I’ve always been a lucky person.
Even when things appear to be going pear-shaped and there’s confusion all around, when time moves on and the dust settles, it nearly always turns out that I’ve ended up in a better position afterward. Viewing life from the lens of the long game is something that has made me an optimist.
Look at what happened yesterday, for example.
You all know that I’m going to Antarctica in December. Of course, I would never go to a place without doing my research about it. Even though we’ll be getting lectures on the ship from Polar experts, who knows if I’ll be able to attend? I might be dying from seasickness. Of course, I’ll have to learn about Antarctica before I go there!
Yesterday I was having a chat with a few people in the staffroom and I was asked if I could teach geography. A friend is taking 6 weeks’ Long Service Leave in term 3 and she wondered if I’d be interested in taking over her classes. I laughed and said, “Is there marking involved?” because I’ve stated lots of times that I’ll NEVER do any marking again.**
After being told that it was at the end of term so yes, lots of marking was involved, I politely declined her invitation.
In the class after lunch, the kids were being angelic and I was bored so I decided to look at the curriculum to see what the year 8s and 9s are being taught in Geography. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the 8’s are going to be covering deserts – Antarctica and Australia’s deserts. WHAT?!?
I shot an email off to my friend, saying, “You didn’t say that I’d be teaching about Antarctica! I’ll be there in December! I’m interested now…”
She’s volunteered to teach me the ‘mathsy’ parts of the courses before she leaves, so that’s ok. Half an hour later and it was all official.
Fortunate Frogdancer is going to be paid to do her research on Antarctica!
As regards the marking, I’m pretty sure it won’t be as full-on as the English essay marking I’m used to. With most questions, the kids will either get the answers right or wrong. Lesson plans are already written and all I have to do is deliver them. Once the mathsy situations are ironed out then it’ll be a breeze.
And the extra cash will come in handy for the flights and accommodation. This trip will not be cheap. I know that I won’t enjoy having to do the marking, either.
But when I’m waddling around with the penguins on the Antarctic ice and gazing at the moai on Easter Island, I know I’ll be glad I did it.
** Every time I’ve said I’ll never do something, I’ve always ended up doing it. You’d think I’d learn!
Dad joke of the day:
My son turned 4 this morning and it took me ages to recognise him. I’ve never seen him be four.
What a great opportunity, funny how things like that happen…..the laws of attraction and manifestation.
If I was smart, I’d have gotten the kids to book my flights etc for me. They probably would’ve done an amazing job.
Well… some of them.
Great post! And I’m sure you can keep the kids entertained in helping “prep” you for the trip! And thanks to you and another friend, I am looking to add Easter Island to my Galapagos trip next year if it works out.
They’re quite far apart…
You will be happily surprised at the marking ease. English is by far the hardest to mark. One of my besties was the English teacher on my team and she spent most of her days grading/marking. I told her the trick is to never assign an essay! She never listened to me.
😄
Haha! English is the best subject to teach but the worst one to mark. 🙂
Some would call it karma. Who knows why but these things just work out along the way of life.
True. 🙂
You do indeed seem to have good luck. Now, about penguins. A friend of ours toured the Antarctic for years on a wooden ship (wooden!) and all she had to say about penguins is that they stink. Think cats with fish breath times ten times the amounts who wants to sit on your feet.
Awwww… cute!
I can put up with the stink for a couple of days, but yeah. Thy don’t sound like pets that you’d want to go indoors with!