Good News

The day I left Waskaganish, I dropped off a finished copy of my application with the principal. She told J. that she’d like to interview me in my early April.

Yay! This means I need to start prepping.

It’s already … the middle of March! Wow!

Motivated in Math

Currently in Waskaganish, covering my coworker's vacation. I'm only here for two weeks and move onto East Main this Sunday. 

I've got to say, it's great to finally be in the same community as J. again, even if the time is brief. The last time we saw each other was the first week of January. I've been staying at his place on occasion. Tonight, I made some pad thai and then came back to my work house. Right now, it's a healthy balance. His place is a bit too small for the both of us. 

After school, two girls came out to library, where we're currently running our classes. We played Equate for a little while, then my math lesson on integers with two Secondary 1* students, D. and A., went very well. I used coloured wooded cubes (positive integers) and uncoloured wooden cubes (negative integers) to demonstrate how to add integers**. I'd only used this method once to teach a very bright Grade 6 student down south, but it was exciting to see these kids clicking; they were intrinsically motivated and started seeing patterns. They were totally in flow, even up until the end of our class, and wanted to continue practicing what they'd just learned. These are the moments I work for! 

More amazingly is the fact that a third girl, T., is only in Grade 5. I'd let her in on the condition that she would do work with us, even though she's not in part of our program. T. was picking up patterns faster than the other two. When we played 'Integer War*'** with a deck of cards, she was answering faster than the others. It's just unfortunate she doesn't get the enrichment they deserve. I was lucky that I was identified in Grade 4 and went through the next 9 years in the gifted program, getting the stimulation that I needed to keep me interested and motivated. There aren't the same opportunities here and smart kids here learn very quickly to suppress their intelligence; being a smarty-pants here is absolutely no advantage. Instead, you can singled out because you are too good for everyone. I look at T. and I see that she is definitely is hungry for knowledge. When I let her out of the school, she shyly asked if she could return again. I told her that I was very proud and I would gladly welcome her as long as I was still in the community.

What a great way to end the work day. I'm still wondering whether I should ask to teach elementary next year up here. While I enjoy working with secondary kids, it is draining when they are not motivated in very much at all. Part of me would prefer to have a regular classroom and be able to get the kids here more interested in numeracy and literacy. Of course, I know wherever I will be, I'll still try my hardest. 

*Grade 9 in Quebec. This is the first year of middle school.

**A coloured cube and a wooden cube add up to zero and 'cancel' each other out.

***Assign red-coloured cards as negative integer and black-coloured cards as positive integers (i.e. eight of  clubs is considered +8). Students flip cards from the top of their decks and add the numbers together. First person to state the correct sum wins the cards.

Hello from India

I used to volunteer for Alliance for International Women's Rights. I worked with two teenagers over Skype and taught them English as a Second Language. One of the girls, A., eventually graduated from high school in Afghanistan and went to India for university. She left a nice message for me when I was on Skype:

hi hi hi hi

how are you ???

hope you remember me:)

sorry for not contacting you for a long time, i really wanted to talked to you after my classes was finished..... and i had to finish them because I got my India scholarship and had to come over her.

The day i got this great new i wanted to tell because you were the one who gave confidence and had faith on me, and told me i will pass it. I really miss my Skype calsses with you, hope I have those classes once again......:)

Take care won't take you much time i am sure you might be busy.

A.

I really love the program. It is such an interesting way to connect with a stranger on the other side of the world!

Overcoming Your Fears

I bought this decorative panel ($22) on my last day in Hawaii. That was five days ago.

I think back to six years ago, when I was backpacking in Vietnam, I turned down the chance to try surfing. And for many years of my life, I said that I didn't like the ocean, that I wasn't a water baby and I wasn't a good swimmer. I made lots of excuses not to have fun. I never thought I'd ever try surfing in my life.

This trip to Hawaii finally gave me the chance to slowly fall in love with everything. Having the chance to attempt something again and again, in a safe environment, with lots of support, until you hit your flow and begin to attain mastery*. After nine days, I had an amazing time and felt comfortable snorkelling, skin diving and surfing. And I wish I could do it some more!**

I couldn't believe how quickly I picked up surfing! It was such a thrilling feeling, just cruising out on the surfboard and having a blast. I was standing by the second try. It helped to have a good instructor, T.; he always got me focused by asking me, "Are you ready?" and waiting for my vehement affirmation before he pushed me forward to catch a wave.

It felt good to overcome my fear and lack of confidence and leave Hawaii with surfboard rash, salt on my skin and a smile on my face. 

 

*An amazing audiobook that I've been listening to. A must-read, whether you work in a school or an office.

**I've avoiding learning how to SCUBA. I can't believe that I passed up so many opportunities considering how many world-class dive sites I've visited throughout southeast Asia.

Journey of Nishiyuu

I didn't realize until yesterday that half a dozen of the students I worked with last year in Whapmagoostui were on this trek!

Cree youth walk for Idle No More gains more participants
Youngest participant is 11-year-old girl, Abby Masty
 CBC News Posted: Feb 4, 2013 12:21 PM CST Last Updated: Feb 4, 2013 1:05 PM CST

Saturday

Decided to show the new staff member, T., around town. We drove about 30 km out of Chisasibi, over the LG1 dam around sunset and then returned to town, had dinner at the local restaurant. It was nice to eat out - it had probably been the 5th time I'd eaten out over the past 3 months. There was a $30 four-course special. I had goat-cheese ravioli while T. got boar and apple. The sides were tasty, tomato with butter and parmesan, rice and fried zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. There was beaver tail for dessert too!

Receiving Thanks

Teachers don't often hear their students show appreciation, so when they do, it means a lot.