Monday, Feb 16—

Today was the second day without Brett. It went relatively well, but it’s just different. Frank taught most of the day, while I floated around to those who were struggling. I did teach a science lesson and a health lesson. I was really worried about science, because of the poor behavior that the students have showed the last couple of days, but it all went smoothly. They made circuits with wire, a battery and a light bulb. It was great, they become involved and loved the hands-on activity. We ran out of time, as usual, but at least the lesson went well. After science, I taught health. We talked about prejudice today. I guess it went well, but as we were talking about the reasons someone is prejudice, I was upset by some of the things that the kids were saying. They laughed every time I mentioned a gay or lesbian person. It really bothered me, because I was trying to teach them about not being prejudice, and they were sitting there laughing at gay and lesbian people. I told them that I didn’t know what was so funny, and they said that the just weren’t used to a teacher using those words. I just wasn’t thrilled in their discussion about being prejudice.
Tonight, I just stayed home and had a nice dinner with the family. Heather made a wonderful chocolate mouse that was heavenly! We also had tim-tams, which are a type of chocolate cookie.

Tuesday

Today was a big day for me. I started off the day teaching like normal, but then my supervisor showed up. I was evaluated one out of the two times for the term. It went well, and my supervisor was very pleased with how the class was being run. It was a little stressful knowing that I was being evaluated, but honestly, I forgot he was there for part of the lesson. After he left, we had lunch, and Brett and I discussed some lessons. The principal, Gavin, came in and said that he needed to talk to me. An hour and a half later, when I came out of his office, I was exhausted. He wanted to chat about my placement, see my lesson plans, check my evaluations, etc. So, basically I had an entire day full of evaluations. Now, I won’t be evaluated until the end of the quarter. Gavin and I did talk briefly about non-school activities. He offered to take Katy and I to the Pinnacles, which is an area up north that has natural sand dunes and a much different landscape from Perth.
Tonight, we had our parents’ meeting. They have a meeting at the beginning of the year with the classroom teacher to communicate the rules and expectations for the year. The parents were great, and nearly all of them showed up. (Of course, the parents whom we really needed to speak to didn’t bother to come.) After the meeting, Ashleigh, Brett and I went out for Thai food. We bought a bottle of wine and had delicious, prawn, chicken, and tofu, Thai food.

Wednesday

We had a good day at school today. We are still having trouble with students turning in work on time, so we ended up cutting out a lesson to give the students more class time to work. I taught most of the day, with the exception of reading. I got a horrible headache this morning, and that’s very strange for me. I haven’t gotten a true headache in several years, but today’s was pretty awful.
After school today, I came home and went for a quick swim in the pool. My teacher’s sister came to pick me up at around 5:45PM, because it was my teacher’s wife’s 50th birthday party tonight. We had fish and chips, salad, and three wonderful types of birthday cake. The people were all fabulous and very welcoming. Brett’s whole family as well as his wife’s was there. We just sat out back, had a glass of wine, and enjoyed good conversation. I graded some papers when I got home from the dinner party, and now am of to bed. This weekend we decided not to go to Rottnest Island, but to go to Swan Valley, which is a nice area full of vineyards about and hour outside of Perth.

Thursday

School was a little crazy today, but still mostly enjoyable. I taught math, spelling, writing, speech and drama, and mapping. It was really fun, and the kids were on-task most of the day. After last night’s party, I was a little exhausted today, but not quite as tired as Brett. Brett completed his midterm evaluation of me today. That was a little nerve-racking. However, he marked me as mostly 4s and 5s on a 5 pt scale. It made me feel like I was actually doing something right! It’s not quite halfway, but I’ve got to get the evals in early, because I’ll technically graduate before I get back into the States. Brett took me home once again.
I laid by the pool for a little while this evening. When Len and Heather got home, we went to pick up Katy and head off to their wine-tasting club. It was fabulous! We tasted about eight wines, worth over $400 total. It’s a bit funny, because they go to a cheap Thai restaurant, yet have hundreds of dollars of expensive wine at the table! They keep the wine covered, while the owner asks questions about the wine, where it’s from, who made it, what type is it, etc, etc. It was remarkable what they could tell about a wine from just smelling it and tasting a bit of it. After dinner, we walked over to a coffee shop and had a coffee and cake. Delicious once again.

Friday

Today was a little nuts. Brett ended up yelling at the autistic boy in our class, because he just reached the end of his tolerance and snapped. It was fine in the end, and the boy probably needed a wake up call, but it disrupted the class for a good while. Then, we had a boy not do his homework, so Brett didn’t let him have a snack from the canteen at recess, so he ended up hiding and crying. After a meeting with the boy’s mom and the boy, it was settled reasonably. This afternoon was better though, we canceled sport because it was just too hot to make the kids run around outside, so we watched Sister Act II instead! Sitting in the A/C watching a movie sounded like a much better way to end the whopper of a day that we had. After we had a drink after school, we headed home.
I had a nice nap by the pool when I got home. I ended up going for a run and taking the evening at a relaxing pace. Katy is coming over to spend the night tonight, because Johno, one of the guys we met, is going to teach us how to SURF in the morning! We have to be ready by 7AM, because the best time to surf is early in the morning. Then, I think we might go around to the shops with Len or possibly to the AQWA aquarium later in the day.