Hi, I'm still here! I have made numerous attempts to get back on the blog, but felt stuck on the perceived need to finish documenting my travels. Lots of stuff happens when you are traveling, and it is bloody hard to keep up, especially if you start to expect it of yourself. Way to suck… Continue reading Don’t Be a Language Stealer
Next year, I am moving on from my current teacher context to work at a special education school. I’ll be with the 15 to 21-year-olds, who are transitioning from school to their young adult lives, potentially as part of the workforce or day programs depending on their pathway/profile. It's interesting to reflect on the haerenga… Continue reading Changing Contexts: Emotional Farewells and Starting SpEd
How does technology make you feel? More often than not, getting off my phone, especially after a long period of time will make me a) gross (zombified, unproductive, vegetative) b) sad - either depressed about the future, angry about something or anxious in someway. I love movies, shows, and the like but binging Netflix, Neon… Continue reading Brain Dumps, Teachering and Too Much Tech
I never thought I'd get paid to pass on existential dread to teenagers. I'm kidding of course: they bring their own, and they bring it in bucketloads. We share in the joy that is questioning everything, including but not limited to unmovable movers, uncaused causers, infinite regresses, and... temporality. Enter: Jeremy Bearimy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFm9ClqlGuo This term… Continue reading Philosophising with Kids, Paradoxes and Inventing Religions
The year has only just started and I'm already finding it difficult to turn my work brain off. Whenever I have a significant shift in my schedule, I struggle to adjust for a while. Often, a week or two (or three) is spent in limbo. Going back to school is a prime example. Does anyone… Continue reading Bribing Teenagers and Dragonfly Brain
It's hard to believe this is only the second time I'm discussing my autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. The first time was my "coming out" blog: Aspergirl Gone Rogue. It's genuinely like that, in a way. As someone who has worked extensively with special needs youth, and is both autistic and a lesbian, the disabled… Continue reading 8 Things Women on the Spectrum Want You to Know
I'm as exhausted as I am exhilarated by my first proper week of full time teaching. My students are fantastic, my colleagues are a tremendously welcoming and lovely bunch, and my feet hurt a heck of a lot. This teachering thing I'm doing has has coincided with moving houses, so that has been a laugh… Continue reading This Teachering Thing
I am exhausted, somewhat frazzled, yet have survived week 2 of my first ever teaching practicum. Praise be. No kōrero teka - student teaching is the wild west, and I'm the cactus: prickly, conspicuously green and always full of water. The kupu Māori for immersion also means 'to drown'. It is simultaneously both poetic and… Continue reading Rumaki i te Rāwhiti | The Cactus Chronicles
The older I get, the more I realise that identity is extraordinary complex. In my own context, I have a lot of questions of myself, my friends, my whānau, and the communities I am involved in. Shock horror - Abby has more questions? Such is the life of a philosophy major, a poet, a writer,… Continue reading Navigating Identity: Being Pākehā in Aotearoa
In the last month, I have been employed (on a casual basis) at two, going on three, different jobs. I know, I'm insane. As if studying full-time wasn't enough already? I'm a serial over committer - help me? In all seriousness though, I have needed to get better at saying no: forty-four hours of work… Continue reading Working Hard, Hardly Working?
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