First Impressions: Dhaka

Always rushing to get in line to go nowhere fast. This is my first impression of Dhaka, at least at the airport. Once outside, your senses are assaulted with beeping horns and people chattering and rain falling. There isn't much to see in a monsoon but I did see lots of lush green trees everywhere. 

The heat doesn't seem too oppressive but that might be the three years in Singapore talking. The people are friendly and very interesting in getting to know who you are and what you are doing, which is as welcome a change as are their open, smiling faces.

No photos yet as I'm still jetlagged and stuck indoors with all the rain!

Career Changes and Challenges

We've all changed careers a million times... in our heads at least.  I know I have.  When I was a little girl I was pretty convinced that I would be a successful singer and that I'd marry the young version of Elvis (he was already dead by then but you can't argue with the logic of a 4 year-old).  I stuck to my singing dreams until my grade 1 teacher praised my drawing and then I knew for sure I'd be an artist. After a while I realised that I could do both really and was contented with that.  As I got older I switched careers multiple more times from nurse to chef to flight attendant to psychologist.  Being a psychologist was my teen dream.  I loved learning about the inner workings of our brains and the causes for behaviours.  It was fascinating to me.  I shifted the dream slightly to child psychologist after my first few experiences in working with young children beyond simply babysitting.  Finally, during my final year of high school there was a click in my brain that gave me direction (and lots of encouragement from those in the business), I taught a child how to do something and saw that Ah-Ha moment happen and my life was forever changed.  I KNEW that I'd be a teacher, without a shadow of a doubt.  So I chose my university for it's renown in producing good educators, I struggled through my first year of general studies and applied for the education faculty.  I was denied and my hopes and dreams felt like they had been shattered.  I went back to school of course and focused on my love and passion for history, taking history courses and a few pre-requisites for teaching on the off chance that I could get in on the second try.  I applied again and wept with joy when my acceptance letter came that summer.  I don't think I realised how badly I wanted this career.  I entered the education faculty my third year and was laden with extra courses for having missed the second year.  I busted my butt and was happy to do it, I was going to be a teacher!
And a teacher is just what I am.  A teacher and a coach and I love what I do.  I am passionate about my students and offering them the best possible chance for success both in academics and in life in general. I'm often asked by my young charges if I have children of my own and my ready answer is that I don't need my own children because I get to love and help the children I work with all day.  I've seen thousands of children pass through my classrooms (I've taught Pre-K all the way to Grade 12 across a ridiculous number of subjects) and sports teams and I've loved them all (yes, even those that fought, swore, disrespected themselves, their peers and me, and we generally a challenge).  I feel like I'm changing the world with each one of them.  I look at those I taught in their high school years who are now parents, doctors, lawyers, business owners, accountants, members of the military service (this list could go on forever), and I'm proud and honoured that I got to be a part of their formative years.  Teaching is a blessing and I'm ready to move on.
WHAT?!?!
Yes... you read that correctly.  I love what I do but I'm ready for the next step in the work.  Many of your minds jumped to the word administrator or principal, didn't it?  Well, while that's a good next step for some, it's not for me.  It's not my dream to run a school or mentor teachers in that way.  My dream is to help kids who struggle.  My heart breaks for the little boy who can't control his anger and is being ostracised by his peers because of it, or the little girl who doesn't understand how not to be aggressive in her relationships with her peers.  I want to help the child whose self-esteem is plummeting and they're struggling to find a way to believe in themselves again.  I want to help the popular kid understand that the pressures they deal with that others don't see are real and that it's okay to struggle.  In short, I want to be a counsellor for children. All teachers do a level of this work but with the ever changing demands on the teaching profession, they simply don't have the time or the training to do it as effectively as they might like but a school counsellor does and that's what I want to do.  I've nurtured this dream of mine for several year but never felt ready to take the big step of asking for it or getting the training to start the wheels in motion, until yesterday.
Yesterday I applied to take courses for a diploma in professional counselling (I need to start small because finances are always an issue... my issue anyway, saving is not my thing really).  I feel like it's the right step for me.  I've also used the great site of www.coursera.org to register for some awesome and free psychology and behaviour development courses.  I even started my first coursera course today.  I'm taking one about behaviours in the classroom, how to assess and modify them to best suit the needs of the student.  I've just completed one lecture and I love it.  
So while teaching has been incredibly good to and for me, I'm ready to step it up a notch.  I'm not sure when or if I'll find a job as a full time counsellor (not next year for sure as I've already signed on to stay one more year at my current school in Singapore), but I'm taking the risk and the step towards a career change and I'm EXCITED!!

A Long Overdue Update

It's been a very long time since I last posted on here.  Well over a year ago.  I'm ashamed to say that I have no excuse for not posting earlier.  I've had good things to write about and will be posting about each individually but here is the basic breakdown:

*coaching took prominence in my life and 2 gold medals later, I'm feeling satisfied with where it's taking me.

*back injuries are forever (especially when you don't lose the weight that you should) and I'm finding ways to heal

*UFit is changing my life slowly but surely (UFit is a fitness group here in Singapore that specializes in group bootcamps as well as personal training sessions)

*Travel is back: Australia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Boracay, Cambodia, and bumming around my great city in between travels.

*Career changes are on the horizon.

And I'm staying in Singapore for another year.  Please come back to reading my blog and posts and I promise to be more faithful as a writer.  Each of the points above will be a post in it's own right very soon!

Bullying, what are we doing?

I don't know if you've seen this video from this boy named Jonah or not. I know it went viral and is still floating around cyberspace, causinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifg a stir. I just saw it today for the first time and was so saddened by what this kid has had to endure. I was abused and bullied as a child and then just bullied as a teen. I never cut myself like Jonah did, I never felt as alone as he does in this video, but I've known that kind of pain and alienation.

Now I'm a teacher and as I watched that video I got to thinking about all my students past and present. How many of them were like Jonah? Did I do enough to make them feel protected and safe, loved and somewhat happy? I've never thought of teaching as just a job or a 9-5 occupation where my only responsibility was to impart practical skills and knowledge to my students. I've always viewed my students as my kids. I love them like they all live with me (thank God they don't, though... that'd be far too many kids for a 2 bedroom apartment!!) and like I am responsible for their happiness. But I know that I didn't connect with EVERY student (I don't think it's possible simply because of personalities being different) and I worry. I worry that they felt sad, that they felt afraid, that they felt alienated, that they felt like there was no one for them to turn to.

This video also makes me ask the question of what were his teacher's doing? What are we ALL doing to lessen bullying in our schools and in our student's lives? Are we working hard to make sure that these kids understand social responsibility? Are we ensuring that they understand the meaning of words like tolerance, acceptance, caring, responsibility and respect? Or are we just taking a hard line, no tolerance kind of attitude (I agree that we can't tolerate bullying, but I don't know if expelling every bully is the solution to the problem... feels like a bizarre kind of Band-Aid) that teaches kids the power of complaint rather than the desire to create solutions. I don't have all the answers, but I sure have a lot of questions about how to handle these kinds of situations. I know that one can't just DEMAND tolerance, kindness, respect, trust, integrity and so on from children. They need to be taught these things by example (and I am, by no means, a perfect example of any of these), with words, with actions, and with care.

To my students of the past and present, I hope you have always felt cared for and safe in the classrooms where I have taught and I hope none of you suffered a Jonah-like experience when I was your teacher. I hope and pray that I will be more vigilant about teaching my students the kind of characteristics it takes to be a truly good and productive citizen of the world and that I will be more aware and mindful of the experiences my students have at school.

And finally, to my fellow professional educators, let's try to find solutions to this bullying situation together. Let's be examples of tolerance and acceptance, kindness and caring to our students on a daily basis. It won't be easy (especially on cold winter Mondays... speaking from my own experience) but it will be worth it if one less child feels the need to cut or consider suicide. It will be worth it if one more child learns to accept that kid who just isn't like all the others. It. Will. Be. Worth. It.