March Break

I love March Break! I'm in the middle of my second practicum at a school in Hamilton and it's been very interesting. I'm teaching a different subject, but also a completely different type of student than I did last time. It's been challenging, but fun. I have two more weeks to go - one of them is literacy week, getting the grade 10's ready to write the literacy test on the 29th.

As Rich stated on his blog we were in Kingston visiting my family for a few days. We celebrated Rich and my birthday's, along with Easter as all of us but Gary were together. Mom made an awesome birthday dessert that I can't wait to get my hands on, called Banoffee pie. So good. Anyway the really cool part of the week is I got to shadow my Mom for a day in court.

The first part of the day we spent in remand court, which was mostly a bunch of date setting. The rest of the day with the exception of a very brief stint in the video bail court we were in the guilty plea court. The judge is someone that goes to Rotary with my Dad, and they have a good relationship. He really likes Mom and has a lot of personality. I saw a few guys get fined, some get put on probation, some get taken to jail, some get let off and their record cleared (rare). I've never been in a court room before, it was definitely a new experience. You have to bow to the judge when you come in, and if you make eye contact he'll usually nod back.

Dad and Rich joined us at the very end of the day, and the court clerk asked if we wanted to meet the judge. Mom didn't want to disturb him but the rest of us said yes. He was very funny and kind. He let me ask a bunch of questions and said he'd love to visit a class some day when I was teaching Civics or something. He is one of the few judges in this court that use a laptop while he's on the bench. I asked if he played solitaire while he was up there. I totally would. It's surprising how many people had been there many, many times before, and how many seemed to know exactly where they were going.

Anyway it was eye opening and a great experience. The judge said I was welcome in his courtroom anytime (which was a kind thing to say, although it is a public court!). We are home now, and relaxing our vacation away. Hope everyone else is having a great March Break!