This article from the Stonewall Teulon Tribune is about our teaching exchange partners. It’s interesting to see your own home reflected back to you from someone else’s point of view. So glad they’re having a great time and grateful for their willingness to exchange lives for a year! Click the image to enlarge.

Tersigni, N. (2013, March13). From koalas and kangaroos to snow and more snow. The Stonewall Teulon Tribune, p. 10.
http://c0002468.cdn2.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/StonewallTribune031314.pdf
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Wednesday morning:

Just pinned this to staff notice board-a lesson for us all. pic.twitter.com/gAmk0oynrw
— Julian S Wood (@Ideas_Factory) March 14, 2014

 

 

Well, it finally hit. A bout of homesickness. For me, at least.

There are a couple of challenging classes that make me wonder where my 23 years experience with classroom management has gone. The persuasive restitution-based strategies I have successfully employed back home for the last 12 years seem completely ineffective (so far) and I’ve had to revisit strategies I haven’t used since my first few years in the classroom.

So today was one of those days – a few challenging classes in a row then, on my break, I happen to flip through some photos from home. The familiar images with the unseen, but intimately felt context outside the picture’s frame, filled with warm memories stirred up the emotions.

But every day there is plenty that makes me smile thinking about where I am, what I’m doing, how fabulous this opportunity is for me and my family. And, to be fair, relationships are harder to form with some kids when they know you’re leaving at the end of the year. I knew it would be a challenge, and that it would be like starting fresh again. As difficult as things are at times, I have no regrets, and it won’t kill me, and I’ll be a better teacher for it.

(now keep repeating until you’ve convinced yourself! 😉

 Wednesday afternoon

Well, I pulled myself together and had a fabulous class with a smaller group where we all brought our desks together and just did math for 40 minutes – figuring things out, working equations, visiting, helping each other. IT WAS AWESOME!! I told the students that when I found out I’d be here teaching math that THIS was what I dreamed of – gathered around learning together.

One of them said, “Awww, we made sir’s dream come true! High-five, everyone”

What a joy. I love it.

Here are other people’s videos and recordings of some of the birds we hear regularly and enjoy. First is the Australian Magpie which we think sounds like the robot R2-D2 from Star Wars.

Then the famous kookaburra which sings at sunrise and sunset. Makes for a great alarm clock and “time to get ready for bed” warning.

Cockatoos are noisy like crows and the Canada Goose back home. They’re pretty, but awfully screechy.

Galahs are pretty common too – pretty flashes of pink and grey when they’re flocking around.

And there is a flock of emus that I pass by on the drive to work. Never heard them at all, but they’re amazing creatures – quite prehistoric looking and awkwardly graceful when they run.

Occasionally we’ll see a couple of Rainbow Lorikeets sitting on a fence somewhere.

You may already have read on my son’s blog about our day at the races. It was a new experience for all of us despite living so close to the Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg. Our experience at the Coonabarabran Jockey Club felt more like our favourite home-town community hall events – lots of visiting, catching up with people you haven’t seen for a while, oh, and by the way, there’s a race on now…

It was great fun and we could sense here the same kind of community spirit we so value at home.

Almost a month into our work and school life here in Australia and we’ve established a bit of a routine and feeling very much at home in our new space. Reviewing our bank statements provides ample evidence of a couple months of travel and exploration. We remind ourselves that the six or seven weeks that we were travelling is the longest stretch we will have and it won’t be too hard to stem the flow of cash out of the account now that school has started.

We’re all happy in our daytime pursuits though I’d be less than honest if I didn’t admit that the teaching hasn’t been a bit of a race itself. There is a lot to take in, a lot to manage, a lot to understand in a new system with different approaches to teaching and learning. As hard as it is, it is also intellectually and professionally enriching. There is much that I value from home and many things that I appreciate from here that will guide my practice for a long time, I’m sure.

If you’re interested in what’s going on at my school, our latest newsletter is available on the school website. Have a peek at what the start of school is like at a rural Australian school!