A Teacher's All-time Favourite Classics...hA! hA!

...A Teacher’s Not-so-Favourite Moments...

In no particular order

Untied shoelaces

Hanging boogers

Snotty noses

Tattle Talers

When children activate their non-listening skills

When students have to be told a gazillion times one simple instruction

Repeat lesson instructions you just specifically spent time to explain it (go figure!)

The Torch Passes Thru ~ Part of the Olympic Experience...

On the morning of Friday, December 18, 2009, our students and many in the community witnessed an amazing moment in seeing the Olympic torch relay pass through. Although the convoy was long and the runner with the torch passed by in mere moments, the memory is forever emblazoned in my mind...
RA-RA-RAH-RAH-RAH!


Oh Canada! With Olympic torch used during the relay...

Slideshow courtesy of C. McAuley

Obedience to Christ

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
2 Corinthians 10:5

Obedience to Christ is not subject or under the restraint of intellect & cannot be peered through the gaze of reasoning. For a follower of Christ, the path that we journey on should be to obey Jesus...

When we try to reason through spiritual matters, we wander into a multiplicity of thoughts which can lead to great confusion. However, by submitting in obedience, our cares, burdens & worries to the Lordship of Christ, we can seek wisdom & discernment.

~My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Forgiveness

Having looked the beast in the eye, having given and received forgiveness, let us shut the door on the past, not to forget it, but to allow it not to imprison us.
-Desmond Tutu
Truth & Reconciliaton Commission, Aparteid in South Africa

The Week that Was....

This week was a fantastic week at school. After a challenging 1st term, report card period, and interviews, my grade 5 students are showing me that not only do they have the ability to make consistently positive choices BUT that they can change & be better, not settling for anything less than their best!

This year's group of 24-25 students has been shall I say an interesting and challenging bunch. Although I only spend 1/2 the day with them, they require an influx of energy that ends up being very taxing on me. They are a group of unique, funny, & enjoyable children however the challenges are very evident. Academic performance & capabilities, attitude towards hard work and challenges, as well as being responsible for their own learning...these have all been things that we've taken a close microscopic look at this year so far...although at times, it looked like I was going to raise up the white flag of surrender however, what I preach to the kids, I must do myself...Don't give up!. I may be insane or maybe teaching is just my thing but although my students drive me up the wall & drive me crazy at the worst of times, I still find myself very devoted and caring towards each one of them. My passion in life is my work with children and all the students who I have the privilege of interacting with. So even when I feel like I'm down & out, I can still rise above because this calling has been given to me as a gift in life.

This week was a stellar week and each of my students showed glowingly how they can improve in their own way: Less interruptions, quicker transition time, less calling out, less put downs, being responsible to seek extra help when required, listening attentively, encouraging one another, trying more harder to break their negative habits (e.g., shouting out or talking so loudly), being more organized, etc... The season is still quite young however the urgency is very visibly here & as we continue to "prepare" the kids for an important transition year heading into middle school, we can't rest on our laurels, & trudge to a stagnating beat at our current plateau, but we must progress forwards, carefully, diligently, and ever aware that we have to work hard to constantly improve and to reach for all that potential that's within.

Here's hoping to bigger & better things to come....

Food Inc. Documentary

This thought-provoking documentary left me with some concluding thoughts...

The food industry - whether it be engineering foods, meat inspection, farming, political games, lobbyists, scrutinizing & being critical of the industry, food contamination in the food chain, etc...

Some points of interest:
• Corn is heavily subsidized by the U.S. government

• snack food calories (cheap)

• bigger predictor of obesity is income level (e.g., $1 burger VS. $1.29 brocoli)

• high fructose corn & refined carbohydrates leads to spike to insulin -> wearing down the system of how are body metabolizes sugar....

• Commodity crops (e.g., corn is the heavy hitter) - soybean, wheat
• Hamburger meat filler that’s been cleansed with ammonia to kill E. Coli...
high fructose corn found in coke!

• We're hard wired for 3 tastes: salt, fat, & sugar

• Engineered foods presses our evolutionary buttons

• Food industry has protections that other industries don’t which makes it difficult for consumers such as you & I to openly criticize

• The meat industry sued Oprah for saying something on her show. Texas cattlemen sued Oprah for disparaging a food product and for loss of profit (she mentioned something about never eating another hamburger)...

takepart.com/foodinc

The author, journalist & activist, Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma) is one of the authorities on the food industry that was featured in the documentary.

Also, read his book, In Defense of Food - An Eater's Manifesto
http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Adapted for Gr.1/2

This Wed., the teacher of my gr. 1/2 gym class whispered to me that her class has been having problems with telling the truth...so I decided to dedicate 4.2 mins. of the class to telling them a story...

Putting on my serious face & my storyteller hat...I began with...

There once was a boy who loved playing. One day, he was playing with a ball in the backyard when he tried to catch it & happened to trip into a small hole and twist his ankle. Although he was completely okay, he screamed like no tomorrow because he felt like it. His father heard his cries for help and quickly arrived on the scene. As he was tending to his son, the boy pretended to cry his sobs so convincingly before he screamed like no tomorrow and said, "Ha ha father, I was only kidding. Upon hearing this, his father was rather disappointed and with a heavily concerned look about him, he warned his son that due to his scream, he thought his son was in trouble and feeling as such, he ran frantically to his aid. Be a good boy he said and left.

The next day, the boy played in front of the house. He was pretending to fly like an airplane when he tripped over a mid-size rock and fell to the soft dirty and wet ground. Because of his dirty and uncomfortable state, he screamed like no tomorrow. His father heard his cries for help and quickly arrived on the scene. "My sweet boy, my sweet boy, are you okay?" As the father knelt down beside his son, the boy quickly lifted his hands from his face and yelled out, "ha ha, I tricked you...nothing's the matter..." Upon hearing this, his father was rather disappointed and with a heavily concerned look about him, he warned his son that due to his scream, he thought his son was in trouble and feeling as such, he ran frantically to his aid. Be a good boy he said and left.

The following week, the boy went to explore the deep forest. He ventured for twenty or so minutes before he settled on a log to rest his feet. As he was sitting there, he suddenly heard some footsteps echoing off the leaves on the ground. He didn't hear the shuffling of one set of feet BUT of many. As he turned his head towards the footsteps, he saw not one BUT 4 wolves! Upon seeing this, he got up & began to sweat profusely with his chest beating a mile a minute. He retreated towards the tree behind him and quickly followed that with his biggest scream for help His father was in the backyard chopping firewood when he heard his son's cries for help however, he remembered very vividly how he had been tricked and lied to before. So he just decided to ignore the scream as he thought his son was playing with him again.

At this point, I take my fists & pound them softly on the ground to mimic the wolves feet creeping up...

Children, do you know what happened to the boy?

With mouths open & big eyeballs listening attentively..., the kids gulped a big glup and leaned slowly forward yearning for me to continue...
He got chomped up! Done...DEAD!

Why did this happen? Because each of the two previous times, the boy tricked his father into believing that he needed help when he didn't and as such, he had lied ...

If you lie and lie, and get into this awful habit, the ONE TIME you do decide to tell the truth, no one, absolutely no one will believe you.

THE END

Let's hope that the children learn to be honest & to speak the truth...