![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Feb. 1st, 2010 12:05 pmCanberra has some features of a small town and some of a big city. Some nice people have been caught up in small town panic this last fortnight or so, and I only discovered it now.
I think that the Canberra mental health community is a little on-edge because of staff changes and budget changes in a whole raft of areas. Some of the timing has been less than perfect, too. One of everyone's favourite staff members discovered she had to promote up or get out just before she left for Christmas. And then, of course, I lost my teaching somewhere else*.
Apparently students from my Wednesday class and a whole bunch of people who walk through or hang round (not part of the class, but they like listening and sometimes joining) panicked because they thought I had left. People who hae never studied with me turned up on a Wednesday and asked, worriedly, "Where's Gillian." **
I still have my Wednesday teaching. My Wednesday students are still stuck with me. This is what they should be worried about, becaues my sense of humour is as vile as ever.
Our funding comes from a different parcel to most, and so we are an intact class. I have no idea who is my administrator any more and how to get approval for extras, but I have payment for my teaching and I have a place to teach and even if I didn't, I'd arrange to come in personally and say goodbye. I wouldn't just leave like that, with me still alive and living in a suburb not 20 kms away.
I love these people. They're such a joyous part of my life. I'm distressed that they're distressed.
Fortunately, thanks to the kindness of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
submarine_bells, I have a special present to welcome them into the new year. They'll get it the day after tomorrow. That present and me there, in front of them, saying "Now, who wants to read their homework first," should bring us back to normal.
There's an upside to all of this. I was kinda informed that someone (elsewhere again, other teaching) was worried that I was too academic and not interactive enough. This class is all about interaction and practical writing skills. And they were scared I was gone. I feel much loved and I also feel much more secure. My next task is to make my students feel more secure, which is easy: all I have to do is teach.
* Clarification: By 'somewhere else' I mean somewhere entirely unrelated to the mental health community. Just in case anyone's confused. There are lots of financial decisions in Canberra in December/January. It's that sort of town.
** Additional clarification: I hadn't turned up because it was still school holidays and my Wednesday classes follow the school terms. Today is not my day for clarity of exression, is it?
I think that the Canberra mental health community is a little on-edge because of staff changes and budget changes in a whole raft of areas. Some of the timing has been less than perfect, too. One of everyone's favourite staff members discovered she had to promote up or get out just before she left for Christmas. And then, of course, I lost my teaching somewhere else*.
Apparently students from my Wednesday class and a whole bunch of people who walk through or hang round (not part of the class, but they like listening and sometimes joining) panicked because they thought I had left. People who hae never studied with me turned up on a Wednesday and asked, worriedly, "Where's Gillian." **
I still have my Wednesday teaching. My Wednesday students are still stuck with me. This is what they should be worried about, becaues my sense of humour is as vile as ever.
Our funding comes from a different parcel to most, and so we are an intact class. I have no idea who is my administrator any more and how to get approval for extras, but I have payment for my teaching and I have a place to teach and even if I didn't, I'd arrange to come in personally and say goodbye. I wouldn't just leave like that, with me still alive and living in a suburb not 20 kms away.
I love these people. They're such a joyous part of my life. I'm distressed that they're distressed.
Fortunately, thanks to the kindness of
submarine_bells, I have a special present to welcome them into the new year. They'll get it the day after tomorrow. That present and me there, in front of them, saying "Now, who wants to read their homework first," should bring us back to normal.There's an upside to all of this. I was kinda informed that someone (elsewhere again, other teaching) was worried that I was too academic and not interactive enough. This class is all about interaction and practical writing skills. And they were scared I was gone. I feel much loved and I also feel much more secure. My next task is to make my students feel more secure, which is easy: all I have to do is teach.
* Clarification: By 'somewhere else' I mean somewhere entirely unrelated to the mental health community. Just in case anyone's confused. There are lots of financial decisions in Canberra in December/January. It's that sort of town.
** Additional clarification: I hadn't turned up because it was still school holidays and my Wednesday classes follow the school terms. Today is not my day for clarity of exression, is it?