Bernard Walter

Tag: Teaching

  • April 23, 2025

    April 23, 2025

    I tried to publish a blog post yesterday only to find out that the website has been down for a while. What was meant to be a quick, 15- to 20-minute thing turned into me trying to figure out DNS settings with blurry eyes until about midnight. Somehow, I ended up getting it to work.

  • October 10, 2023

    I learned something about myself today that I already knew. See, I was given the day to clean a room of the library. Just the one room. It was a mess, filled with loose cables and broken computers. Spending the day working on just the one task reminded me of how I work best when…

  • October 3, 2023

    I gave my students “toilet tokens” today. Last night, I printed off some miniature toilets on my 3D printer and each of my students in one of my classes one. I’ve had enough of them leaving class every single day.

  • September 22, 2023

    One of my students asked me how I’m doing this afternoon. I told him, and the rest of the class, that I’ve been in a terrible mood for the last couple of weeks and can’t figure out why. We joked about how it was probably because of school and them, the class. Truthfully, I don’t…

  • September 15, 2023

    Do you see yourself as a leader? This is a writing prompt. A couple of years ago, I had a vice-principal who was encouraging me to take my principal qualifications. She told me that I have leadership qualities, that I like to move conversations and ideas forward. I appreciate what she said but I don’t…

  • September 13, 2023

    I think today was the sixth day of school. Already, I’m muttering under my breath, swearing out loud when I think no one is around, and annoyed with students’ behaviour. I will say that I do really enjoy wearing the tongueless shoes I got in the summer. They’re rather comfortable.

  • September 12, 2023

    Just outside the school, there are two bus stops. It’s really annoying to have to stop at the south end of the school yard and then again at the north end when following a city bus that’s dropping off students. The staff parking lot is a right turn after the bus stop to the north.…

  • September 8, 2023

    It’s been over a week since I’ve been to the workshop. I was reminded that I’d been away when I got my box of new materials in the mail. The package has some weight to it.

  • September 7, 2023

    I’ve been grumpy about work. This isn’t my usual curmudgeon self coming through, this is a real response to returning to work after the summer. This morning, I was thinking about why.

  • September 5, 2023

    Today was the first day of school. It was a good day, despite the scorching heat. Within 20 minutes of entering the building, I was dripping with sweat. It continued like that throughout most of the day. Luckily, the library has air conditioning. The classrooms, however, do not.

  • August 31, 2023

    I’m not ready for the new school year to begin. I went to school today for a few hours but didn’t get enough done. Going in tomorrow is going to be a pain. After work, I went to the workshop, where I managed to finish an order that I’ve been working on.

  • August 29, 2023

    It finally happened: we went to school today. Yesterday morning, we opted to stay in bed. This morning, we got ourselves up and out. Hannah even woke up early enough to go for a run.