Saturday 29 March 2008

Holidays & Hobbies


I'm halfway through my two week break and I've finally slowed down to a normal pace. It's unfortunate that these holidays are so early, it's only been 7 weeks since Summer holidays ended and we have 12 weeks of term ahead. The Department of Education thinks that holidays can only happen whenever Easter falls, even if it's early. They don't want to give us an extra day off during term time!

It always takes me a while to adjust to not being at work. I think it's because teaching is so structured that I don't need to think about when to do things - I have bells to tell me! I work at such a frenzied pace that I don't realise how exhausted I am until it all finishes.

I hibernated for the Easter long weekend, my brain couldn't shift into gear to socialise or do much more than clean up a bit, read and watch tv.

I've also realised that I need some other interests to balance out my life, all my time seems to be zapped up by work and I don't want it to be that way. Unfortunately the hobby I love best is travelling - and with a mortgage to pay, travel is a luxury I can't afford for a while. Photography is another, but that tends to go hand in hand with travelling. I will admit that I am have been known to crochet a mean baby rug - but that little hobby sometimes seems embarrassingly grandma-ish.

I'm hoping that blogging will be another way to expand my interests and interestingness (I know that's not a word!). Any other suggestions for some new adventures?

Friday 14 March 2008

Global Warming and the simpsons


Today it is 40 degrees celsius and we are at school. No air conditioning in my classrooms today, just poorly insulated rooms with fans to move around the stifling heat. The kids are so well behaved and putting up with it bravely (at least the heat is dulling their desire to rebel) but really, they can't be expected to do any real learning. I mean, it's meant to be Autumn in March - the month of the best weather in my city. I guess this is just another sign of global warming.

Speaking of Global Warming, my Year 10 classes have been studying "An Inconvenient Truth" and looking at how it persuades its audience. Today I have made a transparent excuse to watch "The Simpsons Movie" to see how it deals with the issue of climate change and makes reference to An inconvenient truth (there is one scene that is a direct parody). The kids see right through it, but who cares, it's too darn hot!

My Learning Outcome for this lesson is "To understand how comedy communicates" and the Challenge for the Day is "to be a still as possible to keep the temperature down".

I'm such an awesome teacher!

Hope no one passes out today. There's usually at least one.

Sunday 9 March 2008

Seeing students in the street

I have made a conscious decision to live a 30 minute drive from my school. The key reason for this is that i don't want to see students out of school. I don't want them serving me in the supermarket and I don't want to bump into them when I go for a walk. (Also the school is 45km out of the city and is pretty much the country - which scares me).

So this morning, Sunday, I walked up the road for coffee and the paper and directly at the end of my street I saw one of my students!

Now we have 1600 students so the chance of finding one who is in my home group, 35km out of her habitat has to be pretty low. Which of the following things do you think I should have done?

a. Cross the street and say hi to her and her family.
b. Wave casually and keep walking.
c. Duck my head and walk quickly in the opposite direction.

I chose C. It was a gut reaction that I didn't even think about. I did not want to break the sanctity of my private space.

I hope she didn't see me.

Saturday 8 March 2008

Child Genius

Today I saw with my own two eyes that the class divide is definitely deepening in Australia.

I just began a tutoring job for a Grade 6 boy who attends a private school. He is brilliant at maths. I've been employed to help him improve his English skills so that he can get a scholarship for High school at one of the elite private schools. His reading and writing was well above standard, with a fabulous vocabulary and orginal thoughts.

Put this kid in the classroom with my Year 10 kids and he would out do most of them.

What does this say about our education system? A school in the lower socioeconomic parts of town does have lower academic standards than private schools, unquestionably. Are the students less capable? I don't think so. But they don't come from a culture where higher education is aspired to.

Their parents may not have finished high school, so from Year 10 onwards - they're on their own. Their parents might be completely supportive of their education, but they can't help the kids with it.

How do we overcome this problem? I have some extremely bright students who don't have the drive that this 6th Grader has. Perhaps they don't know how far they could go. Or they don't aspire to things beyond what they already know. Can this be changed? Should it?

I really want my students to be their best. I'd love to see them go to University and change the world. But if that's not what they want, should I be pushing them on to this? What's my role?

All I know is that a Grade 6 kid whose parents are willing to spend 100s of dollars every week on extra tutoring is going to whip the arses of most of my students who would prefer to socialise than study.

Friday 7 March 2008

Cupcakes

One of the students in my Year 11 English class is a pain. He has been since i first taught him in Year 8. He's actually a nice kid, but doesn't ever want to do any work and gets himself into trouble constantly. He does stupid things like start fights over haircuts with kids who will tear him to pieces.

I like him, but lots of teachers can't handle him in their classes. I hope that he makes it to the end of school.

Today it was exciting to be told that things are looking up for this student. As part of his hospitality training, the class entered a cupcake competition with 100s of other students at the top chef training school in the country. The one prize was a day working with the head pastry chef/trainer, worth $1000.

My student didn't win. However, his teacher asked what happened and found out he had made it into the top 6. The chef commented on the perfect presentation of his cupcake and his dedication to the preparation. After some discussion he gave the teacher his name and number and said the student should contact him and join one of his classes for the day - which was equal to first prize.

On hearing about this today, the whole staff room spontaneously cheered as we saw a ray of hope for a troublesome student. Any achievement at our school is celebrated - who knows how long it will be before it happens again?

It was just a cupcake.

But cupcakes do make us happy.