Join me as I try to meet the challenge of travelling to 30 countries before my 30th birthday
When my students were promoted to second grade they recited a poem. Hello, Summer! -- (A Last Day of School Poem) by Gregory K. It begins with the lines Goodbye, classroom! Goodbye, Teach! You can find me at the beach... (The entire poem can be found here) I think of this poem today because it …
Continue reading Summer Starts Right Now
Kuwait is a country that seems like one big city and then desert. I've lived here for two years and I am not sure if Salmiya (where I live) is a separate city or simply a district or county or some other part of Kuwait City. The road between the two is short and busy …
These are the numbers of the government building we drive past everyday. Why do places exist where it's 46 Celsius? Also it's only June. Last year in August it reached 55 Celsius. In Canada we travel in the winter to escape the cold. In Kuwait we travel in summer to escape the blistering heat.
Tonight is our end of year dinner at work. It's already been a bit bumpy because the dinner is late in the year. This is a problem because many people are not attending the dinner because the holy month of Ramadan will likely begin tonight. This means that the Muslim staff (which is most of …
Continue reading Staff Dinner Drama
Today was promotion day. I had my hair and make-up done. I had the tall shoes on. I had a parent ask me where I was because they thought I was someone different. I had my principal speaking to me on the phone while she looked at me because she didn't know it was me …
Continue reading Not My Monkeys
"I'm sorry" is how we apologize to people. How we say we made a mistake and we regret it. It could have been a harsh word, a bump in passing, a lie, or any other number of things. We do our best to convey regret for hurting another person and maybe regret for our actions. …
Continue reading “I’m Sorry” easy to say but not always easy to mean.
Most of us have probably heard the old adage "If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree it will always think it is stupid". This is commonly said about children and the current education systems ability to assess student performance. It's that time of year. The End. This is when we …
Continue reading Boys are not fish
I have started to pack my unnecessary items into my suitcase for my travels back home this summer. What I have come to realize is that I have greatly underestimated the amount of useless stuff I seem to have. I brought with me teaching books I've never used or even glanced at. I have so …
Continue reading Underestimate
The statistic is that most new teachers quit in the first 5 years. There are many reasons for this from administration to the zoo animals some people call children. Teachers are being asked to do more with less each day. From stagnant salaries and facilities to broken buildings and broken homes teachers have much to …
Continue reading First Five Years
Today at school we had our final field trip of the year. This is the one trip that doesn't have to tie to their education and can be completely for fun. I like Kidzania because it's a little city inside the building. They have a dentist, police station, store, bar, and so much more. They …
Continue reading Kidzania – a city for kids
Thirty by Thirty 
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