Some things are attracted to you.. like a magnet to to a whiteboard.
I gave up aquatics to teach school: at least that was part of it. The other part was the cold breeze off the lake, the wrinkled fingers.. the fake smile as kids spit water in your face and of course, squeezing into a very tight, very small piece of material that really doesn't cover all the 'bits' that it is just polite to cover.. but a big push for the change was all the recertifications you need to get.. every year.. when you work in and around pools.
Here in Mataranka, I am 104 kilometers from the closest pool. I am teaching in a public school.. fully dressed. I am well paid, and I don't have to recertify my qualifications: a Masters degree in Education is not time dependant. However, it seems that going back to school, professional development, they call it, is always a requisite, no matter what profession you are in.
First term here in the NT I attended a Maggie Dent workshop: awesome. I spent my term break in April at a leadershop conference in Darwin, where I met Kathy Walker and was introduced to her Play Based Learning stuff, which led to a full day in Katherine at a workshop with her. I went to a Sex Ed workshop in Kathrine, to get ideas on how to approach that part of the curriculum.. school wide. I have also been to a full day workshop on mentoring a student teacher, spent three days at a leadership workshop in Katherine with a group of rural teaching principals and completed administrative training in Jilkmingan. I have been trained on how to use a whiteboard, but am looking for more of that, as some things don't stick so well, and spent hours doing professional development on the new curriculum: both here in Mataranka as well as time spent in Katherine.
So much for no upgrading.. it looks different, but amounts to the same thing.
And then this past weekend I found myself back in the pool. We, the principal, another teacher and two of the TA's, enrolled in an AUSWIM course.. so we can take the kids to the springs here in Mataranka (I thought it was lifesaving course for teachers). It was a full blown swimming teacher qualification.
It was 40 degrees in Katherine.. and still our lips turned blue, had goose bumps on our goose bumps and my back muscles started to cramp as they had that day at the Taiwanese airport.. that day my muscles jammed up so badly that they put my back out.
It is that southerly wind blowing against our near naked, wet bodies, us as we climb in and out of the pool, almost burning our feet on the poolside paving stones. And then there is the chlorine, the reminder to sweep the snot down the drain, the marks left around our eyes by goggles pulled too tight and the vulnerablity of the 'uniform'.. that little bit of lycra, stretched tightly.
Tonight we completed a CPR course.. which we will need to recertify in 12 months. My first aid runs out soon, so I will have to recert that in the next few months.. the swimming qualifications will need to be redone in two years. It will be back in the pool, goose bumps, blue lips, a new sunburn and a few new freckles.. That is IF I complete it this time.. there is still the paperwork to be done and the on-line test. I will need a new picture for the card.. I will look a little older than I did on my last Royal Life Saving Qualification Card: 20 years ago.
The Bronze Medallion course is offered in November.. it may be a good idea: just to cover my ass for taking the kids down to the springs. Cover my ass.. like isn't that an oxymoron?
Water/First aid courses seem to be attracted to me.. like wierd jobs and celulite. Or maybe it is I that is attracted to water safety.. like a big fat bug to a windscreen.
Either way, it was a busy weekend: and my back hurts!
I gave up aquatics to teach school: at least that was part of it. The other part was the cold breeze off the lake, the wrinkled fingers.. the fake smile as kids spit water in your face and of course, squeezing into a very tight, very small piece of material that really doesn't cover all the 'bits' that it is just polite to cover.. but a big push for the change was all the recertifications you need to get.. every year.. when you work in and around pools.
Here in Mataranka, I am 104 kilometers from the closest pool. I am teaching in a public school.. fully dressed. I am well paid, and I don't have to recertify my qualifications: a Masters degree in Education is not time dependant. However, it seems that going back to school, professional development, they call it, is always a requisite, no matter what profession you are in.
First term here in the NT I attended a Maggie Dent workshop: awesome. I spent my term break in April at a leadershop conference in Darwin, where I met Kathy Walker and was introduced to her Play Based Learning stuff, which led to a full day in Katherine at a workshop with her. I went to a Sex Ed workshop in Kathrine, to get ideas on how to approach that part of the curriculum.. school wide. I have also been to a full day workshop on mentoring a student teacher, spent three days at a leadership workshop in Katherine with a group of rural teaching principals and completed administrative training in Jilkmingan. I have been trained on how to use a whiteboard, but am looking for more of that, as some things don't stick so well, and spent hours doing professional development on the new curriculum: both here in Mataranka as well as time spent in Katherine.
So much for no upgrading.. it looks different, but amounts to the same thing.
And then this past weekend I found myself back in the pool. We, the principal, another teacher and two of the TA's, enrolled in an AUSWIM course.. so we can take the kids to the springs here in Mataranka (I thought it was lifesaving course for teachers). It was a full blown swimming teacher qualification.
It was 40 degrees in Katherine.. and still our lips turned blue, had goose bumps on our goose bumps and my back muscles started to cramp as they had that day at the Taiwanese airport.. that day my muscles jammed up so badly that they put my back out.
It is that southerly wind blowing against our near naked, wet bodies, us as we climb in and out of the pool, almost burning our feet on the poolside paving stones. And then there is the chlorine, the reminder to sweep the snot down the drain, the marks left around our eyes by goggles pulled too tight and the vulnerablity of the 'uniform'.. that little bit of lycra, stretched tightly.
Tonight we completed a CPR course.. which we will need to recertify in 12 months. My first aid runs out soon, so I will have to recert that in the next few months.. the swimming qualifications will need to be redone in two years. It will be back in the pool, goose bumps, blue lips, a new sunburn and a few new freckles.. That is IF I complete it this time.. there is still the paperwork to be done and the on-line test. I will need a new picture for the card.. I will look a little older than I did on my last Royal Life Saving Qualification Card: 20 years ago.
The Bronze Medallion course is offered in November.. it may be a good idea: just to cover my ass for taking the kids down to the springs. Cover my ass.. like isn't that an oxymoron?
Either way, it was a busy weekend: and my back hurts!
No comments:
Post a Comment