elective

For everyone who is taking APD 1201, that course automatically counts as the summer semester's elective; but for everyone else, they can choose their elective online. There is a variety of options in terms of content, as well as timing (spring semester, May-June; summer semester, July-August), and class mode (in-class, online, or flex). It is also a great opportunity to take courses outside of the designated APHD department!

4. Notification of your Year 2 Internship

Every week, my classmates and I are waiting with bated breath to know our placements for Year 2. Since this placement will be for 12 weeks long and will be in either the Fall or Winter semester, knowing what Grade we will be teaching and what school we will be at is news that we are highly anticipating. Our practicum coordinators are currently working hard to finalize our placements, and will likely notify us sometime early June.

HOW I AM ADJUSTING TO THIS SEMESTER:

1. Going back to commuting

Since the spring/summer semester does not have a practicum component, it is no longer cost-effective for me to live downtown anymore. And so, I am finding myself commuting from Richmond Hill on a daily basis. Not gonna lie, while being closer to my family is a definite plus, my presto fees have been making a pretty significant dent on my credit card bills.

2. Classes are still draining

Perhaps it's the fact that I am commuting again, but given the condensed nature of my two courses, summer classes are proving to be more work than I expected. (Not saying that the work is not doable, but don't expect yourself to be cruising through the content material. Essentially, both of my courses has quite a bit of participation required outside of my classes, which is a bit of getting used to.

3. Everyone is back!

Though it has only been a few weeks since I last saw my classmates, it definitely feels like quite a long time has passed. It has been refreshing to see everyone again :) While not everyone is in my Child Development course, all my classmates are taking Spec Ed, which allows us all to be together on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week. The only thing to take note though, is that the cohorts that we were originally placed in for Year 1 become scrambled up for the summer semester, so your classes will have a slightly different composition.

PS. Thank you to everyone who made it all the way to the end of this post, and for putting up with my Marvel references ;)