Saturday, September 05, 2009

M.I.A.

Sorry... I didn't mean to be gone so long. It's been such a busy and tiring week. This working thing stinks! Haha.

Back to school... the grade 10 students arrived on Wednesday, all eager, excited and nervous. There were no grade 11s or 12s there that day, so they had the teachers all to themselves for orientation. As I've mentioned before, I teach in a self-directed program, so the system is a bit different for students who have been used to traditional classrooms and bell schedules.

Now, lest you think my job is easier than being in a classroom all day, consider this: In one of my 'classes' I have 65 students. That would never happen in a traditional system. No way. Well, except for that year I had 54 students in grade 10 English class. Yeah, that was fun.

Anyway... We do teach some classes. We have 'seminars' every week for each class we teach. I also teach one class every day (80 minutes) in the upgrading program. The rest of the time we are working on the 'learning floor' providing one-on-one help to students. And marking. And writing learning materials. And taking care of our 16-20 'advisees'. We are responsible for their education plan, schedules, contact with parents, giving them a much-needed kick in the butt every so often, counselling when they have personal problems, etc.

My school is a very busy place to work!

But I like it... most days. If I didn't, I would have found something else to do by now because it's just not healthy to work at a career you don't like... especially when you're dealing with adolescents. They can be trying, to put it politely.


Now it's the weekend. It's a glorious, sunny Saturday. I have lots of work to do, but not today. Maybe later. Today, I'm going to try to enjoy a bit of relaxation. Maybe go to the gym (I've been neglecting/avoiding it this week), perhaps take the OnlyChild to a movie. She wants to see The Time Traveller's Wife. The book was excellent!
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Thursday night I went with a couple of friends to see Julie and Julia. Loved it! Meryl Streep is so good in the role of Julia Child. If you haven't seen the movie, I would highly recommend it. But go with your girlfriends, rather than your husband/boyfriend. It's not a 'guy movie'.


And did you see the new t.v. show Glee? I hardly ever watch television, but Mr. P was away Wednesday evening so the remote control was in my hands. The OnlyChild and I really enjoyed Glee. I think we might have to pencil it in on our calendars for the rest of the year.
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It was nice chatting with you again. I've missed you all the past few days. I hope you liked my sunflower photos. I grew these flowers myself! I can hardly believe they actually bloomed, since my past experiments in gardening have been dismal. I had a whole row of them but then Mr. P dumped a load of sod on half of them that he'd scraped off the back lawn when he built the deck. Ooohhhh... I was upset! But the survivors grew very well, as you can see.
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I think Autumn is coming... although the days are warm, the mornings and evenings are chilly. This is my favourite time of year. I liked it better when I lived in the Maritimes, though, because the trees burst into a riot of reds, oranges and yellows and Fall lasts for weeks there. Here, it's yellow leaves one week, bare trees the next, and then snow.
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(Shhh... I said a dirty word - SNOW)
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Have a great weekend!



13 comments:

Quilter Going Bananas said...

Love your sunflowers! Summer finally arrived in MB this week with temps of 28 C! Yesssssss
Going back to work is always an adjustment every year I would think, getting back into the groove. I can't wait for Glee to start with the new episodes starting next Wed. We saw the first episode when it first aired on TV back in May/June and got very excited about it. It puts a smile on your face :^)))

Barb said...

Your flowers are absoutely beautiful. I am glad you like your job, you seem happy but busy....glad you could step in a while.

Dogwood said...

Love those beautiful bright orange sunflowers. One of my favorite.

Your school sounds very challenging and I like the idea of stepping out of the traditional education way which is good for some but not all. I bet you are a super great teacher.

Enjoy your weekend. Relax and soak up some fo that sun.

Hugs, Dogwood

Unknown said...

Your sunflowers are beautiful Rach! I'm sure you are enjoying your long weekend after returning to work. Nice little break to help you settle in to a new year.

Stacy said...

Welcome back! That was a nice chatty post, I enjoyed reading it. Your job sounds overwhelming to me. My college was self-directed so I think I know what you are talking about. You must have so much work to mark.

Love your sunflowers. They are very pretty, one of my favorite flowers. I've seen the commercials for Glee and thought it looked good, but never saw an episode. I will have to look for it.

Hope you are having some fun today. Talk to you soon. Stacy

What Comes Next? said...

Hi! Good to hear from you! I'm not really familiar with non-traditional schools, so your explanation was great. I can see how it would be a real challenge and a lot of hard work for you, so you definitely deserve to relax this weekend. Your sunflowers are gorgeous, and your pictures of them against that lovely blue sky hmmm hm! Fall in the Maritimes is fabulous - I'll be in Cape Breton for Thanksgiving this year (Canadian one!) and hope the fall colours are out. Fall is my fav, and one of the reasons why I want to eventually move back to NS. Enjoy your weekend!

GARAGE SALE GAL said...

Hi Rachel,
WOW...that is a lot of kids to be responsible for...
Love the pics of the sunflowers..they are so happy looking.
Enjoy the long weekend and have some FUN!
Deb :)

Pat said...

Your sunflowers are WONDERFUL!!! I have a strong feeling that you are the kind of teacher most adolescents (even the difficult ones) enjoy having. Keep up the good work (even though it is a very hard job).

Sara said...

I love the sunflowers! And, they look huge! I think your job sounds fascinating! I've never heard of that type concept of teaching - but, I think it would be awesome...

Enjoy the week-end!

Unknown said...

Sounds like a hard job to me! And, ya, let's not being saying the word SNO* yet for goodness sakes :) I loved Julie and Julia too!

:) T

Janean said...

We tried our hand at heirloom sunflowers last year. They are scary huge! lol. Great blog.

julia said...

The sunflowers are gorgeous. I love them! I understand where you are coming from with the love of your teaching career, but the frustration of having to go to work. It seems like a contradiction, but working with teens is a contradiction in and of itself. I actually taught pre-teens, or tweens, as they are being called these days. So many different maturity levels in this group. That's what I loved about it. It sounds to me like you are a wonderful teacher who loves her students. Bravo!

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

Gorgeous sunflowers! I can't grow them in my garden. The deer get to them before they even bloom.