Labor Day Special

     I have always been keenly aware of the significance of Labor Day. We were taught well in school and the media does a good job in the promotion of Labor Day.

However, for most of my life Labor Day had another influence which sticks in my head. Most often school started the day after Labor Day. As a country student the beginning of school meant that we were back with our friends again. I wrote a previous blog describing my education in a one room country school. In the summer we saw each other at Sunday school and odd other times. Our summers were somewhat isolated . Summers meant a large amount of farm labor even though you were a little kid. We weeded gardens and helped put up hay. All the other daily chores throughout the year remained. So it was really exciting to go back to school were you could play with friends again.


     As a teacher who taught 37 years , Labor Day was quite often spent putting the finishing touches on all the organization necessary to get your classroom and classes ready for the year.  By Labor Day you had the class lists and were busily going over who was who. The more familiar you were with the students the easier it was to learn names. Learning names was important in so many ways. The first day of school is one with many duties which have to be completed to get the year off to a good start.

So my experience as a student and teacher has given me a little different slant on Labor Day.

Health Care Blues

      I live in Alberta and we are very fortunate or should be very fortunate from an economic stand point. We have an abundance of oil and gas resources which enrich our economy.


    However, our government chooses to plead poverty when it comes to financing health care. Recently they have changed a seniors drug benefit plan so that most seniors pay a hefty insurance. They have put a maximum on hip replacements. They have eliminated sex change procedures. They closed 6 helipads and later opened them. They have chosen to give previous administrators large bonuses and to give a new super board a large salary. There are other little nickel and dime cuts which make it difficult for patients and staff.


      Now, when the Alberta government is pleading extreme poverty and claiming that the health care level is "unsustainable" there are many plus economic situations which they choose to ignore. Alberta has no sales tax, no capital taxes, no payroll tax and the lowest fuel tax and the lowest general corporate tax rate in the country and the lowest royalties on it's resources of any where in the world. Now to plead poverty in this situation is ludicrous . Our health spending as a percentage of GDP is the lowest in Canada. What are these guys crying about? Do they have an ulterior motive?


      We have a great health care system. A few things could be improved . No doubt some efficiencies could be achieved . However , we must speak up and let them know that we favor the system we presently have and are willing to support it with our resources.

The 10 000 Kilometer Club

     Some Time ago I wrote a piece on All Old Guys Should Cycle. I explained that I set a minimum goal of 1000 km per summer.

      Well, last night I rolled my odometer over the 9999 km mark and of course it resets to 0. In fact I have rolled the 9999 two and a half times. Once my battery died and I had to start over again. However, the odometer helps to keep up my will to continue cycling as it sets a very definite goal and if I set something which I can achieve it works.

     I have a Cateye speedometer which is quite accurate. It records time, trip distance, accumulated distance as well as speed. There is also a clock for regular time. Fancier speedometers are available which record heart rate if you really want to go for fitness.

Reflections...Valuable Colleagues

      Colleagues were extremely valuable to me throughout my career. Colleagues are able to influence you in many different ways on a daily basis. Fortunately most influence is positive,but there was the odd negative result.

     Teachers gain so much from each other by cooperating. They have so much to learn from each other and the students are the ones who benefit. I enjoyed working with people to put together units or to outline a full year program. In that way we did not have to reinvent the wheel. One wheel could be built with many more parts to make it a better wheel. It would take much time for one to create a unit, but together complete units of work could be put together with much more detail.

      Early in my career I was fortunate enough to work in a team teacher situation teaching science. When you team teach it is important that all details be planned so that all material is covered in a similar manner. Evaluation was also prepared so we really had to cooperate.

       I also was able to learn many skills by watching my colleagues. Sometimes we organized formal lesson observations, but may times this learning was incidental when you would walk through a classroom or by listening to someone explain a procedure they used and you could take it and adapt it to your own situation. Many small tricks of the trade were shared.  Many times I needed some moral support and it would come from fellow teachers . I guess many times people could tell if you were down or struggling with something and needed a little moral support.

      I also enjoyed having student teachers. I usually felt I had something to gain from them as they were coming out with some of the latest methods. They needed a chance to put some of their ideas to practice. They also had to watch me and again saw some of the old tricks.

       I have been retired for twelve years and meet former colleagues regularly. These are good times that we enjoy.

Major Error of Omission

     A few posts ago I wrote about the wonders of new potatoes and the first feed of new potatoes of the season. Well, I missed something. I got my priorities wrong. Potatoes might be good but they're not the best in my world. How could I forget about tomatoes?

     I've always liked tomatoes from my garden. I think it starts from my Mom's garden. Each fall Mom would have boxes of tomatoes in the house to ripen them. I would take two or three out of the box when I came home from school and go out to do my chores. Can you imagine a kid choosing tomatoes over cookies?

     Now I have ripe tomatoes about the first of August and eat them at least twice a day until they're gone in December. Sometimes they get ahead of me and I have to freeze them so I also have tomatoes for cooking in the winter. I also give away tomatoes to friends and neighbors.
One of my favorite tomato dishes is to layer cheese tomato and egg in a shallow pan Then I bake it. I will post the exact recipe later in this blog.

     So, now I feel more at ease that I have corrected a major error and my world is much better.

BLOGS, BLOGS, BLOGS

      I started this blog in August of 2008. I didn't really do much with it until March of 2009. It's been more than fun! It's an adventure, a challenge, a satisfaction. I like to write and I appreciate comments and feedback. Some of this has been slow, but I am learning new skills as I go. It took a long time to discover how the mechanics of the blog work and I'm still not through with my discovery.
     What I really like is browsing through blogs . I'm amazed at the photography, ideas for topics, writing styles and enthusiasm. I've found some blogs I really like. I've found other blogs that teach me things about blogging. Commenting on blogs is still a work in progress for me. I try to say something which is meaningful and constructive.

      So blogging is an activity on which I hope to spend more time discovering new skills on both sides of the blog.

REFLECTIONS...THANK GOD FOR P.D. ACTIVITY!

      In a previous piece I told you that my career spanned from 1958 to 1997. That length of time alone calls for Professional development activity (P.D. activity.) However, I took a one year teacher training course at Saskatchewan Teachers' College in Saskatoon in 1957-58. This program was designed to prepare people to take over a classroom and be independent. At that time most of the graduates would be teaching in a one room rural school so they had no supervision and no one to ask for advice. The program was excellent in practical terms but was out of date and obsolete as many of the one room schools were closing due to low enrolments.

      I taught in a one room school for my first year and the course served me well. I was very fortunate to teach in a district where the community gave me tremendous support. I then decided to attend university for one year as I had decided to stay with teaching.

      As time went on things had to change and I had to add to my skills. Here's where professional development came in. Professional development improved and many valuable sessions were available. Teachers' conventions and workshops were available. You could always pick something up to apply in your classroom. I needed something to keep me motivated and possibly make things more interesting for students.

      One of the more influential speakers was a Madeleine Hunter who had many practical strategies in lesson planning. Our district hired her several times and implemented her program. In this way the district was able to set up an excellent teacher evaluation system. Madeleine's program structured the lessons in several parts. As teachers, we were required to follow the plan. It really worked!

      Our district set up a professional development fund where teachers could access funds to attend a workshop of some kind every second year. Now some teachers did not like P.D. and did not access the funds. This is where I came in and helped everybody out . I applied every year and as a result got to attend sessions every year.

       One time my Dept. Head came to me and asked if I would like to attend a week long session. He pleaded being busy that week. Gullible me said ,"Sure! I'd like to go." It was the Quest program sponsored by the Lions Club and was designed to train teachers to teach the new health program that was about to be implemented. So I accidentally got myself assigned to teaching the new health program. The Quest program however could be adapted to any subject area . So I received a benefit all around.

      I found that P.D. kept me motivated and as a result I was able to be much happier and satisfied as I went about my teacher assignments.