Mosaics Teacher?

Next year I have been given an Integrated Projects class that consists of teaching students Mosaic tiling. I am not an art/technology trained teacher, although media studies was considered in the art stream when I did my course and I did those teaching rounds with an art teacher. The Art/Technology people definitely don't consider me to be 'one of them'. I am more confident teaching English. I have taught Humanities though and had no training at all in that area.

I am excited because this week two of the teachers are going to show me how to grout and what better project to grout than my unfinished mosaic table! So, no matter how this experiment (me teaching an arty subject) goes, I will have finally finished this project! That's got to be good.

I enjoyed making the table and I love mosaics, so it could be fun from that perspective. It will no doubt be a learning curve and hopefully not too steep. I am confident that I will be supported by the teachers, because they are good people.

Busy Busy Times

Last night we had the Christmas concert in the park in the middle of town. It was great. I walked down, enjoyed the kids music making and walked home.

It's been frantic at work. My Digital Storytelling class are undertaking to make a short film for each homeroom to be shown to the whole school next week and as these things always happen, at the last minute, there are still some that aren't complete yet. I am rushing around to get that organised in lunchtimes and feeling very flustered about it.

I still haven't started my report writing yet, but am making a lot of progress with my marking, in snatches here and there. We have a public holiday on Friday for the local show, so I expect, I will spend it writing reports.

Today we went to an 'adventure' park with our year nines as part of a transition program. They are going to the senior campus next year. It was exhausting.

My team talked me into participating in a couple of things. So I did the 'Leap of Faith' which involved walking a plank with a harness on, up very very high.

I also did one of the team activities. We had to all as a team get over this really high wall. There was one student left who hadn't done it and as I was attempting to convince her it would be fine, some bright spark suggested I show her, for extra points for the team. I would have gladly disappeared, yet instead allowed my students to boost me up and drag me up over this wall.

Bruises galore! Why do I always fall for these things? The kids are younger and braver than me! I am so tired, but it was great to see the kids push their boundaries. Some of them are amazingly strong, brave and fit. One more day of teaching and then a marathon report writing weekend, including my birthday somehow. Oh, I have to make my wish list!

Restorative Justice

Tonight we had a speaker talk to us about 'Restorative Justice'. Terry O'Connell came to our school to run a session and it was a bit of a shame that only about a quarter of the teachers attended, because it was brilliant. I totally agree with most of what he said and I can't wait to explain it to my students and practise it with next year. I am going to be one of the year 9 co-coordinators next year.

The result of the no compromise situation, I ended up getting the position I wanted!

The power of restorative justice, I feel is that it is relationship building. It also gives all involved to have a learning experience. This is the kind of environment I want to work in and belong to. Read the article in the link about Terry because it outlines more about what this system is about. It works equally in all relationships I imagine and I had a play with it tonight with my son over a small situation and found the questions very satisfying and the outcome pleasing.

I have learnt more in the last three days than I have in a long time. My brain feels very satisfied! It's wonderful when you have highly productive learning experiences. A great high for me and rare too! Often it can be tedious and hard to get through, yet both courses I have attended were really interesting and useful.

I didn't get home from work until late and have mounds of corrections so I am beginning to feel a little under the hammer.

Who Do Teens Admire?

This week in my year 9 English class, students were delivering prepared oral presentations on the subject "A Person I Admire". I love this assignment. Every year, I have been delighted as students have usually prepared well and revealed the heroes in their lives.

Most years there are a couple of 'celebrity' heroes and they have predominantly been sporting and entertainment heroes until this year. I was delighted with the 'famous' heroes chosen this year, social activists, business people doing extraordinary things and courageous survivors were the only 'personally unknowns' in the speeches. This is really important to me because I feel young people need real role models. Role models that are worthy of their admiration and worth imitating.

Most students select a family member. Grandparents, mothers, fathers, aunts, brothers and sisters are all the people most looked up to by teenagers over the 6 years I have been teaching year 9 English. The love and gratitude the teenagers express in these speeches are precious. Whenever I can, I let parents know this because I wonder if they realise how much their young person appreciates and respects them.Usually they are surprised.

Tears came to my eyes in class a few times whilst listening to the speeches as they were so touching. As I looked around the room, some of the students were feeling similarly moved. I felt proud this class has created such a safe learning environment that they can share their passions and express their emotions within it. It feels human to me.

Schools Today

I've just returned from our schools fashion parade. The talent displayed by the kids just blows me away. The beauty of each individual kid who modelled the clothes, all different shapes and sizes, hair colours, individuals shone for all to see. The creativity and work that was on display in the drawings and sketches in the foyer, in the recycled fashion items modelled by the students was stunning. It saddens me that it is so obvious to the adults in their lives, parents, teachers and friends, yet they miss it in themselves. This is why I loved Anthea Paul's awesome speech last night.

It's been a busy week at school and I have seen some amazing displays of goodness this week. On Monday we held a Remembrance Day service. A group of students organised and delivered speeches acknowledging their appreciation of the selflessness of those who served the country. Students then pinned names of family members who had served to a string. The remainder of the student body, roughly 600 students all seated on the ground around the flagpole, were so silent and respectful, you could hear the names gently flapping in the wind. Every year I witness this in awe. I look at the sea of faces and feel proud to work among these kids who rise to such occasions.

It is also a privilege to work alongside the teachers who make these things happen. The teacher responsible for the Remembrance Day service and the Fashion Parade sits next to me at my desk. I watch her every year making calls, driving around town, running fundraisers to make these events a success. She gets exhausted, tired, stressed yet her passion for her students and life keeps her turning up every day to make these truly educational experiences happen. She is not paid any more than other teachers at our school, she has no special position, she enriches our school community because that is an expression of who she is. I appreciate her greatly.

The media rarely reports these things. Reporters don't tell about the kids who support one another through family, friendship and health crisis's. They don't find it newsworthy to inform about the efforts that go into fundraising and social action in most schools around the country. They don't celebrate the talent and creativity we get to see in the art shows, fashion parades, musical performances, to mention a few of the events I get to see every year.

Yes, we will all be exhausted over the next few weeks wrapping up the year into corrections, reports and award nights, but it is entirely worth it.

Students Today... (a bit of a rant)

This could make you think.....

A Vision of Students Today by Mike Welsh and class


On my school based blog that I recently deleted due to lack of interest from fellow staff members, I had posted The Machine is Using Us. I read today about Mike Welsh's latest clip Information R/evolution on Sultana Blog:Observations on How We've Changed and noticed the clip above.

Granted the students are obviously university students, yet from conversations I have with secondary students (12-16yr old) replace Facebook with Myspace and you would get some similar feedback. I have noticed many of them don't use email as much as we 'grownups' do either. Quite a few students use forums to discuss their gaming and other online interests. They socialise and use their mobiles similarly.

Another good clip on this theme, I had previously posted on that other blog was...

Pay Attention


Youtube is blocked at my school. We have 4 computer labs shared between 22 classes. MP3 players and mobile phones are banned. There are good reasons for this, but I often wish we could harness the positive use of these things. I wish some others got over being scared and listening to the scare campaigns about the latest scary thing that happened online, and learn and be effective for this generation.

Schools aren't protecting students from online threats by excluding the Internet from their education. The one place they could get some leadership and guidance, is largely ignoring online experience.

Sometimes I wonder if the first biro ever brought into a school was used as a weapon and stabbed someone in the eye, would they have been banned across the country? If someone reflected on the amount of times students use paper to make planes and fly them around, thus causing a distraction, should paper be banned? And what about paper cuts? I know I am becoming cynical now, but I'm frustrated.

Interested vs Interesting

We all want to be interesting, don't we? When it comes to interacting with others, you can have more success in your communications if you are genuinely interested, rather than trying to be interesting.

I watched a film on Saturday night that my daughter recommended to me. "Freedom Writers" was about a young, idealistic teacher who went into a pretty scary school and worked at making it a place of learning for her class. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the end of the movie cause my DVD player wouldn't play the second half, yet what I saw was that her genuine interest in them, won them over, and allowed them to be able to listen to her.

It echoes Stephen Covey's fifth habit, "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood" in "7 Habits of Highly Effective People". I see a lot of teachers put hours into planning fantastic lessons with students, but until they have built rapport with their class, the most interesting lessons will be hijacked by resentful and uncooperative students. When you show genuine interest in students and come to know them as people, you can take them anywhere, teach them anything. Why didn't anyone tell me that when I was a student-teacher?

When I have focused on trying to be interesting to students I find myself feeling like a one man show. Who can compete with all the amusements available to young people today? If you ask them, they will tell you all kinds of useful things to assist in their learning.

Ironically, I also saw in that movie, her passion for her work, became a priority and she stopped being interested in her partner. So the reverse became true at home. He became resentful and their relationship began to sour. I didn't get to see what happened, but I hope it worked out.

Today in one of my classes a relief teacher had just taught them and I noticed there was a mind map on the whiteboard. It was a subject that class usually complains about and I don't think they really enjoy. I asked them about it and they were positive and enthusiastic about the lesson they'd had. One student said, "He asked us about what we thought, he didn't tell us what to think, it was great, I learnt heaps". I know it's not always practical for teachers to focus on what students think, but if you do it often enough, you can give them something to think about.

It is a mark of respect to listen to another. Before the holidays I read the article about respect and I have been thinking a lot about it. It really resonated with me, yet I have been wondering, who teaches that kind of stuff to teachers. I am mentoring a first year teacher this year, so I am interested in finding ways to share this kind of information. Student management becomes much easier when you have genuine working relationships.

Respect

Yesterday whilst waiting between interviews at parent teacher night I read this great piece of writing from 'The Age': 'Show respect, don't demand it'. There is so much accuracy in this article that I would recommend you to read it and reflect on it.
A colleague gave it to me for a read and as soon as I read the headline I agreed. I guess the bottom line is really that as teachers we can demand all we want, yet from experience, both personal and observed, the only way we are ever going to get it, is if we give it. Not just as teachers either I would suggest, as parents, partners, employees, even bloggers I imagine.
My parent teacher interviews were wonderful. I met with mostly very loving, supportive parents who have great kids. It was a pleasure to be able to share with them my observations about progress and personal gratitude for their young people.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Today I asked a kid to get his parents in for an interview. I have taught this young man for 3 years. He is the only student I have ever taught for three years in a row. It has been a pleasure to teach him. I have never requested an interview with his parents. I have never felt any need to see them. He has usually worked well, behaved well and been caring and compassionate with other students. I realised today, this would be the final parent-teacher interviews I would have a chance to meet them. I really want to tell them face to face, what a wonderful job they have done with their son.
Positive Calls
Our principal asked us last year to make a positive phone call home. She suggested that instead of focusing on negative behaviour and phoning parents to let them know what the child was doing wrong, that we chose someone who was doing the right thing and phoned the parents and let them know their child was doing great. I took the challenge and phoned a parent of a kid I'd been quite impressed with that week. The parent was delighted and the kid was my friend for life. I still get a huge smile every time I see him, he's left our school now.
Good Intentions
After that experience, I thought I ought to do it once a week. It made me feel so good as well. I haven't done it since though. I'm setting an intention to make at least one of those calls this week before school finishes. I hope that those parents do visit me at parent teacher interviews too!

12 Must Read Books for Teens

I said earlier that I would create my own list of 12 books to read before you turn 12. I can't do it. I have given it a lot of thought and as I teacher I am constantly referring students to books. Mind you, my students are generally between the ages of 12- 16. I have to know a young person before I could suggest a book for them. I have read a lot of books for young adults. There is such an amazing variety. So I am going to pass on this list. I have mentioned many books that I love for young people. There are 46 blog posts on this blog about young adult reading. This however is only for the last 35 months that I've been blogging. I've read heaps before I started blogging. It's just too hard.

My Shakey Reading Memories
I can't really remember what I read before I turned 12 with any accuracy, but I know Enid Blyton was big for me. I also read a whole series about a nurse called Sue Barton. It was responsible for me thinking I was going to be a nurse when I grew up. In reality I hate the sight of blood though. I loved 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and lots of fairy tales. Some of my favourites were 'The Princess and the Pea' and 'Rapunzel'. Milly Molly Mandy, Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables were some others I loved. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and lots of school readers I can recall. I remember wishing there were books written by Australians about Australians because the books I read had the seasons and landscape all wrong. I would love to hear from others what they read around these times. I was born in 1965.

Reading Challenge Stocktake

Premiers Reading Challenge
At school our kids participate in the Premiers Reading Challenge at year 7, 8 and 9. They need to read 15 books in a period of around 6 months. Most of them complete this and I try to challenge them to extend themselves a little. 10 of the books they read need to come from a list. I like to complete the challenge also and read 10 from the CBCA Award shortlist. The CBCA Award winners are announced during Childrens Book Week which is 18th - 24th August. This co-incides with the end of the Premiers Reading Challenge, which for schools is 17th August.
My Challenge Progress
The challenge began on the 31st January and in this time I've read; 'Don't Call Me Ishmael' by Michael Gerard Bauer , 'The Red Shoe' by Ursula Dubosarsky, 'Red Spikes' by Margo Lanagan and 'One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke. From my own choice books, I've read 'The Lollipop Shoes' by Joanne Harris, 'The Witch of Portobello' by Paulo Coelho, 'The Journeys of Socrates' by Dan Millman, 'Stalker' by Hazel Edwards , 'The Running Man' by Michael Gerard Bauer, 'The Zahir' by Paulo Coelho, 'Theodora's Gift' by Ursula Duborsarsky, 'White Time by Margo Lanagan, 'Flying South' by L M Elliott and 'I Heard the Owl Call My Name' by Margaret Craven. So I've actually over read in my own choice section. Well I guess that is the challenge! I have the last two from the shortlist for older readers, and one of the 2007 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books shortlisted books, because it had red in the title of course. I aim to read these during the next week.
In Summary
So I've read 4 out of 10 from the CBCA Awards shortlist. I have 3 here from the list to complete and would like to read the Catherine Bateson's book 'Being Bee' in the Younger Readers Category as well as the one with Macbeth in the title by Jackie French. That will make 9. I've read two picture books from the list, so I will reread them and review them and then my work is done. Work - that's a joke, I love reading. It's been great listing this. It made me realise some more progress made.

Dragging my way to the end of Term

The last three days.....
I've just had an interesting couple of days. I've had the pleasure of having three awesome young ladies from NSW stay with us, whilst they participated in a netball carnival ran by our school. It was such fun. They were delightful. I have the flu, I feel exhausted by the usual mid year things, reports, freezing weather, short days and had a couple of unusual unpleasant events. I was not looking forward to having visitors.
Infectious Joy
Amazingly, I have thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Although I continued to ache and be tired, yet when the girls were around, I laughed and listened to their enthusiasm, feeling better. The time flew when they were here. Their high spirits and energy really lifted me up.
Youth
Yet again, I am reminded why I love being a secondary school teacher. Young people are just great to be around and they share their passion for life so generously. I feel really grateful for my job. Even if I am counting down for the term to end. Now, like the old person I am feeling right now, I'll drop into bed and dream of holidays.

Teenage Wildlife

It's a time of zits and angst.



Yet it is also a time of hope and passion and that's why I love working with teens.

Free Body Lotion - Forget It!

Today I received an advertising email offering free body lotion. I would actually prefer it if they took some of my body lotion away. It would be more enticing. I am having a day where materialism is sickening me. I feel that I want to shed most of my possessions because they are just a drag. We all just accumulate too much. What is it all for?
I actually cried today over an exhibition of rampant materialism as I perceived it, but I think I am feeling quite unwell at the moment so am possible more sensitive.
My year 9 class is studying poverty right now, so I wonder if this is having an effect on me. I have naturally been discussing the Millennium Goals with those around me. When we had the conversation in our curriculum team, some of the adults complained they were impossible and ridiculous. They didn't believe it was possible. This is why I love teenagers. They were optimistic and enthusiastic about it. They wanted to know what they could do to make it happen. They felt certain it was achievable and it was important to them to make it happen.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It's been so hot for so long here. Lots of people have been complaining about hot classrooms and hot libraries and just hot. Last night there were some clouds in the sky and I hoped for rain. I went to the supermarket and when I came home, the sky was cloudless again. Each day it is in the 30s. February so far has had an average daily temperature of 31.
I was reading one of my favourite books to my class today "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse. On one page it read something like 'It rained everywhere today but here' or something like that. I thought, "I know how you feel!".
Perhaps the swimming carnival will bring rain.

Teaching

I had a great week at work. I feel really enthused about my classes and teaching this year. There is a really positive feeling amongst most of the teachers I feel. It is great to work with people you love.
I have two new classes this year. One of them is careers and I feel quite adequately experienced having had over 20 jobs in my life. I have also began an enterprise class in digital storytelling. I am quite passionate about that and am enjoying it and hope the students do as well. It is great to learn new things.
Life is good.

Back to work

I started back at work today. It was great to see my friends and there are no students until Thursday so it was a gentle start. I feel so tired though. I feel positive about 2007 and am looking forward to the teaching I have. This year it will be mainly year nine students and one year 7 class. It should be quite interesting. I am teaching a couple of new subjects, which is always a good challenge. I am mentoring a first year teacher and I am quite pleased about that. All in all a pleasing first day.

2006 School Year Complete

Is there anything sweeter than the first days of a long holiday period? The weeks stretch out before me. I am generating lots of to do lists and pottering around setting little things straight around my home. I am preparing for our summer trip and excited about the adventure it will be. I am purchasing last minute gifts for Christmas and looking forward to the big day when I'll feast with the family and give and get.
Yesterday, although it was the first day of my holidays, I went into work to tie up a few loose ends that in my rush to finish I had not managed to attend to. I tried to kid myself that it would wait until next year, but they niggled at me in the morning and I knew they would lose their significance if I didn't have them done. I feel at peace now and complete with my year.
In reflecting on this year of teaching, it hasn't been one of my better years to be honest. I have been cranky and haven't managed to build positive relationships with as many of my students as I have in previous years. I am aware of some of the reasons for this, but can not excuse myself. I have made my work harder and feel I have not given my best to the kids. Over the holidays I want to redesign my thinking in this area. I like teaching because I learn so much. I am letting it go now though. It's done. Next year I will be better for having learnt what I have this year.

David Bowie - im afraid of americans

nine inch nails & david bowie I'm afraid of americans I'm a fan of David Bowie. I have been for a long time. One of my students in their "Person I Admire" year 9 oral presentation, spoke about David Bowie. It was well-reseached and well delivered and she wasn't aware I was a fan. Her excellent taste paid off!

China

I am really interested in China and all things chinese. I have just created a revver collection of video from China and have looked through lots of videos. Some of them are not to my taste, but I love the clips of the countryside and that show China as a place. I would love to walk that Great Wall one day. It is definately on my wish list too.
We are currently covering Imperial China in history with my year 7s and on Friday we were discussing foot binding. I felt so emotional about it. I had a past life 'recollection' once that involved foot binding so I guess that has made it more real for me.
I like to keep up with the articles on Newsvine about China also.