Welcome to Langley!

After the strike ended I went onto the TTOC list in Coquitlam. It was extremely slow and I was getting frustrated. I don't want to be a toc for years and years! I've been dreaming about having my own class! I applied to a few other districts and thanks to my fabulous and amazing references from Zeballos, I landed a job in Langley (SD35)! At first I thought I would just start as a toc and work my way into a position (much easier to do in Langley than Coquitlam), but I was given TWO contract interviews right away! I was shocked!

I have been working as a part time math resource teacher for Noel Booth Elementary since mid October. It's perfect! I am so happy to be part of this district.

Starting the 2014-2015 School Year!

Let's skip all of the drama of the strike. The school year started mid-September. I am a TTOC for Coquitlam (I'm back from my leave of absence). I was offered another position in Zeballos, but I declined, mainly because I couldn't bring myself to move so far away from family and friends again. Also, I would lose my TTOC status in Coquitlam. I didn't want to lose any chance of working on the mainland. It is tough to get a job over here! However, Coquitlam is not the best district to be a TTOC in right now, because there were so many lay offs last year and the people on that recall list get called first. There are at least 50 people ahead of me on the list! Needless to say, it has been a bit of a struggle to get work. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have been missing my students in Zeballos, and my teacher roomie! I emailed the new teacher just to let him know a little bit about the class and to welcome him to Zeballos. I wish the school was just a little bit closer so that I could pop in for a visit. Our end to the school year was so rushed. I feel like I didn't get "closure". Oh well, I hope they have a great year without me... On to my next adventure!

Over the Summer

Over the summer I avoided posting on my blog because I was very upset about the labour dispute and I wanted to avoid turning this blog into an anti-Liberal rant. I attended a few Education Rallies, but mostly just tried to enjoy my very first summer off! Woohoo! Time to reap the rewards of being a teacher! When I signed the contract last year they gave me the option of being paid over 10 months or having it stretched out over 12 so that I would still get paid in the summer. I thought, "Yaaaa I want to be paid in the summer so that I can finally enjoy this 'teacher benefit'...I don't trust myself to save that money". It was pretty awesome, but if I'm totally honest, I got bored over the summer. You think it is going to be great, but everyone else you know is working so you don't really have much to do. You go from working long hours every day to suddenly working none. It was kind of weird for me because I wasn't able to pick up any new hobbies in Zeballos. I didn't know what to do with myself! Next year I will work in the summer...

...well actually....I got engaged over the summer!! So next year I will be getting married. I probably won't be as bored...probably...

Time to Catch Up!

The school year in BC was unexpectedly (or maybe somewhat "expectedly") cut short due to the labour dispute with the BC liberals. Teachers voted to go out on strike and the school year ended way too quickly. It was my first year with my very own class and I did not get to end it the way I wanted to end it! We had to say goodbye, but we weren't even really sure if it was goodbye! It was a very awkward ending and I'm sure that it was rough on my students. I walked the picket line for a couple days in Zeballos, but then decided to go home to Coquitlam. I am still on the TOC list there, and I have more of a life there so it made more sense to me. It was a mad dash to get our teacherage packed up and cleaned and I really didn't get to say a proper goodbye to most of my colleagues. I am very unhappy with the way it turned out. Haruummmppphhh!!

Teacher Roomies!

To anyone who is considering a teaching job in a remote location I say Go For It! But there are some things that you should be aware of...I will tell you about some of them.

Remote means remote. You need to know that you will be lonely. The phone and internet will be expensive (and terrible), and you will constantly be thinking about all of the cool people and things that you are missing in the city.

Teacherage. The name for a rental unit supplied by the school district, only available to teachers. From my experience they are not that great. Ours was dirty and empty when we moved in and we haven't done much to make it feel like a home. When Mitch was here he did more, but we've let it slide because we are always so busy.

Travel is expensive. You need to travel for groceries and necessities. Find a carpool or get hosed!

On the bright side...

Teacher roommates are awesome. I have been living with Elise since October and it is great! We totally understand the busy schedule of the other person, we can leave education books on the table in the hopes that the other person may want to read them, and we can keep each other informed on what is going on at the school. Elise works in the high school wing, I work in the elementary wing...we don't see each other much during the day. We also currently have the outdoor education teacher sleeping on our living room floor part time. We all ate a home cooked meal together tonight. Family time!

And...we have a much needed get together once a week with a few of the other teachers. They come over for a games night and it is a HUGE help in getting over the feeling of isolation.

*Side note: My Nana was the custodian at my elementary school when I was a kid and I remember all of the staff coming over to her house for get-togethers. Maybe I always saw teachers as being fun and that's what drew me to being one?

Day Trip #1: Canoe and Hike!

Today I went on a day trip with my grade 3-5 class. It was organized by our excellent outdoor education teacher. It started with a canoe trip around the Zeballos bay. This was AH-MAY-ZING! I loved every minute of it. At first the students were extremely nervous to get into the canoe because they were really frightened of it tipping over (even though they all swim in the ocean, and are great swimmers). Sarah, our outdoor education teacher, showed them how stable the boat actually was by tipping it back and forth with them in it. After they realized that they were probably not going to fall in the water they were able to relax. We started off slowly and we had a boat from Esperanza following us far behind in case we did tip (it was their canoe and life jackets that we had borrowed. More on Esperanza later). So we were paddling along, having a great time (me thinking "I NEED a kayak") and we saw a bunch of seals! Again, at first the students were scared of them, but after a while realized that they were actually awesome, and we started watching for them. The seals were curious and followed us around. It was my favourite part of the canoe trip! We paddled toward Ehatesaht so that the students could see their houses, but the water was a little too shallow, so we started out to deeper water and made it all the way to the end of the bay! On the way back to shore Sarah even took a moment to teach me how to steer the canoe. I wasn't very good, and the students let me know it! But Sarah said it was good for the students to see me learning something that was hard for me, and I think she was right about that. It was also great to be able to see particular students excelling in something outside of the classroom. There was one student who I was really impressed with. He can be a challenge to keep focused in the class and he was the best paddler of the day. I saw a huge difference in his personality today.

After the canoe trip we had a lunch break at the docks and continued our trip to the other side of Zeballos. Our hike was behind the "Welcome to Zeballos" sign and it was up to a rock that overlooks the bay. It was perfect day for this hike! The sun was shining and the weather was warm. We could walk through the forest in our t-shirts and not get cold. We had a couple of set backs with students getting tired and giving up part way, but I used my best persuasion techniques and got them to finish the hike. I was very close to having to take one girl back to the school to be with her Grandma because she didn't want to continue. But thankfully she gave in and completed the hike. We also played some forest games and Sarah taught the class about a few different plants as we walked. We were all pooped by the end of the day and I was happy to get back to the school and send students home, but overall the day trip was a huge success and behaviour from the students was fantastic. I am excited to see how the Hustan Caves trip goes tomorrow!

Earth Day!

What did you do for Earth Day? My school made teams and had a town trash pick-up! We also planted trees and had a bbq at Ehattesaht the band office! My team totally won...well not really...but we tried! We had some stiff competition. I think we called a tie.

Celebration of Life

A celebration of life in Nuu-Chah-Nulth culture is different from what I know one to be. When I think of celebration of life, I think of a funeral-type event. However, here a celebration of life is actually to celebrate that someone survived something that could have been tragic! How cool is that?!

I was recently invited to attend one. A toddler fell into the ocean and was found unconscious, but was saved by his uncle performing CPR. The family decided to hold a celebration of life!

I didn't take pictures because I wasn't sure if it would be respectful to do so, but I was fully engaged in what was going on. They held a potlatch dinner at the community hall (I brought apple pie) and almost everyone was invited to attend. Above every door there were hemlock branches. I asked one of my students about this and she didn't really know how to explain it. She just said "it's because he survived". We were served, from oldest to youngest, a dinner by the young ladies in the community. There were prayers said by one of the chiefs multiple times throughout the dinner in Nuu-Chah-Nulth. After the dinner the family members of the toddler stood up and individually thanked all the people who were in any way involved in the rescue. The uncle was given money, handmade gifts, and wrapped in blankets. The woman who felt guilty for taking her eyes off the boy before he drowned was also wrapped in a blanket and told by the family that she should not feel guilty and that they forgive her and still love her. Even the paramedics who got to the scene were invited to the dinner and given gifts!

This was a beautiful showing of appreciation and gratitude that I believe more people should practice. Nuu-Chah-Nulth tradition emphasises sharing your wealth and publicly appreciating your loved ones. This is good for the heart.

One of the gifts that was given to the uncle was a hat similar to this. It was handmade for him. The toddler received a matching one.

Bargaining Update

Our members had a strike vote and voted 89% in favour of a strike, but that doesn't seem to have phased anyone in government. No movement has been made at the bargaining table and we will start job action tomorrow. It sucks, nobody likes it, but that's the way it has to be!

Any support is always appreciated!

Nuu-Chah-Nulth Language

Zeballos Elementary Secondary School does not teach French. We teach Nuu-Chah-Nulth instead. I am learning a new language along with my students! There are 44 characters in the alphabet and we have just finished making cue cards for each one. The students are much better at remembering the sounds than I am (young brains)! We have also had one of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Education Workers (N.E.W.) take us on a walking field trip to identify plant names in N-C-N. There is a website that I have been using to help me with this, but we also have a ton of resources in the school computers. My goal is to have them learn a song for the potlatch in Kyuquot next month. Cross your fingers for me!

Check out the website and try some of the sounds for yourself!

http://www.nuuchahnulth.org/language/alphabet/alpha1.html

Community Garden

Our class has a community garden! I am so excited to watch it grow! We bought two boxes across the street from the school.  We needed to weed it, dig it, up, add compost to it, make a sign, and plant the seeds. The watering has been left up to mother nature so far because it has been raining pretty frequently since we planted. This week we will be making little signs to show where we planted each crop. Our crops are: pumpkins, sunflowers, wild flowers, carrots, corn, peas, beans, lettuce, radishes, garlic shoots, and basil. This is something that the students are very in to! It has been very helpful in trying into both science and social studies lessons.

This is the sign our class made. Mitch found the driftwood for me. More pictures to come!

We have also planted some seeds in our classroom as an experiment to see what happens when we don't provide one of the three essentials to growing: light, CO2, and water. We have some plants that are not getting one or more of those three things vs. plants that we are taking care of regularly. So far our tomato plant has sprouted in the classroom! Woo-hoo!

Family Literacy Day

In January we had a Family Literacy Day. We invited family members to come in and read with the students. We had a few parents show up and that was nice to see, but the my favourite part of the day was getting the older students to read with the younger ones.

This is the only photo I have of no faces!

Mt. Cain Ski Trip

Grade 3-7 went on a long-awaited ski and snowboard trip! We had tried to plan it for earlier in the year, but were thwarted by the lack of snow. The snow gods finally smiled down on us in March and we made it happen! This was all planned by the NSOP teacher, so I can't really take much credit for the planning. She did an excellent job, but she plans a lot of trips and this one was a little rushed because we were just so excited for having snow finally! The whole trip just kept having hilarious (in hindsight) problems.

1: One of the teachers didn't confirm if he was meeting us in Zeballos or if he was meeting us on the road....That was up in the air because we have no cell phone service....but it worked out and he caught us before we left.

2: She couldn't find the keys for the bus. Eventually found them.

3: We couldn't find the addresses of the students (We were picking them up at home). We found ONE address and used that student to help us find the rest of the students.

4: We were late leaving Zeballos because of above noted problems.

5: We had to stop and put snow chains on the bus. This was her first time doing it, so she was extremely nervous and stressed that it wasn't working. We were all covered in mud by the end of the day because of those chains!

6: Most of the students do not have their own snow clothes, so we needed to get each student into the NSOP clothes without fights. This went surprisingly smooth.

7: The mountain didn't have enough snowboards for everyone, so a few of the younger students were upset.


However, the students had a great time and all of them participated in the lessons. The Mt. Cain staff said that they were impressed with our students behaviour, which is a huge plus for me! Despite all of the problems, it was a good experience.

This is the only picture that I had without student's faces! It's Sarah, trying to look happy as she struggles to get the chains on the bus. I have so much respect for this lady!

Mathletics

Our class has started an awesome new online program called Mathletics. It is an app/website that the students can access on their Ipads. I love this program! It has lessons, tests, and math games that the students can play. It also lets students from different classes (and different countries) compete against each other, but at their own level. Students gain points from finishing assignments and winning math games, then they can use them to make their avatar look interesting. I can also print out a weekly update of their work so that parents can see how they are doing. This program is my new favourite thing! It is a perfect supplement to go with our lessons. Check it out: www. mathletics.com

Because I have three different grades, and multiple math levels in my class, this program is extremely helpful. I usually teach one level of learners while the others work on their own math. If they don't understand something then they can come and listen to the lesson while they wait for help.

This is what the mathletics platform looks like. However, this particular question is beyond the level of my class. This picture shows a competition taking place.

Ovoids!

In Nuu-Chah-Nulth art (and probably most west coast First Nations art) the "ovoid" is used frequently. It is usually used as an eye, but can sometimes be used for other parts of the image. In my teaching I have been trying to incorporate more Nuu-Chah-Nulth teachings and art is the most obvious start for me. We have started with the basics...learning to draw an ovoid!

 

This is a picture from one of the books we used: Learning by Design Vol. 1 - Raven Publishing. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my students work, but they did a really great job with these.

 

Local artist, Vince Smith has come into the school a few times to help with aspiring high school artists. He does some beautiful work:

 

 

Professional Development

Last weekend Elise and I went to the New Teacher's Conference in Richmond. I LOVE pro-D! I always feel so energized and excited to be a teacher when I go to one of these workshops. I learn so much!

Here are the names of the workshops I took:

1) Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies

- This one was mainly geared toward aboriginal culture, but it touched on other cultures as well. The lady who ran it was a fabulous speaker. Interesting anecdote: Apparently a lot of other cultures find Canadian teachers strange because we don't touch and hug very much (avoiding lawsuits I suppose), as some other cultures are used to caregivers who are very affectionate.


2) Aboriginal Education in a Just Classroom

- Another fabulous speaker. I didn't want this guy to ever stop speaking! He has so many stories to tell and he was so full of energy. At the end of the session I asked him if I could come and observe his classroom one day and he was all for it! So I will probably be going to a high school on Courtenay on one of my Fridays off.

3) The Five Ways of Learning: Lesson Planning

- I learned that I am mostly a visual and aural/auditory learner, and so I will probably have the tendency to teach with these as my strengths. I need to also be mindful that other learners may be geared toward tactile or kinesthetic learning methods.

Overall a killer weekend!

Long Distance Again

Mitch moved to Campbell River to finish his schooling. We are a long-distance couple again. It's the worst! Campbell is about 2 and a half hours from here so it's quite a drive back and forth to visit on weekends. This weekend I stayed in Zeballos to save money because next weekend is spring break.
Here's a picture of his roommate's puppy, Ellie.

Outdoorsy

One day we went out with the Nootka Sound Outdoor Program (NSOP) teacher and she showed us how to make tea with hemlock needles and licorice root. It was pretty tasty!

Pink Shirt Day

We made our own pink shirts!

 All aboard the friendship...get it? Ha ha I loved it.

100th Day of School

The 100th day of school is used as a tool to make the number 100 more concrete for students who haven't yet wrapped their head around the number. It's a day to do things related to 100! I loved it.

 

We had a hopscotch of 100 jumps (this took me half an hour to do the day before so I'm glad they enjoyed it). The other picture is one of my students looking for all of the numbers from 1-100 hidden around the classroom.

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was pretty typical. The students did a great job of making decorations for the classroom. We also made cupcakes and the students insisted on green icing. It was a good day.

Our Community Reads!

I was given an idea to take my class out and take pictures of members in our community "reading". I thought this was awesome. But, it was actually really awkward! We went to the band office (I did call ahead!) and one other place and it felt like all of the adults felt strange about having their picture taken with students. Plus it was kind of time consuming. I scrapped that idea. It was good for a nature walk to the band office.

But I will always be left with this momento... he's such a good sport for the students.

Jump Rope for Heart

I organized the Jump Rope for Heart at the school last week. You have probably participated in one, or heard of it before....students pledge to jump rope for however long and they raise money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
We have an incredibly diverse group of learners and age groups from K-12, so we needed to have a diverse group of activities! We didn't just jump rope! We measured how far we could jump, how high we could jump, how fast we could make it through a hopscotch, and we played double-dutch!
It was a great afternoon. Parents and staff participated, we had a lunch,  and we raised some money for the Foundation!

Bargaining Struggle

I won't speak much about bargaining because it is a hot button topic. However, I would like to say that I am the BCTF. It is individuals like me who make up the whole Teacher's Federation, not some invisible businessmen in suits. I feel like we are portrayed in the media to be this buisnesslike-striking-angry-mob. We're not. We're just workers like you! Some days we love our job, some days we don't, and we are looking to make it better in the only ways we have available to us.

Thrills of the Outside World

During the week it is near impossible to get out of Zeballos. On the weekends it is hours to get anywhere. When we go out we try savour our time. Mitch goes back to school in a week and then I will have to travel to Campbell River on the weekends if I want to see him! We always do something fun when we get out of town!

Here I am eating at a restaurant!

 Here I am enjoying the tourist attractions with my lovely teacher room mate!

Chinese New Year!

For Chinese New Year we looked up our Chinese horoscopes. I have monkeys, roosters, and dogs in my class. We also made lanterns to decorate the room. That weekend I was visiting Victoria and I felt inspired to go to Chinatown! I did some other sight seeing as well, as you may see from my pictures!

Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the lanterns!

Recycled Monsters!

We made monsters out of recycled materials! They turned out fabulous!