Thoughts

Not blogging a lot - I've actually been blogging a lot less than I had been planning. Lately just been busy and not in the mood for writing (i.e. if you've read any of my other blogs you know that I've been writing pretty sloppily on this one and I've not been proofreading this one). Another reason is that all of the teachers/housemates get along so we don't just sit at our computers and ignore each other. Even after work, we're always chitchatting with each other, working in the kitchen and just hanging out. Tonight, C. made ghoulash with chicken. The nice thing is that the other teachers always cook the meat in a separate pan so that I am still able to eat (note to self: the sauce for butter chicken is amazingly delicious and although not vegan, is worth learning).

Uncooperative teachers - Part of our job here is to collect marks so that we can see which students we need to focus on come exam time (i.e. who is most likely to pass and graduate). Some teachers get weary and feel as if we are sent here to check on them (no, that's not our job). Despite having the okay from the vice-principal, who runs the school, he's absent this week and not here to crack the whip. We are still missing marks from a few teachers - despite being asked straight up, a few just make up some BS answer. I cannot even summarize what has been said to me - some of it just seems like nonsense. It's strange for teachers to be so uncooperative. Some of them fear that they aren't doing their job and are just psychologically protecting themselves. Well, dammit! It's not about you, it's about what your responsibilities are. This really annoys me. Also I was stunned when I was giving suggestions to a teacher who just finished a lesson and he thought that 'think-pair-share' wouldn't be a good idea (my OISE teachers would have been appalled, this is probably one of the most basic things a teacher would do for cooperative learning). Man, the kids and the teachers here could use TRIBES training. There is no teachers lounge or kitchen that staff hang out and chitchat together. It's really unfortunate. It's a ghost town come lunch time (everyone lives walking distance so packed lunches are pointless). I asked a teacher one day for bristol board and he couldn't tell me the art teacher's name. He asked 3 other staff members and none of them knew the art teacher's name. She's been working here since September 2011.

Last three weeks - I feel as if the past 3 weeks were somewhat successful, although I feel as if I could have done more. Having said that, everything here in Cree culture moves slowly. People are late ... ALL THE TIME. Too much change in too short a time could also be met with resistance - either by students or by teachers. So perhaps it is fitting that I helped out as much as I could, without having rocked the boat too much.

Things you get used to - Petting at least one dog before you get home. The school hallways smelling like cigarette smoke. Not spending money because there is NOWHERE to spend money. Sleeping on the couch. Crappy WIFI.

Students - A lot of students here are shy. They don't have a lot of practice giving oral presentations or doing cooperative group work. The science teacher can't even get half the students to read a sentence out aloud during a lesson. If you ask questions in class a lot of them lack confidence and will not even give you a guess. But you know the kids that didn't grow up here. You can tell which kids have lived in the big city. They stand taller and talk louder and faster and are generally more confident. They pick up more quickly. This is analogous to ESL students when I worked downtown Toronto - you can tell which ones learned English quickly by traveling and interacting with others. It's the kids who only learned English purely inside a classroom setting that struggle with speaking (i.e. I'm the kid who learned French only in a classroom and therefore my French is crap). I'm sure there are people that disagree with me but I still believe that being in an isolated environment isn't healthy for people, especially children.

AQ - AHHHHHHHHH! I wish I didn't have homework!!!! ARGH!!! I hate writing lesson plans!!! I just like reading all the interesting articles!!!

Packing - Started, will finish tomorrow night and off on Saturday morning at 8 am.