Musical posters at Saint Elizabeth CHS

      It was something of a tradition for me; every year we delivered a musical at St. Elizabeth CHS, I would invite the pit band student musicians to sign a poster with a colored pen.  I have kept these posters and I while I have started to clean-up my home office, I did not know what to do with these posters, which I removed from the wall.  I have accumulated quite a few.  Well, I am keeping them and have rolled-them-up, and placed them in a recycled tube.

     The real purpose of this entry is to comment on a feature of my character.  You see, one of these musical posters had little holes at the top, which I used a hole punch to create.  Then, I placed a string through the holes.  The next point is the funny part.  I would wear this and another copy around my body, like a walking bill board, advertising the musical, daily!  (For many days!)

     This demonstrated a slight strangeness to my character - don’t you think?  Students appreciated my effort and my sometimes questionable sense of humor.  This is an example to illustrate some of the enhancements I would explore in my day-to-day teaching.  For me, it was fun, and I do believe these demonstrations of my unique personality helped to make me an effective educator and human-being.

Saint Joseph High School, Barrie Ontario, Part 1

In my first year, full time teaching, at a new school, I do not believe that I was a very effective instructor.  It was not a full-time music position.  But I was excited to be offered this job.  I was engaged to be married and so finding full time employment was advisable.
     The drive to Barrie everyday included some challenging moments, especially in the winter time.  I had good mentoring experienced teachers at this school.  I learned a lot.  It was a small high school building, a new building, but no second floor.  I think the total population was around 700 students.  Very disciplined school, with many experienced teachers.

     A few experienced teachers:  Kathy (surname?) helped me so much.  Kathy was amazing, I think she was a nun, or perhaps she was intending to become a nun.  At any rate, she guided me with patience and kindness.  She showed me so much and shared materials & resources, to help me with teaching religion classes.  I learned a lot from her.  She was well respected and a leader in the community.  The other teacher was the department head - really an overseer of the physical education and arts, and if memory serves me, another area as well.  Frank Moore.  He also, a very generous man with his time.  He would share his wisdom and experience, and helped me so much.  I learned so much from him.  Both Frank and Kathy became my mentors in these first two years of full-time teaching.  Frank Moore died in a car accident.  He saved his family - a true hero.  I think he was 39 years old, when he died in my second (last year) at St. Joseph’s High School.  You can see the school from the highway as you continue driving north.

     The school was well organized and governed, probably due to the many lead teachers who were all experienced and worked well together with the school administration.  I was a young, beginning teacher, and had a lot to learn.  This was a great place to start my career.  I think Saint Elizabeth CHS was a similar experience for me when I arrived there in 2003.  The many teachers on the faculty had been there for a long time, and a culture of discipline, love of learning, respect for community had been established and sustained for many years.  This is what I found at Saint Joseph High School.  The students at both these schools were excellent as well because there was a high level of understanding and appreciation for a spirit of learning that would benefit everyone in the community, because everyone accepted the responsibility to contribute to this environment.  It was very different at Father Bressani CHS.

     (November 23, 2020).  Today’s snowfall, which started this morning, and is expected to end this evening, around mid-night, reminds me of the driving experiences I was challenged with, both driving to Barrie, and even return trips from Barrie.  On some evenings, I would simply stay in Barrie because it was so bad.  I remember staying at the Holiday Inn and with a teacher friend, Mike, who was an usher at my wedding.  I have lost touch with Mike, a very nice person.  There were trips to Barrie that were very challenging to see and navigate.  Many of the teachers at St. Joseph did not like me because I would make it to school on a snow day, while those teachers living in Barrie would call in that the weather is not safe for them to attend school.  I guess I made them look bad.  There were some very tricky situations, particularly in the dark return trips home.  One adventure in particular took place on a morning drive to Barrie.  I could not understand why so many vehicles were in the ditches, off to the side of the roadway, highway #400.  It was sunny outside.  After arriving at school, a few colleagues asked me about my drive to school.  I was curious why they were so concerned and mentioned the many vehicles I saw, located off the roadway and into the ditches.  “Black-Ice”!  I had never heard of it and was very fortunate that particular morning.  Other experiences involved my occasional stop on the highway because I was feeling sleepy.  I had a favorite spot where trucks would turn off as well.  It was a nice space between the action of the traffic and about 50 feet off the roadway; a curved road strip, where I would park and close my eyes for about 10 minutes.  It was enough for me to return to the roadway, feeling alert and confident.