Choose a band/artist and answer only in song titles by that band: DMB
Are you male or female: Monkey man
Describe yourself: Proudest monkey
How do some people feel about you: The stone
How do you feel about yourself: Steady as we go
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Stolen away on 55th and 3rd
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend: Dreamgirl
Describe where you want to be: The dreaming tree
Describe what you want to be:The space between
Describe how you live: Good good time
Describe how you love: Sweet up and down
Share a few words of wisdom:Pantala naga pampa

Last time I posted I was just getting settled in and things were looking good at my school. I had a great two weeks as a grade three teacher. I had a difficult but rewarding group of students. I was finally getting them settled into my routines when low and behold the evil word “surplus” came out at a staff meeting. Basically this means that there were not enough students to keep all the staff that were hired into that school. Knowing that I was low on the ladder and probably the easiest move to make, I volunteered to be the one who got surplussed. Thankfully I had a great administration and recuitment team that found me a place before I was even done in my old class. Within a matter of two days, parent teacher interview days, I became a grade 1/2 teacher in a science alternative school.

It was a rough change emotionally as I was set to be a grade three teacher and had settled in to my role. However thanks to all the support I had at both schools it has been a successful change over. My new school has been quite a different experience. We are lucky enough to be able to do a lot of thinking outside of the box. No cookie cutters here. We also are lucky in that we can direct a lot of our learning to the community around us creating the opportunity to leave the classroom almost daily, while its nice out.

I quickly became a pro in parent teacher conferences having had more then 40 in two weeks. I am also slowly learning about the inquiry model of education. Basically everything is shaped around asking questions about anything and everything. It is amazing what kids will come up with on there own. I mean we are even discussing fractal patterns and chaos theory in grade 1/2!

As for my personal life, I have been meeting a few people, seeing the city. I have managed to get out fishing a couple times and have some plans to hit the mountains soon. For those of you back home reading this…or at least the one person… I will be back for the long weekend, friday night to monday afternoon I think. Let the crown and fires begin.

I should have known better. Once again Shaw’s wonderful customer service shone. I waited all morning for the technician to be a no show. 45 minutes on the phone later and the best they could do was pass me off to three different people and reschedule it for tuesday afternoon.  But at least I got an extra month of net access for free and a cheaper rate for the following six months.

So it seems that I will be spending my afternoon in Steeps yet again. The girls working here are very nice and quite friendly. I think that I will be here often, hell I am already getting tea on the house. Hopefully everyone I meet here will be as easy to get along with.

On a completely different note I saw the violent side of 17th ave start to show through. As I stood on the balcony this afternoon two guys start lipping each other off in the middle of the road in front of my building. Idiot #1 is the aggressor and gets ready to throw a punch so his buddies come running over to join in. Idiot #2 appears to be smarter because when the buddies jump in he takes off as he wants none of the group beating.  Of course the buddies of #1 start chasing #2 but give up after half a block. The sick thing was people were watching and showed their disappointment when nothing happened. I myself was watching in case someone needed first-aid or the cops called. How come people think that a street fight is the way to solve the issue of a poorly timed comment or accidental bump?

I found the great co-op a mere five blocks away from my building. This will lead to a great weekly walk for my groceries. It also means that I will get a small cheque in February. Right beside the BP’s a block from my place is a fine cigar shop that I will have to check out. Hopefully they can be my new Burlington’s.

I also found a Steeps nearby…where I am currently typing this… The Girls here are very nice and I could easily see myself here often.

As far as the whole teaching thing goes, the website shows that we start in the school on the 27th with the students starting on the 2nd. I am going to swing by there sooner then that as I hope to spread out the prep work over more then three days for my own sanity.

I think this transition is going to be a good thing. I can already picture my routine of teaching, eating, reading, teaing, and piping.

I hope to turn this site into what it was supposed to be soon, but probably not until I have net access in the apt.

I am 15 teaching days from being done. Then a week of professional development seminars and my teacher’s college experience is complete. The last 7 months have flown by. I wish I had more time to visit and hangout with the people I have met here, but we all have placed to go once we are done. Some to Asia, others the Middle East, the rest of us all over Canada.

I will be coming home for a bit, then picking myself up and moving down the road to Cowtown.  I am a bit scared for a full time teaching gig, but it will be a good experience. It will also be nice to be near the mountains and to be able to see some areas of Alberta that I haven’t been exposed to. As far as living is concerned I am going to be looking for a large one bedroom or a two bedroom place so that I can keep the teacher aspect of my life in one area. That way I can take the odd night and pretend not to be a teacher without having stacks of papers or books to look at.

As far as when I will be moving its up in the air. Ideally I would move in the start of August so that I am settled by the time I need to start prepping my classroom. However there is the chance I need to do a training course in the spring so I may go down earlier. Either way I plan to be home for a good chunk of the summer.

The summer plans include golf, the jeep, the truck, hiking…and possibly working if need be. I also want to try and do a bunch of photography. I have tried to do some here and will post them to my gallery soon.

As for my website I want to do some major changes to go along with my new career so keep an eye out.

Feel free to check it out.

www.jtartattack.wordpress.com

So my last entry talked about the fact my roomie was dog sitting. Well that turned into having a dog full time. Is this a surprise…no. I knew right off the bat that the way she was talking and acting that this was going to be a permanent thing. It caused some tension for awhile, but as of late things are getting on better. The dog knows what to do and not, still being a dog it makes mistakes that I get to just point out to the roomie so she can clean up. The only thing that is bothering me about the dog is the fact that despite the dog not coming anywhere near my room, everything is still covered in hair. Damn dogs and their shedding.

School has been flying by. I guess that is part of only having class three days a week. It is havey while in it but its over quick. I am now at the half way point of the semester and some of my courses are wrapping up, just in time for others to begin. This has caused there to be an influx of assignments and presentations due, but the light is at the end of the tunnel.

I have received my placement for the second semester already. I am going to be a grade 5/6 teacher. I think this will be a fun chance to test my skills, as those students are finally at the age where they can put some deep thought into the concepts. I just hope the math doesn’t beat me. This however was not my big news.

The big news is that I have been offered a contract to teach in Calgary for 2008-2009. It is a full time position, in which they hope to find me my own classroom. If this is not possible I will work as a supply teacher but still get paid my grid salary. It is also a position as a special needs teacher, as they want to “best utilize my background and area of expertise”. This means that for the next year I will be living in Calgary. Time to start the rental hunt again. Anyone want to join me?

First off the positive. I finally got my Bursary money!! If only it had come a couple weeks sooner, then I would have been typing this on a macbook. Oh well.

School despite only being two days in looks like its going to be a killer. There seems to be a focus on readings by the profs this semester with a ton of group work to make up the majority of our marks. In fact in one course alone all of my marks are group related, even the self eval. But with a little focus and some many pots of coffee I should be able to follow up my 2 A+’s, 2 A-’s and one unknown mark without concern.

Lastly my living situation. I came home exhausted, I think jet lag may have set in today, to be met by a house guest moments later. A house guest that will be here for a couple weeks (said the roomie vaguely). A house guest that has four legs. Yes my roomie is dog sitting. Did I mention that she didn’t even have decency to ask if I would be alright with having a dog here. I told her that I was having no part of it and that all the responsibility is on her. My biggest problem is that she didn’t ask and that it is making me feel even less at home here then I already did. I have very limited personal space, and now with a dog roaming around that is cut down even more. Not to mention with our busy schedules, I am expecting there to be many presents left by the dog around the apartment. Heaven help if this dog wakes me up during my four day weekends. I will not be a happy camper.

Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs. I would have even said yes to having a dog here for a short while, but two weeks without advance notice is a bit much. I guess all I can do is wait and see. If it becomes too much I guess I will voice my opinion and hopefully the dog will go home.

So that has been my day thus far. I am going to keep this daily posting going until I get swamped, but hopefully now that I have lappy working on campus I can be blogging during class. Yahoo for wireless…boo for Win2K.