I am a bad teacher...

...but bad in the sense that I can sink to my students' level and play pranks too. Hehehe... And boy did I ever get Dave this morning.

He was boasting for almost a month and a half now that he was going to catch me for April Fool's, but I caught him off guard and got him with a good dose of glitter powder, a substance he believes is the spawn of all that is evil (I thought it was spam, but I guess opinions can differ, but I digress). Picture about 10 students from my Leadership class, and myself as well of course, throwing, on my cue, handfuls of glitter onto David. The poor boy wasn't expecting it and had a look on his face that looked a lot like a cat who just got splashed with water...mightily pissed. He was a good sport though, I must say.

He did get back at me with leftover glitter later that afternoon. I did deserve it, but he scored low on originality. Better luck next time Dave!

Oh yes! I finally have a group shot of the Beurling Bunch... I'm in the middle, spot the chick out of uniform.

Peaceful Schools International

If you haven't heard about this, I suggest you look into it. Our school is in the process of becoming a member of their program I hope we will subscribe to this for a very long time.

Friday night a DJ-angel saved my life...

...and that DJ-angel made sure that everyone had a blast at Beurling Academy's Retro Flashback Dance. No seppuku for Miss Alarie, just tons and tons of kudos that I must share with all of my Leadership crew.


I must say I was worried. When ticket sale was slow, SPM began developping into MPM (major panic mode) and I hoped that it didn't show too much. When the idea of changing the theme was brought up, I categorically refused. Part of me wanted to give in, but I resisted and declared that the retro theme will go on! Onward disco and twist, I say!


Well! Let me tell you that there are more young fans of the good ol' disco and twist that one might think. YMCA, Twist and Shout, I Will Survive and classic 80's tunes like Billie Jean and Girls Just wanna have Fun got roaring cheers of approval and the dance floor was packed. Even the takiest early 90's songs (*cough*Ice Ice Baby*cough*) were welcomed with glee. Yeah, Vanilla Ice still has fans...go figure! The highlight of the night: the conga line that my Leadership girls started when I put on Copacabana.



And the costumes! So many actually took the time and dressed up for the occasion. I doned the ugliest go-go dancer dress and wig (yes, I went blonde for this affair) and some students went all-out and raided their parents closet for vintage 80's outfits. There were rockers, bobby-sockers, hippie chicks and Beatle wannabes. And some just tossed a whole bunch of styles in a blender and came up with very unique looks that would make a drag queen emerald green sequins with envy.


Final tally: we had over 100 students attending the dance, which is very good, considering we were riding on the tailcoats of last year's student-planned dance. That one did ok, so we had to do better than it did. We couldn't suck, in other words. My crew claims we did way better so that makes me smile, in that "how do like them apples" sorta way. I still haven't calculated how much we made, but I am sure we made enough to share with the Yearbook committee.


So I must thank Mr Daoust and Mrs Laberge (parent-volunteers... and who were kind enought to return the sound equipment on Saturday morning), the teachers who came to chaperone (kudos to Mrs. Midler who went hippy for the night), Mrs Andrews, Mr. Acton and Mrs Bianchi, our administrators, the caretakers, Home & School (who sold refreshments and glow sticks to all the guests) and especially my Beurling Bunch - the Leadership crew - who once again proved that they can be the best and the awesomest group of students I have ever met. If a bunch of kids can endure Miss Alarie's panic attacks, well they are golden in my books.

Time flies by...

It's been a week and I haven't put anything on my blog. I've been busier than Howard Stern's lawyer. I don't know how I manage to organize events so close to each other, but it happens and I always freak out. So it's SPM right now because the dance is on Friday and I hope I have sacrificed enough chickens to appease the Gods. Please, let it be a success... pllllleeeeeeaaase!

Things should die down a bit next week...but not much because the Talent Show is on May 4th and we need to plan another little homeroom activity for the school (for Peaceful Schools International). I only know 2 speeds: full blown veg speed and OMG-this-is-f***ing-nuts speed.

Oh and welcome back Môôôssieu Carlôôô.

Spring Break cometh to an end...

*sigh*

There had to be an end to this wonderful vacation time. Ok, the weather was crappy but I wasn't outside that much, so even if it rained and poured, it didn't really matter to me. What did I do then during all this wonderful time off?

Monday: Ultrasound Day! My hubby and I went for lunch beforehand and battled against lunch time downtown traffic (and construction work) to get to the hospital. Although we confirmed that our version 2.0 is alive and healthy, he/she was about as stubborn as mommy, since he/she kept his/her legs crossed the entire time. He/She is probably delightfully smirking as we speak. I met with Ryan to go over his personal project. Apparently, Ryan is a VIP since he requires (*ahem*) his entire coterie of buddies to accompany him downtown...

Tuesday: Dentist! I have a beautifully cavitiy-free mouth with barely any plaque to be seen. 125$ please. Had lunch with my mom, picked up a new cell phone and some material for my dress for the Retro-Flashback dance.

Wednesday: Chill... Didn't really do much, and that's a good thing.

Thursday: Left the house early to meet Miss Maggie. There was impending varnishing work next door so I wanted to avoid the possible toxic fumes as much as possible. Did some correcting at a 2nd Cup downtown and went to see the live taping of The Hour over at the Just for Laughs museum.

Friday: Went to visit my dad and Watson, my "half-brother", the cat. Poor Watson has been afflicted with some bizarre virus that has turned him into an anorexic cat. Bleh. And I watched some TV shows with Miss Maggie.

Saturday: A disappointing visit to Old Navy. Maternity wear my tush! They had a lot of low-rise pants which I detest with a passion. And all their summer collection is out at the moment. Nada for this in-between season we call March and April. However, I did get to put down on paper my playlist for the dance. All I need now is to have it check by my students who can be truly picky when it comes to tunes.

Sunday: Meh. The day before back-to-work. Meh.

Happy International Women's Day!

We raised over 500$ at school last week for this day. All of it will be going to a local women's shelter. We could have done more to sensitize students on the challenges women still face in this world. I am very happy that in my case, where I live, my rights are respected.

It's not the case in other parts of the world.

For instace, just south from here, in South Dakota, they banned abortion unless the pregnancy threatens a woman's life. Gee, my kid's eyes just like those of my rapist, how sweet...

In Mexico, victims of rape are denied help. BUt when the government gets shafted they scream for international aid.

And in Asia, in certain countries, women are considered as second-class citizens.

Just some stuff to think about...

Oh-Ohs (Oscar Oddities)

I watched the Academy Awards last night along with my freind Val and the comments were flying left, right and center. The show is always entertaining, at least I make it interactive, à la Rocky Horror Picture Show, by yelling my 2-cents to the TV. As a summary, I offer you my Oh-Ohs for the 2005 Oscars (in no particular order)

1) Could a plastic surgeon, or fashion designer, take care of the black sateen growth on Charlize Theron's shoulder?

2) And the award for most anorexic looking actress goes to Jessica Alba. Someone give her a bag of potato chips, please.

3) A very frumpy-looking Frances McDormand could have fixed her hair. I know we want to downplay the Oscars, but come on!

4) Wil Smith has a nice french accent.

5) Did we suddenly ban colored outfits from Hollywood? What was it with all the black and beige? Bleh... Thank God for folks like Diana Ossana and Michelle Williams...

6) More winners should accept their Oscar like Three 6 Mafia. Now that was an acceptance speech!

7) More groups like Three 6 Mafia should be on the show!

8) John Stewart was good, but I liked Chris Rock more. Just a personal preference.

Post Spirit Week Reflections

I can now breathe as our School Spirit Bonanza extravanganza Week is now over and I think it was a success. However, just like any project of this magnitude, there is always some tweaking to be done. I learn new things every year and even if this is the third yearly installment of our SW, I feel I can still improve some things:


1) Pyjama Day: Always a crowd favorite among the students but I wish more teachers would get involved as well. I think the only other staff member to don sleepwear (apart from your truly) was the VP, dear Madame Bianchi, so huge kudos to her. The secretary, Dot, at least had a bathrobe on so there was some effort there. How can I encourage more staff members to take part in this? Also, a staged pillow fight (like the one that happened in San Fransisco a few weeks ago) would be something fun to do, as long as it remains fun...


2) Wacky hair Day: Not as many as I hoped, maybe some kids didn't get the concept. More examples should be shown to them so they can get a better idea of what constitutes wacky hair.


3) Twin Day: A great idea in essence, but not in execution. Too many kids took it as a free dress day and that pissed off many teachers. What my principal suggested, and I really liked the concept, was to have the students pre-register with whom they would be twins (or triplets, or quads, etc.) and state what they will be wearing. Also, having a twins parade would be a cool activity to have during lunch or recess.


4) Tape the Teacher and Pie Throwing: Once again, I wish more teachers would participate in these activities. I know and understand that we have an image to maintain and many students would take an opportunity like pieing a teacher as a way to get revenge, but I think we need to show students that we can laugh at ourselves on occasion. I believe these activities, as silly as they are, allow us to bond with students that a classroom setting can't allow. Oh yeah, and get more tape. One roll isn't enough!


5) Field Trips: 10$ was perhaps a bit steep, so that needs to be corrected next year. Sign-up procedures were better than last year, but next time I need to start it earlier, which means I need to book places mid January. The rollerblading hall was very rude to this years group so I might have to find another spot for 2007. Scavenger hunt was great, but the movie sucked (go see Date movie if you need to lower your IQ). Overall, I think it was good participation, but not great. And, of course, if it weren't for my Leadership class, I would have gone more than slightly bonkers with the amount of work I had. Huge thank yous to Liz, "the" Dave, Holly, Cyn, Caitlyn/Cailtin, Brit and even Michael who, even though is not a Leadership student, was more than happy to give us a hand. And also a big thanks to Meryl, who was kind enough to let my kids use her classroom for storage purposes.

Will it be better or worse next year, considering my upcoming absence? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Religious freedom in schools

Normally, I would be applauding such a decision given by the high courts, but now, having taught a few years in the system, I realize that this can only lead to abusing the ruling. I cna already see some kid stating that he won't get rid of his baseball cap or bandana because of his ghetto-pride religion. *sigh*

That's how it is folks. Kids these days (not all, mind you) believe they are smarter than teachers and try to use lame excuses. You put a hand on a kid's shoulder to lead him to class, he yells out not to touch him, as if you have bird-flu or some other communicable disease. The only communicable disease between that kid and myself is the diesease of sheer stupidity and he's the one who's got it. Now, with this ruling on religious artifacts, I can only imagine what new and fandangled logic they will come up with...

By the by, for those who are keeping track of things, tomorrow is field trip day, the end of Spirit Week. Hopefully, all will go well in each outing and I won't have to face a firing squad when I return from Spring Break. There will definitely be more pictures in the next few days. Maybe later tonight... depends how long I will last ce soir!

Spirit Week Activities

Day 3 of Spirit Week. Monday was pyjama day, yesterday was wacky hair day and today was twin day (good theme, but implementing it still has kinks to iron out). Whenever we can get students out of their regular school unifrm, we always get good participation, sometimes not in the spirit of the event, but then nothing is perfect.

Yes, that is a guy wearing pink pyjamas (I always said that it takes a real man to pull off pink, unless your complexion forbids it under the pain of death).

We even had some surprise lunchtime activities yesterday and today: Tape-the-Teacher (students pay 25 cents to get a strip of tape and attempt to tape a teacher to the wall... we opted for a chair since our wall was not cooperative) and pie throwing (teachers as targets) The pie throwing was definitely the best activity! We had a line up of students more than willing to throw a whipped cream pie to a teacher. I was a participant, mostly because I thoroughly enjoy whipped cream (*cough-cough*) and I am such a sucker for the attention. Apparently, there is a picture floating around of me getting a plate full of whipped cream, so once I get my hands on it, it will surely be posted here.

I wish I could do more of these activities during the year. It's such a great way to get students and teachers together. If only more teachers were willing to subject themselves to this kind of "abuse" (lack of a better word), I'm sure student-teacher relations would be much better than they are right now.