A Legal Alien

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12 December 2006

I emailed my course leader from IOE today to talk to her about a PhD. I'm sick of thinking about London and not doing anything about going back. If I have to sell every stick of everything I own to go back, so be it. The house I bought is nice but it's not home really. It's just where I live at the moment.

So I told her I was interested in doing a PhD and we emailed back and forth about possible areas of research. I did my MA dissertation on teacher morale and standardized testing. Now I'm more interested in induction programs and if they really make a difference to new teacher retention, morale and school effectiveness. I didn't go through BTSA when I was a new teacher because it wasn't mandatory then. I've seen a bit of what goes on but I'd like to dig in a bit deeper. It's all floating around in my head right now but I'm doing a bit of reading and printing some articles to read. Going back to England would be hard for my mother but honestly, I don't want to live here just to make my family happy.

School is... meh. It just is. It's not bad, not fabulous. In a way, it's rather boring sometimes. At least, the teaching part is. All the drama with admin is not boring. It's stressful. A lot of us walk on eggshells because even if we are fabulous, my principal will find something wrong with what we're doing. In my 3rd period, my ELD kids are in the computer lab all the time, working in this reading program. After working them hard all period, I give them 10 minutes of free time at the end of the period so they can go on the internet. Yesterday, my principal and the head of HR did a walk thru just as my kids were getting on the internet. Yeah, not exactly a stellar moment of teaching that. But there's nothing I can do about it now. It bothered me part of the day but at the moment, I just don't care. If he fires me, it's not the end of the world. I've had worse experiences teaching.
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The dog has managed to shred 2 new toys in less than 30 minutes. I think that should be some sort of record. I keep finding little piles of stuffing laying around and he's enjoying chewing up the squeaker bit inside each toy. His brutal treatment of toys is why I don't spend much money on anything inedible for him. He ends up eating it anyway.

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It was my birthday on Sunday. Disa was here for the night on Saturday and we went out to dinner with Heather. Sunday morning was hectic with 2 choir performances of Pinkham's Christmas Cantata at church and then family dinner with everyone. My grandparents and parents had to hurry through everything though as they had a funeral at 2pm. I probably should've gone but I paid my respects that morning and Disa was with me. My grandmother had a rough day of it as they also found out a friend's wife had died that morning. It was a rather somber birthday celebration.

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Christmas is coming. The year is winding down. For the first time in a while, I feel at peace. It's a nice feeling. I'm not restless or depressed. I'm content. God answers prayer.

For Paul Barrett

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