In response...

...to Mister Carlo: well duuuuuh! I know that. Been there many times before. The kids actually confide in me the elaborate details of their after-soirées. They ask me if I have connections to great deals with the hotel for rooms (as if!). They discuss ad nauseam limo rentals, tux and dress purchases and the vast quantities of alcohol they intend on consuming...

They are also, I would like to stress, keenly aware of what is planned for the event. These kids are part of the frickin' grad committee, for cryin' out loud. So they know fully well that I have booked the hall, the DJ, the security guard until midnight. If they weren't thinking with their belly buttons (and, I'll admit, most teens have their brains planted either in their crotch or navel), they would have agreed to having the hall and DJ and other stuff for half an evening...Dinner, minus the dance.

Grad 2005

Amid the heat and humidity, Beurling Academy hosted their grad dinner-dance at the reknown Sofitel Montreal and I must say that it went splendidly well. All students were well-behaved... maybe even too well-behaved...

...what am I saying? They were boringly well-behaved! No dancing, no hooting and hollering... They all left by 10pm. And they call me an old foggey... sheesh! Maybe next year, I'll just have a dinner at the local diner and that'll be it!

A year of teaching in review: Isa's Top 5 worst moments

Number 5:
My grade 11 french group! When I first got wind of teaching this group for the 3rd year, I was elated, I was overjoyed, I was giddy with trepidation. This was going to be THE group with whom I was going to accomplish fun, exciting and memorable projects and activities. And just like an ice sculpture at a cooking competition, my dreams of academic bliss came to a very disastrous crashing mess, that left me angry, disappointed and finally indifferent to whether these kids passed or failed, a feeling that I loath since, ethically (at least in my mind), a teacher shouldn't ever be tepid about his or her students' success or hardships. I will miss the students individually, but I will not miss the conflicts and tensions that I have encountered within the group.

Number 4:
Public humilation by a collegue! She-who-will-not-be-named blasted me in front of students. Although we still communicate politely, I despise her actions. Please, let's show students that we have no qualms about shoutting to our colleagues and reducing them to nothing. Please, let's show them that, we as teachers, are exempt from proper behavior and civility. Please, let's show them that we tell them to do means absolutely nothing, because we can yell and bitch to others whenever we feel like it. And that same teacher complains about how unruly our students are...

Number 3:
The heat! Old school + high heat and humidity X no AC = Hell. I think Lucifer is looking to buy some property here...

Number 2:
Graffitti! Badly drawn penises on school walls is less than artistic. Somewhat humorous maybe, but hardly artisitic... I'm not doing the whole "Gasp! That's pronography! That's indecent!" crap. It's just ugly. And when these anatomically incorrect members get drawn on my classroom door with the words "penis club" above them, I draw a frickin' huge line in the sand.

Number 1:
Teacher's strike! I found out this year that I am not as militant as I though I was. I believe in the cause and I want to fight for those getting royally shafted in our profession. Yet, I reserve some sort of conciliatory attitude (for lack of a better word) in such troubled times. For one, I am not willing to sacrifice over 1000$ of my pay to strike for 5 days. Some say it is a price to pay for getting what we want as teachers, but I am not ready to follow that route. This conflict that has plagued us for almost a year has not stopped escalating and has made me very aware of how I voice my opinions and how others perceive them. I see teachers using the pressure tactics as an excuse to justify their anger and discontent towards this school's administration. These teachers are bitter and fickle and are quick to point out all the flaws and problems in our school. I am tired of this. Can't we just get this settled and return to our normal daily craziness?

A year of teaching in review: Isa's Top 5 highlights!

Number 5:
No emotional breakdowns this year! Unlike last year's debacle involving some of my grade 9 students who accused me of being racist and then encouraged others in class to applaud, there were no hysterical crisis accompanied by much anger and tears.

Number 4:
Teaching IB! I had the opportunity of teaching the international baccalaureate programme to 2 groups and it was great. It allowed me to discuss topics in-depth, like a college or university teacher would, covering different angles of a subject and getting students involved in their learning experience. I hate treating kids like half-witted morons (even if some of them really deserve to be treated that way). They understand more than we think, are much more curious than we expect them to be and are begging, albeit implicitely (because God-forbid they should make thier friends aware that, ooh they find learning cool), for knowledge. The IB programme let me do that. It awesome and a huge tanks to Mme Marquis for all the help she gave me.

Number 3:
New collegues! A fresh infusion of pedagogical blood entered the school this year. About 10 new teachers came to Beurling in September, many of them new to the profession. New collegues, new friends, new experiences... Despite the rough patches some of them went through, I am happy to be associated to them. They are all great teachers.

Number 2:
Spirit Bonanza! Working in the shadow of the Great Nicole, I had to plan, prepare and execute our 3-day activities extravaganza, which culminated in a field-trip day for all students. Sure only half of the student body actually signed up for an outing, sure we probably worked on a deficit, but it was fun, it was great. Who am I kidding? It was AWESOME! I want to do this again next year, but over 5 days! This will surely be a tradition forever tied to Beurling Academy.

Number 1:
I laughed so hard, I almost peed! And if you think this isn't worthy of a number 1 spot, I challenge you to spend a day in one of our classrooms. Then, once you have overcome your initial stupor and dismay, I would like you to tell me in my face that you don't want to uplift your spirits with either a fine bottle of wine or some illicit substance. Well, seeing as those 2 things are illegal in school, laughter is a perfect substitute. Whether it was Stephanie waving and smiling from the abck of the room, Matthew asking me if the planets have aligned when I accidently gave him my answer key, Hinal asking me if having sex made hips wider and me answering her by pointing at my own rather rotund hips, Joey being mistaken for a girl by my sister, Sam greeting me every morning or even Shawn being the shmuck that he is, it never ceases to amaze me how positive a school can be. Makes you wanna bottle it up and sell it. Screw that, I'd give it away for free...

Almost done

Five essays to go and I'm done.

Then the true test begins: shopping with my sister AND my mom...

Pray for me that I don't strangle them both. If you hear hysterical screaming coming from the Sears in LaSalle, send in the troops.

And I swear, if I try another pair of pink dress pants with sateen lining, I will lob some poor mannequin's head off.

Are we in the 21st century?

This news post on the bbc world news website just confirms my opinion that there's a crapload of folks in this world who probably still think that the sun gravitates around the earth...

...don't get me wrong: there are a lot of kids today who make barnyard animals look civilized, but this is where my brain says "Uh huh, you guys are seriously f***ed up..."

Oh joy! Oh sweet Serenity!

Could this be true?

Could this turn out to be a great summer, or is it all a bad rumor?

It's a known fact among those who know me that I have become over the apst 2 years a huge Whedon-verse fan. If I had the money I'd go to that Toronto convention and meet James Marsters, but when tickets are close to 100$, that's when I say to myself: "you know, why don't I just watch the DVDs and enjoy Spike from the comfort of my own futon."

The sheer horror!

I have just finished correcting 1 group of reading comps. The results are abysmal: only 10 out of 35 passed, and by passing I mean "omgIbarelymadeit" passed. There was nothing in the test I didn't cover in class. Nothing was overtly difficult or timeconsuming. Yes it was challenging, but then it wouldn't be a test if it wasn't challenging...

Speaking of challenging, Monsieur Carlo is having trouble adjusting to the absence of his beloved better-half, who is currently on vacation in Latvia. I understand what he feels. Been there. It's tough. But patience my dear Avatar of the Tasties, she will be back soon and the nookie will be sweet! Teeheehee, I said nookie!

It's just a facade

So I am in the staffroom, correcting, or actually, giving the illusion that I am correcting. 90 reading comprehensions and about 85 essays to go.

My collegues are impressed that I am correcting so diligently. Andrea, the english teacher, remarked that I only seem busy at the appropriate times... I am such a show off. Ha!

240,000 songs...

That's about how much you can store onto 1 terabyte... and to be quite honest, my brain can't really wrap itself around that figure.

It's not that my brain can't comprehend the number. It does, it understands it very well. However the concept of storing 240k songs onto my minidisc player is something that I find a wee bit excessive.

You see, when I select songs I want to listen to on my minidisc player, I do so because I intend on LISTENING to them. In this lifetime. More then once, even. I put on, say 45 songs, and a couple of commutes to work later, I have heard them, enjoyed them and ready to listen to them again. I can easily shuffle through the songs if I want a particular one (lately I've been really enjoying Amerie's hit One Thing). I can't begin to imagine how long it would taken me to shuffle through 240,000 songs. Even spread through different folders. The number, even for this musiphile, is just too great.

It's just too much...

Humidex factor is THE factor

Luckily, I only had 2 periods to teach this morning (if you can call melting into a pool of your own sweat teaching). It was stupidly hot in the building. One teacher said it was over 30 celcius in his room.

But I can't complain too much. I must have pleased the gods somehow for the invigilation schedule I got. I should be home everyday by 2:30pm from now until the 30th of June.

As an added bonus, my hubby has returned from dallas and installed the Ac in our basement and bedroom. Sweet chilled air, how do I love thee?

It's not the heat, it's the humidity

I know some of you think that those who share the abovementioned rationale are a bit hypocritical... heat is heat right? Humidity is a silly excuse to validate some poor sob's complaints about current weather conditions, right?

Wrong.

When your skin sticks to your pants, that's humidity, not heat. When sweat starts beading down your forehead when you are sitting down correcting papers in class, that's humidity. When droplets of water on your desk don't evaporate, that's humidity. When the ambient air feels like an invisible wall around you, that's humidity.

And ladies and gents, I am supposed to TEACH in a classroom, in a school, which has no AC, no proper air circulation, no oscillating fans. I have students who are wilting in front of my very eyes (mind you some of them still refuse to remove their school sweaters... now that's sick). God, I pray on these days for sub zero temperatures and wind chills.

As I say: you can also add a layer of clothing to warm up, you can't remove a layer of skin to cool off.

Hooray! Hooray!

Hooray! Hooray! My sister arrives today! In fact, she is going to arrive in precisely 2hours (delay and all)

I can't wait to see Michelaki...and well, my sister too. =)

Elixir of the Gods

I like drinking coffee... I'm not terrible picky whether it's organic or not, but ground coffee, properly brewed is a bevrage of choice in the morning, right after water and juice. Coffee gives me an excuse for my lack of attention in the morning: "Miss, why are you so confused?" Well, I haven't had my first cup of coffee yet..."

I'm not an addict, I barely have 2 cups a day and those cups are unfinished cups.

So you can understand my curiosity when I read this article posted on FARK.com

Do I want to stop drinking coffee? No not really. Does it make me think before going for another cup, maybe....