Teachers’ Day

Teachers get too many holidays…

they get too much pay…

they finish work at three…

Teachers drink coffee

and chat in the staffroom…

all day!

whinge, whine, whinge

I don’t know how long it’s been

since teacher-critics

have been in a school, but…

teachers work much harder

than they ever get recognised for.

 Much harder.

(Recent data suggests that

an average teacher works

10 hours and 40 minutes a day

– that’s a 53 hour week!)

Then, there’s this:

During an average school day,

teachers are spending:

an average of almost 5 hours on instruction

• approximately 36 minutes on student supervision and discipline
• 45 minutes planning, preparing, or collaborating with colleagues
• 36 minutes on grading and analyzing student work
• almost 15 minutes communicating with parents

That leaves teachers with

a whopping 23 minutes for lunch!

No wonder I often go home

with lunch uneaten

and busting for the toilet!

Teaching is not easy…

it’s hard work…

rewarding, but hard work…

What I do in a day

can make a huge difference.

That looks that crosses a student’s

 face when they finally grasp

 a concept they have

 been struggling with…

 that’s amazing! 

 The moments you feel the class

 hanging off your ever word…

total engagement and enthusiasm…

that’s amazing!

When you see them

reach their goals and watch

 their confidence grow…

amazing!

That’s why we do it.

That’s why we teach.

Unfortunately, we have to

 deal with so much

inappropriate behaviour… 

We get judged and gossiped about…

We get yelled at

 and we crumble under

the never-ending work load…

And then, we put on a brave face,

 walk into our classroom

and create the magic of learning…

all over again.

 

Teachers are incredible.

They take baby people

and teach them to read…

to write…

to speak and to really listen. 

They teach little people to count

 and to think,

to believe and to imagine.

Life lessons are taught…

Frog lifecycles are explored

 and investigations on why

volcanoes erupt take place… 

 Teachers mend fights

between life-long friends

 and act as nurses

for a myriad of illnesses.

Teachers do so, so much more

than just teach

and absolutely deserve a day.

 

 Happy Teacher’s Day!

When I read this

Real Teachers poster,

 I had to grin.

I am a real teacher.

Picture from here.

 

Improve Your Office Day

 

Today, my office is fantastic!

I’m at home!

It’s quiet.

There are no bells ringing,

no deadlines,

no responsibilities,

no jobs needing to be done!

I love my office –

when its my home!

Next week,

that will be a little different.

Improve Your Office Day

is designed to make us

“happy up” our work space…

make it a nicer place to be in.

A bunch of flowers…

a happy pot plant…

bright cushions…

a smile…

 

Get decorating!

(I do wish my office looked

a little more like this!)

 

 

Today is also Golf Day.

I tried to play golf, once.

I wasn’t great at it…

actually,

I was pretty bad at it!

But, for anyone who loves it,

maybe you could skip out

 of the office a little early

and hit that little ball

off the little peg

and keep hitting

the little white ball

until you get it in the last hole.

Being Golf Day is the best excuse

you’ll ever have

to miss work for golf!

 

 

Can You Appreciate a Virus?

October 3^rd is a busy day!

There is so much to choose from…  

Techies Day,

Virus Appreciation Day or

Balloons Around The World Day.

Of course, I am most intrigued

by Virus Appreciation Day…

Virus Day – sure,

I could work with that…

But, Appreciation?

The form of Virus being appreciated

today is the computer kind.

And yet, I do not feel appreciative!

 I do breathe a quiet sigh of relief

 each time my internet protection’s

 monthly report tells me

I am still safe from nasty viruses.

  Not long ago, I was sitting here,

calmly cruising the internet,

checking in on different sites –

 when…

it all went wrong!

Things started flashing

 on the screen…

 there was a lot of red…

flashing red!

There were pages shutting down

 and pages opening…

 My head started spinning

with the sudden chaos.

I could imagine sirens

screaming around me…

My computer had caught a cold…

 it had a virus…

It shut down

and resorted to a coma-like state.

 I couldn’t revive it!

Nothing would bring it back!

There was nothing I could do,

 but take my computer

to the doctor.

 A week later,

I reunited with my computer,

 but our relationship

was never the same…

 the computer never returned

to its pre-virus state.

I find it difficult

to Appreciate Viruses –

today or any other day!

It only took a few seconds

of googling

before I realised that

Techies Day and

Virus Appreciation Day

are actually linked!

The techies are the ones

who fix the computers,

install the products and generally

keep them working.

At work, it’s important

to be friendly with the techies!

 You just never know

when things will suddenly fall apart

 and you have to get down

on your knees

and crawl to the techies!

I’m very happy to celebrate

Techies Day –

thanks Techies!

If I was clever enough,

I’d turn balloons into a

bunch of computers and I’d

have all three days covered!

 

Surfice Dog

 

Ricochet is a cool surfer chick.

Well, not a chick… a dog.

(And, she’s won several

surf dog competitions!

I didn’t know there was

such a thing to win!)

 

Her friends call her Ricki.

So, another dog who enjoys

 standing on a surfboard??

Ricki is more than that.

She’s been trained to work

 with people with disabilities,

as an assistant dog.

She surfs with kids

and people with disabilities.

Even though Ricki began her training

at a very early age,

she just wasn’t cut out

to being a service dog.

After several false starts

and much frustration,

Ricki’s owner – Judy Fridono,

stopped fighting

and let Ricki enjoy herself.

When Ricki was 15 months old,

she placed third

in her first surfing contest.

That’s when Ricki earned

her title of SURFice Dog.

The first person Ricki surfed beside

 was Patrick Ivison, a quadriplegic surfer.

After catching a few waves

beside each other, Ricki suddenly jumped

 from her board on to Patrick’s board

and they caught their first

 wave in together.

And, there was no going back!

Now, Ricki rides the waves

with anyone who will

ride them with her.

 I can only imagine the smiles

 on their faces as they ride

 the waves with surfice dog Ricki! 

She also involves herself

in fundraising campaigns,

 to help people

living with disabilities.

Check out her webpage

to find out more.

Or, her facebook page.

Picture

 

 

Lamb Stew - Hold the Lamb

 

Happy October 

 the months are flying by!

Today is a World Day.

World always stands out,

punching me in the face –

 making me realise

the importance of the day.

World Days are,

therefore, difficult to ignore!

Today’s World Day is…

World Vegetarian Day!



 

 

 

I have lived in countries,

where meat is stored carefully

 on hot cement blocks…

where meat is protected from flies

 by an occasional flick of a hand…

or, more elaborative,

the slowly rotating, man-made device,

which is hung above the meat

 and drips plastic bags…

scaring the flies away.

I’ve walked past bowls of fish,

eels and crabs, slowly flicking

 in shallow water…

and yet, my stomach

coped with every meal…

Well…there was that one time…

In an Irish Pub in Bangkok.

I was having Irish stew –

as you do…

Lamb, it was.

There were huge chunks of tender lamb,

filling my bowl of stew.

It was good.

And then, it happened.

I pictured a buffalo –

something I saw every day

 when I lived in the North East of Thailand.

The buffalo tends to have a huge,

 round stomach.

I pictured someone with a huge knife,

slicing the side of a buffalo a

nd turning the flesh

into chunks of meat for my stew.

Right then and there,

my stew lost all appeal.

That was years ago…

and, don’t get me wrong –

I eat meat.

 I do.

But, sometimes, every now and again…

I picture the animal I am eating…

Not the "cute little lamb",

but the knife - chunking the flesh… 

I lose my appetite a little.

 

Once, a young boy came to me

and told me he had cut

 his leg on a seat.

“Show me”, I said…

and watched him twist his knee

 to show me a small hole in the skin.

Something yellow was poking out –

Muscle? Sinew? Fat? 

There was no blood.

It seemed ok…

and then, it happened.

The blood started.

It didn’t trickle…

it didn’t dribble…

It pumped.

Squirt.

Squirt.

Squirt.

 It was the smell that got to me.

Bloody flesh.

The smell lingered in my nostrils

 for some time. I

t’s a butcher shop smell.

It’s not a good smell for me.

So, today is World Vegetarian Day.

The site has facts and figures…

forests and bushland turned into crops

to feed the animals we will later eat…

overgrazing and the damage it does…

animals and plants becoming endangered

through habitat loss…

water costs of animal rearing…

increased carbon monoxide…

All that aside,

the thing that pushes me

towards my vegetarian diet

 is my imagination!

 Some information from

the North American Vegetarian Society’s

webpage:

Logo, facebook