We're Back!

We apologize to everyone for the hiatus we took after New Years. There has been a lot going on around here, but things are finally starting to settle down.

I am happily ensconced at the high school as a substitute teacher, and work has been very steady - I've been there almost every day since I started. Some of the teachers have heard rumours that social promotion is coming to an end, which offers some hope for the future. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, social promotion, or social passing, means that students are promoted to the next grade of school, regardless of their actual performance. The advantage is that everyone remains on the same level as their peers. The disadvantage should be fairly obvious, which is why teachers have been pushing the government to rescind the policy. Hopefully it occurs soon, but of course, if it happened tomorrow, the current group of students would be grandfathered.

Otherwise, I'm very much enjoying substitute teaching. It can be crazy at times, but also very rewarding when you have students that you know can graduate, with a little bit of your help. There's no question that teachers deserve their summers off, but I think most of us would argue we should also qualify for that attractive benefit.

I've also recently begun the last course for my Project Management certificate at Humber College. There's a lot of math involved, which wasn't my favourite subject in school, but there's even more writing, which was. Project management is one of those disciplines that seems to be part of every other job, which makes it universally useful. I'm hoping it will help parlay itself into a job when we return to Ontario. If all goes well (and the previous courses suggest so), I'll be graduating in mid-April of this year. After that, who knows? I've tossed around the idea of going for a Bachelor's of Education. My only concern (although it's a big one) is that I've heard there's a 10-year waiting list to teach in Ontario. Anyway, I'll cross that bridge in the future - for now, I'm hitting the books, and enjoying my job, which is a rare pleasure for anyone, I think.

Lily and Pepper are doing well, and are both as cute as ever.

-J