Just kidding. It's really not. There are a few decorations up around the city, but because of the weather and how light it is in the evening, it all just seems so wrong! As do the Christmas songs playing in the shops. It makes me a bit sad... Is it weird that a big reason I don't want to stay here forever is because I want to have Christmas in the winter again?!
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| Massive Christmas wreath outside Stonnington Council |
I've been a bit slack with writing on the blog lately. Work has been busy, busy, busy. It's the end of the school year, the students finished on Friday and we only have 5 days left... not that I'm counting down... Ha! Of course I am, every teacher is counting down at this point! You would think that these last few weeks would have been nice, easy weeks, winding down to the summer holidays, but not at my school. We have an Early Commencement Programme (ECP), which basically means that we start the new school year for the last 4 weeks of term. So that means that I have got all my new classes for 2015 already, and have had to go through the exhausting task of setting up new routines and culture for my new classes. I have to be stricter than usual and on the ball with checking homework, following up lateness, etc. so that the students don't develop bad habits for the rest of the year. Normally all this is done at the start of the year, when you've just had 6 weeks off for summer, so you have lots of energy, but at the moment I just feel tired all the time. The school does this so that learning time is maximized, mainly for Year 12 students who have their high stakes exams to prepare for, so they get an extra 4 weeks of lesson time due to ECP. It is the best thing for student learning, so I am on board, but it is totally exhausting and I am ready for a break.
I also did exam marking this year for the exam board. Very good professional development, but not fun to come home to a few hours of monotonous marking after a full day of work. As I had to spend a few weekends getting this done, Andy had to amuse himself with various activities... including a "Boys Weekend" in Lorne.
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| Cycling along the Yarra River |
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| Kayaking along the Yarra |
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| Beer Tasting at Matlida Bay Brewery |
Other than that we have just been preparing for our upcoming trip with my family. My parents arrive next Sunday, I am SO excited! Only 1 week to go until they get here and school's out for summer! (Dad shout-out!)
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| These signs are up all over Prahran. Home is coming to me this Christmas! Yay! |
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