Costco

I went.  I am now poor. But I have 80 rolls of toilet paper!! I need to mathematically ration out 80 double rolls for 10~ months.  Somebody please do the math?? 

I decided to not even remove the spoils of Costco from my trunk since I will be taking it all with me on the drive in a week (food is by far the heaviest stuff I will be taking up so it comes with me, save the shipping weight for things like mini cat statues and throw pillows.  Priorities - I haz them), I drove over some driveway thing tonight and SCRAPE. AAANNYWAYS needless to say my trunk is heavy with the non-perishable essentials. 

On another note: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/06/states-of-emergency-declared-in-northern-quebec-first-nations-communities-after-sustained-power-outages/

At least my food won't go off in a power out!

Love it

The weather in Wemindji tomorrow!

Gearing Up

Well the ball is finally starting to roll on making arrangements in Wemindji!  I received my NEW ADDRESS and oh boy is it the cutest address ever:

13 Beaver Road

Wemindji, QC

J0M 1L0

BEAVER ROAD! Seriously.  I can't handle it. 

I have a 2 bedroom home across from the school which is good/bad.  Good because I can literally wake up at 8:45am and cross the street to go to school.  Bad because I can literally wake up at 8:45am and cross the street and go to school.  There goes my idea of getting a good walk in before and after school! Haha!! But who am I really to complain?  It sure beats traveling 1hr 15mins+ to Brantford every morning so I ACCEPT!

On another note, I am starting to plan some activities to get to know the kids and start building a strong sense of community in my classroom for the first week or so.  Luckily, I have participated in one of the most valuable courses available to teachers, TRIBES which gave me awesome resources for creating such a community within the classroom.  (Not sure why I am capitalizing the word, it adds a certain je ne sais qu'uois?)  Native Canadian principles often revolve around trust, community, identity and relationships, and TRIBES is a fabulous resource that helps you build just that within the classroom.  The "energizers" learned in Tribes can be used to get to know one another, share details and information with a group, get energy flowing and laughter started, and they can also be used within a curriculum framework as most energizers can be applied to bring out known information or questions to be answered for specific learning opportunities.  I have never taken part in an energizer where I did not laugh, and that certainly made me feel at ease, especially in a large new group situation.  I know that what I learned in Tribes will serve me well in my new class as I get to know my students and they can learn something about me too.

Well worth the $200 and nasty lunch meat sandwiches.

Another activity I did in Tribes was a life map.  I spelled out my "teacher name" (I stuck to Miss. M since "McCaffrey" would be difficult to fit on a bristol board and frankly, I was too lazy to make a life map that long ha!) and placed pictures and stickers and photos that helped tell my story and map my life thus far.  It was a really fun activity and wandering through the classroom I got to learn a lot about my fellow Tribes members just by looking at the pictures and illustrations they chose to place on their life maps.  I think this is a great activity to get the kids to think about what is important to them and what defines their lives up to this point.  They can learn about each other and I can learn a lot about them which is so important to me! I will be bringing my life map with me to Wemindji so the students can learn about me and hopefully accept me as a new member of the community.  Trust and relationships are important to me too so I want to make the best impression and build the trust within the classroom as quickly and naturally as possible. 

arg flip around!!

I also plan on creating jobs for the classroom.  These jobs will be the regular types, pencil-sharpener, boot/coat straightening, chair stacker, paper hander-outer (ha), board cleaner, office runner, book shelf/library straightener/librarian, attendance, and so on. An interesting strategy I saw in a video in class last year was creating job applications for the students to complete for their top 3 picks for jobs.  Each student would have to apply like they would a regular job, listing their strengths and what makes them a good candidate for the position.  The students would do this once a month for a different job each time.  Each student would get a position based on what they were most qualified for or on the promise they showed for the position.  I think this is an awesome way to get students thinking about personal and social responsibility, raise self-esteem and feel like they earned something.  Intrinsic motivation is high on my list of goals for my class this year so I think this is a great way to kick start developing that classroom value.  This is also a great start-of-year writing diagnostic tool as I can get an idea of what needs to be focused on in writing skills right out of the gate. Not only do jobs help build self-esteem and and  a sense of responsibility within the classroom, it takes a load off the teacher. 

Besides organizing and setting up literacy centers and figuring out what to do for my first week of math, I am busy getting myself organized for the new school year.  This means finding out what the school daily schedule looks like so I can make day plans (still working on that..) lesson planning and long-range planning.  Until I am totally comfortable I am going to use a lesson plan that I will hand-write and is greatly abbreviated from the traditional 654 pagers Brock prescribed.  I do remember seeing a note in the school computer lab that mentioned needing to present a lesson plan in order to book time so lesson plans might not be a thing of the past after all!  But I am a very linear thinker and honestly, a short lesson plan with points and prompting questions to keep me on topic is very helpful. 

Pwetty and purple

I also ordered my teacher's planner for this year!  Anyone who knows me from Brock knows I was OBSESSED with this planner I bought for Teacher's College.  It literally saved my life.  Yes it is big and yes I know I have a phone and computer that can keep track of all my tasks digitally, but there is something oh so satisfying about crossing things off a list.  (I swear, sometimes I write things down like: "eat breakfast" or "put on shoes" JUST to cross them off...)  This is what ONE WEEK looked like last spring:

This is what my new personalized book looks like this year!

...yes that is a cat in bread... inbred cat.  Inappropriate?

Other than that I have been making the usual rounds, I got over excited and bought some things at Scholar's Choice (big sale 20% off for teachers on August 1st!) but then realized I should have just bought some bristol board and used the die cutter at the IRC at Brock to make my own letters, I will still do that this week, one can never have too many bulletin board letters!!!

Oh and for all you Skype users, I found out my Skype account name: aidanmccaffrey 

Go figure.  Hope to see you on there!

Qualifying for Quebec

So I have been talking a lot about shopping, and while it is the most exciting part of this journey (lol), there are TONS of other things that need to be taken care of in order to start my new job in Quebec.

1. Arrange a moving van (I have sent off the necessary paperwork to the necessary people who make the necessary arrangements on my behalf, lets hope it all goes according to plan!)

2. Organize storage for the stuff I am leaving behind (DONE AND DONE - and I actually can't open the door to my unit now it is packed so full.  5'x5' ain't a lot of room it turns out...)

3. Gather, print, order, photocopy, legally certify and don't forget PAY for - all of the important documentation that gets the ball rolling on becoming certified to teach in Quebec.  I am proud to say I crossed each item off my list finally today as I ordered my millionth copies of transcripts from Ryerson and Brock, picked up my legally certified copies of my birth certificate, degrees and letter from OCT from the lawyer, ordered my letter of standing from OCT, and completed the documents needed for an evaluation.

The package of paperwork I am sending to Quebec is nuts, its so heavy with so many important documents inside.  Lets pray that what happened with OCT (all my paperwork got "lost" the first time around) DOESN'T happen this time.  I am going to avoid this problem by couriering it so at least I can  track it. 

4. Other than that, it's planning the road trip with stops overnight in motels, seeing some sights along the way, praying to the sweet lord above that my car makes it without bursting a tire (or two, or three, OR FOUR!?), saving up some cash for gas, emergencies and incidentals.

5. OH let's not also forget planning?!! I am trying to get accustomed to the Quebec curriculum... lets just say its a little different than Ontario.  Help.

THERE ARE NO GRADES

Wish me luck!

Wahh!

It's still better than +42 degrees with humidity AM I RIGHT?! What better way to avoid skin cancer!!

Tough as Heck Boots and Coats!

Guess what! More shopping!!  Life is hard.  Today my mother bought me my early birthday present (Sorel boots - HEAVY DUTY - see pic).  I am very happy that I have now the equivalent to moon boots but hope that it actually does snow and that temperatures dip below -30 degrees so that I don't look like a fool in my lunar get up! (Note: living in Southern Ontario has made me doubt that winter actually exists.)

Watch out snow.  Here come my moon boots.

My future footprint.

My foot

I also bought my annual pair of Chucks.  Yes annual.  I know that good quality shoes are supposed to last but I seem to go through a pair of Converse sneakers a year.  I picked pretty purple.

Stylin'!!

So I am also in the market for a good quality, heavy-duty winter jacket.  I had originally thought "Hey, I have heard of Canada Goose jackets, lets get one of those!" NEWS FLASH those are like $1000.  I am not kidding. I was at the Hiker's Haven and priced them and immediately broke a sweat and asked for the next best thing.  The North Face! Here are the jackets I am considering.  The difficult thing is getting the right size and style IN JULY.  The man at Hiker's Haven made me aware of this as he held up a style I liked in size S.  I said: "UMM..."

On another note, I have started packing things and placing them aside that will travel with me in my car.  This may seem boring and un-eventful but maybe you haven't seen my car...

This is not my car but its my car.

I have to pick and choose carefully because as you might be able to tell, I have 4 square feet of space in my backseat and even less in my trunk.  I will be packing that car like a Tetris master!

Pretty much!

TOO CUTE

Well, my mother truly outdid herself!! She managed to create the CUTEST going-away gift for me ever.  I AM TICKLED.  I almost cried but had to control my emotions.  Love it! It reads: "Love You... Bo Bo". WAHH.

Worst picture of me - cutest of US.

On another note, made my 3rd trip to Public Storage today with my stuff I'm leaving behind! Mostly books and hoarding materials I can't seem to let go of.  (Lego from my childhood). 

P.S....

Why did I fall in love with guacamole in a place over 5000km away from the origins of said delicious food?

Packing, Purchasing, Prepping, Paperwork!

Hi!

Well, even though D-Day is just a month away, if you know me at all then you know I am already half-packed and shopping like crazy for all the stuff I need to bring up with me to Wemindji!

I have actually repacked these boxes twice.  I cut down on contents about 3%.  That's big for me.

While my new home is furnished, I need to make sure I bring all other small items like kitchen ware, bathroom and bedding stuff with me.  TRIP TO IKEA?! OKAY!  So technically I do already have a lot of the stuff I needed to bring such as duvets, pillows, cups, mugs, etc., but sometimes a girl's just gotta take a trip to Ikea to get some new things to make the home feel pretty.  Once I am all moved in and set up I will post pictures of my place. 

My beautiful new duvet cover set.  With matching throw pillow cases.  Drool.

I also had to do some shopping for electronics since living with Chris (new fangled electronics connoisseur) I didn't have any of my own stuff.  Luckily he is quite knowledgeable and was able to find me some good deals on a printer, computer monitor, DVD player etc.  Without him those sales people would see a sucker coming from a mile away. 

Womp womp

Since groceries are slightly more expensive up north (think: frozen pizza - $13+) I have been wisely advised to buy as many dry goods down south as I can and ship them up to me to last the year (or at least until Christmas when I fly home for my first vacation).  And which store is only slightly more exciting than Ikea? Why, it's the grown-ups Disney Land, COSTCO! So I'll be taking a trip over there soon to stock up on the essentials such as soups, medications, lady products, cleaning supplies, dried and canned goods etc.  I am almost too excited.  I love Costco. I LOVE COSTCO.

I am fully aware I look like a Muppet. And that my membership expired last February. WAHHHH.

On another positive note, I took my car to Midas (GO THERE) to get a once-over and evaluation for its hard-core road readiness.  I am happy to report that it has a clean bill of health and according to a very fine and knowledgeable gentleman, will go the distance! Thanks to my wonderful grandfather, the car is in really good condition and besides the work that was needed and was done earlier in the year, it is in great shape.  Not bad for a 15 year old Toyota! (By the way the dealership wanted to charge me $285 for that diagnosis, Midas - $47. 'nuff said.)

By the way, for those of you who know Mark Wickens (our AMAZING Methods teacher).  I wanted to share his reaction to my getting a job. Sooo funny, I can't wait for his visit! He can stay in my second bedroom! (But seriously, how awesome would it be to have Mark as a  house guest?!)

After that was Joanne, our incredible Math teacher from Brock.  I was totally overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and excitement from two of my most favorite instructors.  I feel totally confident in my ability to teach these grade 5's thanks to those two!! I LOVE DOING MATH!

I am currently in the process of gathering my necessary paperwork and applying for the certification to teach in Quebec! Tomorrow's goals: get a lawyer to certify a copy of my passport, have my universities mail yet another copy of my transcripts out to the necessary recipients (ya hear me Brock people?), drop stuff off at my storage unit, pack more and maaaybe do some more shopping.  What is a girl to do?  I can only hope that becoming certified to teach in Quebec is half as complicated as it is to become so in Ontario (After 8 months of paperwork I am finally certified. Ugh).

Until next time!!

The Perks

Some of you may ask why I chose somewhere so far away to begin my teaching career.  Well, any of you who are recent Faculty of Education graduates can answer that pretty quickly.  Basically there are very few to no full time teaching contracts in Southern Ontario. 

Of course there is the off-chance of landing a LTO (long term occasional position) or a spot on a supply list, both of which are coveted and sought after like gold in the Yukon.  Sadly for me, I incurred quite a lot of student debt over my 6 years in post-secondary education and while I would have loved to stay in my hometown and work my way up a supply list, I simply can't afford to do it.  So, I decided to do the next best thing and take a job in a place that desperately needed good (qualified) teachers, and that place happened to be very far away by most standards. 

Leaving friends, family and my boyfriend is not easy by any means.  It means uprooting my entire life, quitting my job, packing, shopping, planning and diving into my career headfirst with little preparation.  I am excited and motivated of course but scared too! Up until now I have been incredibly lucky to have 8 long-term teaching placements, but they were just practice and this is the REAL DEAL.  I can't mess up here and fall back on being a student and "learning", so there is that pressure too.  Another disadvantage is that while I plan on keeping in touch with my connections, I can't maintain a presence in schools in areas I'd eventually like to work in, so when I return I will have to start from scratch.  But at least I'll have a few AQs under my belt and some full-time teaching experience!

Overall though, I am excited.  I have my own classroom of a manageable size in a beautiful province with a great deal of incentives. 

Incentives is the next focus of this post.  A lot of people have been asking me what makes moving to Northern Quebec so attractive besides full-time teaching? Well here are some things that the Cree School Board generously provides for teachers moving up.

1. An individual 2 or 3 bedroom furnished rental HOME starting at $160 per month, all inclusive (not including internet, phone or satellite tv, I plan on keeping my Bell cell plan and just paying for internet which is apparently the same cost as down here.)
2. Storage for my things in Ontario paid for.
3. 3 round trip flights back to Ontario for holidays etc. (2 weeks off at Christmas, 2 weeks off in May for the annual Goose Hunt and another to use either for flying up/down at the beginning/end of the school year or sometime in between).
4. Moving and travel expenses paid for
5. Northern Living Allowance
6. Retention pay
7. Small class sizes
8. Great access to resources
9. AQs paid for by the school board
10. A chance to pay off a major chunk of my student debt which is really amazing
11. There are probably a million other things that I will encounter along the way that make this job great, but overall I am just happy to be starting my career on my own terms and gaining valuable experience.

I strongly urge those of you in similar situations to try something like this, it could open doors and provide you with great experience that could possibly make coming back home and finding a job a little easier. 

Interview Adventure!

Okay, so some of you may be curious to know how I landed this job and what was involved.  Basically, I answered an email sent on behalf of the school to Brock advertising various teaching jobs in Wemindji.  I responded not even thinking I was qualified to teach in Quebec (I'm not technically but my paperwork to become qualified is slowly being completed heh). 

I got a phone call within 2 hours from the vice-principal asking me to call back to set up a time for an interview.  I figured it would be a Skype or phone interview.  When I called her back this was the deal:

- The Cree School Board of Quebec would fly me up ASAP (turned out to be Sunday night, I got the call Wednesday or Tuesday I can't remember)
- I would spend the night at a paid-for hotel in Montreal and fly out on Air Creebec on Monday morning

My luxurious hotel room. I stole all the freebies of course.

- I would tour the reservation, meet the principal, students, teachers, support staff and parent committee that helps deciding in hiring teachers.
- I would stay the night at a teacher or school staff's house, interview on Monday evening, see the last day of school and the awards ceremonies on Tuesday morning and then fly back home Tuesday afternoon!

So that all happened! I was so lucky to meet Carmen, a fellow interviewee on the plane and we really hit it off.  The number of jobs was limited and there were a few other interviewees so we both hoped someone sucked hard and we both got a job.  Knowing that I have a friend going up there with me coming from Southern Ontario made taking the job a whole lot easier.  We both interviewed for whatever position they were offering which was grades 2,3,4,5 and I think one more. I got grade 5 and Carmen got grade 2, awesome!  We teach the Quebec curriculum but no French and there are Cree teachers who teach Cree language and culture to the students separately.  It is approximately 20% Cree instruction and 80% English language instruction.

I toured the reservation which was set in beautiful James Bay area of Hudson's Bay in Northern Quebec.  The reservation is right on the shore surrounded by beautiful forest and landscape.  It was a little chilly those few days up there and of course I packed for Toronto heat-wave weather but I learned my lesson!

A snapshot of the houses in Wemindji.  Lots of new building as the community is fairly new.  The stop signs are in Cree and apparently no one wears seatbelts. Good to know! Most of the roads are paved, some are gravel.

I met a whole bunch of really friendly, enthusiastic and helpful teachers who even gave us their phone numbers and emails (we hadn't even been hired yet!), I was definitely overwhelmed by the kindness and hospitality of the teachers and staff in Wemindji.  I stayed with a lady named Eleanor who works at the school as a sort of social worker/school support/intervention staff.  We had a lot in common and she treated me like her daughter.  Staying in a strange place knowing almost no one is hard but she made me feel right at home, even making me a sandwich for the plane ride home!

Just a teepee in my backyard. No biggie.

I had my interview at 7:15pm on Monday night which was nerve wracking! We spend most of the day with the principal which actually made things a lot easier to deal with in the interview room.  It was a panel interview comprised of the principal, vp, a member of the Cree School Board and a couple of members of the Parent's Committee.  They all took turns asking me pretty typical interview questions and I was very prepared.  I cracked maybe a few too many jokes but I let my personality shine through and I landed it yehaw!

So that night we stayed in different people's houses (I still in Eleanor's) and got up the next day to tour the school again, visit some classrooms, meet the kids and watch the awards ceremonies. 

Cubbies in Cree!

Hallway of the school

The school sits on a riverbank.  This part is the attached high school.  There are canoes along the bank to the left.

One view of Maquatua Eeyou School

Each class has about 15-20 kids which is AMAZING. I am really looking forward to that.  The classrooms are all decked out with smartboards and docucams and there is a great little library and apparently resources are pretty easy to purchase. 

So once we were finished at the school we got a ride to the airport with an amazing teacher Brandi who kindly offered her contact info so we could ask lots of questions (and we will, there is so much you need to prepare for a huge move like this). 

Here is where the real adventure begins ladies and gents. I almost lost my life that Tuesday.  You see, we flew into Wemindji from Montreal on Monday morning on a 28 seater Air Creebec plane.  At that point, that had been the smallest commercial plane I had even flown on.  HA. When the plane arrived to pick us up it was a different story.  This plane had 18 SEATS. 18!!! IT WAS A TOY PLANE. So anyways we screamed a little and rolled with it.  It helped that the pilot was super sexy and had a French accent.  If we died at least we died with him.  Honestly, there was no heat on this plane, people had to sit all over the place to BALANCE OUT THE PLANE, and then alarms started going off which we could hear because there was no cockpit door and I could see everything.  Oh and the bathroom had no door either and the plane smelled of poop when we boarded.  And we didn't need boarding passes until our last of 5 stops before hitting Montreal.  So if you ever plan on visiting me, make sure you have $2000 for a return ticket, no fear of death and a liking for bus trips because that's what the plane essentially is from Montreal to Wemindji.  The pictures below hardly do it justice.

Wemindji Airport! No security checks! No ID necessary! Awesome!

Imagine this sound as you are thousands of feet in the air: "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP"

This is me clearly losing my cookies at the sheer tiny-ness of this aircraft.  Trying not to freak out - its not working.

Note: doorless bathroom at the rear of the plane.  Also note: hilarious guy on my right. 

Wemindji! Home to a garage, fire and police station, clinic, B&B, motel, restaurant, elementary and high school, trapping lodge, huge band office, general store, post office, pool hall, recreation center, courthouse, youth center and SO MUCH MORE!

More Wemindji

So basically that was it! Carmen and I met another interviewee on the way home who was nice enough but we really really didn't want him to get a job so that we could both get one and it worked! See people, dreams really do come true! We landed safely to my utter surprise and the rest is history.  I hope this was informative and entertaining.  I hope to never take that puddle jumper again but I probably will.

Love Aidan

Ps lots of these photos belong to Carmen. Cred given where cred is due. :)