Fabienne remembers

# 14---  Evolve or become Obsolete What was the norm many, many years ago is no more, at least in classroom management? Some of the consequences kids got for misbehavior would nowadays be considered cruel, even barbaric. The strap was used on an everyday basis when I was a student. It was still in use when I started teaching. In my first 4 years, I never used it nor witnessed it.  Thank GOD !!   However, I didn't realize that some school rules stated that a student would get the strap for damaging school property.  I was teaching a split grade 2/3 class of 33 students  in a small school in Regina, Saskatchewan.  I had taken my class to the library. There was a set routine to our visit. When a student decided on the book they wished to take out, they lined up to the librarian's desk and waited for their turn. Two boys started fighting over a book and ended up tearing it in half.  I really wasn't sure what I should so I took them to the Principal (C...

Obsolete means "no more".  So what was once in use is now no more.  Buggy whips are obsolete. We get about today by vehicles, cabs, buses, trains and planes not by horse and  buggy.    Old products, out of date items and out of practice  become  replaced with something  new.    Somehow old-fashioned and no longer useful seems rather harsh,  especially to people  who regularity had these things in their lives. Why are jobs like a pinsetter, a projectionist, a log driver  and a wheelwright  obsolete?  My dad was a projectionist.  Will these jobs become obsolete cashier, a dispatcher, a teller,  a telemarketer and an accountant?  When I started teaching the school secretary used a typewriter, a rolodex and  a gestetner and a hand crank  pencil sharpener. Where did the landlines go and where is the carbon paper?  What do you mean there is no fax machine and no chalk  or brushes...

 Retirement-- What is that? Well friends, I hate the  expression " I am so busy, I have no time for anything". However that seems to be true. Somehow 2 years have flown by and even though I officially retired June 2020, I am still working.  I have to say I have always loved working with people - age 5 to whatever, it does not matter. It has been 51 1/2 years since I started teaching. I have worked in Saskatchewan, B.C. and Alberta. I have  always explored many different areas of teaching and counselling. So many memories. Some good some bad. I always say stories can be sad, mad , bad and glad.   Positions I have held: vary from Grade 1 to Grade 12, split/combined regular classes, special    needs (disabled, mental and physical handicapped ages 5 to 21), Learning disabled, English  Second Language Learners, Drop Outs and Street students coming with addictions or Court ordered with jail records, University courses for Teachers on Teaching Speci...