Tag Archive for celebrations

Smell the Warmth

04/10/2010 Joh friends, gratitude, work

I’m enjoying the spring weather. After a rainy school holidays the last few warm days has had the lawn mowers out creating that special smell and stepping outside into light and warmth is a delight. Even returning to work today hasn’t dulled how much I love warm weather.

I was in a bit of funk Friday and Saturday for my holidays that had finished in a blink of an eye. I had two enjoyable social events on Friday evening that distracted me for their duration. I enjoyed drinks for Jen’s birthday and caught up with a long lost friend who I knew when our kids were doing karate. I loved Phil and Katie’s 21st. It was great to catch up with them. I miss Tom’s friends. There were so many kids there I hadn’t seen for a long time. It was fun. I was partied out by Saturday though and watched the grand final quite sedately. Cath made yummy food. Darin had to go back to work at 4.30, which was cruel as he baracks for Collingwood. Lots of family members barack for them including my mum and sister, so I was happy with the outcome and I’m prepared for what goes with it.

Today in my RE class, I had my students be still and silent. They only managed about a minute of it… out of practice. That minute seemed to be as long as the holidays had felt. Today I got up early to exercise because I am determined to continue with it. So far so good, but combined with daylight savings start, I was very tired during the meeting tonight. It was lovely to get home in daylight though, despite a meeting.

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Celebration

05/08/2010 Joh food, friends, relationships, work

Tonight I’m going out for dinner where Darin works with Rhonda. She has gained her Certificate IV in Workplace Training today and I am delighted. I’m happy for her but I’m also happy for the kids she will get to teach. She is a great teacher and has positive learning relationships with students. We’ve worked in the classroom together a few times and they have been the best years. She makes a difference to students and their learning.

I think it would be great if teaching were an apprenticeship. It would be awesome to have an apprentice to be in classes with you, assisting in all the ways an extra adult in the room can. Giving you feedback about what worked and what didn’t. I remember when I had a student teacher I sat up the back of the class and saw my students in a whole new light. I noticed some where totally engaged, just not in what was going on at the front of the room. I hadn’t noticed it when I’d been at the front of the room!

It would be great for the student as they would get hands on learning and watch all the real things about teaching like classroom management, rapport building and other things that you don’t always learn in a book. I’ve seen many students do the whole teaching course and then find they hate teaching. This way, you would get a pretty good idea quickly.

There are so many resources available to teachers now that I think the idea of a person who is all knowing as a teacher is redundant. I have taught a number of subjects over my teaching career that I learnt alongside my students. I could never be an IT teacher if I hoped to know the most in the room. The best teachers know how to build great relationships with students and understand them and their learning styles. They need to like the students enough to find a way for them to learn what they need to learn, in order to get to where they want to go. They need to be assertive enough to create a safe space, so students are free to learn. They need to love learning themselves and model that to young people. Anyway I reckon Rhonda can do all those things, hands down.

More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given
~ Bertrand Russell quotes

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The Last Deb

21/09/2008 Joh friends, work

Last night I attended the deb and it was great. I think it is more relaxing when it doesn’t involve your own children. The girls looked amazing and the formalities were quick. There didn’t seem to be as many as previous years. Most of the kids I’d taught, and it is always lovely to see them looking glam and having the time of their lives. I loved it when they were dancing away and caught my eye and gave me a little wave and smile.

I ended up keeping the gorgeous black dress. When I tried it on the next day it looked better after I’d had a big sleep. I got favourable second opinions from Tom and his friends who had stayed over that night, so I decided that it would do nicely. I felt good in it and am glad I kept it.

My friend had the dreaded ‘after party’ at her house. I went for a little while. The kids don’t always look so great at the after deb parties. It’s a bit scary to have a party for teenagers as there are always the unknowns who turn up. It had been grand final night in our town too, which was probably a good thing, because there were other parties on. I remember once driving my son to a party, which must have been the only one on in the town that night and the street was thronging with young bodies. Needless to say they returned home shortly as that event was shut down.

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