update

i haven't been posting much this year. mostly i'm feeling the isolation less, and so need the outlet a lot less. my new roommate is great - perhaps not someone i would have met or become friends with on my own, but we've clicked great in the house. i know now that similar habits and clear communication are more important than similar world views in a roommate situation. somewhere inside i already knew that, but my brain is formulating it more clearly now.

I told you last week that the sealift arrived. Probably you haven't grasped the magnitude of a sealift arrival. Here's me and a couple of helpers opening the crate. That's 2 by 1 by 1.86m. LARGE. For the record, I was just as active in the prying as those guys... one of them grabbed my prybar though, and never gave it back. You know how guys are.


Here we are, me and marsh, atop a pile of everything.

We spent about three days just unpacking, and another day or so folding and breaking boxes and taking out the trash.

Of course the next big excitement was the Real Polar Bear Swim yesterday. Effing cold. Blue splotchiness and crampy muscles and bragging rights for all my life. How many people can say they've done that? And just so you can be sure it was me dipping right under the water, that's my face just emerging from the icy ocean water. I'm pushing for a midnight dip on the night of the solstice come June. How cool would that be? The ice should be gone by then, but don't hold me to it because I'm not risking a crushing death between ice pans for plain old repeater bragging rights.


And then there's work. The biter has been resolved, and has largely settled down now that her mom and I have chatted. There is still occasional rib-poking, but it's on the decline. Could you imagine having poked a teacher in the ribs when you were 15? Reports of my lesbianism are back this year, since I've returned without man in tow. It's sad that their imaginations are so limited. Sad, but also funny.

Drawing has been wrapped up in the art classes. I'm somewhat disappointed in the results. About 8 kids altogether (from 55 in two classes) have really made a strong and eager effort and produced some actual results. Another 30 have made a half-assed effort (and produced half-assed results). The rest are there to disrupt and destroy, and I've had to resort to Art Room Nazi tactics to protect the supplies from the shitsters.

We're moving on to Lino Block carving. I had planned, once drawing was finished, to set up centres and have each kid do a unit at each centre until the end end of term. But then I found out that the pottery supplies were never ordered. I am deeply frustrated, especially since the pottery program was my main reason for coming back this year. So I'm applying huge pressure to order the pottery stuff now. It might be too late for first term, but at least the students next semester would have a chance to do some. The best answer I've gotten so far is Maybe. If Airfreight isn't too expensive. I'm steaming.

Finally, I'm working really hard on changing my curricular strategies. Our new resource teacher has been a huge help to me, helping me design work that achieves the outcomes in steps, so slower students achieve the most basic and important outcomes first, while the more advanced students have the chance to move on to more in-depth and challenging questions. Most important, it keeps the class from getting hung up while the slower workers (and slackers) try to catch up. We're actually "moving on."

Phew. That about brings me up to date I think. It is a different year. It's nice to be known in town.