Meet the Teacher Night

On Tuesday and Thursday last week from 3:30 - 6:30 pm I had "Meet the Teacher Night".  I didn't really  know what to expect.  At home it's pretty informal.  We open our classrooms for an hour or so one evening in the first month of school and parents are invited to come in, look around the room , and meet me.  It's a very informal affair but it seems to work quite well for our school community.  But as soon as notices were send home to parents a  I knew things were going to be different.  Here's my run down of "Meet the Teacher" at Footscray North Primary.

1. Notices were sent home asking parents to chose their preferred  time and day for meet the teacher night.  Filled in notices were return to me or directly to the office.

2.  The assistant principal began arranging teacher's schedules for fifteen minute time slots for parents with requests.  She became ill and the office manager took over the job.

3. A few days before the scheduled nights I was given notices to give to my students telling them of their meeting time with me.

4. Parents who never returned their forms were called, and if communication on the phone didn't occur notices were sent home telling them when they were to meet with me.

5. Lunch on the first day of the meetings I am given my list of parents coming to see me.  I also see that there are notices in my box (or pigeon hole as it's referred to here).  I quickly read over our prep-2 overview letter and ask what I'm suppose to do with it, along with an internet form, and a media form.  The office managed is surprised I don't know what to do with it.  (This isn't surprising to me at all as I am so out of the loop despite asking tons of questions.  The typical response I get is "don't worry it's not a big deal".) She quickly explains it to me.

6. School is out and I head to the hall (gym) because that is where all meet the teacher meetings take place.  I walk into see a gym filled with tables and chairs and a sign at each table.  I find my table .  There is  a nice cold bottle of water waiting for me.

7. 3:30 - First parent doesn't show up but 4:00 parent is there and so they jump the cue .  I introduce myself, ask if they have any questions, and we chat a bit and then I get on to my jobs.  I carefully go over each section of the overview  as well as talk about the internet use form and the media from.  It's over quickly and the next parent steps up.  This process repeated over and over again until 6:30 pm.  I was able to sneak out for a quick toilet break but beyond that I sat at my table, (worked on my planning) and waited for parents to arrive.  In a couple of cases I needed the use of an interpreter and I quickly found them sitting at a table in the middle of the gym.  Most of the parents that were told when to come (ie they didn't ask for a time) didn't show up.  In addition some of the parents that asked for a time and were assigned a time didn't show up.  

8. On Thursday the entire process was repeated again but this time I was told about the SNACKS for the teachers around the corner in a small kitchen.  I was able to enjoy the snacks - cheese, crackers, dip, fruit etc and I wish I had known about them on the first night.

So if you're someone that works with me you can see it was far more formal than any "Meet the Teacher" we've ever had.  These were not meant to be "Parent Teacher " interviews although I must admit they felt a lot more like them than "Meet the Teacher".  Now I'm curious to see what "Parent Teacher Interviews" will look like.  Hopefully there will be snacks then too!

Overall it was a really pleasant experience though as I typically enjoy meeting and talking with the parents of my students.  You can learn a lot about their children from this.

Happy just about Spring Break my BC teaching friends.  My fall end of term break isn't until the beginning of April.

I'm still alive but you'll have to stay tuned for a real blog.

Just a quick post to let  you know I'm still alive.  This week I made it through a mid week swim squad, two nights of  "Meet the Teacher", a visitor, and a long weekend which included a road trip to the Great Alpine Road.  Real details (and many photos from the road trip) will come soon enough but right now I need to plan my teaching for my students this week. What a way to wreck a great long weekend.

Also, for those of you in BC now that you've sprung forward I'm now six hours behind you plus one day forward.  Once we fall back (I'm not sure when that's going to happen but it will happen) our time difference will be seven hours behind  you plus one day forward which will make things even more difficult for calling.  I'm so not ready to face winter in July and August.   I'm a summer baby for goodness sake.

Here's a sneak peak of what is to come hopefully in the next day or two.

This picture was taken on Hotham Mountain which is part of Victoria's  Great Alpine Road route.

Term 1 Week 5 - DONE!

This week was planning week at work as well as my staff room clean up week.  During planning week the specialists are used to cover the classroom teachers who are given time (an ENTIRE DAY)  to meet with one another.  Because of this the time tables are all messed up and so while I've worked hard to set up routines they went all a muck this week.

On Tuesday I met with the other prep and grade one two teachers.  We had the entire day to plan our first semester (which runs until the end of June).  It was a luxury we don't get at my school back home.  After our all day planning session we had a PTL (principles of teaching and learning) meeting.  It ran over time which was too bad for me because someone at work was going to drive me to my local post office so that I could pick up the small box of winter clothing that I sent ahead.  It would have to wait.

Wednesday with no meetings on the agenda allowed me to get out of work with enough time to ride to the post office to pick up my parcel.  It only took eight weeks to arrive!  

In the  evening I went out for dinner with two of my friend Ida's friends.  It was really nice.  Sally knew my mother and Simone is her daughter (and my age).  Simone is very active and involved with martial arts and she lives in Melbourne.  Hopefully we'll do a few more things together during my year here.  We ended up going for dinner on Lygon Street and I had a wonderful pasta meal.  From there we went for dessert and we each had a special hot chocolate from a specialty chocolate coffee shop.  It was a nice to be out for dinner.  I have no problem taking myself out for breakfast or lunch but I find sitting in a restaurant for dinner a bit too lonely.  The company was very much appreciated.

Thursday was a long day at work because my students didn't get to go to art because the older grade teachers were meeting so the specialist weren't available for us.  Thursday after work I went to the pool and met with the man in charge of the triathlon and master swim program.  He set up my one week free trial to start on Saturday.

Friday was an even longer  day .  As I mentioned in an earlier post Friday I've chose to have most of my yard duty - 45 min.  It isn't too bad usually because I have an APT (ie Prep time) but this week was mixed up because of planning week so no APT on Friday.  I ended up going from yard duty at recess into a staff meeting for the second part of recess. During the staff meeting I was doing my staff room clean up.  At lunch I ate quickly did my staff room clean up jobs and headed outside for my 30 min yard duty.  It wasn't fun.  After school I didn't spend any time planning but instead I tried to get the room more organized for my liking. I'm still not ready to post pictures of it but hopefully there will be a blog shortly showing you around my Australian school.

On Friday evening one of the Kylie's from work (there are two) invited me to join her for a fundraising dinner/house warming being hosted by her friend.  It's was called "Curry for Kids" and the monies raised are being sent to an orphanage in India.  Below is a picture of Kylie and I enjoying our home made curries.

Saturday morning I made my way to the pool to try the 8:30 am masters/tri club swim session.  I introduced myself to a few people and quickly made my way to the back of the slow lane.  I haven't really swam since I left Canada so I had no idea what I would be able to do.  As it turns out I still remember how to swim but I am out of swim shape.  I wasn't even the slowest in the lane and if I work hard I may be able to move myself up the lane ranks.  The question is I'm not sure if I want to work that hard.  The swim sessions here are 1.5 hours and once the final 200 back stroke, 200 m breast stroke, and 300 m kicking hit the work out board I pretty much  decided that I was done.  It was a good work out though and the coach seemed happy to have me there.  So now I need to figure out when I can get back before I make the official commitment to join them.  I actually think I'm just going to buy the drop in passes until I have some sort of routine in my life.  I'm out of town a fair bit and I seem to have to work later than I'd like a lot too.  I hope I can make the swimming a part of my routine though as I really enjoy it.

After swimming I headed home and caught a tram into the city.  I then got on my first train and headed out to Frankston to meet up with my friend Jessica from Vancouver.  She's married a man from Melbourne and they are raising their two daughters here.  I took a big purse so that I could bring my camera with me but stupid me forgot the camera at home.  The train ride was easy and very uneventful.  I took sixty minutes from the CBD to Frankston.  About 40 min into the ride the train followed the shore line.  Frankston was really beautiful.  It's on the Mornington (?) Pennisula which means it's right on the water.  We had lunch at this beach side cafe and sat at the best table.  After we headed back to her house and we hung out with her daughters.  We had dinner together and then I headed back on the 8pm train.  It was a really nice day and I'm so sorry there are no photos.  Jess has a great family and it was so nice to be with a friend that I've known for a long time.  For lack of a better word it was just easy.

So now it's Sunday.  This morning I headed into the city to go the Sunday Arts Market.  I've caught a small bit of it  twice but this morning I wanted to see it all.  It was nice to see the local crafts but in the end I didn't buy anything.

This is the South Bank.  The white tents on the bottom left are part of the market.

A small snap shot of the market.

I then left the market and decided I'd do a bit more exploring around Melbourne.  I hopped onto a tram and headed to the suburb of Camberwell.  In Melbourne what we would call a neighbourhood is called a suburub.  You have your inner city suburbs (like North Fitzroy where I live) and you have your outer city suburbs (like Frankston where Jessica lives).  If I were to compare them to Vancouver I'd say Kerrisdale, Commercial Drive, South Granville, or Marpole would all be considered inner city suburbs while Burnaby, Surrey, Abbotsford, White Rock, or Coquitlam would be considered outer city suburbs.  If you walk a few blocks in any directions you're into a new suburb.  So while they consider them suburbs I just think of the inner city suburbs as neighbourhoods.  Which brings me back to Camberwell.  Jessica had mentioned that Camberwell was a nice suburb that I should visit and that it even had a market on Sundays.  So figured out which tram to take and made my way there.  I was surprised to see that there was a Lulu Lemon in Camberwell so that may give you and idea of what type of inner city suburb it is.  

I made it to the market just before people were packing up.  It was more like a flea market with people selling their goods.  I'm sure there were some great bargains to be had though I just had little time and desire to find them.  I walked around the main street and then decided that I'd take the train back to the city instead of the tram.  It was a quick ride and brought me right back to Flinder's station.  

Camberwell Sunday Market

One of the main shopping streets in Camberwell.

From Flinder's station I made my way by foot to the Queen Victoria Market.  I guess it was just a market day for me.  The market sells fresh produce, meat, fish, cheeses as well as many other items.  I loaded up with groceries and headed home.  

So, that's a sum up of my week.  It's probably good that I didn't post any more beach pictures from Frankston because I'm sure it isn't nice to read this blog each week and see these amazing beach shots!  Next weekend I have a long weekend but I think I may be staying put.  It's the Melbourne Moomba festival so there will be a lot going on. In addition the food and wine festival is on and I'm hoping to hit a wine tasting event later in the month.  If I'm able I'll take part in some of the special luncheons they have (sort of like dine out Vancouver).  

South Gippsland Beach Weekend Feb 20 -22nd, 2009

I spent this past weekend in the south east corner of the state of Victoria in an area called South Gippsland.  It was a weekend arranged by South Gippsland teachers who had been on exchange in previous years and wanted to show those of us on exchange this year their part of Australia.

Friday after work one of the ITF's (International Teaching Fellows - that's what we're called here) drove up from Geelong to take me down to South Gippsland.  He picked me up right from work which was so nice.  We left Melbourne pretty quickly but still managed to sit in slow moving traffic.  We stopped in two small towns  Cranbourne  and Tooradin on our way to Leongatha.  We arrived in Leongatha around 8 pm to snacks and drinks at the home of Jo and Mike Street.  Many of the other ITF's were there too and it was great to catch up.

The conversations were pretty intense as one on one we complained about all the things that we were frustrated with teaching in Victoria.   The experiences were different of course but most of us have been pretty frustrated and stressed with the situations we've been left in.  The night was good though and I think everyone felt a lot better after they finished their bitching.  

After the party I, along with three other ITF's headed back to our host family Sue and Gary.  Sue and Gary had been on exchange a couple of years ago and they were fantastic hosts.  They also took a big role in organizing our weekend in their part of the world.  Since there were four ITF's at Sue and Gary's we had a few more drinks together and finally went to sleep.

The next morning we all regrouped at the Inverloch Environment Centre.  We boarded the bus and headed to the Bunurong Coast.  Our first stop was at Eagle's Nest.  They had arranged a beach exploring contest.

Eagle's Nest on the Bunurong Coast

We then left Eagle's Nest and took a scenic bus tour to  Phillip's Island.  On Phillip's Island we visted the Koala Conservation Centre and saw many Koalas.

This Koala was sleeping in the tree.  Koalas sleep 20 of 24 hours a day.

This Koala had climbed right down to where we were walking.  

Okay, this Koala isn't real but I thought the shot was cute.   

From the Koala Conservation we headed for lunch at  Cowes  on Phillips Island.

Beach at Cowes on Phillips Island

After lunch we drove off the Island and headed to the Bass Coast Walking Trail.  It was a 7 km walk plus about a 1.5 km walk to the trail head.  It was on a cliff top along a spectacular coast line.  Thankfully it was an over cast day because if the sun had been at full strength it would have been a very hot walk.  The views from the walk were truly breath taking.

In this picture you can see how dry Victoria is.  You can also see a small child running.  That is one of the kids on exchange with his family from Wales.

Looking back at the ridge we had walked along.

Near the end of the 7 km walk we spotted kangaroos in the distance.  If you double click the picture below and look in the middle of it you might be able to see the kangaroos too. (They blend in very well so don't worry if you can't see them).

The hike ended at the Kilcunda Pub and we provided with many snacks.  We all had a few drinks before hopping back onto the bus and heading back to Inverloch.  Once back at Inverloch we were treated to a "Barbie".  The "Barbie" was right at the beach and so I was able to take a pretty nice sunset photo (below).

 

On Sunday morning sixteen of us met at Inverloch's "Main Beach" for a two hour surfing lesson.  It was a ton of fun but I think the waves weren't quite big enough to get some of the "larger" people out of the water.  I did stand up a few times but I also spent a lot of time on my knees.  It was a ton of fun though so hopefully I'll get a chance to give it another go.  

After the surf lesson was over most of us hung out on the beach for a few hours.  By about 1 pm I'd had enough and so Hamish (the man that brought me to South Gippsland) and I headed out.  It was sad to say goodbye to the other ITFs.  It's a really great group of people and the weekend had been a ton of fun.  But we were off.  We stopped for lunch in Wonthaggi.  I managed to find a "Baker's Delight" which is bakery chain that Cobbs has copied in Canada.  If you look at the picture you'd think you were looking at a Cobbs .  Baker's Delight is the original and it's also far far better than Cobbs.

Baker's Delight - doesn't Cobbs look just a little too much like this?

Wonthaggi 

 This is what most of the small towns we drove through looked like.

On our drive back into town we also stopped a four vineyards.  I managed to purchase a few bottles of wine/port but I must say I don't think this is the best wine region in Victoria.  It has nothing on the Okanagan but it was nice to finally start some wine tasting here in Victoria.

This is a view from the Bass Valley Winnery 

You can see how terribly dry it is here with the drought.   

The drive home took much longer than I had expected and by the time Hamish dropped me off at my home I was ready to be on my own again.  Overall it was a really great weekend.  While all the ITF's are very different we get along well and everyone is easy to talk to.  Those that have come with families have great kids  and it was excellent to see how well they played together.  The kids seem to be having a great time too and those that are in school are loving it (most days).  So, it looks like it's going to be a great year for everyone.

We get together again as a group in about three weeks in a town called Ballarat.  The Ballarat Teachers that have been on exchange will be hosting us there and I know they are very excited to show us their town.  I think the rest of the ITFs that I spent the weekend with are excited to meet up again soon too.  Most of us live a distance from one another so it's great when we have these events planned for us.

Next weekend I may be off to Angelsea on the Great Ocean Road but I'll know for certain during the week.  One of my teaching colleagues has invited me but the date is still not officially set.  The funny thing is I think I'm just about ready for a weekend in Melbourne.  I still have a few people to meet.  I do have dinner plans with a good family friend's friend and her daughter  on Wednesday.  I look forward to meeting them and having a night out mid week!  I'm not going to be so stressed about work any more because I  know it is so not worth it.   Until I write another post, take care and keep in touch.  I still LOVE the comments and the e-mails.  I hope you're enjoying the posts with PICTURES!  

A Day Without Water

This morning something happened to a water pipe in the area of my school which resulted in my school having no water.  At first we were told that it would be a couple of hours.  No water means no flushing toilets, no washing hands with soap and water, and no drinking water.  Being a teacher in an elementary school this didn't go over too well with the children.  After a few hours it was decided that the parents of the children should be called to pick up their kids.  A few parents came but most stayed in the water free environment with me.  

Besides calling parents the office also cancelled the scheduled evening family picnic. Originally all the Footscray North Primary families  were invited to pack a meal and meet at the school oval (field) for a school wide family picnic.  It would have been something nice to see, but I am enjoying the "free" evening I've gotten because it was cancelled. 

It's funny how thirsty you become when you can't drink water.   At one point my class and I started to head over to the school across the street (which had water) but we were turned back because it was recess there and they needed their toilets.  The administration was quick on things and we had water for drinking and other emergencies.  But by 1 pm (which is still before our 1:15-2:15 lunch) the water was back on.  

Tomorrow I'm off to South Gippsland, Victoria  (sp?) for the weekend.  I am being picked up by an Internationl Teaching Fellow from Scotland and he's picking me up straight from  work.  I can't ask for better service than that.

The Great Ocean Road - Feb 14 - 15, 2009

After spending two weekends in a row at home I decided it was time for another road trip.  While in Alice Springs I met two German girls who recommend a two day, one night tour of The Great Ocean Road.  When I looked into it I discovered that they offered the tour over a weekend so I signed myself up.

Early Saturday morning I met up with the bus, and people that I was going to be traveling with all weekend long.  After a boring (we were encouraged to sleep) three hour drive on the inland road we stopped at Logan's Beach near the town of Warrnambool.  As you can see by the photo below, it wasn't such an awful place to stop.

Logan's Beach

From Logan's Beach we went to Tower Hill Reserve for lunch.  The Reserve is inside a now extinct volcano. I saw (for the first time since being in Australia) koalas and kangaroos in the wild.

This is one of many kangaroos I saw.

From Tower Hill we travelled some more to the Bay of Islands, and the Bay of Martyrs.  

Bay of Islands

Bay of Martyrs

From there it was back on the bus for a stop at London Bridge.  London Bridge used to be attached to the mainland but one day it broke away.    We heard an  interesting story about the couple that was on the bridge when it broke away from the mainland. Apparently they were having a romantic day away from work but they were actually having an affair as both were married to other people.  Since they were stranded on top and needed to be rescued they made the local papers and their respective partners found out.

London Bridge which was once attached (not too long ago) to the mainland.

From London Bridge we checked into our hostel in Port Campbell.  A huge dinner was prepared for us before we headed to watch the sunset at the Twelve Apostles.  Once the sun had set (it was a cloudy day so we didn't get to see the sun actually hit the water line) we waited in the dark a bit longer to see a family of penguins return to their nests.  It was a pretty quick show and while I was able to see them scamper across the beach, the photos don't do it justice.

Sunset at the Twelve Apostles (although there are only six left)

It was then back to the hostel and off to the one bar in town for some pool, dancing, and conversation - oh and a beverage or two.

The next morning we were up early and provided with a great breakfast spread.  We then headed to Loch Ard Gorge along the shipwreck coast.  We heard another story about two people who survived a boat crash there.

Loch Ard Gorge

From Loch Ard Gorge we went to a helicopter company and for a fee we could go up in a helicopter and see the Twelve Apostles from the air.  Only three of us took the offer and so I flew in my first helicopter ride. It was amazing and to my surprise I didn't get sick to my stomach.  I took several pictures from the helicopter too.  (I still can't believe I went up in a helicopter).

A picture taken from the helicopter of some of the Apostles.

Me and the helicopter I went up in.

Once we were done with our flights the bus took us back to the Twelve Apostles for day time photos since we were last there (those of us that didn't have the helicopter ride) at sunset.

Twelve Apostles during the day (and from land).

With the Twelve Apostles out of our system we headed to Gibson's Steps.  They were originally created by a member of the Gibson's family as a way to get down to the water to flag passing boats for supplies.  While the stairs have since been replaced the beach remains the same.

Beach at Gibson's Steps.

From here it was another longish drive along the inland part of the Great Ocean Road.  It took us through Great Otway National Park rain forest where we stopped at Maits Rest.  We did a rain forest walk there.  All the green reminded me of being back in BC.  During the walk I learned many new things.  At one point I was  able to go inside a hollow tree.  It was hollow on the inside because of a cancer type disease for trees.  

The rainforest (apparently all of Australia used to look like this).

Inside the tree looking up at the top.

It was very dark inside but my flash did a  good job to help capture the imagine.

We then continued along the Great Ocean Road and came across a section that was inhabited by Koalas.  I was able to take a few more photos and hopefully you can see the Koala in the middle of this photo.

If you look really closely at the centre of the picture there is a Koala  in the tree.

The day continued with more stops at Apollo Bay, Lorne, Bells Beach, and Torquay (We drove through Anglesea).  I have pictures of all these places too but I figured each beach looks some what similar with beautiful  sand and great waves and since I've already posted enough beach scenes above I would leave these places out.

The trip ended with an hour and a half ride back to Melbourne via Geelong and the highway.  Over all it was a really great weekend.  Although the people on the tour where a fair bit younger than me it didn't really mater.  Everyone was nice and it was great to be with other people exploring and having fun.  Our tour guide/bus driver was a nice guy too so overall it was a good weekend.  I'm so glad I went.

Next weekend I'm away again, but this time with a trip organized by the International Teaching Fellowship people.  We're off to Gippsland for some relaxing, sight seeing, socializing, and a SURF lesson!  I can't wait.  

Oh yah, if you double click on the photos you should be able to make then bigger.

Victorian Bush Fires

For those that have opened a newspaper or watched the daily news you are well aware of the bush fires causing  death and destruction in Victoria, Australia.  At the moment I am living in North Fitzroy about 60 - 90 minutes away from these fires.   These Victorian bush fires are the most awful thing happening in Australia right now.  Yes, Queensland is dealing with severe flooding, but the loss of life in Victoria is  something that is hard to deal with.  Many of you have e-mailed me to make sure that I'm safe.  I am safe, but every day at work   I am flooded with images of the families that have lost their lives.   It's so very sad.

If you can help out with any relief effort in your area please do.   I'm lucky, but so many others are not.