M'eh

It's been a while. I say that a lot lately. I keep thinking I don't blog because I'm lazy. But I'm not! It's that I'm busy and don't have the energy to come up with something ammusing ... or I don't feel like typing. It's just one more thing I feel slightly guilty about.

So, I stole this idea from Tocatta's blog.

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Crazy about it ... it asked me a question and I chose that I'm immature and silly. This thing says something about maturity. Haha! And the choices of cards are all fantasy like ... I guess being tarot ... that stems from fantasy. So cat people won out!

New Schedule

Sigh of giant relief. My last HCE class is over. I never have to teach that course again (knock on wood). It's not that I didn't like the students, they were interesting and it was an excellent way for me to get to know all the grade 8s and 9s, it's just that the curriculum was difficult to teach in a fun way without the use of a computer lab.

Oh, I didn't plan on talking about the computer lab situation, but I think I will. I think HCE is a course better designed for the kids to do research and present what they learned or do a little project. The problem is that the high school only has one computer lab. And during HCE, there was always an Information Technology class in there. So we didn't have that resource available. Which, in this day and age, makes things difficult. For instance, some of my kids have IEPs (Individual education plans) that say they are more successful if they can type they're work instead of hand write it (why they don't have their own lap top is another issue). Also, sometimes I want to use a Powerpoint presentation to "spice" things up. Well, the school does have a portable digital projector with lap top that I used quite a bit.

Anyway, I'm glad that class is over. Between egg baby fiascoes, teaching STDs, and other crazy stories, I had a huge learning curve from this class. I guess that's not such a bad thing, but that class was always the hump I had to get over everyday.

So now that I don't teach HCE anymore, I get an extra prep during that period. But I will be using that time to be a self appointed hall monitor (to earn some authoritarian points with the kids) and I will be used as a substitute teacher for absent teachers.

I've also gotten my tentative schedule for next year. It looks like I'll be teaching literacy, math 9, 10, and 11 (11 may be a half year 11, half year 12 class ... we'll see how the students will react to that) and then drama 12!!! I'm totally excited about that one! When I was planning on being a teacher in high school, I always wanted to be a math and drama teacher. But the community college I went to, didn't offer drama classes so I dropped the drama teacher bit. I took one drama class is university, and then I took a "how to teach drama class" last summer as part of my course work. And since the drama club has been quite a success this year, I'm being given a drama class.

I know there will be challenges with that one because I will most likely get students scheduled in that class who didn't want to take it. But I have all summer to think about what I'm going to do.

She Just Wouldn't Leave!!!

As I was writing yesterday's rant I had a very unexpected visitor. I heard a voice say "hello" at the bottom of the stairs. So I ran down the hall (like I always do) and I see this small head peep around the wall and ask to use my bathroom.

I recognize the kid as one that goes to my school (as all kids around here do, duh). I was a bit hesitant because my house was a mess and I didn't want some strange kid in my bathroom. Plus, safety issues about being alone with a student in my house. Where were her parents?

I said she could and I continued blogging away. When she was finished, she came out and started talking to me. To be polite, I asked her what she had been doing and if she was having fun, etc. i was just being polite. She of course, decided she wanted to hang out and came over to my computer and started reading my volleyball rant. Before I could minimize the window (I'm on an iMac so i can't just turn the monitor off) she saw the part where I say, "It fucking hurts" (Hmm, another indication I should stop swearing?).

She gasped and was a bit shocked that I had typed the F word in my work. I was embarrassed. Ok, she had her jollies so I told her I had a lot of work to do and she need to go back outside to play. She was having none of that.

Fuck. How do I get rid of this kid without being mean? She then started opening my computer desk drawer, pulled out two of my Sharpie markers and told me she had some things to write on with the markers outside.

Oh no, she was not walking with my markers! So I asked her to put them back. Instead she put them in her pocket. Crap! Ok, I calmly and nicely asked her to put them back and it was time for her to leave because I am very busy and need to get back to work. She said no.

She asked me who lives below me. I told her. She then began to tell me that no, that person lived nextdoor. Ok, this was getting old fast. I'm pretty sure I recognized the kid as being in the class of the person who lives under me. I asked the kid what grade she was in. She told me 2. Ok, that means she was either in the class of my downstairs neighbour or of a teacher down the street. I took the gamble and told her I was going to call her teacher if she didn't leave.

She looked at me like she thought I wasn't going to. She was calling my bluff. So I went to get the phone (which is in the room closest to the stairs). The kid followed. As I showed her her teacher's phone number in the phone she started slinking down the stairs. As I pressed the button to call her teacher she was almost to the bottom, but not leaving.

I asked my co-worker for help. I explained that her student asked to use my bathroom which I allowed her to do and then she took advantage of my hospitality and tried to walk with my pens and wouldn't leave. I put the girl on with her teacher and her teacher explained that it wasn't polite to stay when someone wants you to leave. The girl made like she was going to leave and we said our good-byes over the phone.

The kid still would not leave.

So I took her shoes and jacket outside and said I was going to leave them out there. I was feeling super bad now. So I did go outside and she came out to investigate. As she was standing half out my front door I realized she could just go inside my place, lock the door and I would be stuck outside while she did god knows what in my house. Good things she didn't! I came back in and kinda barricaded the stairs up to my place so she was stuck in the front hall.

She knew it was only a matter of time until I did my next move. I didn't want to do anything drastic like physically pick her and her shoes up and deposit the whole thing outside, but I was thinking I may need to. She then "bargained" with me that if she left, would she be able to come over tomorrow (today) and hang out? Ok, I was cool with that.

She asked me if I was lying. I would never lie to a student. And I wasn't.

I'm just hoping she forgets. Or if not, I'm wondering if it's wrong that I lock my door and not answer it when she comes a-knocking?

I called her teacher to thank her for the help. She gave me a bit of background on the kid. The girl was close with the teacher that lived in my place last year. The kid's parents are a bit neglectful too. They don't care what she does, as long as she's home before dark ... or she needs to pick a place where they can pick her up before then. She's also had problems with lice infestations for the last couple years. Remember, that this kid is only 8.

I feel a little sorry for her. But, I don't really want to be her new "big buddy" either. Cold of me ... maybe. But I don't want to be caught up in this sort of thing. But it's probably too late. This is why I teach high school. I'm not strong enough to deal with issues like this. I'm better at arming teenagers with how they can help themselves and I'm just better with helping teenagers and stepping up to bat for them. Little kids are tough because they need adults to look out for them.

Volleyball

Ok, more bitching (a theme of the week perhaps?) but what is with volleyball. I don't get it. I hate the sport. You wanna know why?

Because it's fucking painful ... that's why!



Here is a picture of my arm a week after I played. You see the fading bruises? They were worse, I'll tell you that!

I just don't get a sport where the object it to hit the ball with a very sensitive part of your body over a high net over and over again. And "they" try to disguise the pain of the sport by calling it volleyball. That's the least painful way to get the ball over the net ... the volley... unless you do it wrong and you bend your fingers back and sprain them!

But volleying's not always a viable option. Bumping the ball is the other move. And this is what fucking hurts. If the sport were called bumpball, this may remind people of the pain and the would opt out of plying.

The serve and spike are also painful ... where you hit the ball with that kooshy part of your palm by your thumb. Because that feels good.

The sport should be called painball, dammit!

So why was I playing this sport-where-people-voluntary-hurt-themselves? Tuesday nights are staff night in the school gym and the staff haven't been making use of this time so the PE teacher wanted to encourage the staff to use the gym time. So he scheduled a staff vs. Grade 12 volleyball game. I like encouraging the students to be active and I like to be active too so I played.

I remember volleyball being painful when I played in junior high but I thought I was tougher now then I was then. Obviously not! The worst part was the ball was over inflated so it hurt like a mo-fo and we couldn't let the air out because of the way the pump was made with the built-in needle. And of course, we only have one ball in teh entire school. Grrr!

I'm hoping next week we play a sport where we only "accidentally" get injured ... like soccer or hockey.

5 questions

To continue with what others have been doing like Tocatta and Kelly, here are my interview questions from Tocatta. The funny thing is that Tocatta has a math degree but has troubles counting. I'll answer all her questions anyway.

1. As a first year teacher is there anything you wish you had learned at university that would have made teaching easier?

That's a good one. When I was a kid, I always thought you'd learn how to print nicely in teacher college. They don't teach you that. I also have no idea how to teach a kid to read ... not that a high school math teacher necessarily needs that skill, but I thought I'd get taught that at some point.

I'm trying to think of my biggest problems as a teacher and what I wish I had been taught to deal with them. I have had some problems with discipline but that comes from the kids testing me and my philosophy, not from my lack of good method. My other problem is trying to fit the kids to the mold of the course. I have to make a lot of my own resources because I don't have access to many and the ones I do have, don't always fit my students.

Honestly, what they did arm me with (a lot of bullshitting adults and diplomacy) has helped me a lot in dealing with the adults in the system.

But to answer the question seriously ... I can't think of anything. All the hard lessons I've learned this year, have been just getting use to teaching. I think I was warned about a lot of them.

3. You come from a pretty large center and now you are living in a very small isolated community. What is the one thing that came as a pleasant surprise about living in a small town?

The people are so nice. I'm going to comment on living in a native community too. I hate to say it, but my views of native reserves weren't all too great before I moved here. You hear all about the bullshit stereotypes of drinking problems and parents that beat their kids, etc. Of course, stuff like that happens here (like in every community) but I don't see it more than I did in the city. That's fantastic. My ugly discrimination has changed. Which is a gift that is truly priceless.

I love walking down the street and having everyone wave at me ... even if they don't know me (I do know that some of them may know who I am but I don't know them).

2. If you could hop on a plane right this minute where would you go and what would you do?

I don't know if I should answer that honestly because part of it makes me look bad. But, I'm going to. Seriously, I'd go either to my hometown or the big city to go shopping and to hang out with friends and family ... and to pick up a guy. Terrible, I know.

But if I had that option, I wouldn't want to go somewhere exotic by myself. Plus, I don't have a passport. If I had the option to take a friend and I had a passport and lots of money, I'd go to Hawaii and sit on the beach all day.

3. What historical event would you undo or rewrite if you could?

Wow, so hard to say because there are so many that caused so much pain and misery. But, they also changed the world, and some for the better ?!? Like, if I said I wish the Holocaust (and WWII) didn't happen, where would we be with nuclear weapons? What kind of nations would the US and Britain be?

I guess since I lived through the following, I wish it had never happened: 9-11. A lot of good people died for no good reason. I didn't know anyone who died, but I'll never forget the sureal-ness of watching the 2nd tower go down live on TV. I still can't watch any of the movies because they will upset me.

I think Bush's reign would also be a lot different and the War on Iraq would have been a lot different if 9-11 hadn't happened. But 9-11 did open my eyes more to the fact that the rest of the world may not be willing to put up with the US's bullshit anymore. Just a thought.

4. If you could have the quality of a superhero. What quality would you want to possess? Would you use it for good or evil or both?

I would want to be able to read people's minds. But, I'd want the ability to turn it off too when I'd need too. I'd use it to benefit me, mostly, so is that good or evil?

If I were given the ability right now, I'd still be a math teacher. I'd just be the best one because then I could know what the kids are thinking so I'd be able to help them better. I think it would be so much easier to find a date too. Keeping one would be the problem :)

I wouldn't let too many people know or the government would want to use it for political negotiations, and then I think I'd die of boredom :)

5. If you could be a contestant on any of the reality t.v. shows which one would you want to be on and you have a strategy picked out for trying to win?

Easy. Survivor. When the show first came on, I was in love with it. I was obsessive with it (I have books and CDs and the game). In fact, I would have applied but you have to be a US citizen AND resident. I was going to get my citizenship (both my parents were born in the US, and my mom is still a citizen) to apply, but I wasn't going to live down there! Plus, the paper work is a giant pain in the ass.

If Survivor were offered to Canadians, I would sooo apply. I've thought of many strategies. One I had for a while, was to tell everyone I was a clerk at a photocopy shop (which has been my only real job besides teaching) but I wouldn't tell them I was a math teacher or that I went to university. Then they wouldn't think I'm as smart as I am .. which I think would help. I also realized I would ALWAYS be nice (but not too much to be annoying), never try to be the leader, and never complain.

It's funny you ask that question because I'm working on a blog entry where I compare student teaching to being on a reality TV show. You get judged two to three times a week, some people get "kicked off the island", some people quit, and there is always drama.

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I think if I thought about the questions for a week, I could give better answers. But I don't have a week to formulate perfect answers. Ok, so here's what's next:

If anyone would like to be interviewed ....

• Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
• I will respond by e-mailing you five questions. I get to pick them, and you have to answer them all.
• You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
• You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
• When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.