05 April 2009

A long week...

I am not sure if the Year 9 Dean job that I am doing along with 5 classes of year 9 students puts me officially on Year 9 overload, but man, did they try my patience this week. Adolescents are a funny breed. I jokingly (not really) speak of Me-itis with them in class. Me-itis is an ailment that most adolescents suffer from. It involves thinking about and talking about only yourself. I challenged my classes this week to take a count of how many times they used the word "ME" and "I" while having a conversation. By Thursday I thought we were making progress, many of my students were shocked at how many times they speak of only themselves. But my dreaded Friday came. And in the afternoon I had organized all 88 students to come to the hall to watch a movie, The Mighty. Our previous progress with Me-itis came to a screeching halt! I am so used to putting in extra effort to fun and special activities and my Grand Bend kids responding with natural and genuine gratitude...that was not the case. It is a darn good thing that we are four days away from a two week holiday.



All the surrounding country schools, including Pukerau Primary had their Swimming Sports Day last Friday. I was not able to go, you know what I was doing, but Dano went to cheer on Abby. She raced three races. The breast stroke, front crawl and flutterboard back kick. Abby is a strong swimmer and she did very well at the day. She got two firsts and a third. Here are some pics of her swimming day.




This weekend there was a group of ladies at Camp Columba and Dano and I catered for them. Altohough it is autumn here in NZ, Saturday was more like a late August summer day...sunny, hot not a cloud in the sky. Sunday was supposed to be rainy, gale winds and cold. It was not, another sunny warm day and I am not complaining. 11 weeks until Mom and Dad are here!

Until next time,
Samantha

2 comments:

Jules said...

Congrats to Abby on the great results at the swim meet.
Samantha, I remember discussing "me itis" with a friend in highschool on the walk home from school one day. How we would jump into any conversation with a "well I remember" or "I think" instead of a "tell me more about" etc. I certainly hope it gets better with age, I hope that I don't do it as much anymore.
Anyways, I''m sure your class really does appreciate you, but they may not realize how good they have it, someday they will think back and know how great of a teacher you were and how hard you tried to do great things for them.
Best Wishes

Anonymous said...

Gr 9's I as sure that can be a challenging one,keep working at them !! They will finally get it someday down the road.
Way to go Abby !!
Jared turned 9 yesterday WOW our 2 youngest are sure growing up fast !!
Had a dream last night that you and the kids came for a visit.
Well better get moving, we have Jared's party today - lots to do.
The Hind Family