Today Left Me Compelled to Write

Leaf Peeping

I started this blog way back at the start of the year with a view to write about my travels and adventures during my year of leave. Apart from an inspired February when I took part in #28daysofwriting, where I blogged about my professional experiences teaching in regional Victoria I have not sat down to write nor have I felt that I had much to say. Facebook seemed to satisfy all with a few descriptions and photos of my whereabouts.

But today was different. It was a day that started out with a bit of trepidation and I had some choices to make along they way that impacted my experience. Today I travelled from Montreal to Riviere-Du-Loup in Quebec. It's about a 5 hour bus trip and I was using it as a stopover on my way to Fredericton.

The day had some hiccups but I was rewarded with some unique experiences. First hiccup came when I noticed my small pack had water in the bottom of it. I thought I had sat it in a puddle in the foyer of the Montreal Hostel when I was checking out. Unfortunately I am a person who often doesn't screw lids on and the water bottle I'd put in there had leaked over everything. In this phase of the journey I'm carrying a larger pack on my back, a smaller one on the front and a handbag type thing across my shoulder that houses the important items like passport and wallet. Needless to say I am loaded up and I'm feeling it in the lower back a bit. I cursed somewhat, cleaned up the mess as best I could and got on my way.

Throughout the day I enjoyed two conversations with elderly men, one at the station and one on the bus, one in English/French and the other using mostly sign language and head wobbling. Both are indicative of the joy you can have when you randomly meet people while travelling and engage in conversations you wouldn't otherwise have. We used hand signals, combinations of words and gestures and lots of pointing. My deaf friend showed me French words in the newspaper that accompanied pictures and I worked out he enjoyed the boxing, had a return ticket for his destination and thought the people were crazy for standing in the queue an hour before the bus left. He gave me a pen as a gift and blew me a kiss as I departed. He made me laugh and he enjoyed the chat too.

The first big choice I had to make was when the bus arrived at its destination. I had a sore back, the hostel was a 45 minute walk away and I had to come back to this bus stop in the morning. Right next door was a big hotel and I knew I could get a room with a bath for $100. So tempting. Did I choose the easy, comfort option or head for the hostel? I took a breath and went inside the garage and asked if I could get a taxi. The lovely guy behind the counter and I managed to converse in our French/English language and he ordered me a taxi. The hostel and the town of Riviere-Du-Loup turned out to be a real gem.

I had a 6 bed dorm to myself with my own bathroom all for $25. The town was gorgeous and I went for a walk through a mini forest that ran alongside the St Laurence River. I saw a squirrel and I believe a blue jay and I began in earnest my new hobby of leaf peeping.

So beautiful

 The colours of the leaves over here are changing into varying shades of yellow and red and it's exquisite. My first views of the trees and the autumn colours was on the bus and I couldn't stop looking at it. One of the joys of travelling is seeing a place for the first time and sometimes you are overwhelmed by the beauty of the world around you. Today was one of those days.

Next day I practised some more of my French/English with the lady in the bakery who made me a cheese and ham roll to eat on the bus. We laughed our way through poor pronunciations of French (mine) and English (hers) and I ended up with a very expensive but super fresh roll that the baker was so proud to have made for me. Riviere-Du-Loup became a place that I travel for.

 To think I almost opted for the hotel on the edge of town. Lovely people, interesting and challenging experiences, choices to make and rewards to receive and my next stop at Fredericton turned out to be even better......maybe I'll write about it too.

A Year of Leave

It’s the start of a big adventure for me. A year of leave so I can take some time out. But a new start implies that there were some farewells and I’ve just been through a big one. The day before yesterday was my last day at JMSS where I have taught for the past 5 years. It’s a school that I helped to build from scratch and where I was fortunate to lead the mathematics team and take a lead role in professional learning. It’s a unique place; specialist science/maths/technology school with open plan learning spaces and where team teaching is the norm. We worked hard and I’m so proud of our achievements but I was not prepared for the farewell.

I was completely overwhelmed by the wave of love and support from my colleagues. There was a speech from the newly appointed Head of Maths who's been there with me since the start. His speech was funny, kind, and showcased the best of me and the things I’m famous for. Number one on that list is delegation. I call it building capacity, they call it getting someone else to do the things I don’t want to do. We’re both right of course. There was a song, with words that fitted me to a tee, sung by a band of mathematicians and an associate mathematician, called the Farriss Brothers (a story for another time). There was a hand drawn piece of artwork that captured, in caricature, all the past and present members of the mathematics faculty with me sitting on my ‘throne’ in the centre. I didn’t want to let it out of my sight, such a precious gift. There were chocolates, books, bottles of wine, hugs and kind words. There was a surprise night out where the mathematicians and the associate and an athlete who doubles as my adopted son, played a game where we had to solve puzzles to get ourselves out of a couple of locked rooms (Exitus). It’s how you have fun when you’re a maths geek. There was also eating and drinking and laughing, lots of laughing. And throughout all this there was a lot of honesty and a lot of stirring mixed with a few tears, and that’s just how I like it.

When a colleague (a mathematician) asked me how I was going I said I was humbled, that I didn’t expect what they had done for me. She said surely I knew how much people cared and appreciated what I had done for them. I said I guess so. I wonder why it’s so hard for us to admit we deserve the accolades. I love being a leader in a school, I love leading a mathematics faculty that is innovative, creative and knows how to deliver a curriculum that retains the rigours of our subject but that interest students, and I love working with teachers to keep on learning to be the best we can be. I have taken care of the teachers that I work with and they have, in turn, taken care of me. Together we have taken care of our students.

So now my year of leave begins. I’m stepping down from leadership for a while to be a maths teacher in a country school. I’ll be relearning the art of teaching in a non specialist school. It will include teaching in the junior school again. I’m sure I’ll be learning from those around me and I hope to bring something to the table to share with them. Then I’ll be travelling, to New Zealand and Canada and I’ll be open to new opportunities and making new connections.

I’m new to blogging; this is my first post. I'm not sure what to expect but I hear the words of Dan Haesler (@danhaesler) ringing in my ear as I sat in his session at the Love Learning Conference this year, “just put it out there”. So here it is; a blog that will be in part a reflection of how I got to this point, a chance to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues new and old, and a place to share some thoughts on education, especially maths education, from my teacher seat. I'll try to give a hint at the start of each post what theme it will take, just in case you want to bail out early!