Apologies

Hello all,

I do apologize for not updating my blog in weeks, but consider that a testament to how busy or TIRED I have been. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that I am procrastinating with my morning routine this morning, I probably wouldn't be writing here now.

Since the Paris/London trip, things have just become so hectic. Trying to get caught up on the course I'm doing, but still being WEEKS behind, talk of employment for next year (where one of the girls from Science is being told she is not wanted next year, oh and I can't remember if I wrote earlier about how another one from the school left near the end of last term - so Science is finding things hard right now), a school play that took place last week (Over the Rainbow - a rendition of, what else?, Wizard of Oz that had quite a few of my students in it so I went to watch it and it was surprisingly good), being constantly bombarded by the question: "so, what are your thoughts for next year?"...just a lot of things to try to iron out - on top of planning for the trip Mom and Seb will be making at the beginning of April.

Going back to the "what about next year" question, I do feel like I am being asked that question every day - especially since "the meeting". Last week, Martin came to us (as a whole) and said that Diane would like a meeting with us after school to discuss something. It was after I had kept questioning him that I found out that it was to talk about employment for next year. So, after a learning catch-up I had with a couple students, we (the Canadians and Gill) went to Diane's office as a group to talk. She told us, as a whole, she would love to have us back next year as we've been doing a great job. The question, however, came about whether or not the contracts would be permanent or not (that came from Gill, as she is the only "local" and has a family to support). What I found interesting was Diane's response: "In a perfect scenario, we would offer you all a permanent contract", and then went on to say something else about not being sure about how our qualifications will translate over...but she was visibly uncomfortable. Either way, she'd like us to be a KSA employee, not part of the agency. And when I asked when they need to know by, no date was given...just "as soon as possible...but the sooner the better".

The funny thing is, I appreciate the group pat on the back for our hard work, but it seems unprofessional to me that we were brought in as a group to tell us the "school's decision", and we still have to make individual appointments to find out about our individual concerns.

The other part of this story is that a week prior to this discussion (i.e. the week we came back from our break) I had already had a meeting with Diane on this very topic - especially as it related to the position of second in Maths. She was very excited at the prospect of me returning for another year, as she says that I have melded very well to the school (which she attributes to my years of experience). I don't know...I still think it's a lot of baloney, but that's just me. I do know that Martin would love to have me stay, hence him asking me regularly about my plans for next year. Either way, I have been honest with both in the sense that I can't make any real commitments just yet.

In fact, one of these "next year" conversations came up last week where he asked what exactly is holding me back from making my decision. I finally turned to him (probably because I was so tired) and I told him that I got into teaching to teach, not to babysit or be treated with so much disrespect. I feel like I'm not making ANY headway with some groups of kids...and it frustrates me. I also told him that I hate the fact that my "free periods" aren't really frees - I have to see if I'm needed for cover instead, which ruins my plans for prepping my classes or trying to get stuff done for my course. Oh ya, I also told him this week that I lost a lot, pay-wise, when I came here and that trying to do my courses have become very difficult (he didn't know I was working on another masters).

This, however, has gotten me to thinking about things for next year. I have tried to find out information from my board back home, but they still don't know what's going on for next year...I will probably have to wait another couple of weeks. However, the other pressing matter is that I have to let the board know by April 1st whether or not I wish to extend my leave of absence. I have also been considering, do I really want to stay here or maybe if I should look elsewhere for a primary job (and I seemed to be searching in Scotland last night, finding a possible position). I don't know...I wish I did. Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Anyhoo, in other news, last weekend, Krista went into London to meet up with friends, so Nike and I had a weekend to ourselves. We went to my first rugby match: Kettering versus the reds (I still can't remember the name of the team). It was fairly fast-paced, I liked it slightly better than football because they didn't have to stop play every time a player was tackled...in fact, the ball was then pushed out and it was used as a smoke screen to try and get the ball moving again. (But I have to say, the idea of throwing behind you to make the ball go up the field seems a little odd). Still, many big strong men on the field...it was a nice treat ;)


Tales from the... (insert funny quip about school here)

1. I got told this week that what you call "braids" back home are called "plats" here. Knowing this, I tried telling someone I like their hair when they put it in "plats" but what came out was "plants"...oh I am a crazy canuck!

2. After the awesome performance last week for the over the rainbow play, I had all the students I knew, and all the major players, sign my programme by their name or picture. Apparently, I made the tin man's day (a quiet boy in year 10 whom I don't teach but seems very shy).

3. Yesterday, I was on removal schedule where I had students come into my class if they mis-behaved in theirs (as I don't have a lesson period 2 on a Friday). One of these boys was one I taught for a couple weeks - before I had that class removed from my timetable. He was just beginning to calm down when Jen, the teacher who removed him, walked in and inadvertently riled him up again to the point that he was going to walk off. I told him he wasn't going to leave and stood in his way. Jen asked if I wanted her to get help and I politely asked her to leave. Still standing in his way, the student told me to get out of the way or he would drop-kick me, to which I replied, "You can try, but I will do the same right back". It diffused the situation as he and another student laughed, and he turned around and kept saying, "well, I'm not going to sit", so I told him to stand...but he wasn't leaving the room. All was fine for now.

4. The last period of the day, I had been verbally abused by one too many students (so much so, I can't even remember them all). However, the "highlight" was when a student told me to f' off in front of the class. The TA turned to her and said, "You know you just told miss to f' off?" To which she said, "No I didn't" and she truly didn't remember saying it! Whatever, I have requested that she not be in lesson with me Monday along with another student.