C Outside the Box

Ever the Procrastinator

2008-07-09T09:24:00.004+10:00

All too quickly, I'm in my last week of a 2 week term break from students. Note, I did not say 'school' because school follows me wherever I go in all shapes and sizes, formats and formalities. Even now as I type these words, I realise I have to redo another timetable for class and for duties, write a letter to each staff member, plan next week's lessons and I'm sure if I think even harder, come up with a few more things I need to do which is why I'm procrastinating.

Reports were written and I trust I was fair and encouraging. It is my aim to tell parents something their child has achieved, something their child needs to work on and to keep it positive and attainable when writing reports which is why it takes me a lot of procrastination to get around to doing them. (That might be just my logic.) Nicki sent me a copy of her son's generic report. In some school systems, teachers just cut and paste the relevant comment and don't add the personal touch. While I thought that might be a great idea, on the other hand, someone suggested that I was still likely to veer away from that and use my own comments.

On the last day of term, we had a 'red' day to support SIDS research in Australia. The children were allowed to come out of uniform but had to pay a gold coin donation to wear red. Each family were also asked to provide a plate of red food that was then sold to the students in portions for their lunch. All money raised went to SIDS and we raised over $110 which is a good effort for a small school. The photo displayed here was taken on the last day and was a set-up. I do not usually sit like that nor talk on my mobile (cell) phone during class time. I also don't usually wear jeans.

The last two weeks of the term, I gave the students incentives to attend and behave. It was a long 12 week term when they're usually only 10 weeks so attendance due to sickness and tiredness was occurring. On one day, they were 'rewarded' with hot chips, another day was a party - well it was one of the student's birthday. The highlight for all the students was an sleepover night at the school. I know to many that wouldn't seem like something most students want but it that was their idea and I decided to go along with it. They went home from school that afternoon and came back after 7pm. They knew the rules, "No mobile phones. No going outside the boundaries that I have set. If you leave the building, take another person with you. Bedtime is when I say and the better behaved you are, the longer you'll get to stay up. If any student misbehaves, I will call their parents no matter what time it is!" They nodded their agreement and they were very well behaved that night. MrRP came earlier to school so I went home, showered and came back in time for class to start. They are a bunch of good kids and are friends with each other although of course there are times when they find each other annoying or frustrating.

Nathan did really well on his school report and has taken on a leadership role in the school as "Missions Captain". He has a lot of friends, both male and female and has younger kids who look up to him. Yes, most of us look up to him since he's 6'4 or thereabouts but he's very patient and gentle with younger children. At the end of September, he is going with a group of students to the Philippines for two weeks. It's a 'missions' trip that the school runs every year at that time for students in year 10 &/or 11. He's really looking forward to it but as yet, hasn't been able to secure himself a part-time job to pay for it. If you'd like to pray for him to get a job, that would be great and I'm sure he'd appreciate your prayers. Nathan is also doing 2 VCE subjects - psychology and general maths. These are usually taken in year 11 so it means he's getting ahead in his studies.

The weather here is colder than I like but since it's the middle of winter, I can be reasonable about it. Our houses are not built for winter weather and I think I get colder in our winter than I did when I was in Canada/the States. I had to drop my car off to be repaired early this morning and walking back with wet hair probably didn't help. The sun is shining at the moment but it's only supposed to get to 14 C.

Last week I got my hair done and went shopping later with Lisa. Her son Jye and Nathan went to the movies and saw "Get Smart". I was so excited to find out that I am now 2 sizes smaller than I was 6 months ago. In fact, when I tried on that size at Lisa's suggestion, I looked at her and commented that I have never fitted into that size before! I was pretty excited about that. All together these last 3 months, I've lost 6.4kgs which is about 14 pounds. That was my goal for this time but still have more to get to a better weight. MrRP came in the other day and said he'd heard that "One in four Australians are obese!" I asked him if they defined obese because a month ago, I was considered obese according to some scales, now I'm just overweight. Oh well.

Last week I didn't do any swimming and wasn't so careful about what I ate either. On Monday (2 days ago) Nathan made choc-chip waffles for our breakfast and served with maple syrup. They were delicious. He left enough mixture to make more for dessert that night and that time we had ice-cream with the waffles and maple syrup. All things considered, I decided to go swimming yesterday and made sure I did all of the laps I needed to do.

So, that's a kind of overview of some thing happening in my life. It was going to be a "this is my final farewell to blogging" post but I changed my mind. It's my blog and I can do that. I don't know when my next post will be but it may even be tomorrow. If you are still around and reading my blog now, thanks for your faithful readership. :)

A Foggy Morning

2008-06-05T07:26:00.010+10:00

It's nearing report writing time again - yay for the stress of it all!

I do have a cold - sore throat is gone, the runny nose has almost run out.

Feeling a little bit left behind on my work and even lesson preparation because of dealing with student, staff and parent issues.

Wondering about what the future holds.

Just stuff!

Anyway, I haven't been swimming in a week because of my cold but did venture out for a walk last Tuesday morning to get to work. I walked the 3kms and it was a cold, foggy morning.

A friend challenged me about these photos saying, "That's not fog, that's haze!" so lest you think the same, I will include a definition of both.

Fog - a cloudlike mass or layer of minute water droplets or ice crystals near the surface of the earth, appreciably reducing visibility

Haze - an aggregation in the atmosphere of very fine, widely dispersed, solid or liquid particles, or both, giving the air an opalescent appearance that subdues colors.

The weatherman and the meterologist website called it fog.

Lisa called, "Are you walking? Are you wearing lights? I don't want to have to stress about you getting hit by a car walking in that fog!"

I got to the school crossing and Sophie said, "Why aren't you wearing your coat???? You need to set an example! Fog is wet!"

I did have my gloves on but duitfully pulled out my coat and wore it for the last quarter of the walk which is probably the most 'dangerous as there's only one lane in either direction and it's a main road that busses and trucks travel at that time of the day. I took some photos to share the fog with you.

Here comes the bus!

Around the bend.

You can usually see the school at this point.

At the school safely. That's the basketball goal post you see to the right of the two trees.

A Look Around The Beach

2008-05-25T18:09:00.006+10:00

Now this ought to go down in COutsidetheBox blogging history - although on 'blogging leave', I'm now making a 2nd post within 36 hours. This is not, however, marking the end of my leave, it's just that when I went to visit Paul at his blogsite - "But a Poor Reflection", I saw his brilliant idea of doing a 360 look around a piece of his world.

Needing to clear my head and go for a walk, I went and visited my favourite beach to walk at. It was getting dark so I didn't stay long. I took a couple of photos and a couple of video clips. I couldn't decide which one I liked better so have added 2 out of the 3 or 4 clips I took. Hope you enjoy them!

Oh and like Paul, I recorded it using my Sony Ericsson phone.

Swimming, Shopping and Twirling

2008-05-24T14:58:00.002+10:00

Looking through my wardrobe as Winter approaches, pulling out old jumpers (pullovers) that are looking old and tatty, I checked my bank balance and strolled down the streeet to visit a ladies' clothing store - a bit upmarket from Target as clothes sold there are of a higher quality and price. Price???!! When I checked the price I thought that maybe I should drive to Melbourne isntead so quickly walked back home. One pullover I liked was $80, the others I liked were higher in price than that!

I also decided to check how many calories are burned during swimming as compared to walking as someone told me that swimming is better for me if I want to lose weight. When I learned that I burn up to 4x more calories swimming rather than walking, I then had a choice to make... swim or shop in Melbourne? Tough decision!

As I've lost more weight this week, the decision wasn't so tough after all. The best motivation for losing weight is seeing results for hard work. I went swimming and swam. I swim at the local heated pool which is about 2kms from home. (on my way to work) I swim 4 laps of freestyle, 4 laps of backstroke, 1 lap using a kickboard on my front, 2 laps of breaststroke, 1 lap using a kickboard on my back = 12 laps and then start the cyle all over again. Each Saturday, I add 2 more laps to my total. This week I am up to 30 laps. I was swimming 3x a week but am going to try and increase that to 4x a week. Mon. Wed. Thurs. and Saturday.

I do enjoy swimming as I find it does help to de-stress, as opposed to distress after a busy, eventful and/or stressful day. The only thing I didn't enjoy was when I was swimming backstroke this morning, I miscounted my strokes after passing the flags (close to the end of the pool) and slammed my arm against the edge. OUCH!! I'm sure I'm going to have a big bruise there soon. This is a photo of the pool that I found on their website. I'm sure if I took a photo of it, it wouldn't look quite so good.

I stopped in at Target on the way home and bought 4 tops for the same price as what I would have paid for 1 pullover at the ladies' clothing store. At Safeway, I was tempted to buy a yummy donut but then thought that would waste the effort I put into swimming and bought a banana instead.

Speaking of swimming, I read some interesting trivia about octopi today and thought I'd share it with you here. In Detroit, they have had a tradition since 1952 to twirl Octopi on the ice at hockey matches. Recently, a $10 000 fine was introduced for anyone who did it. The NHL Commissioner explained the reason for it:

Actually, there's a very good reason for it. We haven't fined or given a delay of game penalty for the throwing of the octopus because we understand and respect the tradition. Having said that, when you swing the octopus around - and I don't know the exact term for it -- but octopus 'gunk' gets on the ice and occasionally has gotten on the players -- the goaltenders -- as it goes by. Occasionally, when it freezes on the ice, it creates a potentially hazardous situation for the players. It's not about interfering with a tradition; it's about making sure nobody gets it in their eyes, like a goaltender nearby, or that nobody blows out a knee getting caught on some frozen gunk."

According to the Yahoo article I read, they said that "blowing out a knee on octopus goo has escaped us on injury reports for the last 17 years."

Well, I'd rather swim than fall over on ice!

Catch Up

2008-05-12T19:15:00.002+10:00

The Walk Safely to School day went well. When the radio announcer called me on the phone, his first words were, "Stop blogging about me!" He has some kind of 'alert' thing that lets him know when someone uses his name or something so that's why I'm not mentioning his name now. LOL Nathan said I sounded like a professional radio person and those who heard it, seemed somewhat impressed. I didn't mind so much having to get up early and was totally ready by the time he called. At first I wondered if he was even going to call but he did - and he called me Coralanne.

I've been swimming regularly for the last month or so. My aim is to swim 3x a week although sometimes I only get to 2x. I'm also trying to walk 3x too and I find it does make me feel healthier and more energetic. Not that my energy was depleted but.... Swimming laps is also good for destressing. Last Monday after a particularly harrowing day, I left early to work at home and on the way home, did some laps to get my head cleared up. It did help. This photo was taken about an hour or so after my swim tonight. I was standing just inside Nathan's room and he wanted me to include the poster of the yellow "Bumblebee" Transformer or whatever, but as you can see, I didn't.

There is some news I wanted to share with those of you who are left as my faithful few.... Remember Jack? Jack the kid who ended up leaving our school and then came back? Anyway, he's in my class this year and I am so impressed with him. A few weeks ago, a smaller kid was provoking him but all he did was take the kid's stick off him and went away. Today, another smaller kid was being a problem so Jack kept an eye on him and even tried explaining to the boy why being agressive doesn't help. He told him how he had gone to another school but that turned out to be just as bad and was glad we gave him another 'chance' and let him come back here.

At recess time, Jack came to me when all the other students had left and asked me, "Am I doing allright this year?" I smiled and said, "For sure! I'm so impressed at how well you're going!" He then said, "No, I'm being honest... Am I?" I laughed and said that I was being honest too and then he made sure I wasn't crossing my fingers and added, "But I mean in my school work, too." I think by this time I was sort of shaking my head and just kept saying that he was doing well. Academically, he's not at the standard he's supposed to be at, but he's trying and that certainly counts for something. So there you go, at times like that, I am reminded what a blessing it really is to be a teacher!!!!! (And to have such wonderful students in my class!)

On the Radio

2008-05-01T18:05:00.003+10:00

This morning while I was working on admin/principal stuff, the phone rang and when I picked it up, a man calling himself "Andrew" with an accent enquired about talking to the 'owner of the business'. Since that is the usual line tele-marketers give, I told him to call the other campus and he replied quickly, "He's won the lottery!" I hung up. The phone rang again and when I picked it up, 'Andrew' quickly said, "No, don't hang up, I'm from the Gippsland...." I didn't hear the rest of his spiel but did laughingly ask him what he thought about playing a prank on me when he doesn't even know me and I don't know his voice etc. After a few minutes of banter, he asked to speak to the principal and found it even more amusing when he learned that I was the principal.

Tomorrow our school is participating in the Walk Safely to School day. He asked me some questions like how we got involved and why and asked me about our school. He then asked me if I'd like to be interviewed by Brendan King on the radio tomorrow as part of the promotions so of course I said "Yes" and when I asked what time, he replied, "Early". He'll be calling me at about 7:20am tomorrow (Fri. 2nd May) and I'm not sure if you can but apparently you can hear the station online. Click on ABC Gippsland and it should take you there or if your in Australia and want to listen on the radio, its playing on 3GI - 100.7 FM radio. For those of you who aren't in Australia, it will be broadcast at 2:20pm PST or 5:30pm EST on Thurs. 1st May.

It might not work, I don't know - but you can always try. Hopefully it won't take too long because I have to walk to school that day and meet all the students and staff at the swimming pool. It's actually quite fun!

Still On A Break But....

2008-04-19T16:57:00.006+10:00

I'm still having a break from blogging but thought I'd update you on some fun I've had lately.

During the last week of the holidays, I went to a "New Principal's Residence Seminar" and the principals who attended, stayed at the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne. It's not far from our State Parliment House and the Treasury Gardens. It was a worthwhile time meeting new principals and finding out what the AISV do for independent schools in our State.

It was so special to be treated so well. There was valet parking so I had to call my friend Kevin to find out how that 'works' as I've never had the privilege of that service before. The food was delicious, doors were opened by uniformed valets and when I went up to my room after dinner and a meeting that night, the curtains had been closed, the bed turned down and the bedside light was on. I had a bath before I retired.

Here's a short video clip of the photos I took at that time.

The other day, I was having a 'day' so I encouraged Karen to come outside and kick the footy (football) with me. Mine is pink and it sits in my 'principal's office' on my desk. All the students had gone into work and I was having planning time and needed a break. It was a lot of fun and I laughed when I broke a nail!

Today, the Parents and Friends of my school campus ran a car boot sale/Fun day. It was a lot of fun and I got to jump on the Jumping Castle. I'm sure some of my students deliberately pushed me while I was on it and when I finally managed to crawl off, I felt a bit dizzy when I stood up. Here's some photos that were taken at that time too.

Taking A Break

2008-04-02T09:55:00.002+11:00

I'm going to take a break from blogging for awhile and that probably includes the reading of blogs although I'll keep them in my 'favourites' and every now and again will pop over to visit.
I don't know how long the break will be for - might be days, weeks or longer.

I just feel I have too much to deal with in my life right now and need to focus on those things that are more important at this time.

I am privileged to have made such wonderful friends and I'm still contactable via email. Please feel free to stay in touch.

Take care.

Carolanne

To Get My Hair Done

2008-03-26T18:39:00.008+11:00

To get my hair done, I travel to Melbourne and it takes me about an hour and half to get there. Nathan decided he wanted his hair cut too and we left with plenty of time to spare. So much time that we decided to stop in at McCafe for lunch. Nathan eats half my food at the moment - I think it's an effective way to diet. After we left McCafe, all traffic was diverted due to an accident, so we turned right and followed a few other cars. When we came to another T intersection, I decided to go left rather than follow the car that went right. For all I know, that car could have been on its way home.

I got back to the main hwy and ended up back where I started and back at the same detour again. I turned right the next time and found myself in a place I've never been before but having a good sense of direction (really) I was able to navigate back on the freeway and we were only 7 minutes late for my appointment. The accident was a fatal one - a 7 yr old boy and his 14 yr old brother, 2 other siblings in critical danger and mother also in intensive care after a semi-trailer allegedly ran a red light and crashed into them. Very sad.

Mary did my hair and Nathan's hair and shared gossip about her clients. I told her it reminded me of an episode on Get Smart where Control couldn't work out how Kaos was finding out their secrets. Turns out, Kaos had 'planted' spies in a hair dressing salon that Control agents frequented. People tell their hairdresser all sorts of secrets although Mary says she's caught out a couple of lies. She wonders why they bother lying - what do they have to lose anyway?

I stopped to fill up with petrol which costs $1.47 per litre and cost me $50.00 total. Unfortunately you have to be 16 yrs of age and older to fill up so Nathan got to stay nice and warm in the car.

On the way home, it rained hard as you can tell by this short video clip. Nathan told me you've all seen roads like this before but I felt it added to my story. Anyway, time for me to go to a Board Meeting and I'll be home late. (Hopefully I won't be late to the meeting now!

Bee Stings and Holiday Breaks

2008-03-21T13:37:00.004+11:00

We are now on Term break for the next 2 weeks, returning to school on April 7th. None too soon if you ask me!

With the recent heat wave of temperatures in the high 30's (reaching 101 F at times), warm, sleepless nights and long days, it seemed that there was more than just the weather-type hot air blowing around in classrooms. Water fights only cool down for so long and then it isn't long before one is dried out and needing a refresher soon after. Karen saw a competition for schools to take a photo of something to do with water and then enter it and win something grand. She got all excited when looking at the photos of the water fight but when she looked more closely at the 'water conservation' condition, she realised that our photos probably didn't quite fit under that theme.

Well the cool change has hit and the dial has been changed from air conditioner to heater. The nights are cooler and the skies are overcast. Today is only expected to get to 18 c and it's almost that now. We did reach the highest temperature for March ever recorded on the 16th when it was 39.3 c in our town. The highest recorded temp for March before that was on March 12th1998 when it reached 38.8c and I share this information for you because people keep talking about Global Warming and I sometimes look at history and wonder if it really has made all that much difference. I'm not a scientist and I know scientists have differing opinons anyway so I'll leave it to them to decide.

As already stated, I'm on holidays now so maybe I'll get a chance to catch up with blogging especially if the weather stays cool, forcing me to be inside. There are a few days I will be doing school work but I do want to take a break as well so that I can go back to work somewhat refreshed. In this photo, I'm waving to a group of girls who went on a short hike with their bedding and backpacks to raise money for "Orphans2Rescue". It is not a secret wave or code, as one friend suggested. LOL

As I began this post, Russell called me to "Come quickly!" and when I got to the living room, Nathan was sitting down with his foot up because he'd been stung by a bee and the bee was still stuck to his foot. He said to me, "I thought bees weren't supposed to stick themselves to you" but since he stood on it, guess it was a different story. It's quite possible it was dead before it got stuck to him. As I pulled the bee away, a mass of gooey stuff came with it too and then it was just the stinger and a blob left to take out. I waited for his foot to swell up but it didn't so I'm assuming he's not allergic to bee stings.

Today is Good Friday - our isp was down for most of last night and we had no power for 2 hrs yesterday - 4:30pm - 6:30pm. I didn't expect the ISP to get up and running since our whole nation closes for Good Friday but obviously the problem did get fixed. Tonight we're going to celebrate Gerda's birthday with her family. March is a month of birthdays for my friends and family!

In closing, I hope you all have a safe and happy Easter as we remember and celebrate God's amazing love for us!!

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9,10

Cooling Down

2008-03-14T21:36:00.005+11:00

It was a very hot day today - reached 38 C at least (100 F) and we don't have airconditioning in our classrooms. The students kept asking me if they could have a waterfight but when I went out on yard duty at lunchtime, suddenly the water was splashing around everywhere! Karen watched while Lisa (chaplain) took photos.

Karen described it as "organised chaos" and I did keep a tight rein on who got to control the water. As everyone wanted to get wet, I just told the younger students to stand there and they'd have water thrown at them - they didn't need to use the taps. (Un?)fortunately, the kids saw me as a target too.

Even while Lisa was taking my photo, a taller student came up behind me and tipped a jug of water over me.

There are water restrictions so we were careful not to waste a drop of it - as you can see by the photos of me. One of the kids said that I was awesome - that at their previous school they would have gotten in trouble for something like this.

When it comes to a waterfight on a hot day, you can count me in every single time!

Kids Rock

2008-03-13T16:54:00.002+11:00

My niece posted this on my Facebook Wall so I had to post it here - for Art and all other music lovers. LOL

Enjoy!

Teacher Voice etc.

2008-03-12T20:56:00.003+11:00

Apparently I have a "teacher voice" designed to threaten, instruct and order students to do the right thing, stop doing the wrong thing and give them boundaries. My son decided to bring up the issue while we were away camping and told everybody (our friends) about my teacher voice. He also pleaded with me not to use it with him. It was a point of discussion for quite some time.

I can not fabricate the teacher voice for you although I must admit I did know what "tone of voice" he was talking about. I thought of doing a video clip for you so you could understand what he meant but it just can't be done in play. Well, it can, but there must be other circumstances requiring it and to make up a video clip for you would devalue the 'teacher voice' and make it seem trite.

Today, Peter and I took Arie out for lunch especially since it was his birthday and then later on we sat in my office for our meeting. Arie opened the window, since I don't have air-conditioning and let the wind blow all the papers off my desk. After school, some students congregated outside my office window to get their bikes, argue about the bikes and threaten and cajole those who were there accordingly. I stood up, pulled the curtain back and in my best teacher voice, told them to stop threatening each other, use your own bike and go home.

As I sat down, Arie laughed and said, "Oh so she does have a teacher voice!" or some other such phrase meaning that. He now knows what Nathan meant. When recounting the story to Nathan, he was surprised to learn that Arie hadn't heard it before.

I tell you this story because it's a red herring compared to the other true story that happened after school tonight. Let's just say, a volunteer overstepped some boundaries which could have led to a possible lawsuit if the consequences had been any different. Without my knowledge, without my permission, she took it upon herself to interfere in a few students' emotional well-being, believing herself to be capable of handling the situation. I'm not exactly overjoyed and when I discussed it with Lisa (chaplain) and Russell - both who are qualified and experienced counsellors - they agreed and were dismayed at her actions. So on Friday, when she is next at my school campus, I will need to firmly deal with the situation.

I love confrontations so much!!!! ..........................
....................................................
.................................................

NOT!!!!!

Camping On the Long Weekend 2008

2008-03-10T19:30:00.003+11:00

While the smell of "open fire" lingers despite having showered since being home and the smell of "pit toilet" fades quickly, I decided I would write about our Long Weekend camping with our friends Arie and Gerda and 2 of their sons, Rory and Dallas. Of course I took photos so when words fail me, there are thousands of "words" to look at, all pieced together in a picture. Arie thought I'd have a week's worth of blogging about the Long weekend, but I've decided to condense it into this one post. However, I'm sure there might be other tales to tell as the week unfolds so it's not yet forgotten.

The weekend started with a drive into the bush and arriving at a campsite about 2hrs drive from home. We got there at about lunchtime which was just as well as we had the bread for the Hot Dogs for everyone to eat. It was a peaceful place with lots of shady trees and a river either side of the campsite.

There were about 10 (?) families/couples camped at this spot but with plenty of room to keep out of each other's way. There was only one pit toilet for everyone and if in a hurry, it was advisable to take a shovel or at least, find a tree rather than wait. We weren't too far away from the toilet so we'd observe people walking past with their roll of toilet paper in their hand. Gerda called it a fashion accessory. One family sat very close to the toilet and it was possible to hear their conversation while there. The boys especially found this unnerving.

On Sunday, we visited a historical town about 30 minutes drive away. It was originally set up as a gold mining town and it was quite busy that day. Nathan, however, was not well so when the others all climbed up a particularly steep mountain, Gerda and I drank an icy-cold milkshake and looked after Nathan in a picnic area.

Later, we all had a drumstick except for poor Nathan who could only have a plain icy-pole. He didn't have an appetite and has even missed basketball tonight - a sure sign of him being sick. I can count on one hand how many times Nathan has thrown up in his life - it's just too bad it had to be yesterday while we were camping.

Our friends claim that cooking over an open fire is an art form and they could well be right. The food was delicious especially bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast each morning. For dessert on Saturday night, we had chocolate melted in bananas. Arie and Gerda cooked us a roast on Saturday night using the Dutch Oven on the open fire and we cooked spaghetti on Sunday night. Well, Russell volunteered to cook it but when smoke got in his eyes, Nathan took over for a bit.

During the day, the kookaburras laughed with song and mozzies, March flies and bees buzzed along. A few of them were biting but their victory was short lived as a resounding slap was heard to signal their demise. A couple of bees were packed into the camper trailer on our way home but I don't think they would have made the trip home.

A goanna also made an appearance on our last day at the campsite and the boys "chased" it up a tree and took a photo of it there. The weather was perfect - although a little on the hot side - especially today when it reached 35 C. The nights were cool and fell in temperature to about 10 so it wasn't too hot to sit around the fire and toast marshmallows.

We did enjoy our time camping and Arie and Gerda are planning our next trip camping and 4 wheel driving. Below is a short video clip of the peaceful setting we were camped in. If you have the volume up loud enough, you'll be able to hear the sound of the river splashing over the rocks along the trail. I could hear it at night as I lie there on the lilo (air mattress) which stayed pumped up! Herein ends the first post (and possibly the last) of our camping adventure during the Long Weekend.

it.

Gone Camping - Back Monday

2008-03-07T22:16:00.003+11:00

It's Labour Day on Monday which means a long weekend for us.

If you're looking for me, find a place near a river, under a tree and that's where we'll be camped out. Real camping.... no electricity, no showers, no computers and it's a "pit toilet". Cooking over an open fire, sleeping in tents and swimming in the river to cool down on what is looking to be a hot weekend. Where will we be? Well Arie gave us a map, Gerda gave us a 'menu' and we're packing our bags and heading in the direction we've been told to head to find them. Travel along some windy roads, cross over a bridge, and at the fifth pothole, turn left.

It's been years since I did 'real' camping and Nathan has only done some through school. Russell claims to have camped when he was a teenager.

It will be interesting.
It will be fun.
I'll tell you about it when we're done.

Class Of 2008

2008-03-01T19:54:00.005+11:00

It's been a long year and yet it's only just begun. However, I'm going to post about one of the positive things about my school this year. Some of you may have picked up that at the end of last year, I didn't really want to teach this class. There were a number of reasons for this, one being that there are students in this class who I've taught for 5 years and I wasn't sure that having just one year off would be enough of a break. Another was that they're in that "hormonal" stage of tween and teenager and can be so unpredictable! (A lot of other words come to mind but I'll leave them to your imagination.)

A girl who I have taught for 5 years said to Karen (friend/colleague) that she is very happy that she has me again this year. This girl comes and sits at the corner of my desk during Maths because she finds it easier to get work done there. A few of the other students will congregate around me to do their work too - and I mean "work". Karen commented to me that it would be pretty rare for any child to say that about one of their teachers. I do indeed feel content with my class and as you can see by the following video clip, they're working well. They didn't know I was taking this clip and it was actually the 2nd one that I took. I didn't use the first one because it was longer and would have taken more time to download as it's about 3x as long and almost exactly the same. (Make sure you turn it up loud so you can hear the papers shuffling! LOL)

It is by no means fun and games for my class. I make them do work as well. This is a list of verbs we compiled on the board. There are verbs for every letter of the alphabet but only one for X - which was "x-ray". A few of the students got their dictionaries out to find verbs to add to the list. When others 'complained' they were cheating, I told them that I'm quite happy for them all to use their dictionaries so a few more brought their's out. Some of the students wanted the challenge of thinking up the verbs without using the dictionary but as you can imagine, I was just happy they were all involved in a lesson that could ordinarily be considered boring!

They know that a lot of verbs can also be nouns. When we studied nouns, I gave them this photo (taken when we were in Michigan) and they had a table of common, proper and abstract nouns. Some of them used the photo as an idea for a narrative they had to write.

Even when the administration part of my job gets to be too much, even when there are tasks that I don't enjoy doing, at least I know that my students are working and working well. It is reassuring to watch them grow and enjoy learning. After all, they're the main reason I'm there!

Grace and Justice

2008-02-20T20:14:00.004+11:00

Last week I had a phone call from a parent complaining that I had permitted a child to enrol in our school and according to her, he'd been expelled from every school in the area and is violent and threatening. She went on, "Our school is being known to take anyone and we shouldn't be taking in kids like that." I listened politely, told her that she was misinformed by her so-called credible source and thanked her for her concern. Inside, I was not impressed. Does she think I have to call every family in the school community and ask them if it's OK for me to enrol some children? Am I supposed to ask every family for their opinion and not care if its based on fact or not? Where does grace fit in?

We have had students come from other schools and people who were in the "know" would tell me that I shouldn't take him/her on because of their bad behaviour in their previous school. Those students come and get a fresh start, find themselves in a positive environment with smaller classes and they settle in relatively quickly with not too many hiccups. Some children take longer to change but how long are we supposed to give them before we give up? As I said to the parent, I would never endanger any of my students' lives and at the merest hint of some kind of possible misdemeanour, I would certainly deal with it appropriately.

Jack left when his mum felt that he'd do better in another larger, government school. Within days, he had resorted to worse behaviour than we'd witnessed at our school and within 6 months time he was back. He is in my class this year and although he is still quite loud, we haven't had any serious incidences with him. The boy the parent was referring to is not in my class and although he has changed the class dynamics somewhat, we are monitoring his behaviour and implementing strategies to teach/train the child in what is appropriate. There will always be a settling in period for any new student and so far he is also aiming to do his best. Time will tell.

Last night on TV I was watching a current affairs show which told about an old lady who had been brutally bashed by a robber who had sneaked into her house and when she'd woken up, bashed her. He was only given 2 years detention in a juvenile home because the judge thought the perpetrator was too skinny to survive a real jail. What kind of justice is that? Anyway, they asked the older woman at the end, what she would say to the man who bashed her if she met him face to face and her reply was, "I'd tell him to come and take me on now".

Why does the media show and tell such things? Great attitude. Supposing the perpetrator was sitting there watching the show and hears the old woman say that and decides he'll take her up on the challenge. Then what? Journalists/media need to be more responsible in what they broadcast. It's OK to say that we have a right to know but there are some things better not "taught" to would-be offenders.

Tale the case of a 16 year old boy whose parents were away so he decided to advertise a party on a webpage. When 500 people (I think) turned up, the party went wild and $20 000 worth of damage was incurred. I'm not going to mention the child's name nor the website because it's been splashed around in newspapers, gossiped about and broadcast on the news via TV and radio. They've (media) allegedly paid him to do interviews. Surprise, surprise, the police are now finding that there are other youths who have become "copycats" and are attempting to do the same thing. Hey, why try to figure out your own way of becoming (in)famous when all you have to do is listen to the news and find out in detail how it can be done successfullly?

Anyway, that's my peeve for today. The media should be more responsible in the way it deals with issues such as the above and not give step by step instructions to their listeners in how to do it for themselves. Just give us a report, not a "procedures" type genre. And when children are naughty, don't give them such a high profile in the news. The 16 year old boy is now hated or admired by others his age. Some want to hurt him, some want to emulate him but either way is wrong.

Grace and justice. Both are important if we are to have a safe society to live in but where does the line fall?

Sunday Night, Monday

2008-02-18T21:37:00.006+11:00

With shadows falling at the end of a hot day that was turning cool and windy, we visited the beach and had fish n' chips at a favourite spot on the coast. It was Sunday evening and just going to the beach, makes me feel like I'm on a mini-vacation. One of the 'beauties' about being overseas at Christmas time was that we were almost uncontactable except for emergencies.

When we go to the beach, a place tourists like to visit during the day, school and work can be left at home. Last night was no exception and because it was cooler and quite windy, the beach was almost deserted.

It was windy and yet the seagulls still hung around waiting for a chip to be thrown in their direction. Chips we can spare but I wasn't going to throw any of my pineapple fritter their way! Nathan commented that apparently in America, people deliberately feed seagulls. Is this true? Is it true of Canada also? It reminds me of that song in the Mary Poppins movie about the lady who sells bird feed for 'tuppence'. Chips aren't as cheap as they used to be, that's for sure and certainly more than tuppence.

This photo of Nathan shows one of his favourite places to do homework and/or read. He made the hallstand for a woodwork project last year and we still need to attach a mirror and hooks. The front door is to the right of the photo but it's amusing that of all the comfy places he could choose, that's where he sits. The black box on the floor to his left, is his iPod and speakers.

I was going to make this post last night but I'm glad I waited until today because today was long and there were difficulties but in the midst of them, I could see that it wasn't a total write-off of a day. We have a new student who comes from a 'troubled' background and has allegedly not been a model student in other schools. It was thought that in a new environment, he could start afresh and shake off his reputation and that he is willing to work if we are willing to give him a chance. Some of you may recall me talking about an integration student called "Sam". Sam finds all thngs new a challenge so on top of dealing with a new teacher, he also has this other student thrown into his world. He tends to be a copy-cat and when you put him in an unstructured class like music with a new teacher (who comes once a week) as well, Sam doesn't really cope.

Anyway, MrRP called the new boy's parents and explained about his behaviour and some strategies we're hoping to implement to effect a positive change and I called Sam's parents to inform them about some of his behaviour today and to let them know what we're going to do about it. Both parents were supportive of whatever decisions we choose to make. I told MrRP that we are very fortunate that they chose to support us.

I was running a bit late for school this morning and didn't have time to prepare my lunch so on the way, decided that I'd go down the street at lunchtime and buy something. As I came out of the classroom, Robin introduced me to 2 parents who were making an enrolment enquiry but as it happened, we know them from a few years ago when I was relief teaching on an almost full time basis at the local gov't primary school. They were very excited to find out that I was the principal and happy to know that Nathan goes to the other campus as their older son is a year ahead of Nathan so would need to go there too. In fact, H was a friend of Nathan's when they were in junior primary. They were so enthusiastic that they've also decided they're going to tell all their friends to come to "my" school. That was pretty exciting and eencouraging. Since I didn't have time to go and get lunch, I ate some grapes that I'd brought from home and a small Easter Egg that the chaplain, Lisa had left behind for me.

After school, I sat down with MrRP and the music teacher MrKB to work out some strategies with the 2 boys. It was good to be able to talk through issues, discuss possible strategies and then pray with them. While MrRP was on the phone later, I went to go and lock up his classroom and found that my key wouldn't fit in the lock and when I was finally able to push it right through, it wouldn't turn. I called the locksmith who came within 20 mins. He's the only locksmith in town so I've met with him a few times during the last 6 years and I recall the first time he came out. I was reading a book to my class and he took his time with fixing the lock, because he wanted to hear the whole story.

I have learned to make these encounters with people from our community positive because you never know where it might lead to and who else might be affected by it. Time and again I have talked to someone and then later on, that person turns up on the school's doorstep wanting information about enrolling their child.

Anyway, a child (more than likely the new boy since he was the one with the motivation and time to do so) had shoved a stick in the lock. We were very 'fortunate" that the locksmith was able to come when he did and had I called 5 mins later, we would have missed him as he was on his way to a town about an hour away to put locks in there.

So you see, this could have turned out to be an even worse mess of a day but the 'timing' of certain events meant that problems didn't blow up out of control.

Consider this: I rarely (if ever) lock MrRP's door and often he will suggest I leave if he's decided to stay and work late. Had this happened, he would have been stuck as to what to do about the locked door as he had no way of contacting the BMF and.or the locksmith. (He probably would have called me back to work anyway.)

I've mentioned the timing of the phonecall to the locksmith.
I've mentioned the support of the parents whose children were difficult today.
I've mentioned the enrolment enquiry which could give me a new Yr 7 student and who knows how many after that.
I had grapes to eat because "by chance" I picked up the bag of them as I rushed out the door in the morning.

This is a long post but I hope you think it was worth reading. After all, my posts lately have become quite irregular so this might make up for it.

Our Big Trip Show

2008-02-16T21:00:00.006+11:00

For those who are interested, I've uploaded the photos we took on our trip as well as a few short video clips and turned it into one 7 mins 24 sec movie at YouTube. To make sure it didn't take another year to upload and then for you to download, I 'shrunk' it which means that the quality is not near as good as it could be. Still, it gives you an idea.

There is no compulsion for you to watch it, but if you do and if you enjoy it, please feel free to say so in the comments.

For Ladies' Eyes Only

2008-02-16T20:03:00.011+11:00

No offence, but if you're a man you really don't need to take the time to read the following. It's all about my shopping-for-new-clothes day and I'm pretty sure you won't find it interesting. I did go to OfficeWorks after buying new clothes and bought some speakers for my laptop - makes the music sound so much better (and louder)!! I also bought a few other office things but other than that, take your own wife shopping for new clothes if you want to know more.

Bye guys! (In other words you're free to leave now.)

After looking at a photo of me taken the other night at my commissioning service, I decided it was time to buy some new clothes. My old clothes are too baggy and dowdy (a word my mum used to use) and I felt like a frump! It was time to do some serious shopping and since my friend Shelly couldn't come along, Russell thought he'd take the opportunity to spend some time with me while Nathan was at his friend's place.

Russell was telling me that he heard a guest speaker on Focus on the Family say that when a woman asks her husband, "Do I look fat in this?" she is really asking, "Do I still do it for you?!"

If I ask, "Do I look fat in this?" I want to know the truth! If I ask, "Does this look good on me?" I still want to know the truth. Usually I can tell if it's comfortable and suits me but sometimes a 2nd opinion is confirmation. Sometimes I can't decide so a 2nd opinion helps me make that decision. I don't want to waste my money buying something that doesn't suit me so if I ask, please tell the truth!

I went into 4 different clothing stores and even the BNT store. (Bras n' Things) It's so nice to be able to buy clothes a size smaller and to feel good in them. Black, green and orange don't suit me so I tended to stick with mostly pinks and purples. I found a pair of crop denim pants which are so comfy! Now all I have to do is throw out my oversized, fashionless, baggy old clothes and the new clothes will fit in my wardrobe.

I got Russell to take a few photos and put them into a quick video clip so you can see them too but for now it's not uploading so I'll just add a few photos instead.