Empty Office

Our Fearless Leader was away all week due to a death in his family. Hopefully he has had a rich time with his family remembering his loved one and feels rejuvenated by the time together.

When I heard that he was going to be away there was some panic at first. He is the last stand of discipline for students who are not able to make good choices in the classroom. His office is a sanctuary of focused work for others who find the classroom overstimulating at times. I was sure that we couldn't last a whole week without him. What would I do when Incredible Hulk started to turn green?

So, I arrived at school Monday with a gentle fluttering of fear stirring in my heart. They wafted away with the breeze of students coming in the door. By Wednesday I realized that I have been depending on him more than I needed to and found that my students respond better when they have to face consequences from me with me (which means at least one recess spent in detention a day for me, but it is a small penalty to pay for actual learning to happen during class).

By Friday, I was feeling the old joy in teaching and actually was smiling and laughing with my students. There were several moments in the afternoon (a Friday afternoon to boot) where there was student-driven discussion going on. When I realized what was happening, I almost fell off my chair. Where was the kicking and screaming that is usually a part of our afternoons?

My biggest lessons this week:

1. Be myself with my students. Laugh, wonder, ask questions, take time to enjoy moments for the joy they hold.


2. Be firm and hold the line no matter what. There really is such a thing as too many warnings before a consequence is felt. One warning is enough for students to make a positive choice. A classroom can and should be a place where every one's desire to learn is honoured.


3. I cannot be joyful when trying to fit myself into the mold of another teacher. I must be ME. My joy then encourages my students to find theirs.

So, as our Fearless Leader's office is no longer dark and empty tomorrow morning, I hope to burden him less with students from my classroom. We will work together as a learning community in the classroom and we will take joy in the journey together.

On a lazy Sunday afternoon...

First it was the heli-ambulance. That in itself in not uncommon on the weekend. Then there were several planes in the sky. One plane passing over is unremarkable, but two circling Grassy means something is up.

We wandered out onto the front porch just in time to see a bright yellow plane fly right over the house. It was almost close enough to touch.

"My, that's low. Is it a water bomber?" I asked LK.

"Yup, that means there's a fire."

Funny, we had just been discussing what a dry spring it has been and how we hope it doesn't stay dry all summer. That is worrisome up here. Last summer the rain was worrisome. Now lack of rain.

"I smell smoke."

"Me too, but I just assumed it was someone else burning grass."

As other teachers came outside we all gathered along the edge of the driveway at the top of the bank. The yellow bomber circled around again. This time it dropped behind the trees that cover the banks bordering our bay of the lake.

"Is it filling up on the lake?"

"I think so!"

"Cool! Look, Jo. "

And so we had a short lesson on how water bombers fight forest fires as we watched it climb again. It banked over Grassy and dumped a load of lake water. Jo was in heaven. Mighty Machines right here at home!

"Where is the fire?" we all wondered.

The smoke was billowing still and the bomber circled around for another scoop and drop. After the third pass it moved away and a smaller plane circled over the smoke. This was the scout plane that was checking to see if more water-drops were needed. A helicopter flew in.

"Is someone hurt?"

"No, that isn't the heli-ambulance."

"What helicopter is it?"

It was too far to read markings on the side. But it's destination was clearly not the Clinic. It settled into the trees right where little puffs of smoke still wafted up into the sky.

We watched the two planes circle the Reserve waiting to hear whether more water was needed.

When the chopper lifted, the water bomber dropped another load. Then one more.

Then they all disappeared.

Quiet returned and we drifted back into our houses to make supper.

Finally Over

My goodness it has been a long week.

The first few days was a mad rush to finish final rotational grades for report cards and get them printed and safely stashed on the server for perpetuity. And trying to accomplish everything on the to do list with more missing prep. Grrr.

Then one of my students called me the F-bomb again, which is really not okay in a classroom, and was suspended for the second time in a month. I don't know how to help this child. Everything I try to do to help her just provokes anger. So I am waiting for a meeting with the parent before she can come back. The waiting make me stressed. And the sadness in not being able to reach this students makes me miserable.

Fi was complaining of a sore tummy all day Thursday. I was very worried when she dashed across the hall at 3:25 (her classroom is across from mine - very cool, sometimes I can wave at her working while I teach - how lucky am I?) clutching her hand over her mouth, eyes bulging. I grabbed a garbage can, but nothing happened. So we persevered.

That night it was Parent-Teacher Conferences. They were a resounding success with the highest parent attendance in years (for the elementary wing at least). However, since all our normal colleague-babysitters were working, we had no childcare. So we dragged our poor Little People with us from 5-8. This was not bad for Fi, as she is often curled up in bed reading quietly until almost 8 anyway. But Jo is usually asleep by 7:00. He was racing up and down the halls by 7:15 shouting out for my boys to come and play with him. Nice to know that he feels at home, but not exactly conducive to productive meetings with parents.

LK stayed home with the very overtired and somewhat sick Little People yesterday. It was not the least bit relaxing or fun for him, and when I called at noon he wished that he was at school. "They are at each other's throats," he moaned. I clucked in sympathy and was thankful that it was his turn to be at home. My Little People are not very good patients unless they are really sick. When they are just feeling miserable, they take it out on each other.

Fi waited to barf until today. In the car. Halfway to town. Fortunately, she warned us and LK pulled over just in time. Unfortunately she only got halfway out of the car. Fortunately she missed the car completely due to the projectile style of this barf. Unfortunately I was right in the line of fire and got covered shoulders to knees. YUCK! Fortunately we had water and wipes and could keep trucking - with the windows open. And, I got a new outfit out of it.

So, this week is finally over. I thank God for that. I am praying that next week is just a bit quieter and more peaceful. If not, I will need a double dose of grace poured out to handle it all.

Anticipation

I have finished my teacher homework (this idea makes my students grin - that their teacher has homework too) and I am winding down before bed by thinking ahead. I am not thinking about lessons to come (that wouldn't help me wind down). I am thinking about summer.

The countdown to summer has begun. Everyone is counting - students, teachers, and even our principal. He has announced how many weeks left until summer vacation over the PA during morning announcements several times now.

Without a doubt summer is the favourite time of year in Canada.

I am anticipating it with particular joy this year. It has been a challenging year, and I am tired. But also I am eagerly looking forward to reconnecting.

We have made plans to camp with friends for a few days. This looks like it may turn into a small group. That makes my extroverted little heart go pitter-patter just a bit faster. AND two of my dearest friends from the big city are in the group; my scrapping girls. If only I could think of a way to scrapbook together on our campsite... Reconnecting over the campfire will be just as sweet.

We will spend time with LK's family. They have been gracious beyond gracious about sharing their home since we moved far away. And we revel in the joy of family gatherings in their backyard. Reconnecting around the patio and BBQ with kids wrangling on the lawn will be sweet.

We will spend the Civic holiday weekend with my family. This has become a family tradition that I missed last year. I an so excited to be part of it again this year. I may even be brave enough to participate in canoe races rather than watch from the sidelines. Reconnecting through swims across the lake and long runs to exercise puppy dogs (all 4 of them) will be sweet.

There are voices, views, and many moments that I look forward to savouring. So tonight, as I put aside the work of the day, I anticipate summer sweetness.

Good night.

SPRING

Spring is here in full force. The lake opened up completely in the last twenty-four hours. It looks like summertime from here (sitting on the front porch), but the water is really cold.

We just came back from a Sunday hike (the Grassy equivalent of a Sunday drive). LK and the kids went up the big hill behind the house to take pics. Of course with the Human Bear-Warning System (Jo - who never stops talking, particularly when having fun on a hike) on full volume there were no living creatures to been seen. When they came down around the paths behind the house I joined them for the trek down to the lake.

Jo spotted a foot-long snapping turtle as we arrived down at the lake's edge, but for some reason the turtle wasn't interested in hanging around with the Human Bear-Warning System. So she slipped off into the depths of the ice-cold water. Sorry we ruined your sunbathing, turtle.

In town yesterday I badgered my poor spouse into purchasing we picked up a big plastic bucket for all the outside toys that are always dragging sand into the house, or get left on the lawn for bears to chew (which is how we lost a soccer ball last spring). The bucket is a lovely olive green which blends in with the outdoors nicely and has rope handles for dragging it about. The top of the bucket reaches to Jo's waist which makes for an interesting view while he reaches for the bottom of the bucket to get his shovel. I am waiting for him to fall in.

Quiet Sunday afternoons are the best. A leisurely hike, some sitting on the porch, watching the Sprouts muck about. Fi is sitting beside me working on her Zine. She decided to publish a Zine this morning and is busy filling her "Art Lovers" page with a sketch of the lake. Jo is in the sand pile with his shovel, bucket and truck giving a running commentary on everything he does; his verbal blog, one could say. That apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Sticky Fingers

Someone in my classroom has sticky fingers. There have been a number of items taken from desks, mine included, as well as from the classroom in general over the course of the year. Usually it is annoying and frustrating. Today it hurt.

We had a good day. Students who often struggle to maintain their focus on learning in the afternoon were still cheerful 20 minutes before dismissal. When Incredible Hulk asked, "Were we good today?" we had a short discussion about how a few bad choices don't have to make a bad day. Even though there were consequences we didn't let them ruin the day. I was proud of them and the progress they have made.

We ended the day with 20 minutes of really enjoyable free time. Everyone was getting along and was participating positively in some activity. It was great.

Great until one of the girls tried to use a CD ROM on the computer. It was nowhere to be found. It seems to have grown feet and walked away. Not the case, just the CD ROM. It was my own personal property, and so I wasn't too happy with the disappearance. However, grace abounds and the students present seemed as distressed as I was about the disappearance. It could have walked away anytime in the last two days.

But then, after the last ones had left the room I went to my desk to open the bottle of flavoured water that I had been saving for the end of the day as a treat, and found it gone. Since I am very capable of misplacing stuff, I hunted everywhere. Also nowhere to be found. LK even came in and hunted through the room for both items. Nada.

I distinctly remember a students asking me if the water was mine less than an hour before school was done. I can't remember who. I didn't see anyone walk out with it. This time I was less filled with grace and more filled with anger.

We have talked about respecting my desk as a personal space with confidential stuff on it. (I know that some teachers feel strongly that having a private teacher space is not right in a classroom, but I need somewhere to plan and mark and keep the million bits of paperwork that are part of the job). I have made an office wall, a-la Les Nesman, with tape on the floor to remind students that this space is out-of-bounds (which is not a normal barrier for me - it was necessary after the last round of missing things). I was really, really disappointed.

So, now I am trying to figure out how to handle the situation. I can't punish the whole class for the damage of one or two; that would be unjust. I don't know who the one or two are. I hate doing the 'interrogator' thing. I feel personally attacked - which is probably the point- and I don't want to lay myself out there to be hurt again.

I will. Come Monday I will get up for work and walk back into that classroom and deal with it. Because, I am the grown up and a professional. But I won't trust again for a long time. That acount is overdrawn with this class. And I think it is time to pack up my personal stuff from the classroom and bring it home.

Where is the chocolate are my running shoes when I need it them? I need to drown my sorrows.

Easter Celebrations

Now that we both blog there is sometimes a little competition about who gets the story told first. Well, LK got it down first and told it beautifully, with pics (of course). So follow the link to his blog to read about our Easter morning adventure. http://thistimearound-lpk.blogspot.com/ It was lots of fun.

After such a lovely weekend it is a bit hard to dig in and get back to work. Report cards are due Thursday, but the sun is shining and beckons me to go sit on the porch. Maybe I'll get the work done after a cup of tea.

Or, maybe my power cord will stretch outside...

New Shoes

I have a few deep passions; dark chocolate, my spouse, and shoes! I love an elegantly arched 3-inch heel and the curves of a calf in a pair of knee-high boots. Shoes are just fabulous! Plus they don't show a few pounds.

Over the past year and a half I have turned from a teacher who ignores the pain that those shoes and boots inflict when worn to school because a girl just has to look good into a teacher who occasionally rocks out the heels when feeling rebellious, but generally wears a classic pair of flats to school. Until today.

Today I purchased my first pair of Merrell hikers. I think it may be very first pair of hikers. I have bought cheaper shoes that were supposed to be hikers in the trail runner style, but they were a sad, sad excuse for a pair of shoes.

My new shoes are amazing. They are actually lighter than a pair of ballet flats! They look cute peeking out from under the hems of my jeans. They are really comfortable and I am looking forward to wearing them all day then being able to hike home from school in them and not have sore feet.

Not that I am going to retire the heels. They will have a place of honour in my closet. They will just move out of the daily rotation.

Summer Dreams

That time of year has come around yet again, when the thoughts of all teachers, young and old, turn from thoughts of rubrics and exemplars to thoughts of camping and canoeing (in Canada, anyway).

Side note, I really have to laugh here, as my thoughts have never before turned to camping and canoeing. Too much of a city slicker. They always went to espadrilles and barbecues. But this summer, camping and canoeing all the way, baby! Although I might have a pair of espadrilles still tucked away in the "city clothes" boxes somewhere.

So, this teacher is starting to make summer plans. Now that we are a 2-teacher household the summer holidays has an increased lure of yard-duty-free mornings and marking-free evenings. Hmmm, that sounds so blissful!

Anyway, we are planning to head south again to do a tour of the beloved ones down there. We are planning to take it a little more leisurely this year; no mad dashes down in time for Father's Day. We learned a lot from our mistakes last year and will keep our trip to under a month for the sake of our own sanity.

We also want to take a little time for some holiday time as a nuclear family unit. Got to get that camping in to maintain our Canadian citizenship.

Mucking About

We have an odd report card timeline at school. Term 2 reports are due in the office this coming Thursday. Yes, I know that the year is 3/4 over and that really isn't a logical time for a second report. It seems to be a timeline that is the result of an elementary and a high school sharing a building. I don't know what the exact reasoning is...

Anyway, LK is upstairs this afternoon working hard on getting all his grades into the computer and tallied up so that he can write reports over the next week. Since I was the recipient of a fabulous Christmas gift (my dearly loved laptop) from a fabulous spouse, my grades are up-to-date. So I am on duty with the Little People today.

After lunch we had an hour of 'play time' independently. That usually means 10 minutes of cheerful giggling and laughter followed by 15 minutes of crying and Mommy marching upstairs to mediate amidst the tears.

That was followed by half an hour of prepping the April birthday cards for mailing. Both kids got involved, so some envelopes are slightly crumpled. However, cards will be on time for the first month this year. (I have been a bit lax with my card making and mailing this year). There were far fewer tears in that activity than the independent play.

Then we donned splash pants, boots, coats and 'spring mittens' for a trek outside. After examining the neighbour's' porch, which is covered in items from inside the house while they are doing their spring cleaning, we headed down to the lake.

The ice on the lake is slowly melting. We could actually hear it if we stopped and listened very closely. Then we meandered along the lake shore for about a half an hour. We stopped for some rock throwing, examined all sorts of interesting things that caught our eyes along the shoreline, and then made our way back up to the road.

Since the kids were only just starting to tire, we then climbed the hill behind the house and mucked about on the 'big rocks'. It made me realize how quickly my Little People are growing up. Jo was clambering up and down the rock faces. Fi kept giving him coaching about how to approach each rock. He didn't listen. He just tackled everything head on without an apparent strategy. He is brimming with enthusiasm for exploration.

Then, as his clambering turned more into staggering we made our way home. Both kids are pooped from the climbing and so it seemed a good time for some TV. Since we don't have satellite that means a DVD.

As spring is creeping ever closer outside, my children chose to watch "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". They are quite a pair, my Little People. Christmas in April.