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?
Monday, 5 May 2014
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!
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!
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