The realities of an inner city school

This Christmas, Kyle gave me Teacher Man by Frank McCourt ('Tis and Angela's Ashes). He's a fabulous author. The main gist of this book is to basically paint a portrait of the art of teaching high school. I love it!
One thing I really miss about LCHS is actually teaching academically. I loved having deep discussions with my lovelies about anything and everything. I have to remember that, for most of my students, coming to school is an achievement by itself. None of my LCHS kids had to navigate the city bus system for up to an hour. None of my LCHS kids were responsible to get their babies fed and ready to go off to daycare. These inner-city kids have some gumption. However, how do I teach them??? Do I just pass them for showing up? One of my students is under that impression because she's at school every day but, she doesn't do a stitch of work. She's in grade 12 so, this type of behaviour has obviously worked for her. Or, what do I do with the 17 year old single father who was raising his one-year old until their social worker took her away because he can't seem to let go of his drug habit? He spends his days being mopey because he's missing her or partying because he's free from the adult responsibility that was weighing him down. How do I make curriculum connect with him?
I'm being challenged as a teacher. It's good for me. This year is character building.
I have also realized that I live a charmed life... maybe this is my way to give back for having it so good!

Christmas renos

Hmmm, in order to work off the two days of family Christmases, Trevor and I have decided that, instead of signing up for a new gym membership, we'd renovate.
We loved the double days of opening presents, eating turkey and playing games with family. Now, we're down to business...
Home ownership means that holidays will never be the same again. Hopefully, we'll have all the drywall up by New Year's in time for our soiree!

Christmas is just days away...

Man, time sure flies when you're having fun. I can't believe how close Christmas is.
Trevor and I are flying through our "TO DO" lists. Soon we'll be able to relax.

A few weeks ago, I decided it would be great to wall paper our hall with paintable wallpaper. For those who don't know, our house is plywood and not drywall. Good idea, right? Once we stripped the vinyl off the walls, my Mom and I tried our darndest to hang this stupid paintable wallpaper. All the seams wouldn't line up. GRRRRR! Our plywood has bowed a little so no wallpaper for us. Trevor will be back to drywalling over the holidays.

I'm having a good time teaching. I'm teaching Psych and Drama this quarter. I've had some good times teaching single parents about human dev't in Psych and playing drama games with some gang kids. That probably makes my job sound bad but, it is actually really rewarding.

I went to the W's girls Christmas baking spree on Saturday (thus the pictures). It was grand. Now, Trevor and I have a freezer filled with jam tarts, short bread and other kinds of goodies. :)

We're really thankful that we'll be able to do Christmas with both our families this year. My family's Christmas will be on the 24th and the W's Christmas will be on the 25th. We were dreading having to do 2 Christmases on one day. This works out so much better.

Merry Christmas!