- Listen to a CBC interview with Quebec MP Romeo Saganash, who currently represents this riding.
- Watch the documentary 8th Fire, also from CBC
- Check out the website that Youth Fusion set up for Waswanipi. Some of the Secondary 4 and 5 students are jamming!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Learn More
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Why?
I've refrained from blogging about the school system as a whole. Having been here for less than 2 weeks, I've seen things I never knew would happen.
You can walk down the hallway and see full knapsacks, full of textbooks, untouched. The books are not carried home and sometimes not every brought to class. The backpacks can sit there for days or even weeks without having budged.
Students here do not have 'spares' as truancy is a huge issue here.
The school becomes a ghost town on Fridays and teachers tell me, "Don't bother teaching today. It's Friday. You won't get anything done."
Feel free to ask me for personal insights - for obvious reasons, I have decided to limit some of my opinions from this blog.
You can walk down the hallway and see full knapsacks, full of textbooks, untouched. The books are not carried home and sometimes not every brought to class. The backpacks can sit there for days or even weeks without having budged.
Students here do not have 'spares' as truancy is a huge issue here.
The school becomes a ghost town on Fridays and teachers tell me, "Don't bother teaching today. It's Friday. You won't get anything done."
Feel free to ask me for personal insights - for obvious reasons, I have decided to limit some of my opinions from this blog.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Day Trip to Chibougamou
We drove out to Chibougamou; I felt like a happy dog, going out for a car ride. I made the 1.5 hour drive out, mostly a straight rode with giant curves and the occasional blast of a few snowmobiles racing 100 meters parallel to the rode. I do miss driving and I hope to eventually try out a snowmobile!
The computer stores weren't helpful in Chibougamou. There was no technician on site at one and the second was closed on the weekend. For now it seems to be working - I suspect there's a loose cable.
Anywho, we ate at the cutest little cafe called Cafe Brulot. It's a co-op with paintings for sale inside, very modern with lots of beer on tap and Trivia Pursuit cards - en francias, bien sur - on each table. They even made their own beer. I got 2 eggs floretine with an amazing Hollandaise sauce and les fruits on the side. I've been a bit more confident interacting with cashiers in French now. They usually can tell I'm Anglophone though!
We went to a small mall, which basically had 12 stores. Dropped into the Bijou and a few clothing stores; Bench is really really popular here - all the kids of Bench jackets, hoodies, t-shirts. H. got a long, blue-green Bench jacket for $50, down from $150! We spent the most time at Zellars - getting games and chocolates. I bought Blokus at Zellars ($35) and am going to donate it to the school when I leave here in 2 weeks. I also got 2 $4 puzzles - after we drove back, it took C. and I 4 hours to finish all 750 pieces of just one!!
Yes, it was a wild night in Waswanipi.
The computer stores weren't helpful in Chibougamou. There was no technician on site at one and the second was closed on the weekend. For now it seems to be working - I suspect there's a loose cable.
Anywho, we ate at the cutest little cafe called Cafe Brulot. It's a co-op with paintings for sale inside, very modern with lots of beer on tap and Trivia Pursuit cards - en francias, bien sur - on each table. They even made their own beer. I got 2 eggs floretine with an amazing Hollandaise sauce and les fruits on the side. I've been a bit more confident interacting with cashiers in French now. They usually can tell I'm Anglophone though!
We went to a small mall, which basically had 12 stores. Dropped into the Bijou and a few clothing stores; Bench is really really popular here - all the kids of Bench jackets, hoodies, t-shirts. H. got a long, blue-green Bench jacket for $50, down from $150! We spent the most time at Zellars - getting games and chocolates. I bought Blokus at Zellars ($35) and am going to donate it to the school when I leave here in 2 weeks. I also got 2 $4 puzzles - after we drove back, it took C. and I 4 hours to finish all 750 pieces of just one!!
Yes, it was a wild night in Waswanipi.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Laptop screen busted
My screen is giving out on me! At least I finished my AQ assignment on Thursday for the Friday assignment before that happened...
Going to bring it into Chibougamou today to see if anything can be done.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Lego Coming Together
Here is the mat for the FIRST Lego League that is happening in mid-March. About 10 of the Grade 6s are going to Montreal. We've set up the pieces of the course (stuck on with handy 3M Dual Lock) and H. is trying to figure out if it's in the place.
I took these picture for Yan Yan to see what the elementary competitions are like, since she was the first female robot driver at our high school!
I took these picture for Yan Yan to see what the elementary competitions are like, since she was the first female robot driver at our high school!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Quiet Day
Got a lot of prep done today. The afternoon was ridiculously quiet - all the teachers and students went to the Youth Centre for a suicide prevention lecture. Unfortunately, no one came back to the school afterward and we didn't have any students show up at 3:45 pm. There were other reasons - boys' and girls' basketball tryouts were happening and a few of the boys had to go to Waskaganish to perform at a church. Well, at least I did a lot of photocopy and prepped for Chapter 5. Here are the posters I made today.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Pizza Party
Went to the science class and helped out students - I'm starting to see where they are at and how far behind they are on language and math. Even calculating the number of electrons, they struggled to give me an answer as I wrote:
chlorine has 17 electrons = 2 + 8 + ___?
They are very receptive to me and you can see their attitude change when I start working with them. They want to learn but they don't want to sit around being berated by their teacher.
Had a pizza party to draw in the Sec 4s and 5s. It was fun to chitchat with them, learn their names. Tease them and laugh. Four pizzas cost us $116. ACK. Good thing we can put it under the work expenses. I didn't have any since there was pepperoni on everything. We had ordered one with just cheese on it but I think they had messed up.
Two of the teachers went to Mistissini for Thursday and Friday. I get a bed for the next two nights!! H. and I made pancakes for dinner, had a class of wine and a slice of Camembert, then we watched Twilight. Chatted with Dave, shower and off to bed!
chlorine has 17 electrons = 2 + 8 + ___?
They are very receptive to me and you can see their attitude change when I start working with them. They want to learn but they don't want to sit around being berated by their teacher.
Had a pizza party to draw in the Sec 4s and 5s. It was fun to chitchat with them, learn their names. Tease them and laugh. Four pizzas cost us $116. ACK. Good thing we can put it under the work expenses. I didn't have any since there was pepperoni on everything. We had ordered one with just cheese on it but I think they had messed up.
Two of the teachers went to Mistissini for Thursday and Friday. I get a bed for the next two nights!! H. and I made pancakes for dinner, had a class of wine and a slice of Camembert, then we watched Twilight. Chatted with Dave, shower and off to bed!
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