Death and the North

Here in the North when we experience loss through death it is felt throughout the community. The school immediately closes down and the entire community mourns. Even if you don't know the person you can't help but feel some of this grief through our students.

However, when an outsider like us has a loss, you feel so very much alone. On January 4th I had returned to the Web to work and did not find out until the following afternoon that my father had passed away. it was definitely a shock. My family so desperately needed me at home, and yet I had just returned to work. I was grateful of the kindness of those i work with who were very supportive, and who understood I needed some time to process this.
Since my "evil" step-mother (yes she is truly evil) is a cheap witch, she merely had his body cremated and had no mass and no funeral. She never bothered to put an obituary in the paper. He was living in Sault Ste. Marie and there was no family there, but still she could have posted something in the paper in Thunder Bay.
Even though we do not have his remains my brother and I decided that his passing was due some respect. The family that that heartless witch tried to rip apart pulled together and began planning the funeral.

I just want to say it is very tricky making preparations for a funeral when you are 500 miles away on a frozen island in the middle of the deep North. But thank God for Facebook, email and the internet. I was able to put together a very nice service and finalize the plans. However, so that I do not disrupt my class and their learning I had to plan the funeral for the week prior to the Conference in Thunder Bay, this way my students won't feel abandoned.

Still it feels odd and you feel so very disconnected from your family, even more so when there is a loss such as this. It is often hard to convey emotion through social media to your family, and all too often one side misunderstands what the others says or asks and tempers flare. It is so much easier to do this in person. But as I am here, i don't have the luxury to fly out at the drop of a hat. Since the evil step mother will not release money from the estate to pay for the funeral, we have to shoulder that burden as well. Sad when you realize he left money for this funeral and because she wants to save the money for herself, we are stuck shouldering all the cost. But when t is a parent you do what it takes, and you ad these experiences to the list of stories you will tell when you are a grand parent.

so here is a tribute to my dad, he's gone fishing for good now, maybe he's in abaot somewhere in heaven with St.Peter and St.Andrew.....enjoy Dad!

                                                    Robert Sr and Jr with a huge haul!

Migrating back to the North

Now not sure if my heading back to the Web can be considered migration, since my home is really in Thunder Bay. However, its almost time to head back to the Web for the next round. I am eager in some respects and not so eager in others.

I am hopeful that my students will be happy and ready to get back to work, but I also know when i return we will be in the middle of the Community's Winter Carnival, so attendance will be low for Thursday and Friday, and after being out of school since December 15th , that is 24 days without the routine of school. History has shown me that it will take a few weeks to get them back into the routines again, sadly once we are in a routine it will be disrupted by a conference, then one week of class disrupted by March Break, 2 1/2 weeks of  school disrupted by Easter, then 2 weeks of class, disrupted by 2 weeks off for Goose Break...now it seems that from may till June there are no further disruptions to the learning scheduled, but as teachers we all know that by the end of May most of the work is done that we will report on for the final term. For myself as a grade 3 teacher there is still the matter of the EQAO test, and as I have learned in past years once the weather is nice, the attendance can drop drastically once again, and I will be lucky to get the testing done.
Although for me this is the easiest part of the school year because I am home so much, but from a teaching point of view its the worst as my students are not interested in being in the classroom working on math and language, they want to be outside, playing, fishing and anything that has nothing to do with learning.

So for them they begin to prepare to the migration out of the classroom and I begin to daydream of home. Its a vicious cycle when you teach in the north. Its love and hate at the same time. Desire to make a difference, and the pain of being unable to reach your students when families think camping is more important that attendance.
My survival suggestion, do what you can, hope for the best and don't worry when students are not present, because even of they were, their minds are often elsewhere, so don't bang your head against the wall. Just keep smiling! You will change someone's life not everyone's but then its why you teach, to make a difference, somewhere!