Tag Archives: schools

Sep14

Thicker Than Smoke

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Thicker Than Smoke

It rained this morning. It’s a cloudy day. Smoke has rolled in from the wildfires surrounding East Wenatchee. But the air is charged with something far more potent. And it has felt that way since I arrived in May. It’s very different than the usual, and everyone is commenting on it.

The atmosphere here is tense and emotionally charged. And not in a good way. Uncertainty. Unsureness. Doubt. Ambiguity. Discontent. Vagueness. Anxiety. Fear. These are just some of the words people are using to describe it.

School has been in session for only a couple of weeks. There have already been lockdowns due to suspicious persons roaming nearby. Other states have already reported shootings. When I was in school it was accepted that the teacher was always right. By the time my kids were in school it had changed. The parents were always right, not the teachers. Today it seems like it has shifted again. The kids feel entitled and they are the ones who are always right. Unfortunately that only leads to more violence.

And then there was the assassination of Charlie Kirk this past week. Freedom of Speech is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Just because you may not agree with the words of a speaker does not give you the right to kill him. This shouldn’t be a matter of Republican versus Democrat. This is man’s inhumanity to man we’re talking about . And Kirk’s murder was a senseless and horrible tragedy.

This morning at church the sermon was about the importance of prayer and forgiveness. If there were more of that our world wouldn’t be in such a mess right now. That’s right. The entire world. It doesn’t matter what country you live in.

And while we’re on the topic of church, I never cease to be amazed by the men who walk into church with a Bible in one hand and a gun in a holster on their hip. Or the women who carry guns in their purses. The church I attend now is a smaller one and I haven’t noticed it here, but when I went to some of the more mega-sized churches it was definitely noticeable. Of course I’ve also had the experience of being locked inside a Christian church in Mexico once the service began. All in the name of security. And scary.

That’s it for doom and gloom. I pray that this coming week is a peaceful one for everyone.

Apr5

Facebook, Thanks For The Memory

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Facebook, Thanks For The Memory

Flash back to when I once taught Secundaria, where we had a lively discussion about the similarities between April Fool’s Day and Dia De Los Inocentes. The students were all quite amused and were happily thinking about enjoying two of these “fun” days every year.

I wrote out their homework on the board, encouraging them to read the directions carefully. The directions were very simple. “This is your homework for today. One of the questions is a joke. You do not have to answer it. You must answer only three of the questions.”

Question 1. “On what day do we celebrate April Fool’s Day?”

Question 2 “On what day do we celebrate Dia De Los Inocentes?”

Question 3 “Do you like jokes?”

Question 4 “What have you learned about April Fool’s Day? Write a 1,000,00 word essay about April Fool’s Day. Be sure that your grammar and punctuation are perfect. Do not make any spelling mistakes. Submit this assignment in a purple binder and be sure that all the pages your assignment is written on are green and yellow.”

It was interesting how they followed??? the directions.

That night my inbox was flooded with emails. “My printer doesn’t have enough ink. My mother wants to know where to buy a purple binder. The papaleria doesn’t have green paper. Is blue okay?”

There were lots more but I think you get the idea.

The next day, two girls proudly handed in their three sentences while the remainder of the class taunted them for not doing their homework. I merely smiled. The rest of the class still didn’t get it until I asked one of the girls to explain.

It’s important to follow directions.

Sep6

Hello September

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Hello September

September. The first of the “ber” ‘months. The month kids go back to school. And what a first week it’s been.

Two students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia. Nine others were injured. The suspected shooter is only 14-years-old. The gun used was a Christmas present from his father. At Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan a 15-year-old girl was lit on fire. She is in serious condition in hospital. Staff members who attempted to help her were also taken to hospital. A 14-year-old girl was taken into custody immediately.

When I was in high school in the 60s incidents like these were unimaginable. Fighting was generally among boys. By the time my kids were in high school in the 90s the weapons of choice were usually fists and the occasional knife. And it wasn’t always just boys. I shudder to think what is yet to come by the time my six-year-old granddaughter enters high school.

While the advent of the internet facilitates news reporting around the world, I’m sure there are many more accounts of violence in schools that we are not even made aware of. However, not only are students instilled with fear by these incidents, but many are also now given the wrong kind of ideas that they may normally have never even considered.

Parents and educators play a vital role in molding the youth of today. Bullying has been taken to the extreme when it becomes synonymous with school shootings and other forms of violence.

Let’s prevent our world from becoming even more crazy than it already is.

May21

Digging Through Buried Treasure

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Digging Through Buried Treasure

I’m taking a break from scanning photos. I feel like writing a blog post. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all the nonstop scanning I’ve been doing since I got here. While I do see friends and that breaks up the monotony of scanning, the emotional part is really starting to get to me.

There are photos of my dad and my grandparents who never got to meet my kids. There are photos of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who have passed away. The memories keep flooding back and occasionally they are not happy ones.

One of the bins contained my Achievements Binder. Wow! No wonder I have so many letters after my name! I took a lot of courses at University of Manitoba and Red River College. And then there are all the professional development courses and the crisis intervention courses. Throw in CPR and First Aid training. There are also a multitude of child abuse checks and criminal records checks.

This binder also contains pages full of letters of appreciation and cards for all the volunteer work I did throughout the years. Among them are Winnipeg School Division 1, Laidlaw School, YMCA, Grace Hospital, ASYC, YBC, Scouts Canada, Girl Guides of Canada, Manitoba Hospice and Palliative Care and many, many more organizations.

And I’m just finishing up Bin 2.

Aug5

Challenges Of A Teacher

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Challenges Of A Teacher

I’m retired now, but I’m often asked what kinds of challenges I faced while teaching English here in Mexico. I basically divide them into two distinct areas….. actual English teaching in the classroom and the challenges associated with the difference in the culture here from up north.

In the classroom, aside from the obvious grammar and pronunciation, there were the more abstract things included in the curriculum. I always found the topic of white lies versus black lies a challenge. There was always that one student who insisted that his steady girlfriend of so many years didn’t need to know about the new woman in his life because he wasn’t sure which one he wanted to be with until he got to know the new one better. He’d tell his girlfriend he was going out for a beer with the guys instead. In his eyes this was no different than telling a friend his new shirt was amazing even though he really thought the shirt was hideous.

Classroom management was definitely an adventure. Teacher aides for students with behavioral issues such as autism simply do not exist here. At one private school where I taught I had one student who consistently tried to climb out of a second story window when he wasn’t interested in the topic we were studying at the moment. Needless to say, his behavior always disrupted the entire class.

As a teacher, students rely on you for far more than just teaching them English. They often came to me with personal problems. The culture here is different, and I was always cautious, especially when it came to teenagers. Many problems students struggle with are really quite universal, adults and children alike, no matter which country you live in.

But these challenges pale in comparison with what teachers face today in light of COVID-19. The additional responsibility for providing safety from infection to students is huge, not to mention that teachers are putting their own lives at risk the moment they step into the classroom.

There is so much controversy about whether or not schools should open again when the virus is still surging. Here in Mexico the schools will not open this month. My heart goes out to teachers everywhere else in the world where schools are reopening. I admire your dedication and I pray for your safety.