Lots of Mail This Morning

I am happy to report that I received some official correspondance from my academic department today, including information about registering (still no date though) and a form regarding my "practicum" placement. At some universities you complete a four-month practicum in the last semester of your two-year degree program. At my university you're literally in the classroom from Day One. So I had to fill out a form about my geographical preference, whether I had access to a vehicle, and whether or not I was eligible to teach in a private religious school. There is also a community-service element to the program, where you teach or work in a non-public-school setting. The purpose of this is to expose Student Teachers to opportunities outside of the public school system. I filled everything out this morning and it's already in the mail! I will also have to get a criminal record check before I am placed in a classroom, so I'll get to that later this week. The early bird gets the worm!

On the subject of religious schools, someone told me that the Ontario Catholic School Board is so desperate for Catholic teachers that they are now hiring Catholics with no teacher training over qualified non-Catholic teachers. If you ask me, the only people being hurt by this policy are the students themselves.