For the Record...

'Cause who knows if we'll ever see this again...

(Taken from the Chronicle Herald website sometime this week... 2008, not 1998)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all...

And a special one that I'm sure Dad will appreciate...

It can always be worse...

I don't know if I've ever been counting down to a break as much as I'm counting down to Christmas ("Holiday") Break. Four more days! But in the meantime, I have to remind myself that it can always be worse. Imagine how much these women must have looked forward to their Christmas breaks...

In 1915 female teachers were expected to obey rules like these:

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.

2. You are not to keep company with men. (oops)

3. You must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless attending a school function.

4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.

5. You may not travel beyond the city limits, unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.

6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7. You may not smoke cigarettes.

8. You may not dress in bright colours.

9. You may not under any circumstance dye your hair.

10. You must wear at least 2 petticoats.

11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than 2 inches above the ankle.

12. To keep the schoolroom neat and clean you must; sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once a week with hot soapy water; clean the blackboards at least once a day; and start the fire at 7am so the room will be warm by 8am.

This could be me...

By the way, this is from the Farmer's Almenac. One of the few interesting things that I got out of my Education degree.

Getting to Know me...

Because procrastinating is more fun than not procrastinating...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper is more fun to open.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial until I no longer live in an apartment.

3. When do you put up the tree? Hopefully soon. Once all this marking and planning gets done so I can relax and enjoy it.

4 When do you take the tree down? Whenever Craig takes it down.

5. Do you like eggnog? Egg nog lattes are the best thing ever.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I used to love getting Barbies. Why don't kids play with Barbies anymore???

7. Hardest person to buy for? Craig.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Mark. And Griffin.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No. Maybe Mom will give me one of her 600 nativity scenes :o)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? That's too mean. It's the thought that counts.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Charlie Brown. The original one with Linus and the story of Christmas.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? We had a snow day the other day, so I started then. Otherwise I would be starting after school lets out next Friday. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. But I work better under pressure.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Clementines, shortbread cookies, and holiday Mini Eggs. Oh, and egg nog lattes.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes. White ones.

17. Christmas song(s)? Any of the old church hymns. My favourite will always be "O Holy Night" followed by "The Bell Carol"

18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes. But it's "reindeers" without an apostrophe. Sorry, I'm always in teacher mode.

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning only. Craig always wants to open one on Christmas Eve, and every year I shoot down that suggestion.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? "Xmas". It's Christmas. Also, not being allowed to acknowledge Christmas at school.

22. Theme or color? For what?

23. Still do a stocking? We sit them out, but for some reason only Griffin's gets filled.

25. When do you go to Church? I haven't been to the Christmas Eve service since Mom and Dad moved to Ontario. Maybe when they move back. Hint hint.

In Honour of...

Cari, what did we name the starfish that we dissected in grade 10? Anyway, this is in honour of him, though I think it's supposed to be in honour of teachers.



The Starfish


There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back in the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?"


The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions af starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?" The old man looked at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, "I make a difference to this one."


-Unknown

I will not yell in class. I will not throw things in class. I will not get mad and hit anyone in class. I will not have a temper tantrum, and I will always be good...

...because I am the teacher, I am the teacher, I am the teacher...

I'm Back!

So, at the request of a Mr. Steve Dickinson (made on behalf of the wife, of course), I am going to start updating my blog again. I suppose now that I have received my new laptop, and am working a job that is never lacking in interesting stories, I really have no excuse. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking out my rough patch.

The good news is that I ended up getting full time work. I am now teaching grade 10 and 12 math at Citadel. The bad news...

http://news.aol.ca/article/student-halifax-teachers/389627/

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9009337.html

I have to follow the bad with the good, though. If there's one thing that I've been taught as a teacher, it's to try to make a "positive sandwich" out of everything. I'm attempting to attach a video that was made by some graduating students last year. It's incredibly well made, and one of the film makers actually went off to film school in Southern California. It's easy to see why! And it also made me think of our own graduation more than 10 years ago. Crazy!






So I have to admit that even after a rough day at school dealing with several teenagers who have no respect for authority or consequence, watching those videos gives me a completely different perspective on things. It gives me hope for these kids. So even on the days that I'm almost scared to be at the school, I have to remember why I'm there, and the influence that I can have over the future of these kids.

Okay, sap overload. I think that's enough for today. I'll end this post with a picture of me and Craig looking happy.




I'll be back! I promise :o)

Hi

I know I've been a little AWAL lately. Sorry to those of you that actually still come here looking for updates. I've just got a few things that I'm dealing with and trying to figure out, and I haven't really felt like talking about it. Hopefully I'll be back on track soon to regale you all with the ever fascinating happenings here in Halifax. Until then...

Summer So Far

So I had sorta given up on blogging for awhile, mainly because things are pretty uneventful around here. But I have been taking some pictures over the last couple months, so I guess it's time for an update. This is a bit of a mixed bag of the summer so far:

This is the first cruise ship that Craig and I went on a couple years ago. It comes to Halifax every couple of weeks. This particular Sunday was one of the nicest day we have had this summer. There was a ton of people around the waterfront. We took Griffin down so he could see the ship. Griffin snuck into the picture...
Then I just snapped a picture of Griffin.
Mom and Dad were here for a month. Soon enough they will be back in NS for good. It'll be fun to have a place to stay in Bridgewater again. These pictures were taken at Nanny's the night before they went back to Ontario.

Looks like Craig was attempting to smile. Mom and Dad looking all tan. Glad you were here when we actually had really nice weather!
Nanny not paying attention :o)

Last week Craig, Griffin, and I went to New Brunswick and PEI so Griffin could go to Crystal Palace and Sandspit. We had a good time despite the weather not being the greatest. Of course the day we had to come home was hot and sunny in PEI, but cold and rainy back in Halifax.

In NB we stayed at the Future Inn, since I get a crazy discount. I had to take a picture of the restaurant since it's the cousin of the restaurant that I work at.

The hotel was really new and nice. It has no pool, but other than that it was great!

In PEI we stopped at the little village by the bridge. I'm still not a fan of the bridge, but I don't find it quite as scary as I used to :o) You'll notice how cloudy it is.

Here's some Crystal Palace...
He made it almost to the very top.
The Homonculous man was my favourite part! I felt smart since I actually knew what it was. Nice to see I learned something during my psych degree.

Then it was my birthday - the big 08/08/08. I still can't believe I forgot to buy a lotto ticket. If there was ever a day I would win, it was on that day! Oh well. We had a fun time at the Fireside. Hopefully the ladies had a good time at Pacifico after. I just don't have the stamina that I used to. How on earth did we used to stay up all night? Anyway, it was fun to see everyone! Next big event - Adam and Laura's wedding!

Oh, and you may notice that a lot of my hair is gone. At least it felt like a lot when it was lying in heaps on the floor of the salon.
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. Back to school soon...

Reflection

Wow, twice within a 24 hour period! I'm on a roll. Actually, I just feel very reflective. My Education program may have been total malarky, but if there's one thing it taught me, it's how to reflect. I'm sure anyone who has even taken an Education program knows what I mean!

I was walking home from the restaurant today (bad idea considering I'm not used to running around like that - my feet are killing me!), and usually my walking time is spent stressing about whatever there is to stress about. But I realized today that for the first time in ages, I had nothing to stress about! I actually feel happy. It's strange, but this past year (school year, I mean), has given me a new outlook. As bad as things may have seemed at the time (and a couple days after junior high subbing, things seemed very very bad!), I only look back at the positives. As annoying as the students could be, I actually miss them! All of them! The weather is beautiful. I think summer is finally here! And even working at the restaurant today was good. I don't know how long this cheery mood will continue, but in the meantime I plan to enjoy it!

Weekend

The last few days have been pretty busy. School ended last Friday so the Citadel staff had a party at one of the teachers' gorgeous house on a lake. They even had fireworks, though it didn't seem terribly safe. I don't know if it's a good idea to read the directions on the package of fireworks using the flare as your light. But it was a good show, and no one got hurt! It was a good time. You know you're from Nova Scotia when you drink red wine out of a plastic Keith's cup! I'm a classy girl!

Sunday Craig and I decided to take off for a couple days, so he booked a room at White Point. The room was really nice. I actually took a couple pictures. The weather wasn't great for the most part, but it was still nice to get away together.

Yesterday for Canada Day we went to my aunt and uncle's house in the valley. The weather was great, but the bugs left something to be desired. But we had good food and good company, so I can almost forget the bugs. Almost. We didn't make it to the fireworks downtown, but I did manage to catch the Ottawa fireworks on TV. I think they were probably a little better than the Halifax ones would have been. Happy 141st birthday Canada!

Finally, today is my last day of my little mini vacation, since it's back to work tomorrow. I decided that I would go nuts this summer with nothing to do, so I decided to return to the wonderful world of serving. Crazy, I know. But it'll keep me busy, and will hopefully make me enough cash to buy myself that laptop that I've had my eye on.

Actually, there is one other thing I wanted to say. Congratulations to Robin on your wedding! Everything and everyone looked beautiful. Wish I could have been there!

I guess that's all for now. Wish me luck at the restaurant tomorrow! Time to go shopping for new shoes (albeit boring black work shoes, but still shoes nonetheless!).

Time Flies

Looking back it's hard to believe that we graduated 10 years ago. I was thinking how crazy this was today while watching the Citadel High graduation. Oh the hopes and dreams we had at our graduation. How naive we were! But I think it all worked out. The best part of the day was seeing the students that I taught, however briefly, walk across the stage. I got a little weepy. I don't even think I cried at my own grad! Anyway, congrats to the first ever graduating class of Citadel High.

Here's me and Nicole wearing our teacher sashes.

Oops

Okay, I guess it's time for an update. Things have been a little crazed lately, but they are now finally slowing down. I have two exams left, and then a week of grad type stuff. Getting paid to not do much. Works for me! This opportunity has been great, and it's satisfying now that things are coming to an end. It's also kind of entertaining to see all the students stressing about my exam!

In other news, when not doing school work or replying to panicky e-mails from students, I have been trying to spend time with my parents who are visiting for a month. They are currently browsing the housing market in Bridgewater. I really hope they find something. It would be fun to be able to escape back to Bridgewater from time to time.

Other than that, I don't have much going on. I'm pretty boring, hence the not blogging much lately. I also haven't been too good with the picture-taking lately. But since this is a pretty dull post, here's the unit circle...


Don't ask.

A Day at the Park

It seems as though the weather around here has been following a consistent pattern - beautiful and sunny during the week, cold and rainy on the weekends. So when it was sunny and 17 on Sunday, we decided to go out to the Wildlife Park in Shubenacadie. All the animals seemed to be out in full force. This peacock even stood by the sign and posed for the camera. Well, at least I like to think that's what it was doing...This picture's kinda creepy. I'm glad there was a fence there.

The little baby goat was so cute, climbing all over its parents.

The sea otters were adorable. They were so active, it was really hard to get these pictures.

This bear was pigging out on an ant hill.

We had a nice day. It was good to get out for awhile, since most of the long weekend was spent doing school work. Now that I know I'm going to be at Citadel until the end of the year, I'm really feeling the crunch. But it's all good!

Yah for Jobs!

Just a quick little update, while I have a minute. First, I would like to say congrats to Cari on your new job! I'm so glad that you were finally able to find something that will not only use your degree, but that will challenge you. I can't wait to hear more about how it's going and exactly what it entails. I know you'll be awesome!

On a similar note, I think your good employment fortune may have rubbed off on me, because the same day you got your new job, I found out I would be able to return to the classroom that I was in earlier in the semester. And the best news is that it may end up being until the end of the year! It's at least until June 5, and hopefully the school will decide at that point that it doesn't make sense to change teachers at that point.

So I'll be a little busy for the next little while, lost in the world of trig and logarithms. Let's hope I'm able to rise to the occcasion, and kick some butt! It's not easy jumping in in the middle of the semester, having no idea where the last teacher left off or what she's covered. But I'll do my best! As one of the students said on my first day back, I'm home!

My Week

I've bookended this post with pictures of cute kittens. They're not my kittens, but cute kittens always make me happy. And I feel like I need cute kittens this week. I have to be honest, it's been kind of a crappy week. Crappy enough that I haven't felt like posting anything. But now I feel this overwhelming need to vent.

It's been the slowest week subbing-wise since January. And after being busy for a few months, I feel like I'm going to go out of my skin now that I have nothing to do. I know that my top two schools are keeping me at the top of their list, and are trying to get me in as much as possible, but it's hard to get a sub in when you have no teachers out. This whole thing has jump-started my hunt for a summer job which I was hoping I could avoid for at least another month. But all this wouldn't be that big of a deal on its own. I should take this little lull and enjoy it while it lasts. But it's easier said than done.

I know I've already mentioned about this long-term sub position that I was enjoying, but got bumped out of when a permanent teacher ran out of sick days and needed to come back. But I keep hearing things about her that make me crazy. The latest is that she didn't even bother sticking around for parent-teacher yesterday. I mean, she didn't even stay for middle-of-the-afternoon-during-school-hours parent-teacher much less evening parent-teacher. She couldn't even be bothered to meet with the parents of 2 advanced classes and a grade 12 class that is preparing for the big provincial exam in May. Apparently so many parents showed up that three and a half sheets of looseleaf were full of names and contact information. I just hate to hear about someone making such a mockery out of a job that I really wanted, and a job in which I actually cared about the students.

Craig often talks about how much he hates unions. He is part of the NSGEU, and feels that they don't benefit the good workers, and seem to only protect the crappy workers. I never really thought too much about it until it actually affected me. So now, not only is this teacher practically taking money out of my pocket that I would be making, but she's really making it seem to the students that she doesn't care about them. The whole thing has gotten me so worked up that I just had to let it out.

I think that's the end of my rant right now. Here's cute kitty #2...

The Latest

I wish I had enough excitement going on in order to write something here everyday, but unfortunately I'm just not that interesting. I had a really good week at Halifax West this past week, and really enjoy going there, but I'm still really hoping that something will work out at Citadel. For those who I haven't told, I was looking pretty good to get a long term sub position there, but alas I lose out to seniority. Gotta love unions (*silently curses unions*). Things were going great until the department head found out that one of his teachers who went on sick leave last semester had run out of sick days. She was a permanent post teacher, but her position got filled with a term contract position, so she couldn't just jump back into her old job. But they had to find somewhere to put her. So... three guesses who gets bumped...

After being there for only a week and a half, I had already developed a great relationship with the students, and when they found out I was leaving, they wanted to riot the union. It was actually pretty sweet. The good news, at least, is that the teacher who is in there now is apparently sounding pretty sick (I received an update from a student) so I'm hoping... Okay, so maybe it's not so nice to hope someone gets sick, but if she goes out again, I get to go back in! I think the reason it was so hard to leave was that for the first time since I started teaching, I actually really enjoyed myself and felt like a real teacher. Plus it was a lot of fun being at the same school as Nicole. Students got a kick out of there being two Ms. Whynots!

So, in the meantime, here are some cute teacher comics. Hopefully nobody gets mad that I post these. They're not mine!


Sad but true...
I've definitely felt like this a couple times...



Real math geeks will get this one...

I'll have to use this next time a student asks why they need to know something...

Keep your fingers crossed for me...