Warning: this post may contain material that makes you question a lot of things. Proceed with caution. I’m in the library, writing a paper on health and social policy (you know, a typical Tuesday night activity). While performing an expert analysis…
Engage Thoughtfully, Act Passionately: The Personal Side of School-Home-Work Balance
So these past few weeks have been nothing short of busy. Alongside my independent study, coursework, and actual work, I have been highly involved with my college’s student governance. Things can get stressful and I have often talked about the…
Inverted Lectures
Two of my classes this year feature the strange format of "Inverted Lecture." The idea behind the format is that material is learned outside of the classroom and then the material is practiced during lecture. I was initially skeptical of…
Planes, Bullet Trains, and Buses
As I mentioned last week, Japan's school year provides exchange students with plenty of opportunities to explore the country. In this post, I'll share some of the ways that I've traveled from city to city during my holidays. 1. Shinkansen…
International Women’s Day Panel
International Women's Day happened this past Sunday March 8th. On Friday I went to Panel for International Women's Day hosted by Amnesty International U of T. The panelists were Mayo Moran, Marina Nemat, Samra Zafar, as well as the president…
History Course Drop-Out
*while reading this post, please feel free to play the song “Beauty School Dropout” from the Grease soundtrack If you had asked me 12 months ago, I could never have predicted that I would have dropped two courses and credit-no-credited…
Remembering
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate in an Aboriginal Peer Mentorship Program put on by OISE this semester and my first mentoring session happened this week. OISE Elder-in-Residence Jacqui Lavalley and I went to visit…
Let’s Sing it!: Reviewing course Materials Through Song
In elementary school, learning through music is pretty typical. We start singing the alphabet, maybe even the days of the week. I still remember some of the many songs about verb conjugations I learned in French class. And many will…
The Pitfalls of Group Work
Most of my homework is explicitly individual: I put in all the effort, slap my name on front, shove it in the hands of some unsuspecting marker, and in the end I get all the credit. The idea behind it,…
Japan’s School Year
The University of Tokyo's school year is dramatically different from that of most Canadian universities. The first semester begins in April and ends in August. After a two-month summer holiday, the second semester begins in October and ends in February.…