Woah! That was really fast.
We covered
- a few statements (most about belonging to national groups)
- forming questions in two different ways
- negative statements
- a vocabulary word for each "letter" or group of "letters" that appear in Pinyin
I understand better now why Mandarin sounds like "sure, sure, sure, sure". I think it has a lot to do with the verb to be.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Cantonese vs Mandarin
I've been using this debate to put off learning to speak Chinese. But I think I've finally decided. At risk of offending my new family (sorry, guys!), I've decided on Mandarin. Let me be a little defensive. On the side of Mandarin we have:
- only four tones vs SEVEN
- daily practice at school
- eavesdropping on my students
- increasing Mandarin proportion of Toronto's Chinese community
- more usefulness for travel
I'm going to take an interest course or two this summer.
- only four tones vs SEVEN
- daily practice at school
- eavesdropping on my students
- increasing Mandarin proportion of Toronto's Chinese community
- more usefulness for travel
I'm going to take an interest course or two this summer.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Mozilla rocks.
I just discovered the "open in tabs" feature. I used to right click and select "open in new tab" for each of the blogs I've listed above. Now, I have them all bookmarked (plus a link to comment moderating) in the same Mozilla directory and open them simultaneously with one click. I know it saves me less that a minute but I still love it.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
mea culpa
um... It would seem that the absence of comments since September is my own fault. I wasn't aware that my blogging service now "required" me (by default) to moderate comments. But hey, even still, my ultimatum generated more comments than anything else I've written.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
ultimatum
Start leaving comments or this blog has had it. In one year, I've had eight comments from three people (Thank you, Kern, Kristin, and MarkMark) and none since September.
You don't need a login. Just sign in as "anonymous" and leave your name in the body of the comment, if you want.
You don't need a login. Just sign in as "anonymous" and leave your name in the body of the comment, if you want.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
an ungodly speed
On a recent unit test, I asked my grade 12s to
(a) calculate the orbital speed MIR (or the Hubble), (3 marks)
(b) the period of its orbit, (1 mark) and
(c) explain whether their answers to (a) and (b) were reasonable. (1 mark)
The purpose of part (c) is to train the students to think about the meaning of their work during the test. I do this check every time I do a problem on the board. Some students do this instinctively but I figured the mark for checking reasonableness would motivate the others, especially since they could earn full marks for the question even if (a) and (b) were wrong but part (c) was good. It was also an opportunity for a discussion about good test-taking skills.
I've had good laughs over students' answers before. And I got another laugh this time when a student got answers of 10^40 or more for each of parts (a) and (b) in m/s and s respectively. At the very least he conceded that 10^43 m/s was - and I quote - "an ungodly speed" and that it would take "several centuries" for MIR to orbit the Earth. Well, the universe has only existed for around 10^18 s. The laughs continued because I wrote "LOL" next to "ungodly." Well, the student thought that this was the greatest thing that any teacher had ever written. The camera phone was whipped out. Another fun answer: an orbital period of 0.3 s. Imagine three times a second: "There it goes... There it goes... There it goes."
Aside: I had another student use a camera phone to record a demonstration we did in class. It's a different world, eh? Interestingly, technically speaking, the students aren't even allowed to use cellphones in the school, let alone in classrooms. But clearly, there are great uses.
Keep reading... I have a second entry today.
(a) calculate the orbital speed MIR (or the Hubble), (3 marks)
(b) the period of its orbit, (1 mark) and
(c) explain whether their answers to (a) and (b) were reasonable. (1 mark)
The purpose of part (c) is to train the students to think about the meaning of their work during the test. I do this check every time I do a problem on the board. Some students do this instinctively but I figured the mark for checking reasonableness would motivate the others, especially since they could earn full marks for the question even if (a) and (b) were wrong but part (c) was good. It was also an opportunity for a discussion about good test-taking skills.
I've had good laughs over students' answers before. And I got another laugh this time when a student got answers of 10^40 or more for each of parts (a) and (b) in m/s and s respectively. At the very least he conceded that 10^43 m/s was - and I quote - "an ungodly speed" and that it would take "several centuries" for MIR to orbit the Earth. Well, the universe has only existed for around 10^18 s. The laughs continued because I wrote "LOL" next to "ungodly." Well, the student thought that this was the greatest thing that any teacher had ever written. The camera phone was whipped out. Another fun answer: an orbital period of 0.3 s. Imagine three times a second: "There it goes... There it goes... There it goes."
Aside: I had another student use a camera phone to record a demonstration we did in class. It's a different world, eh? Interestingly, technically speaking, the students aren't even allowed to use cellphones in the school, let alone in classrooms. But clearly, there are great uses.
Keep reading... I have a second entry today.
Did this really happen to me? or did I do it to myself?
Friday morning, I woke up before my alarm, needing to use the washroom - around 6:10. I sat up and something that didn't seem quite right. But I didn't think about it. I wasn't in any state to think about anything. I stood up. step up with the right foot. "step" with the left foot. Except that my left leg was entirely asleep and bore no weight at all. So next thing I know, I'm on the floor swearing. Lucky I didn't hit my head in my tiny, furniture-stuffed bedroom.
Well, my left knee had gone through a range of motion unknown to it for almost a decade. I landed hard on my left heel, which felt a little bruised. I was more worried about my knee but it didn't hurt. So I proceded with my day but investigated a little when I got to school. My knee seemed perfectly fine, not even any swelling which I can get from regular exercise. But the "bruise" on my ankle happened to be right over my ligament. By the end of the day, it was somewhat swollen, stiff, and lightly discoloured. Definitely a sprain.
It's pretty much okay now. I curled Monday and yesterday without any trouble.
Well, my left knee had gone through a range of motion unknown to it for almost a decade. I landed hard on my left heel, which felt a little bruised. I was more worried about my knee but it didn't hurt. So I proceded with my day but investigated a little when I got to school. My knee seemed perfectly fine, not even any swelling which I can get from regular exercise. But the "bruise" on my ankle happened to be right over my ligament. By the end of the day, it was somewhat swollen, stiff, and lightly discoloured. Definitely a sprain.
It's pretty much okay now. I curled Monday and yesterday without any trouble.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
crock pot
I got a crock pot for Christmas. It's awesome. I made stew and chili last week. I don't know if the best part is having a hot dinner ready when I get home or leftovers. Most recipes feed 6-10 people. I think my next effort will be a chicken. Ingredients: 1 chicken. 1.5 cups barbeque sauce.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
second post in a day
So, look what they have at the Geography Challenge now. I am shocked that in my first three tries I got 6, 6, and 7/10. Same idea as for countries. They give you the capital. You click on the country. This IS a challenge.
Darn it. After playing for a few hours and pretty much getting the capitals down, I just discovered a good feature. If you click on "give me a detailed analysis" after your game. You get a list of the questions and your answers. What I didn't know is that each entry on the list is linked to the map. Click the word and they show you where it is on the map. That would have been helpful. I think it's too late now.
I haven't been posting ...
because I don't think I really have anything to report.
I guess I could have been doing my routine reports of daily activities but that started to bore even me. So I'll use Becky's Coles' Notes approach.
The Christmas holidays started off hectic because the last day of school was the 23rd. Dion and I Greyhounded to Ottawa that night and came back to Toronto with Ian and Dad, who stayed for a few nights. Chi was in town and it was nice to spend some time with him and Seewan also, whom I didn't know at all before. They really are everything that is great about Americans. I enjoyed three days over New Year's up at a colleague's cottage near Norland. very easy going. lots of sleeping, reading, and eating. Then I still had a whole week to do more sleeping, reading, and eating at home. I did not crack a book, not even Sunday before classes resumed.
I hope that everyone can say this but I think I got the best present in the Toronto-residents-of-Manning Christmas exchange. Becky bought me a game called Apples to Apples. It's so fun that Dion could not sit and watch, which he prefers to do for most games. We also played it at Chinese New Year, althought the group was a little big. 13 players means that there is always at least one good match.
I really had fun a couple of weeks ago when I went to play volleyball with Kevin's highschool buddies. The level was just about right for me. Luckily, the net was a little saggy, so if I jumped as high as I possibly could, I could just hit a quick. Three hours. I was tired but felt really good. I'll go again, for sure.
I'm starting to curl well - or at least better - again. That beginner clinic early in the season taught me a lot but also messed me up a little.
I was shocked that on the first day back almost my whole grade 12 class turned in a little assignment I had given them. It was assigned as seatwork for the last day of classes but I allowed them to hand it in after the holidays if they preferred to sing Physics carols, which they did. This was an incredibly hard-working and nice group. I told them so at the final exam. They did really well on a tough final. The average was 68%, including two zeroes, 74% otherwise. The other sections averaged 55% and 64%, I think. One of my students told me that the "joke/rumour" going around was that I was teaching enriched Physics. Which is a good thing, I think. Several of those students need enrichment. And I still ended up with a number of marks in the 90's and a median in the low 80s. But on the other hand, I do so many evaluations that anyone who has handed in all the assignments and put in a decent amount of work does pass. Completely fair I think. My only failures skipped the final (giving up and planning to try again for a better mark).
I have hated the weather this "winter". damp and grey, mostly above freezing. yuck.
My new semester classes look promising. I have a couple of characters in both gr12 Physics sections and I'm in a more intimate classroom.
I'm sure I've forgotten stuff. Remind me if you think of anything.
BOOKS
For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway. loved it. I've never read any Hemingway before. I can see why he's a big deal. ;)
Fifth Business Robertson Davies. I liked it. It dragged for a couple of chapters, I thought. For a little while, I didn't know why the book continued. It felt like everything was resolved.
I guess I could have been doing my routine reports of daily activities but that started to bore even me. So I'll use Becky's Coles' Notes approach.
The Christmas holidays started off hectic because the last day of school was the 23rd. Dion and I Greyhounded to Ottawa that night and came back to Toronto with Ian and Dad, who stayed for a few nights. Chi was in town and it was nice to spend some time with him and Seewan also, whom I didn't know at all before. They really are everything that is great about Americans. I enjoyed three days over New Year's up at a colleague's cottage near Norland. very easy going. lots of sleeping, reading, and eating. Then I still had a whole week to do more sleeping, reading, and eating at home. I did not crack a book, not even Sunday before classes resumed.
I hope that everyone can say this but I think I got the best present in the Toronto-residents-of-Manning Christmas exchange. Becky bought me a game called Apples to Apples. It's so fun that Dion could not sit and watch, which he prefers to do for most games. We also played it at Chinese New Year, althought the group was a little big. 13 players means that there is always at least one good match.
I really had fun a couple of weeks ago when I went to play volleyball with Kevin's highschool buddies. The level was just about right for me. Luckily, the net was a little saggy, so if I jumped as high as I possibly could, I could just hit a quick. Three hours. I was tired but felt really good. I'll go again, for sure.
I'm starting to curl well - or at least better - again. That beginner clinic early in the season taught me a lot but also messed me up a little.
I was shocked that on the first day back almost my whole grade 12 class turned in a little assignment I had given them. It was assigned as seatwork for the last day of classes but I allowed them to hand it in after the holidays if they preferred to sing Physics carols, which they did. This was an incredibly hard-working and nice group. I told them so at the final exam. They did really well on a tough final. The average was 68%, including two zeroes, 74% otherwise. The other sections averaged 55% and 64%, I think. One of my students told me that the "joke/rumour" going around was that I was teaching enriched Physics. Which is a good thing, I think. Several of those students need enrichment. And I still ended up with a number of marks in the 90's and a median in the low 80s. But on the other hand, I do so many evaluations that anyone who has handed in all the assignments and put in a decent amount of work does pass. Completely fair I think. My only failures skipped the final (giving up and planning to try again for a better mark).
I have hated the weather this "winter". damp and grey, mostly above freezing. yuck.
My new semester classes look promising. I have a couple of characters in both gr12 Physics sections and I'm in a more intimate classroom.
I'm sure I've forgotten stuff. Remind me if you think of anything.
BOOKS
For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway. loved it. I've never read any Hemingway before. I can see why he's a big deal. ;)
Fifth Business Robertson Davies. I liked it. It dragged for a couple of chapters, I thought. For a little while, I didn't know why the book continued. It felt like everything was resolved.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
nerdiness
Wow, if I don't score really high on a nerdiness scale, there's something wrong. The reference game, anyone?!
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Today,
I went painting ceramics with Dion's family.
Here, I'm painting the lid to a Star-of-David box for Beth.
Here, I'm painting the lid to a Star-of-David box for Beth.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
two weeks of living vividly
It's been such an intense time.
Sorry, I've saved up 13 days of material.
Monday - don't remember much except that we lost at curling (Monday is my night with Leigh and Jenn). During their unit test, one of my able and eager Physics students completely blanked on one question about a snowmobile collision. I watched him staring at one page for the last 15 or 20 minutes. Poor guy. It was a question I all but told them was going to be on the test. I saw him in the hall a while later and tried to say some encouraging words but I think it just made him sadder. He was on the verge of tears.
Tuesday - the senior boys' lost their North region-semi final to York Mills at home. It was ugly. Complete fear of failure. Then we (Heather, Beth, Peter, and I) had to go to a coaches' meeting for the North region, where I had to face the York Mills coach and hear from Peter about all the things I could have done better during the game. It was a tough night. I think I spent about 2 hours writing my speech for the next day. You know the expression: if I had more time, I would have made it shorter. I made it shorter. The speech was mostly about courage.
Wednesday - SKIP AHEAD if nitty-gritty volleyball stuff bores you. 7am practice with the senior boys, 3:20 tryout with the senior girls. At lunch time I happened to see two grade 10 basketball players and convinced them to come to the tryout. Anita was stunned that I even knew her name but recalled that I did go watch a few basketball practices and games. The tryout was pretty fun. At the end I had two courts going side-by-side just playing a 4-2. Brian was playing with them. He made one pretty big back court attack that Kara, a grade 12 who didn't play volleyball last year, dug up like it was no big deal. She made the cut. I heard a big crack as Brian made another big attack but then I heard the gym go wild. Somebody had just stuff-blocked him. 15-year-old Anita. It's impressive enough that she was in the right spot at the right time. The shocking part is that he didn't go through her. She made the cut.
Thursday - 7am tryout with the senior girls. I posted the final list at the end of the day. I made some gutsy cuts and risky keeps, IMO. It's going to be a fun season no doubt. I got some work done (it happens so infrequently) after school and then I stayed at Dion's parents' house for the night so that I could take the car to school in the morning and have it for the weekend.
Friday - morning practice with the senior boys, good periods in the resource room in the morning, and the easiest-to-organise field trip ever with the Grade 12 Physics class in the afternoon. It was a workshop at the engineering faculty of U of T on how to design a spaceship. It was reasonably educational and of varying degrees of interest for the students - ranging from "hey it kinda sucked but I got out of class in the afternoon" to "wow, this is so cool.". The good things about it - 1. it was free. 2. I didn't need to miss any classes for it. 3. I didn't need any extra teachers to come with me (30-1 ratio is fine for that age and low-risk activities) 4. Almost all of the students could come. 5. Transportation was the TTC. 6. Students were allowed to go home unsupervised.
On the way back to school, I was on the bus with just two of my students, including the one who blanked on the test. He explained that he remembered my saying that it was a really excellent test question and that I had done a bit of wink-wink-nudge-nudge. But then a lot of the students laughed. Of course, they laughed because teachers aren't "supposed" to tell you what's on the test. But he interpreted it as, "she's goofing around. This is so hard that there is no way that it is on the test." And the worst part for him was that he was studying with a really strong student at lunch, right before the test. The strong student said something like, "I'll bet you anything that the snowmobile question is on the test." It was too late for him to learn it.
We lost our curling game and then drove straight to Beth's cottage and arrived around midnight. Poor Dion was already starting to get sick and then he had a pretty strong allergic reaction to Beth's dogs.
Saturday - nice day chilling out with Beth and getting some marking done. Poor Dion slept most of the day away - doped up on Neocitran. But then he beat us pretty handily at Scrabble. I had challenged him twice. Won one, lost one. For future reference: padders IS in the SPD, gentleer is NOT.
Sunday - left the cottage pretty early, got home, and took care of some stuff. I think I skyped with Kristin (or was that the week before?).
Monday - returned the gr 12 Physics tests and talked about study strategies - including studying in groups because at least someone will know what's on the test. I told them, too, that I didn't mean to have confused anybody about the snowmobile question. I will try to be more explicit in the future and they should call me on it if I am speaking in riddles. It really isn't fair that I speak in code to a few students who "get the game" of school.
I got an attendance report for all of the girls' volleyball players plus Brian, who was going to act as my assistant. Someone has to teach Jane and Kathleen to set - and God knows I'm not the one to do it. Not exactly the blind leading the blind, but it's close. Anyway, at this point I'm becoming really concerned for Brian. He has a habit of picking slacker friends and skipping classes.
The City of Toronto boys' volleyball championships took place this week. We are in the AAAA division (for the largest schools). Monday, we played Woburn at home in the quarter finals and WON 2-1. They played well. Stuck together, played some awesome defense. Jon had a break-through game. I've never seen him play smarter. For match point, Jon jumped really high and went over the block with a 75% speed hit that landed in deep one, where there was absolutley no one there to pick it up. Our motto up to that point had been, "good things happen when you go to one." We finally converted him. Unfortunately, Peter wasn't there to see it.
I really started to get excited about the prospect of OFSAA. Staying in the hotel. Dion would come as the male supervisor. The banquet. Ahh. A win on Tuesday would almost guarantee us a trip to OFSAA because two teams from Toronto go. We would only need to beat Macdonald (a heavy favourite) OR Northview (a heavy underdog).
Tuesday - We played our city semi-final at Northview against Danforth, who beat us 2-0. It wasn't a terrible game but we did beat ourselves. I think that I had improved dramatically in my game-coaching but it wasn't enough. We lost the first set 26-24, but having played rather well. But then despite two time-outs and two substitutions, we were down 11-2 at the start of the second set. Only then did we decide to play. To our credit, we toughed it out and traded points for the rest of the match. I was particularly proud that when Danforth was up 23-13, we kept playing. We did not lose 25-13. Most teams would. We lost 25-19. Danny served seven times, including three more times after a Danforth time-out.
It was a hard loss to take because it meant that our season was all but over. Danforth would have to beat the heavy favourites on Thursday and then we would need to beat the favourites on Friday to go to OFSAA. I took my probabilities and figured it was about a 9% chance. We were sad but I think it was healthy disappointment. Part of life, builds character, all that. Anyway, I stayed in the gym to watch the second semi-final and to chat with Beth, Peter, and Alison (a VP). It completely made my day that three of my players came back in the gym to watch the game.
Wednesday - morning practice with the senior boys. I gave them a speech about how proud I was of them and although I really wanted to win against Danforth, (if you're reading this, you probably know me well enough to know I hate losing) it made my day to see those players come back and to know that I still got to come back into the gym with them for the rest of the week. I was close to tears but not even trying to hide it. It was a really fun practice and we goofed around a fair bit. They didn't even play very well but no one cared.
Senior girls' practice afterschool. Pretty fun, but man, we've got a lot of work to do.
Thursday - senior boys' practice at lunch. A few of them were in the greatest, goofiest mood because they're also on the basketball team and they just won a season-opening tournament the day before. Fun practice again. I told them about a player's suspension (he was too embarrassed to tell them himself) and that they needed to support him, the same way he supported them. I also told them that I was going to U of T to watch the city finals and that whatever the result of the Danforth-Macdonald game, we would meet at the beginning of lunch - for season wrap-up or practice, depending. Before our practice-ending cheer, Danny interrupted to lead us in spontaneous prayer for Danforth. I was a little stunned but it couldn't hurt, could it?
I had fun with my grade 12 Physics class too. We haven't been having a lot of fun lately. I've been away so often for volleyball that when I am there, it's all business. I told them my F=ma story. Non-9T7 Eng Scis out there may remember Prof. Collins' speech on our first day of class. I repeated what I remembered of it and we dissected it. Then, we played BINGO, or should I say FSECS (phu-SECS) - Freebody diagrams, Symbols, Equations, Calculations, Significant figures. It was a nice change of pace.
A player's prayer worked and Danforth won 2-0. So, we found out at 8:30 that we were - much to my surprise - playing at Macdonald the next day. Do or die. OFSAA or bridesmaids. Well holy cr*p, that just made the next 24-hours ridiculously exciting and chaotic. I had to get ready for a supply teacher for my last period class (prepping to be away is always harding than prepping to be there) and make phone calls.
Friday - I was completely worn out around midnight (at the beginning of Friday) and just crashed. But then Dion came to bed at 3:30, which normally, I wouldn't even notice. But I did wake up and my mind started racing. Thinking about the next day & OFSAA. I ruminated for ages. I looked at the clock and it was 5:00. Well, my alarm was set for 5:30 for senior girls' practice; so, I just got up and took care of 2 or 3 of the 400 things I needed to do. Thankfully, I ate a really good breakfast because that and adrenaline was all I had to get me through until after the game.
Before most morning practices, as I'm waiting for the first subway of the day Northbound at Wellesley at 6:09 in the morning, I'm barely awake enough to do the Sudoku or to skim the Metro. Well, I was so excited, that I was pacing the platform. Not just shifting my weight, but grinding a groove in the floor. I actually caught myself unconsciously skipping at a couple of points on Friday. I was completely wired all day. I have never been that excited for even my own athletic competitions.
pretty good resource periods in the morning considering that I was trying to multitask some administration for getting to Macdonald and that Rose was absent and that we had a supply teacher in. Lunch practice. Highly necessary to work out some of the jitters. I had no fear of tiring them out. They're 17 and there was more than enough energy to go around. Here's my speech that followed my description of the game-plan. "If we want to go to OFSAA and we play like we deserve to go to OFSAA, we might just go to OFSAA." Practice ended with a cheer and another prayer.
It turns out that the gym was closed to student spectators because no admin from either school could be in the gym. Parents and teachers only. Unfortunately, we found out too late for a couple of my junior players, whom we turned away at the door. But Peter and Beth were there, several relatives of Danny and Matthew, plus our two super-duper student-teachers/gym rats, who had just had their last day at Jackson (until we hire them next year, I hope). Luckily, Nick (a first-year U of T student and sr. boys' athlete of the year at Jackson last year) was there, too. He sits on the bench with me and Brian and Kara when he comes. So, I had someone other than the players at whom to direct my nervous energy and any negative thoughts that I had during the game. I'm verbal. It helps for me to say something out loud and then I move on.
Game One (Best of Three). We're with them all the way. Macdonald is the heavy favourite but they're only playing at around 65 to 75%, I'd say. We're executing the game plan (something we've stuggled to do in the past) and playing great. So great, that I screwed up and lost track of the score. Rookie coach. We were up 22-20. But then they got three points on us before I called time out. We lost the first one 25-22. That was the only run more than two that Macdonald had in the match.
Game Two. I was afraid of another lapse like against Danforth when they didn't start to play until 11 points into the second game. Much to my delight, the team went out on the floor and kept on executing. But it wasn't to be. We played almost aggressively enough. Today's prayer wasn't enough. The score in the second set was 25-23.
Right after the game, Babak said it all - "The game was too pretty for us to be sad." True as it is, it's easy for Babak to say. He's our only bench player and still in grade 11. I said a few feeble words about how they should let themselves be disappointed or angry, it's healthy and natural, but that they had absolutely nothing to regret. I sent them into the change room to discuss what we should do for dinner. I wanted them to hurry into the change room so that I didn't have to cry in front of them. Tears mostly of joy.
When they came out of the change room, Peter come over to talk to them about the season, their athletic careers at Jackson, and their position as role-models in the school. At first, I was staring right at him but then I scanned their faces. My heart was melting. How could anyone not love these kids? I hardly had anything to say (rare - I know). They know how I feel by now. When Peter was done, Danny added that it wasn't just their experience in the gym that made the team so special. It was their experiences off the court, as well. They're very tight and spend a lot of time together. Danny also thanked me for stepping in to save their season and they all applauded. Of course, I was the lucky one in this transaction, I protested. I was once again embarrassed in front of them for being embarrased in front of them. I think I looked at the floor and shuffled my feet. Then we went out to Macdonalds.
Matthew blew me away. It was a time for us to be thinking about ourselves and celebrating our success as a team. But he wanted to know more about the suspended player, who couldn't be there for obvious reasons. What a kid.
Then I went curling. We got crushed.
Saturday - I got a 9am phone call, which normally I would leave for the machine, but I took it anyway. Happily, it was Becky, inviting us out to brunch. It was a nice brunch. Great to see her and Rob. Su, Lellean, and a friend of Lellean's were there, too, but they were at the other end of the table. So, I recounted much of this to Rob and Becky. I almost came to tears for the umpteenth time this week.
After brunch, I did some grocery shopping, took a nap, and spent a couple of hours blogging and wiping tears off my cheeks.
Sorry, I've saved up 13 days of material.
Monday - don't remember much except that we lost at curling (Monday is my night with Leigh and Jenn). During their unit test, one of my able and eager Physics students completely blanked on one question about a snowmobile collision. I watched him staring at one page for the last 15 or 20 minutes. Poor guy. It was a question I all but told them was going to be on the test. I saw him in the hall a while later and tried to say some encouraging words but I think it just made him sadder. He was on the verge of tears.
Tuesday - the senior boys' lost their North region-semi final to York Mills at home. It was ugly. Complete fear of failure. Then we (Heather, Beth, Peter, and I) had to go to a coaches' meeting for the North region, where I had to face the York Mills coach and hear from Peter about all the things I could have done better during the game. It was a tough night. I think I spent about 2 hours writing my speech for the next day. You know the expression: if I had more time, I would have made it shorter. I made it shorter. The speech was mostly about courage.
Wednesday - SKIP AHEAD if nitty-gritty volleyball stuff bores you. 7am practice with the senior boys, 3:20 tryout with the senior girls. At lunch time I happened to see two grade 10 basketball players and convinced them to come to the tryout. Anita was stunned that I even knew her name but recalled that I did go watch a few basketball practices and games. The tryout was pretty fun. At the end I had two courts going side-by-side just playing a 4-2. Brian was playing with them. He made one pretty big back court attack that Kara, a grade 12 who didn't play volleyball last year, dug up like it was no big deal. She made the cut. I heard a big crack as Brian made another big attack but then I heard the gym go wild. Somebody had just stuff-blocked him. 15-year-old Anita. It's impressive enough that she was in the right spot at the right time. The shocking part is that he didn't go through her. She made the cut.
Thursday - 7am tryout with the senior girls. I posted the final list at the end of the day. I made some gutsy cuts and risky keeps, IMO. It's going to be a fun season no doubt. I got some work done (it happens so infrequently) after school and then I stayed at Dion's parents' house for the night so that I could take the car to school in the morning and have it for the weekend.
Friday - morning practice with the senior boys, good periods in the resource room in the morning, and the easiest-to-organise field trip ever with the Grade 12 Physics class in the afternoon. It was a workshop at the engineering faculty of U of T on how to design a spaceship. It was reasonably educational and of varying degrees of interest for the students - ranging from "hey it kinda sucked but I got out of class in the afternoon" to "wow, this is so cool.". The good things about it - 1. it was free. 2. I didn't need to miss any classes for it. 3. I didn't need any extra teachers to come with me (30-1 ratio is fine for that age and low-risk activities) 4. Almost all of the students could come. 5. Transportation was the TTC. 6. Students were allowed to go home unsupervised.
On the way back to school, I was on the bus with just two of my students, including the one who blanked on the test. He explained that he remembered my saying that it was a really excellent test question and that I had done a bit of wink-wink-nudge-nudge. But then a lot of the students laughed. Of course, they laughed because teachers aren't "supposed" to tell you what's on the test. But he interpreted it as, "she's goofing around. This is so hard that there is no way that it is on the test." And the worst part for him was that he was studying with a really strong student at lunch, right before the test. The strong student said something like, "I'll bet you anything that the snowmobile question is on the test." It was too late for him to learn it.
We lost our curling game and then drove straight to Beth's cottage and arrived around midnight. Poor Dion was already starting to get sick and then he had a pretty strong allergic reaction to Beth's dogs.
Saturday - nice day chilling out with Beth and getting some marking done. Poor Dion slept most of the day away - doped up on Neocitran. But then he beat us pretty handily at Scrabble. I had challenged him twice. Won one, lost one. For future reference: padders IS in the SPD, gentleer is NOT.
Sunday - left the cottage pretty early, got home, and took care of some stuff. I think I skyped with Kristin (or was that the week before?).
Monday - returned the gr 12 Physics tests and talked about study strategies - including studying in groups because at least someone will know what's on the test. I told them, too, that I didn't mean to have confused anybody about the snowmobile question. I will try to be more explicit in the future and they should call me on it if I am speaking in riddles. It really isn't fair that I speak in code to a few students who "get the game" of school.
I got an attendance report for all of the girls' volleyball players plus Brian, who was going to act as my assistant. Someone has to teach Jane and Kathleen to set - and God knows I'm not the one to do it. Not exactly the blind leading the blind, but it's close. Anyway, at this point I'm becoming really concerned for Brian. He has a habit of picking slacker friends and skipping classes.
The City of Toronto boys' volleyball championships took place this week. We are in the AAAA division (for the largest schools). Monday, we played Woburn at home in the quarter finals and WON 2-1. They played well. Stuck together, played some awesome defense. Jon had a break-through game. I've never seen him play smarter. For match point, Jon jumped really high and went over the block with a 75% speed hit that landed in deep one, where there was absolutley no one there to pick it up. Our motto up to that point had been, "good things happen when you go to one." We finally converted him. Unfortunately, Peter wasn't there to see it.
I really started to get excited about the prospect of OFSAA. Staying in the hotel. Dion would come as the male supervisor. The banquet. Ahh. A win on Tuesday would almost guarantee us a trip to OFSAA because two teams from Toronto go. We would only need to beat Macdonald (a heavy favourite) OR Northview (a heavy underdog).
Tuesday - We played our city semi-final at Northview against Danforth, who beat us 2-0. It wasn't a terrible game but we did beat ourselves. I think that I had improved dramatically in my game-coaching but it wasn't enough. We lost the first set 26-24, but having played rather well. But then despite two time-outs and two substitutions, we were down 11-2 at the start of the second set. Only then did we decide to play. To our credit, we toughed it out and traded points for the rest of the match. I was particularly proud that when Danforth was up 23-13, we kept playing. We did not lose 25-13. Most teams would. We lost 25-19. Danny served seven times, including three more times after a Danforth time-out.
It was a hard loss to take because it meant that our season was all but over. Danforth would have to beat the heavy favourites on Thursday and then we would need to beat the favourites on Friday to go to OFSAA. I took my probabilities and figured it was about a 9% chance. We were sad but I think it was healthy disappointment. Part of life, builds character, all that. Anyway, I stayed in the gym to watch the second semi-final and to chat with Beth, Peter, and Alison (a VP). It completely made my day that three of my players came back in the gym to watch the game.
Wednesday - morning practice with the senior boys. I gave them a speech about how proud I was of them and although I really wanted to win against Danforth, (if you're reading this, you probably know me well enough to know I hate losing) it made my day to see those players come back and to know that I still got to come back into the gym with them for the rest of the week. I was close to tears but not even trying to hide it. It was a really fun practice and we goofed around a fair bit. They didn't even play very well but no one cared.
Senior girls' practice afterschool. Pretty fun, but man, we've got a lot of work to do.
Thursday - senior boys' practice at lunch. A few of them were in the greatest, goofiest mood because they're also on the basketball team and they just won a season-opening tournament the day before. Fun practice again. I told them about a player's suspension (he was too embarrassed to tell them himself) and that they needed to support him, the same way he supported them. I also told them that I was going to U of T to watch the city finals and that whatever the result of the Danforth-Macdonald game, we would meet at the beginning of lunch - for season wrap-up or practice, depending. Before our practice-ending cheer, Danny interrupted to lead us in spontaneous prayer for Danforth. I was a little stunned but it couldn't hurt, could it?
I had fun with my grade 12 Physics class too. We haven't been having a lot of fun lately. I've been away so often for volleyball that when I am there, it's all business. I told them my F=ma story. Non-9T7 Eng Scis out there may remember Prof. Collins' speech on our first day of class. I repeated what I remembered of it and we dissected it. Then, we played BINGO, or should I say FSECS (phu-SECS) - Freebody diagrams, Symbols, Equations, Calculations, Significant figures. It was a nice change of pace.
A player's prayer worked and Danforth won 2-0. So, we found out at 8:30 that we were - much to my surprise - playing at Macdonald the next day. Do or die. OFSAA or bridesmaids. Well holy cr*p, that just made the next 24-hours ridiculously exciting and chaotic. I had to get ready for a supply teacher for my last period class (prepping to be away is always harding than prepping to be there) and make phone calls.
Friday - I was completely worn out around midnight (at the beginning of Friday) and just crashed. But then Dion came to bed at 3:30, which normally, I wouldn't even notice. But I did wake up and my mind started racing. Thinking about the next day & OFSAA. I ruminated for ages. I looked at the clock and it was 5:00. Well, my alarm was set for 5:30 for senior girls' practice; so, I just got up and took care of 2 or 3 of the 400 things I needed to do. Thankfully, I ate a really good breakfast because that and adrenaline was all I had to get me through until after the game.
Before most morning practices, as I'm waiting for the first subway of the day Northbound at Wellesley at 6:09 in the morning, I'm barely awake enough to do the Sudoku or to skim the Metro. Well, I was so excited, that I was pacing the platform. Not just shifting my weight, but grinding a groove in the floor. I actually caught myself unconsciously skipping at a couple of points on Friday. I was completely wired all day. I have never been that excited for even my own athletic competitions.
pretty good resource periods in the morning considering that I was trying to multitask some administration for getting to Macdonald and that Rose was absent and that we had a supply teacher in. Lunch practice. Highly necessary to work out some of the jitters. I had no fear of tiring them out. They're 17 and there was more than enough energy to go around. Here's my speech that followed my description of the game-plan. "If we want to go to OFSAA and we play like we deserve to go to OFSAA, we might just go to OFSAA." Practice ended with a cheer and another prayer.
It turns out that the gym was closed to student spectators because no admin from either school could be in the gym. Parents and teachers only. Unfortunately, we found out too late for a couple of my junior players, whom we turned away at the door. But Peter and Beth were there, several relatives of Danny and Matthew, plus our two super-duper student-teachers/gym rats, who had just had their last day at Jackson (until we hire them next year, I hope). Luckily, Nick (a first-year U of T student and sr. boys' athlete of the year at Jackson last year) was there, too. He sits on the bench with me and Brian and Kara when he comes. So, I had someone other than the players at whom to direct my nervous energy and any negative thoughts that I had during the game. I'm verbal. It helps for me to say something out loud and then I move on.
Game One (Best of Three). We're with them all the way. Macdonald is the heavy favourite but they're only playing at around 65 to 75%, I'd say. We're executing the game plan (something we've stuggled to do in the past) and playing great. So great, that I screwed up and lost track of the score. Rookie coach. We were up 22-20. But then they got three points on us before I called time out. We lost the first one 25-22. That was the only run more than two that Macdonald had in the match.
Game Two. I was afraid of another lapse like against Danforth when they didn't start to play until 11 points into the second game. Much to my delight, the team went out on the floor and kept on executing. But it wasn't to be. We played almost aggressively enough. Today's prayer wasn't enough. The score in the second set was 25-23.
Right after the game, Babak said it all - "The game was too pretty for us to be sad." True as it is, it's easy for Babak to say. He's our only bench player and still in grade 11. I said a few feeble words about how they should let themselves be disappointed or angry, it's healthy and natural, but that they had absolutely nothing to regret. I sent them into the change room to discuss what we should do for dinner. I wanted them to hurry into the change room so that I didn't have to cry in front of them. Tears mostly of joy.
When they came out of the change room, Peter come over to talk to them about the season, their athletic careers at Jackson, and their position as role-models in the school. At first, I was staring right at him but then I scanned their faces. My heart was melting. How could anyone not love these kids? I hardly had anything to say (rare - I know). They know how I feel by now. When Peter was done, Danny added that it wasn't just their experience in the gym that made the team so special. It was their experiences off the court, as well. They're very tight and spend a lot of time together. Danny also thanked me for stepping in to save their season and they all applauded. Of course, I was the lucky one in this transaction, I protested. I was once again embarrassed in front of them for being embarrased in front of them. I think I looked at the floor and shuffled my feet. Then we went out to Macdonalds.
Matthew blew me away. It was a time for us to be thinking about ourselves and celebrating our success as a team. But he wanted to know more about the suspended player, who couldn't be there for obvious reasons. What a kid.
Then I went curling. We got crushed.
Saturday - I got a 9am phone call, which normally I would leave for the machine, but I took it anyway. Happily, it was Becky, inviting us out to brunch. It was a nice brunch. Great to see her and Rob. Su, Lellean, and a friend of Lellean's were there, too, but they were at the other end of the table. So, I recounted much of this to Rob and Becky. I almost came to tears for the umpteenth time this week.
After brunch, I did some grocery shopping, took a nap, and spent a couple of hours blogging and wiping tears off my cheeks.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
recreations
My junior boys are out of the playoffs, but it couldn't have happened in a better way. We won our tie-breaker to be 8th on Monday but lost to the first placed team on Tuesday. We lost 2-1. All the other quarter finals, junior and senior, have been 2-0 results. Not too bad at all. So we had a pizza lunch on Wednesday to celebrate the season.
The senior boys keep going strong. Our quarter final win over Westview on Thursday wasn't pretty but it does place us number 1 in the North for the AAAA City Finals. I'll explain the city playoffs when we get there a week from now. We move on the North semi-finals at home this Tuesday versus York Mills. Just thinking about it makes me nervous. This is going to be an exciting, tough game. The North Finals are Thursday at Newtonbrook, probably versus Henry.
Meanwhile, I have a senior girls' volleyball team to select next week.
At curling on Friday, Dion, Ann, Steve, and I beat a team we had no business beating. It's sport- it can happen. But it was particularly sweet because the skip found out before the game even started that we were complete rookies - Dion, Ann, and Steve had played seven games between them; this is my second year curling in decades and my first year skipping. He went straight for the throat, didn't call a single guard. "You jerk," I thought. But we absolutely killed them. They decided to shake hands when it was 8-2 after six ends.
Dion was so proud to be "that team." You know, that ultimate team that has no skill but lots of youth and comes down with all the swill. Anyway, we were absolutely giddy all night.
All four of us went to the beginner's clinic yesterday, which was very fun and instructional. They fed us well, too.
Today, had a good long chat with Kristin over Skype and played a bunch of the Geography Olympics. I had my best result ever. 10 countries in 12 seconds. There was a lot of luck involved - the countries were almost all within reach of the Mediterranean. I only had to move three times: once to the Mediterranean for Serbia and Montenegro, down to Madagascar, and back to the Mediterranean for the Czech Republic.
BOOKS: I'm reading an entertaining but fluffy book that a house guest from Switzerland forgot at my apartment. It's called "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" by Claire Calman. Complete brain candy.
The senior boys keep going strong. Our quarter final win over Westview on Thursday wasn't pretty but it does place us number 1 in the North for the AAAA City Finals. I'll explain the city playoffs when we get there a week from now. We move on the North semi-finals at home this Tuesday versus York Mills. Just thinking about it makes me nervous. This is going to be an exciting, tough game. The North Finals are Thursday at Newtonbrook, probably versus Henry.
Meanwhile, I have a senior girls' volleyball team to select next week.
At curling on Friday, Dion, Ann, Steve, and I beat a team we had no business beating. It's sport- it can happen. But it was particularly sweet because the skip found out before the game even started that we were complete rookies - Dion, Ann, and Steve had played seven games between them; this is my second year curling in decades and my first year skipping. He went straight for the throat, didn't call a single guard. "You jerk," I thought. But we absolutely killed them. They decided to shake hands when it was 8-2 after six ends.
Dion was so proud to be "that team." You know, that ultimate team that has no skill but lots of youth and comes down with all the swill. Anyway, we were absolutely giddy all night.
All four of us went to the beginner's clinic yesterday, which was very fun and instructional. They fed us well, too.
Today, had a good long chat with Kristin over Skype and played a bunch of the Geography Olympics. I had my best result ever. 10 countries in 12 seconds. There was a lot of luck involved - the countries were almost all within reach of the Mediterranean. I only had to move three times: once to the Mediterranean for Serbia and Montenegro, down to Madagascar, and back to the Mediterranean for the Czech Republic.BOOKS: I'm reading an entertaining but fluffy book that a house guest from Switzerland forgot at my apartment. It's called "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" by Claire Calman. Complete brain candy.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Themes of my life.
I don't know if things really happen "for a reason" but certainly everything in our lives can be a lesson if we take the opportunity.
I woke up this morning (Saturday) at 6:15, my weekday wake up time if I have no morning practice. I couldn't get back to sleep. My thoughts were not racing but pressing. The last three weeks have been ...... I don't know the word but I think I might overuse the word remarkable in this entry. So much of it ties together into one coherent lesson. I've spent the morning reflecting on it all. It was emotional and tearful but almost entirely uplifting.
After practice last night, I went to dinner with Peter and we had a singularly ..... conversation, or I should say, set of conversations. We talked about our lowest lows and our highest highs and everything in between. He said a few things that had a massive impact on me. One comment was about the positive people in his life, another two were actually about my life. It's remarkable how similar our lows and highs are. In fact, it made it difficult to distinguish sometimes when we were talking about him and when we were talking about me.
Peter has been blown away and yet buoyed by the people who have come out of the woodwork to support him during this crisis. I guess I'm one of them. I told him that this was a testament to him, although I know that he sees that. I remember saying the same thing to Kevin once. Not about a crisis but just in general about like seeking like. If you have great respect for the people who choose to make you part of their lives, that must reflect positively on you.
And despite the fact I was really trying to be there to support him, Peter was reflecting deeply on my experiences that I related to him. With all the things he has to think about in his own life! Peter made some insightful and respectful comments about my parents. I had mentioned that Dion and I do want to start having children soon. There was a short pause in the conversation while we actually ate and after the pause Peter stayed on that topic. He said that he was really happy to hear that we would someday be parents. It was so geniune. It's one of the purest compliments I've had in my life.
This conversation has me thinking about the people in my life. How it reflects well on me that they are in my life. The people who were there for me when I was having hard times. If my life were a novel, it would hinge on the characters, both major and minor.
Those of you who know of the craziness of my childhood and adolescence will not be surprised that one of my greatest fears has been social and emotional dependence. I was the strong one. That was my identity. I got a lot of positive reinforcement for it. I wasn't old or mature enough to recognise or to have meaningful peer support. I learned to depend on number one because everyone around had just enough strength to keep themselves together. It was a very effective coping strategy for dealing with adversity, which is another theme of this entry.
In my early twenties, I came to understand the error of being an island. Not only could I trust people, but to do so was the surest path to a rich life. At the time, I called it giving myself permission to experience the full range of life's experiences and emotions. It was really about permission to shed the role of the strong one. To be vulnerable is to be strong.
There was a meta-reflection in my morning's introspection. Mentally, I listed the people I would like to talk to about my meditation. There are so many people I can turn to. It made me feel proud to have these positive people in my life. Trust me, I have my insecurities, but I'm not going to write too much about them today. It's too easy to focus on the bad instead of the good.
The one thing I've always known is that the true measure of a relationship is how you feel about yourself because of the other person. Many people have made me feel good about myself in profound but subtle ways. I bet many of them don't even know it or what it was they did… small comments that have stuck. Usually, it comes down to a compliment on my character from someone I respect. Peter, Rob Ho, Kern, Dan Vranesic, and Mr. Gledhill have made some of those comments.
Those of you who have been reading my blog recently will know that coaching has been a theme of the last few weeks of my life. Naturally, I've been thinking about my own coaches. I catch myself consciously and unconsciously modelling myself after Kristine Drakich. It makes me proud. Kristine Drakich was my volleyball coach at U of T and one of the biggest influences in my adult life. I admire her accomplishments and character tremendously, which makes it so powerful that she let me (and all of her athletes) know that she valued us. Not just as competitors but also as complex, flawed, whole human beings. She told me once that one of the things she recognised and valued in me was my ability to deal with adversity. I certainly had a lot of practice with it in my youth. One Christmas, Kristine bought a little porcelain angel for each of us and wrote a small note on its tag. She wrote that I should be proud of my development as a player and that I would some day be an excellent coach. For that to come from her was another of the purest compliments I'll ever receive.
I've always felt lucky in my life… born in Canada, healthy, satisfying careers (including being a student), middle class privilege, good friends, Dion. Dion's dad always says that you've got to be good to be lucky. I wonder what it means to be good at life. I think that dealing well with adversity is a big part of it. I hope I can teach that to some of my students and athletes.
Yesterday, one of my students was visibly upset when I returned her test. This is a kid who has it going on. She is very intelligent, hardworking, considerate, chooses excellent friends. She did fine, very well even. But she was almost inconsolable. I led her to my office across the hall so that she could regroup in privacy. She wasn't upset about the marks although lots of kids, especially Grade 12s, are. She was upset because she made so many mistakes on the easy things. Her identity is draped in being perfect. That will sound familiar to some of you. She's got it going on but there is one thing missing - dealing well with adversity.
I need a transition paragraph here but I'm worn out. Let's skip to the end.
When I was about 10, I couldn't sleep one night. I was thinking about mortality. Death is another theme in my life's novel. My mother consoled me that night and taught me about her thoughts on the meaning of life. She told me that when you die, there's nothing left of you on Earth except the effect you've had on other people. Almost everyone in my life has had a positive effect on me. I owe many people thanks for it.
I woke up this morning (Saturday) at 6:15, my weekday wake up time if I have no morning practice. I couldn't get back to sleep. My thoughts were not racing but pressing. The last three weeks have been ...... I don't know the word but I think I might overuse the word remarkable in this entry. So much of it ties together into one coherent lesson. I've spent the morning reflecting on it all. It was emotional and tearful but almost entirely uplifting.
After practice last night, I went to dinner with Peter and we had a singularly ..... conversation, or I should say, set of conversations. We talked about our lowest lows and our highest highs and everything in between. He said a few things that had a massive impact on me. One comment was about the positive people in his life, another two were actually about my life. It's remarkable how similar our lows and highs are. In fact, it made it difficult to distinguish sometimes when we were talking about him and when we were talking about me.
Peter has been blown away and yet buoyed by the people who have come out of the woodwork to support him during this crisis. I guess I'm one of them. I told him that this was a testament to him, although I know that he sees that. I remember saying the same thing to Kevin once. Not about a crisis but just in general about like seeking like. If you have great respect for the people who choose to make you part of their lives, that must reflect positively on you.
And despite the fact I was really trying to be there to support him, Peter was reflecting deeply on my experiences that I related to him. With all the things he has to think about in his own life! Peter made some insightful and respectful comments about my parents. I had mentioned that Dion and I do want to start having children soon. There was a short pause in the conversation while we actually ate and after the pause Peter stayed on that topic. He said that he was really happy to hear that we would someday be parents. It was so geniune. It's one of the purest compliments I've had in my life.
This conversation has me thinking about the people in my life. How it reflects well on me that they are in my life. The people who were there for me when I was having hard times. If my life were a novel, it would hinge on the characters, both major and minor.
Those of you who know of the craziness of my childhood and adolescence will not be surprised that one of my greatest fears has been social and emotional dependence. I was the strong one. That was my identity. I got a lot of positive reinforcement for it. I wasn't old or mature enough to recognise or to have meaningful peer support. I learned to depend on number one because everyone around had just enough strength to keep themselves together. It was a very effective coping strategy for dealing with adversity, which is another theme of this entry.
In my early twenties, I came to understand the error of being an island. Not only could I trust people, but to do so was the surest path to a rich life. At the time, I called it giving myself permission to experience the full range of life's experiences and emotions. It was really about permission to shed the role of the strong one. To be vulnerable is to be strong.
There was a meta-reflection in my morning's introspection. Mentally, I listed the people I would like to talk to about my meditation. There are so many people I can turn to. It made me feel proud to have these positive people in my life. Trust me, I have my insecurities, but I'm not going to write too much about them today. It's too easy to focus on the bad instead of the good.
The one thing I've always known is that the true measure of a relationship is how you feel about yourself because of the other person. Many people have made me feel good about myself in profound but subtle ways. I bet many of them don't even know it or what it was they did… small comments that have stuck. Usually, it comes down to a compliment on my character from someone I respect. Peter, Rob Ho, Kern, Dan Vranesic, and Mr. Gledhill have made some of those comments.
Those of you who have been reading my blog recently will know that coaching has been a theme of the last few weeks of my life. Naturally, I've been thinking about my own coaches. I catch myself consciously and unconsciously modelling myself after Kristine Drakich. It makes me proud. Kristine Drakich was my volleyball coach at U of T and one of the biggest influences in my adult life. I admire her accomplishments and character tremendously, which makes it so powerful that she let me (and all of her athletes) know that she valued us. Not just as competitors but also as complex, flawed, whole human beings. She told me once that one of the things she recognised and valued in me was my ability to deal with adversity. I certainly had a lot of practice with it in my youth. One Christmas, Kristine bought a little porcelain angel for each of us and wrote a small note on its tag. She wrote that I should be proud of my development as a player and that I would some day be an excellent coach. For that to come from her was another of the purest compliments I'll ever receive.
I've always felt lucky in my life… born in Canada, healthy, satisfying careers (including being a student), middle class privilege, good friends, Dion. Dion's dad always says that you've got to be good to be lucky. I wonder what it means to be good at life. I think that dealing well with adversity is a big part of it. I hope I can teach that to some of my students and athletes.
Yesterday, one of my students was visibly upset when I returned her test. This is a kid who has it going on. She is very intelligent, hardworking, considerate, chooses excellent friends. She did fine, very well even. But she was almost inconsolable. I led her to my office across the hall so that she could regroup in privacy. She wasn't upset about the marks although lots of kids, especially Grade 12s, are. She was upset because she made so many mistakes on the easy things. Her identity is draped in being perfect. That will sound familiar to some of you. She's got it going on but there is one thing missing - dealing well with adversity.
I need a transition paragraph here but I'm worn out. Let's skip to the end.
When I was about 10, I couldn't sleep one night. I was thinking about mortality. Death is another theme in my life's novel. My mother consoled me that night and taught me about her thoughts on the meaning of life. She told me that when you die, there's nothing left of you on Earth except the effect you've had on other people. Almost everyone in my life has had a positive effect on me. I owe many people thanks for it.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
What a week!
It started well enough. On Monday (Thanksgiving), I got a fair bit of lesson-planning and volleyball planning done for the week, which was good, as the remainder of the week will make evident.
Tuesday, I found out that the coach of the senior boys' vball team, Peter, is starting a personal leave that could last a little while. So, I have adopted his team until he's back. I have lot of mixed feelings about it.
1. It made my week a bit hectic. I had an unexpected lunchtime practice to run on Tuesday and I had to run the junior and senior boys' practices simultaneously on Thursday and Friday morning - talk about frenetic.
2. I love these kids. It is a really special group. They've always been wonderful to me and to the junior boys team too.
3. It's quite an undeserved privilege to be part of their team.
4. But mostly, the responsibility has made me feel quite insecure. There are high expectations for this team. The goal is getting to OFSAA. Yes, I'm pretty knowledgeable about volleyball but I'm a rookie coach. We've all had knowledgeable profs, right? How am I going to manage the transition to a new (but possibly temporary) coach? Can I do both teams justice?
5. This insecurity is probably a good thing for me. I know that you have to stretch outside your comfort zone to grow. But does my growth come at the expense of a great bunch of kids?
This has been occupying my thoughts. That and I'm sick with worry for Peter.
Plus a good friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, is going through a rough patch that has had me reflecting on some of the tougher times in my life and in my family.
Thank goodness both volleyball teams won their matches Tuesday night. The senior game was really good. It was 16-14 in the third. York Mills' record isn't as good as ours but they definitely showed up to play. The juniors did well too. They won 2-0 and adapted well to my introducing a libero into the lineup.
Wednesday, was the toughest day of the week. I hardly slept, found out that I had messed up some paperwork with the main office, endured a seemingly endless staff meeting, had to run to make the bus for our away games, rode a school bus after the game that took us in the wrong direction to the wrong school in rush hour, and forgot my backpack (containing my lesson plans, school keys, and wallet) in the other school's gym. The boys were very sweet about my backpack. I guess I got quiet for a while after asking them to check under their seats for my bag because one player asked me if I was sad about my bag. I was a little distressed because I knew what a nuisance it was going to be. Another player asked if I was going to be able to get into my house.
Wednesday wasn't all bad though. The seniors won 2-0 and the juniors played so well against one of the best teams in the division that I keet forgetting that we didn't win, although we almost did. Also, by the time I got home (7:30) the caretakers from the other school had responded to my voice mail. They had the bag and I could come any time before ten get it. Also, Ian happened to be in town for work and we got caught up while he drove me up to the Allen and Sheppard to recover my bag, all contents entact.
On Thursday and Friday, I learned that I wasn't the only one having a tough week. A bunch of teachers at the school found this week hard despite Monday's holiday. Anyway, I made it.
Friday after work, we curled. I can't believe how well it went. Considering that this is my first year skipping and that between Ann, Steve, and Dion, they had one game of previous experience, we did extremely well. The main thing is there were few etiquette breeches and we got in 7 ends with a little time to spare. We stole one in the first and three in the second. We had four on the board so I felt relaxed the whole time. We couldn't get bagelled. We even scored one more in the seventh. The final score was 7-5.
Ian's being in town was very convenient because I got rides to and from Ottawa for my cousin Jennifer's wedding. It was a very nice wedding and I also learned that my cousin John and his wife, Sophie, are expecting in mid-May. Congratulations!
BOOKS. On the ride home from Ottawa, I read Night by Elie Wiesel. It's a short (just over 100 pages) first-had account of a Nazi concentration camp survivor. Extremely compelling. I don't know if such heavy material was the best choice but I told a student I would read it and discuss it with her tomorrow. I also told my Gr 12 Physics class that I would return some labs tomorrow but I haven't finished marking them yet. Oops.
That's it. I'm worn out. I need to sleep.
Tuesday, I found out that the coach of the senior boys' vball team, Peter, is starting a personal leave that could last a little while. So, I have adopted his team until he's back. I have lot of mixed feelings about it.
1. It made my week a bit hectic. I had an unexpected lunchtime practice to run on Tuesday and I had to run the junior and senior boys' practices simultaneously on Thursday and Friday morning - talk about frenetic.
2. I love these kids. It is a really special group. They've always been wonderful to me and to the junior boys team too.
3. It's quite an undeserved privilege to be part of their team.
4. But mostly, the responsibility has made me feel quite insecure. There are high expectations for this team. The goal is getting to OFSAA. Yes, I'm pretty knowledgeable about volleyball but I'm a rookie coach. We've all had knowledgeable profs, right? How am I going to manage the transition to a new (but possibly temporary) coach? Can I do both teams justice?
5. This insecurity is probably a good thing for me. I know that you have to stretch outside your comfort zone to grow. But does my growth come at the expense of a great bunch of kids?
This has been occupying my thoughts. That and I'm sick with worry for Peter.
Plus a good friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, is going through a rough patch that has had me reflecting on some of the tougher times in my life and in my family.
Thank goodness both volleyball teams won their matches Tuesday night. The senior game was really good. It was 16-14 in the third. York Mills' record isn't as good as ours but they definitely showed up to play. The juniors did well too. They won 2-0 and adapted well to my introducing a libero into the lineup.
Wednesday, was the toughest day of the week. I hardly slept, found out that I had messed up some paperwork with the main office, endured a seemingly endless staff meeting, had to run to make the bus for our away games, rode a school bus after the game that took us in the wrong direction to the wrong school in rush hour, and forgot my backpack (containing my lesson plans, school keys, and wallet) in the other school's gym. The boys were very sweet about my backpack. I guess I got quiet for a while after asking them to check under their seats for my bag because one player asked me if I was sad about my bag. I was a little distressed because I knew what a nuisance it was going to be. Another player asked if I was going to be able to get into my house.
Wednesday wasn't all bad though. The seniors won 2-0 and the juniors played so well against one of the best teams in the division that I keet forgetting that we didn't win, although we almost did. Also, by the time I got home (7:30) the caretakers from the other school had responded to my voice mail. They had the bag and I could come any time before ten get it. Also, Ian happened to be in town for work and we got caught up while he drove me up to the Allen and Sheppard to recover my bag, all contents entact.
On Thursday and Friday, I learned that I wasn't the only one having a tough week. A bunch of teachers at the school found this week hard despite Monday's holiday. Anyway, I made it.
Friday after work, we curled. I can't believe how well it went. Considering that this is my first year skipping and that between Ann, Steve, and Dion, they had one game of previous experience, we did extremely well. The main thing is there were few etiquette breeches and we got in 7 ends with a little time to spare. We stole one in the first and three in the second. We had four on the board so I felt relaxed the whole time. We couldn't get bagelled. We even scored one more in the seventh. The final score was 7-5.
Ian's being in town was very convenient because I got rides to and from Ottawa for my cousin Jennifer's wedding. It was a very nice wedding and I also learned that my cousin John and his wife, Sophie, are expecting in mid-May. Congratulations!
BOOKS. On the ride home from Ottawa, I read Night by Elie Wiesel. It's a short (just over 100 pages) first-had account of a Nazi concentration camp survivor. Extremely compelling. I don't know if such heavy material was the best choice but I told a student I would read it and discuss it with her tomorrow. I also told my Gr 12 Physics class that I would return some labs tomorrow but I haven't finished marking them yet. Oops.
That's it. I'm worn out. I need to sleep.
Monday, October 10, 2005
a week in review
I find my thoughts increasingly dominated by volleyball. So I'll start there.
We had a good practice Monday but still lost on Tuesday. Man, they just weren't playing. Wednesday was more eventful. First of all, the team captain missed the bus. So he had to scramble and get one of the seniors to drive him. Plus, we got our first win. By the skin of our teeth. Best of three - we were up 9-0 in the third, let them come back till it was 12-9 and we won 15-13 in the third. Yikes. But you would have thought we just won the national title, they were so excited. I also got to coach the seniors because Peter couldn't make it. So much easier. They know what's going on, and frankly, I could have said nothing and done nothing and they still would have won. On the bus home, I asked the junior boys what they learned by watching the senior boys. "So-and-so can hits the ball really hard." "So-and-so jumps really high." Cute but I wished they would have learned something. Although one kid was very perceptive. He asked if coaching the seniors was easier and observed that the senior boys can and do play all positions in the back court.
Friday, we were at a tournament at Woburn all day. It would have been more fun if we had a few wins but alas, it was not meant to be. I might have been able to get us another win with better lineups but it was very important to me to get everyone playing time. Things will change from now on. Playing time is no longer automatic. I'm also going to play with a libero from here forward. I have one player who is very capable and aggressive in the back court but not very tall though still somewhat effective in the front court. I have two other players who are effective in the back court but not all there in the back court. Perfect.
But getting ready for Friday was not so good. I had a lesson planned for my 12U Physics class that involved going to the library with the supply teacher to use the computer lab and study the Physics simulations on a particular website. Well, if I didn't discover at 5:30 pm on Thursday that the website was down for repairs. Arg. Start all over. I didn't get out of the school till 8 pm, I think.
Friday night, I hung out with Kevin. My one condition was that we not do anything loud. I had just spent the day in a gym with over 100 15-year-old boys and referees with whistles. So we got takeout Chinese food and watched Robots. I wasn't very impressed. It was moderately entertaining but there wasn't much story and many scenes were unnecessarily frenetic. Anyway, I hadn't seen Kevin for a bit and it was good to catch up.
Saturday, I spent most of the day cleaning the apartment then we went uptown for the Thanksgiving dinner. Way too much food. I did a cheese tray, luckily, because there weren't any other appetizers and dinner got started pretty late. I did the cheese tray because it was popular the last time I brought it and it takes next to no effort to produce.
Sunday was a great day of slacking off. Lots of Geography Olympics. Steak for dinner. Yummy.
We had a good practice Monday but still lost on Tuesday. Man, they just weren't playing. Wednesday was more eventful. First of all, the team captain missed the bus. So he had to scramble and get one of the seniors to drive him. Plus, we got our first win. By the skin of our teeth. Best of three - we were up 9-0 in the third, let them come back till it was 12-9 and we won 15-13 in the third. Yikes. But you would have thought we just won the national title, they were so excited. I also got to coach the seniors because Peter couldn't make it. So much easier. They know what's going on, and frankly, I could have said nothing and done nothing and they still would have won. On the bus home, I asked the junior boys what they learned by watching the senior boys. "So-and-so can hits the ball really hard." "So-and-so jumps really high." Cute but I wished they would have learned something. Although one kid was very perceptive. He asked if coaching the seniors was easier and observed that the senior boys can and do play all positions in the back court.
Friday, we were at a tournament at Woburn all day. It would have been more fun if we had a few wins but alas, it was not meant to be. I might have been able to get us another win with better lineups but it was very important to me to get everyone playing time. Things will change from now on. Playing time is no longer automatic. I'm also going to play with a libero from here forward. I have one player who is very capable and aggressive in the back court but not very tall though still somewhat effective in the front court. I have two other players who are effective in the back court but not all there in the back court. Perfect.
But getting ready for Friday was not so good. I had a lesson planned for my 12U Physics class that involved going to the library with the supply teacher to use the computer lab and study the Physics simulations on a particular website. Well, if I didn't discover at 5:30 pm on Thursday that the website was down for repairs. Arg. Start all over. I didn't get out of the school till 8 pm, I think.
Friday night, I hung out with Kevin. My one condition was that we not do anything loud. I had just spent the day in a gym with over 100 15-year-old boys and referees with whistles. So we got takeout Chinese food and watched Robots. I wasn't very impressed. It was moderately entertaining but there wasn't much story and many scenes were unnecessarily frenetic. Anyway, I hadn't seen Kevin for a bit and it was good to catch up.
Saturday, I spent most of the day cleaning the apartment then we went uptown for the Thanksgiving dinner. Way too much food. I did a cheese tray, luckily, because there weren't any other appetizers and dinner got started pretty late. I did the cheese tray because it was popular the last time I brought it and it takes next to no effort to produce.
Sunday was a great day of slacking off. Lots of Geography Olympics. Steak for dinner. Yummy.
Monday, October 03, 2005
mostly volleyball
Yikes, it has been two workweeks and three weekends since my last post.
The day after my last post, I went to my old stomping grounds, the U of T athletic centre, to watch our senior boys play in a volleyball tournament. I even ate at BBQues for lunch. Watching them play was pretty fun. I don't think that they were happy with their results, but I know that they got a lot out of it. I ran into Jeff Chung, who is now the head coach of the U of T men's program, and Mark Dunn, who got roped into helping out. They both look great but it seemed to me that Jeff wasn't as fresh-faced as I remember him. Since we're pretty much the same age, I guess I'm not so fresh-faced anymore either.
Later in the week, Peter (head of Phys. Ed.) phoned up to the Physics office and got me to come down and scrimmage with him and the senior boys' team. Well, I haven't played for almost nine years. I was very nervous. Not so much about hurting myself as about embarrassing myself. and then I was embarrassed about feeling embarrassed. I didn't even want to warm up my hitting. The net is much higher than women's. I did manage to hit a ball or two, served in, and did some of great passing and digging - I was always a terrible passer, although I know that this is all in your head. The boys were very supportive, congratulating me on cracking a ball or two and on stuff-blocking Matthew Lezon. That was very rewarding. Terrific fun. Maybe I'll go back and find a way to play again. Or maybe just coaching is enough.
That night I went out for dinner with Rob, Rebecca, and Kevin before they went out for a movie. That's all I remember from that weekend. I don't remember anything from the next weekend either.
This past week, we had our first league games. Our record is 0-2 but I think that we've played well anyway. I'm quite pleased with how a couple of things are progressing. We miss VERY few serves. We probably served out five or six times in six close sets, that is, about 120 serves. And they usually play aggressively - almost always trying for three contacts but sometimes hoping that the serve goes to someone else.
I went with a friend from school, Beth, the other half of Phys. Ed., to her cottage this weekend. It was glorious weather and I enjoyed myself immensely. I even like her dogs, both beagles. I really do. Keleb is an older mellow guy and Sheba a younger hyper gal. We chatted and read and played some Scrabble. We played two games and Peter tells me I was rude for beating her twice at her own cottage. The first game was close till I got "zest" on the triple word score with a valuable cross-word, "sharks" also. Then, as luck would have it, I bingoed on my first turn of the second match. I suggest we start over because "thunders", across two double-words, gave me 98 points. Probably my highest score ever. Beth didn't want to start over though. Not surprisingly, I won but surprisingly, I have been invited back.
BOOKS. I have finished The Big Bang. I definitely recommend it to people interested in science in general or physics in particular. I signed out The Catcher in the Rye from the library and finished it on the weekend. I definitely enjoyed it although I wouldn't put it in my top 10. It's a good pick though because it's a well-known work (cultural currency) and it's a short, easy read. The edition I read had about 270 pages. I picked it because it was mentioned by my dentist on Thursday.
TV. I was irritated with CTV for moving So You Think You Can Dance to Saturday. So, of course I missed it. I'm going to go check the website right now to find out what happened. Whoa. Kamilah gone, sure, but Blake gone! Surprising. As I said on Becky's blog: Jamile's solos may be to-die-for, but even his hip-hop partner dancing isn't great and anything else is mediocre, at best. He should have gone home a long time ago. I guess Nick and Blake split the vote for the guy who can actually dance the best.
The day after my last post, I went to my old stomping grounds, the U of T athletic centre, to watch our senior boys play in a volleyball tournament. I even ate at BBQues for lunch. Watching them play was pretty fun. I don't think that they were happy with their results, but I know that they got a lot out of it. I ran into Jeff Chung, who is now the head coach of the U of T men's program, and Mark Dunn, who got roped into helping out. They both look great but it seemed to me that Jeff wasn't as fresh-faced as I remember him. Since we're pretty much the same age, I guess I'm not so fresh-faced anymore either.
Later in the week, Peter (head of Phys. Ed.) phoned up to the Physics office and got me to come down and scrimmage with him and the senior boys' team. Well, I haven't played for almost nine years. I was very nervous. Not so much about hurting myself as about embarrassing myself. and then I was embarrassed about feeling embarrassed. I didn't even want to warm up my hitting. The net is much higher than women's. I did manage to hit a ball or two, served in, and did some of great passing and digging - I was always a terrible passer, although I know that this is all in your head. The boys were very supportive, congratulating me on cracking a ball or two and on stuff-blocking Matthew Lezon. That was very rewarding. Terrific fun. Maybe I'll go back and find a way to play again. Or maybe just coaching is enough.
That night I went out for dinner with Rob, Rebecca, and Kevin before they went out for a movie. That's all I remember from that weekend. I don't remember anything from the next weekend either.
This past week, we had our first league games. Our record is 0-2 but I think that we've played well anyway. I'm quite pleased with how a couple of things are progressing. We miss VERY few serves. We probably served out five or six times in six close sets, that is, about 120 serves. And they usually play aggressively - almost always trying for three contacts but sometimes hoping that the serve goes to someone else.
I went with a friend from school, Beth, the other half of Phys. Ed., to her cottage this weekend. It was glorious weather and I enjoyed myself immensely. I even like her dogs, both beagles. I really do. Keleb is an older mellow guy and Sheba a younger hyper gal. We chatted and read and played some Scrabble. We played two games and Peter tells me I was rude for beating her twice at her own cottage. The first game was close till I got "zest" on the triple word score with a valuable cross-word, "sharks" also. Then, as luck would have it, I bingoed on my first turn of the second match. I suggest we start over because "thunders", across two double-words, gave me 98 points. Probably my highest score ever. Beth didn't want to start over though. Not surprisingly, I won but surprisingly, I have been invited back.
BOOKS. I have finished The Big Bang. I definitely recommend it to people interested in science in general or physics in particular. I signed out The Catcher in the Rye from the library and finished it on the weekend. I definitely enjoyed it although I wouldn't put it in my top 10. It's a good pick though because it's a well-known work (cultural currency) and it's a short, easy read. The edition I read had about 270 pages. I picked it because it was mentioned by my dentist on Thursday.
TV. I was irritated with CTV for moving So You Think You Can Dance to Saturday. So, of course I missed it. I'm going to go check the website right now to find out what happened. Whoa. Kamilah gone, sure, but Blake gone! Surprising. As I said on Becky's blog: Jamile's solos may be to-die-for, but even his hip-hop partner dancing isn't great and anything else is mediocre, at best. He should have gone home a long time ago. I guess Nick and Blake split the vote for the guy who can actually dance the best.
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