Well, I am really on the mend - I think. Yesterday, I thought I was feeling better, then the tummy started up again. Today, other than a lot of burping, I seem to be okay. This is the first time, though, that I have ever taken Tums - that has always been Dad's medicine - but today the gas was so bad, he suggested I try it. Turns out - it works. :-) I actually ate a decent supper tonight for the first time in ages - we had the missionaries over and I asked Dad to do a barbecue. He cooked chicken and sausages with onions and I made a garden salad and a potato salad. It was very yummy and it felt really good to be able to eat 'real food' for a change. I was able to do some real work around the house today, too, which, although I do not like doing housework, actually felt good. :-)
Yesterday, I worked on school stuff - cutting out and laminating and then cutting out again some language cards/games which the students will be using during our literacy rotations. Today, I spent the afternoon working on my plan for next week - it felt really good to get it all sorted out, including the things I need photocopied and laminated. I know it doesn't sound very exciting to you guys, but I really like to be fully organized before I start a week of teaching. Tomorrow, I will plan out the next nine weeks of the term, in general, so that I have a broad idea of what I want to do - as we go from day to day, I change things as I need to.
Dad has spent the last two days doing census and church stuff. He worked on next Sunday's lesson for a while, but spent most of his time preparing the training he will have to do with his collectors, meeting with some people at the establishments which need to do the census collecting themselves and training some of them, and marking a 'home study exercise' which his collectors did so that he can figure out which areas he really needs to focus on when he does his collectors' training this Friday.
Again, another exciting two days in the lives of Mom and Dad. :-)
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Well, I am well and truly frustrated now - this back pain is officially the most annoying thing I have ever had to deal with (except for labour, that is :-) On Friday, I was feeling much better - the stomach pain was still there a little, but the back pain was doing much better. Then, I noticed yesterday that there was this green discharge (don't get grossed out, Grandpa :-) on my panty liner. That really worried me, so yesterday, we drove over to the hospital emergency room so that I could see a doctor about it. Turns out they don't have walk-in clinics here in Hervey Bay, so if you need to see a doctor outside the hours of 9am - 5:30pm, you have to go to the emerg. When we got there, though, there were tons of people there - I am sure it would have been a four - five hour wait and so I told Dad that we were not going to stay. This morning, when I woke up, there was the green discharge again and so I decided that I would go back to the hospital after church today. I was in and out in 1 1/4 hours which was great. I ended up being called in by a woman doctor - she told me that when she had seen my chart, she chose it because she didn't think that I would want to be 'checked out' by a strange male doctor. :-) She asked me all sorts of questions about my symptons (we had checked things out on the net, so I knew most of the questions ahead of time) and then she took a swab. She said she would call me in a week if there was anything to report. She said that she thinks it's just a virul infection, but will call me if anything shows up. She also said that I should come back in a couple of days if the lower back pain and tummy pains haven't gone. I sure hope they go soon cuz it's so annoying (oh yeah, I already said that! :-)
Dad spent Friday at the FHC - he helped some new people who had never been in the FHC before. The rest of the day he spent time updating the computers, checking in the new films and checking out the old films. Most of the day, it wasn't too exciting, but they're jobs which need to be done. Dad really does enjoy helping people begin their genealogy search, though - and it's always great when non-members show up at the Centre - the word is really getting around Hervey Bay. Dad spent Saturday working on church stuff - especially working on things which need to be done for two events coming up to do with genealogy. There's going to be a genealogy open day on July 30th and a genealogy Sacrament meeting on the Sunday before that. I spent time doing schoolwork and church stuff as well.
Today, I ended up teaching the whole primary - one of our teachers left for Melbourne this past week and our other teacher was sick today (we don't have a Valiant teacher right now) - fortunately, it went really well - I was talking about how much Jesus and Heavenly Father love everyone in the world and so sends his Spirit to help the missionaries to spread the gospel. I then had the kids draw a picture of them 'being a missionary' - they drew things like them singing gospel songs, being baptized, being Elders when they grow up, sharing a Book of Mormon with a friend, etc. It was so wonderful seeing their little drawings (we wrote on them what they were doing in the picture) - I am going to send a letter to a young man from our ward who just left for the Missionary Training Centre this week explaining to him about our lesson and enclosing the pictures. One of our missionaries in our ward now said that Reece (our new missionary) would love that.
Dad spent Friday at the FHC - he helped some new people who had never been in the FHC before. The rest of the day he spent time updating the computers, checking in the new films and checking out the old films. Most of the day, it wasn't too exciting, but they're jobs which need to be done. Dad really does enjoy helping people begin their genealogy search, though - and it's always great when non-members show up at the Centre - the word is really getting around Hervey Bay. Dad spent Saturday working on church stuff - especially working on things which need to be done for two events coming up to do with genealogy. There's going to be a genealogy open day on July 30th and a genealogy Sacrament meeting on the Sunday before that. I spent time doing schoolwork and church stuff as well.
Today, I ended up teaching the whole primary - one of our teachers left for Melbourne this past week and our other teacher was sick today (we don't have a Valiant teacher right now) - fortunately, it went really well - I was talking about how much Jesus and Heavenly Father love everyone in the world and so sends his Spirit to help the missionaries to spread the gospel. I then had the kids draw a picture of them 'being a missionary' - they drew things like them singing gospel songs, being baptized, being Elders when they grow up, sharing a Book of Mormon with a friend, etc. It was so wonderful seeing their little drawings (we wrote on them what they were doing in the picture) - I am going to send a letter to a young man from our ward who just left for the Missionary Training Centre this week explaining to him about our lesson and enclosing the pictures. One of our missionaries in our ward now said that Reece (our new missionary) would love that.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Well, hallelujah, I am on the mend. I am feeling much better today - still not completely healthy, but at least I am eating normal stuff (although much less than what I normally eat). I just feel so grateful not to be hurting (although my back still hurts when I sit down - weird, but it doesn’t hurt when I am standing) . I’m going to see a chiropractor and see what they can do for me. I have spent the past two days sitting in my chair and doing school work - I am trying to get all my ideas organized and then all the stuff prepared this week. I would like to take next week off and really have a holiday before I go back for ten weeks of teaching.
Dad has been working on census stuff and church stuff over the past two days. He went out yesterday to contact some more people who need to do some collecting of information for the census at their establishments. He was able to get a hold of everyone he needed to, which was great. He has appointments set up next week for all the people he contacted - he will be doing the training for collecting information for the census when he meets up with each of these people.
So, that's it for today - I know it's a very short one, but when you're sick, there's not much happening. :-)
Dad has been working on census stuff and church stuff over the past two days. He went out yesterday to contact some more people who need to do some collecting of information for the census at their establishments. He was able to get a hold of everyone he needed to, which was great. He has appointments set up next week for all the people he contacted - he will be doing the training for collecting information for the census when he meets up with each of these people.
So, that's it for today - I know it's a very short one, but when you're sick, there's not much happening. :-)
Tuesday, June 28th
Wow, I am so tired of being under the weather! I am so not used to this and I'm not a good sickie! :-)Besides having a stuffed nose, I now have back pains and stomach pains. I've been having trouble sleeping as well with the back pain. It makes me very appreciative of the normally good health I enjoy and I have told myself that I need to be more thankful for good health (when I get better). Yesterday, I rested in the morning and then headed over to a friend's house to help her clean her house as she is moving to Melbourne to get married. Two other friends met us there, so it didn't take us too long to get the house mostly in order. I was quite worn out by the time I got back from the cleaning, and so I spent the evening relaxing in my chair watching a movie we had rented from the library.
Dad spent the day doing census stuff again. He had to read through his training information so that he could make sure he was ready to do the training of his collectors which will take place a week Friday. He's getting a bit anxious at how much he has to do in the time he has to do it in, but I keep telling him that things will be fine - he works hard and wants to make sure that he has all his i's dotted and t's crossed.
Today, I had a six hour meeting with Chantelle at our house. She came over so that we could plan out our term three. It will be ten weeks long - doesn't sound too long, so I am sure I will be counting down the weeks as we go along. :-) We were able to do a rough plan of our literacy units, math units and theme units. We came up with a lot of ideas together and I think we have a good plan set out. We still have to make it a bit more specific in some areas, but it's a place to start. We won't start this plan until the second week for the most part. The kids don't start until the Tuesday and we will need time to get things photocopied, etc. I also want to buy some baskets like I used to have in Canada. Because I want to do centres (they call them 'rotations' here), I will need a basket for each group which means 15 boxes: 5 for language, 5 for math and 5 for the theme. It was actually a little bit exciting doing all the planning and I hope that things will pick up in the classroom and be a more positive experience.
Dad spent his day mostly out of the house - he has to contact people at about 12 establishments who he will train to be census collectors at these establishments. The reason Dad's collectors won't be doing this at these places is because people come and go often from these places - they are short-term accomodation like hotels, backpacker resorts, etc. He also has a nursing home in his area which has to be done by the people hired at the nursing home due to privacy issues. Dad was able to visit four of these places today and will be trying to get out and see the rest some time this week.
We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight - even though I wasn't feeling well (they had a delicious honey/mustard chicken meal and I ate mashed potatoes with ketchup and chicken noodle soup), we did manage to get in two games of cribbage. :-) We spent the rest of the evening watching tv - boy, our lives are getting pretty boring, eh? :-)
Dad spent the day doing census stuff again. He had to read through his training information so that he could make sure he was ready to do the training of his collectors which will take place a week Friday. He's getting a bit anxious at how much he has to do in the time he has to do it in, but I keep telling him that things will be fine - he works hard and wants to make sure that he has all his i's dotted and t's crossed.
Today, I had a six hour meeting with Chantelle at our house. She came over so that we could plan out our term three. It will be ten weeks long - doesn't sound too long, so I am sure I will be counting down the weeks as we go along. :-) We were able to do a rough plan of our literacy units, math units and theme units. We came up with a lot of ideas together and I think we have a good plan set out. We still have to make it a bit more specific in some areas, but it's a place to start. We won't start this plan until the second week for the most part. The kids don't start until the Tuesday and we will need time to get things photocopied, etc. I also want to buy some baskets like I used to have in Canada. Because I want to do centres (they call them 'rotations' here), I will need a basket for each group which means 15 boxes: 5 for language, 5 for math and 5 for the theme. It was actually a little bit exciting doing all the planning and I hope that things will pick up in the classroom and be a more positive experience.
Dad spent his day mostly out of the house - he has to contact people at about 12 establishments who he will train to be census collectors at these establishments. The reason Dad's collectors won't be doing this at these places is because people come and go often from these places - they are short-term accomodation like hotels, backpacker resorts, etc. He also has a nursing home in his area which has to be done by the people hired at the nursing home due to privacy issues. Dad was able to visit four of these places today and will be trying to get out and see the rest some time this week.
We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight - even though I wasn't feeling well (they had a delicious honey/mustard chicken meal and I ate mashed potatoes with ketchup and chicken noodle soup), we did manage to get in two games of cribbage. :-) We spent the rest of the evening watching tv - boy, our lives are getting pretty boring, eh? :-)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Boy, am I ever glad that I am on holidays! The next two weeks will be heaven! :-) Friday was our last day for two weeks and one day to be exact - the teachers go back one day before the kids do. The students weren't too bad on Friday, although James, who is a little different (we think he might have some form of autism), was really 'off' on that day. He tends to want to do things when he wants to do things and doesn't like to be told what to do when if he is not ready to do it. I finally had had enough of his behaviour and so I took three stars off him and he missed his playtime at first break. He was fine the rest of the day. I can see that I am going to have to be much firmer with him once we get back from holidays and that goes for the rest of those 'challenge' children as well.
The 'stars' thing is a classroom management tool which the previous teacher had started. Each day every child starts with three stars beside their name on a chart and every time they do something they are not supposed to do, they have to take a star off the chart. If they lose three stars, they have to miss their recess time. I was talking with my TA, Sam, the other day and told her that I wanted to do something to show those who make good choices that I appreciate them. So, when we get back, I am going to have another chart in the classroom. If a child does not get any stars taken off them by the end of the day, I will let them give themselves a stamp on the chart and when they get so many stamps, I will give them a sticker. I am not really a sticker kind of teacher, but I want to do something for those who always do what they should be doing.
Dad spent the day doing census stuff again. He finished sorting census forms into the seven areas, he read what he had to do to train his collectors and got the stuff together which he will need to use during the training of his collectors. He also unpacked one of our boxes which had the computer tower in it - he wanted to get this done so that he could finally have access to some files which he needed and also to be able to connect the printer to the tower so that he doesn't have to take his laptop into the office every time he wants to print something.
We had take-out Friday night as neither Dad nor I wanted to cook dinner - we just had hamburgers and fries from the local convenience store. We then flopped into our chairs and watched tv for the evening. There's not much on on Friday nights until 10pm when 'Law and Order' comes on, but even though that's one of my favourite shows, I was so tired by about 10:30pm, that I told Dad I was taking myself off to bed.
Yesterday was one lazy day for me - I told myself that I wouldn't do anything school-related yesterday and I didn't. :-) I watched some tv and took a bath and read my book. I was reading a book called 'Midwives' about a midwife who was taken to court when she cut open a woman who she thought was dead so that she could save the baby (the pregnant woman had no pulse). I got about half way through the book and although it was an interesting story, I just found that it went on too long - so I turned to the end of the book to find out how the story ends. Then, I started ready my new book 'Caleb's Crossing' which is based on the life of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College (in Martha's Vineyard in 1665). The book was on a few book club lists, so I am hoping it will be a good read.
Dad went to a census area supervisors' training meeting yesterday from 9am - 3pm. The district manager had to make sure that all of the supervisors knew everything which their collectors have to do. For instance, they discussed how to do the census with people who are on boats in a waterway or those who are in hospital on census day, etc. They were provided with lunch which was buns, cold cuts, cheese, salad (tomatoes, lettuce) and juice which was nice. Dad found that the training was good as there were a few things which were confusing to the supervisors and some of the supervisors were unsure of what to do in certain situations (like what to do if you run into a homeless person).
I woke up with a cold today, but went to church anyway. It was interesting how things turned out. Our Sacrament meeting was on the Holy Ghost, my Sharing Time lesson was on the Holy Ghost and Dad's High Priest group lesson was on the Holy Ghost - I thought that was cool that we were all be teaching or talking on the same subject. :-) When we got home from church, I had something to eat and went straight to bed for a nice, long nap. Dad Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa while I was napping. They are still at the campsite in the interior of BC and loving it. They will be heading back to Surrey this Thursday. Believe it or not, their month of vacation is up. There is no change in Grandpa's health which is good news, I think.
Tonight, we watched the movie 'Lean On Me' - I have seen it before, but I saw it when I was at the library picking up a book I had on hold and picked it up, too. I was just in the mood for a feel-good movie and this is one of them. It's basically the story of how a school principal came into a high school which had gone to the dogs (drugs, etc) and only 33% of the students were passing the basic literacy test. He sent all the druggies, etc, away and within a year 75% of the students could pass the literacy test. It's based on a true story of a school in California in the mid 80s. I really enjoyed it and so did Dad.
The 'stars' thing is a classroom management tool which the previous teacher had started. Each day every child starts with three stars beside their name on a chart and every time they do something they are not supposed to do, they have to take a star off the chart. If they lose three stars, they have to miss their recess time. I was talking with my TA, Sam, the other day and told her that I wanted to do something to show those who make good choices that I appreciate them. So, when we get back, I am going to have another chart in the classroom. If a child does not get any stars taken off them by the end of the day, I will let them give themselves a stamp on the chart and when they get so many stamps, I will give them a sticker. I am not really a sticker kind of teacher, but I want to do something for those who always do what they should be doing.
Dad spent the day doing census stuff again. He finished sorting census forms into the seven areas, he read what he had to do to train his collectors and got the stuff together which he will need to use during the training of his collectors. He also unpacked one of our boxes which had the computer tower in it - he wanted to get this done so that he could finally have access to some files which he needed and also to be able to connect the printer to the tower so that he doesn't have to take his laptop into the office every time he wants to print something.
We had take-out Friday night as neither Dad nor I wanted to cook dinner - we just had hamburgers and fries from the local convenience store. We then flopped into our chairs and watched tv for the evening. There's not much on on Friday nights until 10pm when 'Law and Order' comes on, but even though that's one of my favourite shows, I was so tired by about 10:30pm, that I told Dad I was taking myself off to bed.
Yesterday was one lazy day for me - I told myself that I wouldn't do anything school-related yesterday and I didn't. :-) I watched some tv and took a bath and read my book. I was reading a book called 'Midwives' about a midwife who was taken to court when she cut open a woman who she thought was dead so that she could save the baby (the pregnant woman had no pulse). I got about half way through the book and although it was an interesting story, I just found that it went on too long - so I turned to the end of the book to find out how the story ends. Then, I started ready my new book 'Caleb's Crossing' which is based on the life of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College (in Martha's Vineyard in 1665). The book was on a few book club lists, so I am hoping it will be a good read.
Dad went to a census area supervisors' training meeting yesterday from 9am - 3pm. The district manager had to make sure that all of the supervisors knew everything which their collectors have to do. For instance, they discussed how to do the census with people who are on boats in a waterway or those who are in hospital on census day, etc. They were provided with lunch which was buns, cold cuts, cheese, salad (tomatoes, lettuce) and juice which was nice. Dad found that the training was good as there were a few things which were confusing to the supervisors and some of the supervisors were unsure of what to do in certain situations (like what to do if you run into a homeless person).
I woke up with a cold today, but went to church anyway. It was interesting how things turned out. Our Sacrament meeting was on the Holy Ghost, my Sharing Time lesson was on the Holy Ghost and Dad's High Priest group lesson was on the Holy Ghost - I thought that was cool that we were all be teaching or talking on the same subject. :-) When we got home from church, I had something to eat and went straight to bed for a nice, long nap. Dad Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa while I was napping. They are still at the campsite in the interior of BC and loving it. They will be heading back to Surrey this Thursday. Believe it or not, their month of vacation is up. There is no change in Grandpa's health which is good news, I think.
Tonight, we watched the movie 'Lean On Me' - I have seen it before, but I saw it when I was at the library picking up a book I had on hold and picked it up, too. I was just in the mood for a feel-good movie and this is one of them. It's basically the story of how a school principal came into a high school which had gone to the dogs (drugs, etc) and only 33% of the students were passing the basic literacy test. He sent all the druggies, etc, away and within a year 75% of the students could pass the literacy test. It's based on a true story of a school in California in the mid 80s. I really enjoyed it and so did Dad.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
It’s so hard to know what to expect each day at school these days. My challenge girl, Mia, was 'off' yesterday - as in she got in big trouble and I have to remember to write up what she did. First of all, she got into trouble at lunch and then, on our way back, she was going to come through Chantelle’s room to open my door from the inside. Summer W. had asked me if she could do it and I said ‘yes’. When Mia was told by Chantelle that it was Summer’s turn, Mia flipped out and ‘ran away’. I could see where she was and asked one of the TAs to watch my class while I went out and talked with her. She finally came inside, but it was so frustrating. She is an aboriginal girl and so, after school, I spoke with a teacher who works with the aboriginal children at the school and told her that, after the break, I would like to speak with her about ways I could possibly work with Mia and her immaturity. Today, both Bailee and Mia were away and I thought it would be an easy day - WRONG! The kids are so ‘off’ and not just mine - the other teachers are feeling the same thing about their kids. They tell me that this happens because it’s the end of the term. I am hopeful that after their two week break, things will get better.
I felt bad for Chantelle today - a parent whose child cannot handle being outside (too aggressive) had spoken to Chantelle last week and had agreed to the different strategies they were using with their son inside and outside of the classroom. However, earlier this week, the parent became frosty and asked for a meeting with a variety of people re: her son. After school today, both parents, Chantelle, and two behaviour specialists met and the mother ‘went off’ and said that she didn’t want any special treatment for her son because she didn’t want him centred out. Once the interview was over, the mother asked to speak privately with Chantelle. She asked Chantelle if she could remember what she said to Billy when the mom took him out of school early for an appointment one day. When Chantelle said ’no’, the mother said that Chantelle had said “well, maybe at the appointment, you (Billy) will find a brain”. When Chantelle told Pam and I this, our mouths dropped open - Chantelle is the sweetest person. I told Pam later (when Chantelle wasn’t there) that I wish it had been one of us who the Mom had taken on - we are both seasoned teachers and older as well and have thicker skins. Poor Chantelle, who is young (23) and in her first year of teaching just teared up as she told us about the meeting. I told her that things would get better as she gained more experience. I also told her that I would be in her classroom tomorrow morning when the parents brought Billy in in case there were any issues. She was appreciative of my offer. Each of the past two days, I just came home and flopped onto my chair and sat there for the night.
Dad has been back at it these past two days - he thinks that the next six weeks will be full-on for him re: the census. He has so much preparation to do - not only with getting ready for his meeting with his collectors, but also trying to connect with the people in the public places where people pay to stay (eg: nursing home, caravan park, hotel, etc.). Someone in those places (someone in charge) has to give out the census forms to people staying there on census night. Dad has to train these people so that they know how to do what they need to do on census day. Dad also did ‘Meals on Wheels’ today - a new guy has started and they have paired him with Dad and Dad says that this guy is really good and they get through the route really quickly. Dad spent some time at the Family History Centre last night with Bill, the first counsellor in the Bishopric - once Bill got to putting in some of his family names into the program, he caught ‘the bug’ and he and Dad spent a couple of hours doing genealogy. Dad gets really excited when people ‘catch the bug’ as it is likely that these people will continue to come back and use the genealogy library. Tonight, at SES, they did another search exercise - they were “looking” for a little girl or signs of a little girl in the area they were searching. They found a rather large rag doll which was the only thing which had been hidden. Once they found the doll, the team stopped to talk about what they would do if they were really in this situation and, as it turned out, they decided that they would send a female in to talk with the little girl as little girls tend to feel more comfortable talking to a woman. Dad was a team leader and he is beginning to feel more comfortable being a leader in these practices.
I felt bad for Chantelle today - a parent whose child cannot handle being outside (too aggressive) had spoken to Chantelle last week and had agreed to the different strategies they were using with their son inside and outside of the classroom. However, earlier this week, the parent became frosty and asked for a meeting with a variety of people re: her son. After school today, both parents, Chantelle, and two behaviour specialists met and the mother ‘went off’ and said that she didn’t want any special treatment for her son because she didn’t want him centred out. Once the interview was over, the mother asked to speak privately with Chantelle. She asked Chantelle if she could remember what she said to Billy when the mom took him out of school early for an appointment one day. When Chantelle said ’no’, the mother said that Chantelle had said “well, maybe at the appointment, you (Billy) will find a brain”. When Chantelle told Pam and I this, our mouths dropped open - Chantelle is the sweetest person. I told Pam later (when Chantelle wasn’t there) that I wish it had been one of us who the Mom had taken on - we are both seasoned teachers and older as well and have thicker skins. Poor Chantelle, who is young (23) and in her first year of teaching just teared up as she told us about the meeting. I told her that things would get better as she gained more experience. I also told her that I would be in her classroom tomorrow morning when the parents brought Billy in in case there were any issues. She was appreciative of my offer. Each of the past two days, I just came home and flopped onto my chair and sat there for the night.
Dad has been back at it these past two days - he thinks that the next six weeks will be full-on for him re: the census. He has so much preparation to do - not only with getting ready for his meeting with his collectors, but also trying to connect with the people in the public places where people pay to stay (eg: nursing home, caravan park, hotel, etc.). Someone in those places (someone in charge) has to give out the census forms to people staying there on census night. Dad has to train these people so that they know how to do what they need to do on census day. Dad also did ‘Meals on Wheels’ today - a new guy has started and they have paired him with Dad and Dad says that this guy is really good and they get through the route really quickly. Dad spent some time at the Family History Centre last night with Bill, the first counsellor in the Bishopric - once Bill got to putting in some of his family names into the program, he caught ‘the bug’ and he and Dad spent a couple of hours doing genealogy. Dad gets really excited when people ‘catch the bug’ as it is likely that these people will continue to come back and use the genealogy library. Tonight, at SES, they did another search exercise - they were “looking” for a little girl or signs of a little girl in the area they were searching. They found a rather large rag doll which was the only thing which had been hidden. Once they found the doll, the team stopped to talk about what they would do if they were really in this situation and, as it turned out, they decided that they would send a female in to talk with the little girl as little girls tend to feel more comfortable talking to a woman. Dad was a team leader and he is beginning to feel more comfortable being a leader in these practices.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
It's been a bit of an interesting week so far. Yesterday (Monday) turned out to be a really good day at school - the kind that brought a smile to my face and reminded me of working at R. J. Lee in Brampton. Then, today (Tuesday) was not a good day -- oh, my, what a rollercoaster I am on! The most challenging boy in my class (Baylee) has been away for two days and the challenge girl (Mia) did really well on Monday as far as behaviour goes - so, that's why that day went well. Today, Mia was totally 'off' - actually, she did really well during the morning, but as soon as she didn't get her way for something, she became defiant and that was it for her. I spoke with her mom after school today and she told me that she is trying her best at home to discipline Mia appropriately. I suggested she try taking away something from Mia that she likes when she misbehaves. She told me that Mia really likes the mp3 player that she got for her birthday (can you imagine......a 5 year old getting an mp3 player!) and the mom's comment was that Mia is just getting used to her mp3 player. Sheesh - I am beginning to agree with the teacher who said the other day that adults should have to take a parenting course before they have children. No wonder this child is defiant when she doesn't get her own way. I know it's easier to give in to a child than to discipline or teach them to make correct choices, but I found that if you work hard at it between the ages of 1 and 3, it's so much easier after that. I am still thinking seriously about trying to get a job (supply, part-time or full-time) at the private school around the corner from here - I can imagine that it would be much easier and similar to teaching at R. J. Lee.
It's great having Chantelle there to talk with and to plan with. She and I see things so similarly and can easily run things by each other and/or moan and groan about kids and/or parents. She is going through a bit of a tough time with one of her parents at the moment and often needs me to bounce her frustrations off. I am only too happy to listen to her and share with her my experiences from teaching. Also, when you talk with someone else about what you are going through, they often can help you look at things in a different manner or they can also help you to validate what you think about the subject. Chantelle is young and so hasn't really developed her sense of knowing how good she is as a teacher. She's not great (I don't even think I am a great teacher), but she has a lot going for her - yesterday I had to remind her of that - she was beginning to doubt herself and I told her that she needs to remember that she is very talented and organized and motivated and puts a lot of effort into what she does.
I haven't done anything when I have gotten home from school both last night and tonight. I am feeling better each day, but I still don't have a lot of energy, so I decided to just relax and take it easy and get my energy levels built up again. It's really nice having Dad around - he has been taking such good care of me! :-)
Dad is back to spending his time doing census stuff and our moving boxes stuff. He spent Monday going through our boxes bringing in my teaching supply boxes so that I could look through them to find books which could be used to teach in the next term at school. He also got his tool box set up and some of his tools are now in it. He spent some time sorting out the training materials for his collectors - they need to study from them before they do their training from Dad which is in a week and a half. Dad attended a meeting with other census area supervisors and their district manager. It was an opportunity for them all to discuss any problems they were having, how things were going in general and to give hints on how to make things go better. Today he spent the day sorting the actual census materials for the census and began delivering the training materials to his census collectors - some of them have come to our house to pick them up and one Dad has had to drop off at the collector's house.
Dad had a cool thing happen on Monday. He had to put together his collectors' satchels - there were two plastic supports which went in the satchels, but it was hard to figure out where they went in and then when Dad figured it out, it was hard to actually do. So, after putting together his seven collectors' satchels, he took a few pics of how to put them together and wrote up instructions on how to do it. He then sent it to his district manager and suggested that she might want to share it with the other supervisors. One of our friends from church who is a collector, but not one of Dad's collectors, received the email which Dad had sent to his manager who had forwarded it to other area supervisors (with a note which read "Our resident engineer has prepared this for us. Many thanks Mike), one of which who had obviously passed it on to our friend, Christine. Chris sent Dad an email which said "Thanks, Mike. You are a legend. I had a feeling it was you they were talking about (when she read the email about the resident engineer). So, that was nice for Dad to be recognized for his work.
It's great having Chantelle there to talk with and to plan with. She and I see things so similarly and can easily run things by each other and/or moan and groan about kids and/or parents. She is going through a bit of a tough time with one of her parents at the moment and often needs me to bounce her frustrations off. I am only too happy to listen to her and share with her my experiences from teaching. Also, when you talk with someone else about what you are going through, they often can help you look at things in a different manner or they can also help you to validate what you think about the subject. Chantelle is young and so hasn't really developed her sense of knowing how good she is as a teacher. She's not great (I don't even think I am a great teacher), but she has a lot going for her - yesterday I had to remind her of that - she was beginning to doubt herself and I told her that she needs to remember that she is very talented and organized and motivated and puts a lot of effort into what she does.
I haven't done anything when I have gotten home from school both last night and tonight. I am feeling better each day, but I still don't have a lot of energy, so I decided to just relax and take it easy and get my energy levels built up again. It's really nice having Dad around - he has been taking such good care of me! :-)
Dad is back to spending his time doing census stuff and our moving boxes stuff. He spent Monday going through our boxes bringing in my teaching supply boxes so that I could look through them to find books which could be used to teach in the next term at school. He also got his tool box set up and some of his tools are now in it. He spent some time sorting out the training materials for his collectors - they need to study from them before they do their training from Dad which is in a week and a half. Dad attended a meeting with other census area supervisors and their district manager. It was an opportunity for them all to discuss any problems they were having, how things were going in general and to give hints on how to make things go better. Today he spent the day sorting the actual census materials for the census and began delivering the training materials to his census collectors - some of them have come to our house to pick them up and one Dad has had to drop off at the collector's house.
Dad had a cool thing happen on Monday. He had to put together his collectors' satchels - there were two plastic supports which went in the satchels, but it was hard to figure out where they went in and then when Dad figured it out, it was hard to actually do. So, after putting together his seven collectors' satchels, he took a few pics of how to put them together and wrote up instructions on how to do it. He then sent it to his district manager and suggested that she might want to share it with the other supervisors. One of our friends from church who is a collector, but not one of Dad's collectors, received the email which Dad had sent to his manager who had forwarded it to other area supervisors (with a note which read "Our resident engineer has prepared this for us. Many thanks Mike), one of which who had obviously passed it on to our friend, Christine. Chris sent Dad an email which said "Thanks, Mike. You are a legend. I had a feeling it was you they were talking about (when she read the email about the resident engineer). So, that was nice for Dad to be recognized for his work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
