Thoughts from Adequacy

Today was alright. So far, most of the 3 weeks I've spent teaching high school drama have been alright. I'm so puzzled by it - I was really looking forward to being a drama teacher, but now I'm counting down the days until it's over. Nothing is wrong, exactly - I'm teaching in a good school, have a supportive supervisor, etc. But the kids I'm teaching aren't interested in Drama. They're not interested in challenging themselves. They have so much apathy that I'm knee deep in it and wondering, in 4 weeks, how I'm supposed to make a difference.

My supervisor has told me, "don't worry - this is just how kids are these days. They don't care about anything any more". But I can't believe that. What I do believe, is that I'm not going to make them care about anything in the 7 classes that I have left with them. I can't make them stop calling things "stupid". I can't make them get off of the floor where they lie, sleeping when they are supposed to be doing group work. I can't make them understand how theatre can change someone's experience.

All I can do is ask nicely.

So basically, I'm okay. Life is okay. I teach kids who aren't interested, come home, plan lessons and sleep as much as I can. I'm a bit depressed - I find that I don't really look forward to anything. I wake up, I get dressed. The best part of my day is when I crawl into bed and it's all nice and warm and steve curls up around me. Not that anything is bad, really. It's not. I have nothing to complain about. I also have nothing to blog about - hence my real lack of updates.

I'll be back in better spirits in a week and three days, I promise. Until then, wish me luck moving through the days until it arrives.

In To the Archives

My trip to Palm Springs to visit my grandparents was a bust. One advantage to having a parent who works for Air Canada is that you get (almost) free flights pretty much anywhere you want to go. One disadvantage is that you can only take those flights when there is a seat on the plane that is not occupied by either

a) a revenue customer
b) a revenue standby
or
c) an employee standby (called a 'con') who has higher seniority than me

Which means that at March Break, getting to a sunny destination like Palm Springs is no easy task.

So I'm taking a consolation vacation - I've come home to Vancouver to visit my mom and my dog, Waldo. I've basically been put to work since I've been here; my mom is preparing for a big garage sale, and we're trying to crate train our 9 year old dog who has separation anxiety. That being said, it's nice to be home. It's nice to have my mom make smoothies for me with fresh fruit and yogurt. It's nice to sleep in as long as I like with a little dog curled up next to me. It's nice to go to Walmart and buy two pairs of shoes...er, spend quality time with my mom.

It's also very nice to have a break from teaching, and enough time to write a proper blog entry.

My mom just got a new computer and a fab new scanner, so I've started scanning in some of my favorite pictures from when I was a kid. Here's a few of the best - all of me and my brother, or me, Regan and Mom.

Enjoy! And hopefully I'll have time over the next few days to keep up with the blog

Not-So-Steady Eddie

I know it's been a long time since I've posted something of any significance or interest here. It's not that I don't have anything to say, but I'm currently neck-deep in my second practicum and spend any and all free time sleeping. Seriously. If I come home and have 15 minutes until I have to make dinner, I sleep. That's how exhausted I am at the end of the day.

Other than the waking up early and working long days thing, my second teaching placement has been alright. I'm at quite an affluent school and am teaching drama to grades 10, 11 and 12. It's a lot of fun, but also a ton of work as I stretch to find resources and activities to fill each day. There's no textbook to turn to and no worksheets to fill out on a tough day. It all has to come from me. Ergo the tired stuff.

ANYWAY - I have awesome news! Today was a very good day, because I went with Steve's mom and dad to go and pick out a new puppy! I would like to introduce everyone to Eddie. He is a 4 week old cocker spaniel, has a hard time supporting his own weight and pees recklessly on any clean surface he can find ... and he belongs to Steve and family!
I couldn't be happier to have a dog in my life. I think that Steve and my relationship is going to be going uphill from here - mostly because of how happy I am about Eddie. He comes "home" on March 21st ... obviously, many more pictures to follow.