Learning More About Blogging

Hey! I am doing a workshop on Blogs and Wikis. I may end up with a new Blog but on Wordpress - one related to my new job. I will still keep this as my personal blog. I have finally figured out, I think, with the help of the workshop leader, how to enable comments on this Catscupboard blog. So...comment away! Or, stayed tuned as this blog develops to the point where it is worthy of comment. I am going to try to add to this blog on a daily basis, but we'll see. Next week, I will be in my school every day, practicing a long commute by public transit each way. May not have the energy to do anything else for a week or so, until I become acclimatized to the demands of each day.

So I Got the New Job

Okay. It's been over 2 months since I last posted anything on this blog. Well, I did say that this is a new medium for me and it would take time for me to get into the habit of making regular entries. So far I have had no comments on my blogs, and I suspect that I have not enabled that function yet. Lots to learn.

It's been a crazy couple of months. There was a placement available to me, full-time drama, in my old school district. But I also got on the eligible to hire list in Toronto. Around the long weekend in July, I had three interviews and three job offers in three days. It was really difficult for me to decide which job to take, as all three schools had a lot to offer. I finally decided when I asked myself this question: If this job is in fact my final job - if I never leave the school I go to now - where would I most like to be when I retire? Then the answer became clear. It was a heart over mind decision. I chose to work at a large arts high school.

I also accepted a job as librarian. The other schools had offered a split timetable. I don't necessarily want to remain full-time teacher-librarian until I retire. But it will be a good way of getting back into the school system after a 4-year absence. I am a little nervous about taking the role of T-L, because of that absence. But right now I am taking some short courses to get up to speed with the systems used in this school district.

So, ready or not, here I come.

Back to Work Plan

I will be ready to go back to work in September after a 4 year absence. But what will I be doing? That remains a mystery. The agreement was that I would inform my employer when I was ready to return, and I would be placed in a suitable position. However, it appears that it is not that simple. There are complications that prevent them from including me on the staffing list just yet, and all of the positions for which I am qualified are being filled. By the time all of the red tape is cleared up, I am not sure what they will want me to do. I am keeping my ear to the ground, and am ready to take advantage of new opportunities should they arise. But if nothing materializes, lord knows what assignment I may face come fall.

I have not been able to post a blog for the past few days, but will try to do one daily from now on. I will also try to learn how to but links into the postings, that connect with relevant sites.

The Queen's Birthday

"The 24th of May is the Queen's Birthday - if we don't get a holiday, we'll all run away!"
I can't go through the May long weekend without hearing that childhood refrain. It was such a strong family tradition to have fireworks on that night. When I was a kid, my mom and dad would buy the fireworks and set them off in our backyard, with sparklers for all the kids, and the snakes and schoolhouses to burn before the sun went down to stave off our impatience.

One tragic day, just before the long weekend, or maybe it was on that Saturday, my dad was burning brush off the back lot behind our house. He had cleared one large parcel the day before, and had soaked the blackened earth with the hose. But there must have been a bit of peat smoldering just below the surface, for as we kids ran about the new play area, my little sister's frayed jeans caught fire. I tackled her and sent a friend for my dad who was working just over a rise. He rushed up, smothered the flames with his hands, and tore the pant leg off. My mom knew enough to run icy cold water in the tub to cool her burned calf immediately, and then they were off to the hospital. Unfortunately, they faced a long wait. A young boy had thrown a 'cannon' firecracker into an empty oil barrel, which had blasted back at him and burned over 60% of his body. In our small town, all of the doctors were working over him. My sister lay across my mom's lap in the emergency room for hours. At last she was seen, and her burned leg was dressed. But a few months later, she had to have a skin graft to repair the damage.

Needless to say, we were never allowed anything more dangerous than a sparkler. But the celebrations went on, and grew into neighbourhood cooperative efforts which continued with my own children when they were small. As they grew older, we opted for public displays. I have another story about that which I will write some other time. The odd thing is, that while I was always very cautious around fire with my children, and rarely ever light candles in the house, my little sister fills her house with lit candles, and seems to have no fear of fire at all.

One Application Less

That's done. I just emailed and faxed the complete package. The posting said to send a resume, and maybe I should have left it at that. So I put everything into one attachement: cover letter, resume, and a list of references at the end of the resume. Six pages in all. Good grief! They are probably going to take one look at that pile of paper and toss it.

But I hope they don't! The letter clearly ties my skills and experiences to the description in the posting, so it would be good if someone read it. However, the summary at the front of my resume might have been sufficient without the cover letter. Also, since it is four years since I have worked at the school, I have lost a lot of contacts that worked with me over the fifteen years that I was arts head there. It makes it tough to find the right list of references - and maybe I didn't even have to have the list! I could have left it at "References available on request".

Oh, well. One less application to do. What I really need is the help of a professional head-hunter!

Job Search

For the last couple of days I have been working on a job application for a position that reads like it was created for me. So why is it so difficult for me to get that across in a cover letter? The problem is that the description of the responsibilities, and the qualifications, is a list so long and complex that it cannot be covered and supported within a one or two page letter.

My resume is jam-packed with information. Probably too much - and yet what to leave out? So in order to make it more readable, I like to write the cover letter as a way of making the resume accessible. Up until I saw this job posting, I had concentrated on a letter and resume designed for educational leadership. But this is a job in curriculum leadership. By the time I had added in the bits and pieces about that, my cover letter was 4 pages long. I have managed to edit it down to two complete pages, but will give it another go tomorrow in hopes of simplifying it and reducing it to a page and a half. And then, like it or not, I will have to submit it to make the deadline. So...wish me luck!

About "the Cat's Cupboard" game.

I thought that I had this in a file in Word, but cannot find it, so maybe I never did write it out. The thing is, my grandmother used to play a game with us (my little sisters and I) when we were small. She called it "The Cat's Cupboard". I never forgot it, and I always loved that title - maybe because my name is Catherine, maybe because I love cats, but mostly, I think, because the cat's cupboard is a kind of pandora's box - it contains all manner of things.

When I started a home business years ago, it was a sort of umbrella under which I managed all of my arts activities - dance classes, choreography, storytelling, and the design and marketing of fabric toys. I never really gave up the name, and have used it to identify myself as an artist ever since. So it is only natural that I named this blog, and my google pages, the Cat's Cupboard.

Here's how it goes:

The Cat's Cupboard - a nursery game my grandma used to play with me. Can be played with two or more people. I used to play with my Grandmother and my two little sisters. I taught my kids.

A Holds out fist, thumb up.

B What's that?

A Cat's cupboard.

B What's in it?

A Bread and cheese.

B Where's my share?

A Cat's got it.

B Where's the cat?

A In the bush.

B Where's the bush?

A Fire burned it.

B Where's the fire?

A Water quenched it.

B Where's the water?

A Bull drank it.

B Where's the bull?

A Farmer (or butcher) killed it.

B Where's the farmer?

A Rope hung him.

B Where's the rope?

A Knife cut it.

B Where's the knife?

A Hammer broke it.

B Where's the hammer?

A Behind the door cracking nuts. The first one to crack a smile and show their teeth gets a smack!

Then commences a staring contest with lips tightly shut. The first one to giggle gets a kiss on the cheek or a tap on the wrist by the other.

B Grabs A's thumb with B's fist, B's thumb up.

A What's that?

B Cat's cupboard...and so on until all thumbs are in a tower in the centre and no one has any free hands left to cover smiles. And of course, there is all the hanging and the cutting and the smashing images - sort of forbidden when you are a kid. Also the game gradually increases in speed and level of hysteria. It's great fun!

the Cat's Cupboard

Welcome to the Cat's Cupboard.

This blog is linked to http://cath.thompson.googlepages.com and I will try to get to it, if not daily, at least weekly. My name is Catherine M. Thompson. So, let's see...