Tag Archive for history

The Great Expedition by Peter Carnavas

24/07/2011 Joh reading

The kids are with us for the weekend. Last time they were here J(9) told me about this fantastic book his teacher had read him. He told me with enthusiasm how funny it was and about how it was a kids picture book about the explorers ‘Burke and Wills’. We ordered it at the local library and it was in, just in time for this weekend.

He read it to us. He’s been at a new school this year and I have seen an impressive improvement in his literacy skills and confidence. He genuinely enjoys learning. It’s great to hear what he’s doing at school.

‘The Great Expedition’ is as he promised a great story. I enjoyed it.

Popularity: 1% [?]

No comments , , , ,

Local History

05/02/2010 Joh work

I wasn’t keen on teaching Local History this year. I’ve only been doing it a week and I have learnt so much already. I have a feeling it could be one of my favourite subjects. I’m reading a book “The Settling of Gippsland” by Patrick Morgan. I am having all kinds of realisations about this region I call home. I am glad I have been given this subject. I remember when I studied ‘Introduction to Koorie Studies’ at uni I learnt so much and was facinated in the local indigenous history. It shifted my perception of this place I come from. I was an adult by then and remember working on an assignment shortly after I gave birth to Tom. I was so committed to that subject! I wondered why I hadn’t learnt about it before.

I watched a TED talk during the holidays called ‘The Danger of a Single Story’. I could relate to it at some level and reading about our local history has reminded me about some of the messages I got for myself from this clip. I want to encourage my students to explore their local identities. So many young people, including myself and my own children can’t wait to get out of this area. Why? There are many positive things about it. We listen to the media instead of our own experiences. It is good to leave home and explore the world, yet I believe it’s also good to appreciate where you are from.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Popularity: 11% [?]

No comments , , , , , ,

Joanni by Kate Bush

21/03/2009 Joh family, music

Joan of Arc has to be one of the coolest historical women. Kate Bush seems to think so too. I love her historical imagination in this song. ‘Blows a kiss to God’ … conjures up an image of a very human and sweet faith doesn’t it?

 It’s funny the random things you find you have in common. Like our mum’s have the same name.

Popularity: 8% [?]

No comments , , , , , ,

‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel

31/05/2008 Joh reading

I have finally completed this slim novel. I began reading it a long time ago, perhaps even last year. It is a retelling of a childhood spent in the deathcamps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. It was very intense to read. I have no concept of how he survived. This book won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. It’s one of the texts for year 11 students at our school.

The part of the book that lingers with me, was when he was in hospital and conversing with a fellow patient about rumours of Hitler annihilating all the Jews:

“I burst out:

‘What does it matter to you? Do we have to regard Hitler as a prophet?’

His glazed, faded eyes looked at me. At last he said in a weary voice:

‘I’ve got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He’s the only one who’s kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.’ ” (p92)

What a frightening reality to only trust the person responsible for putting you in hell. It’s haunted me, this book. The internal crimes Elie Wiesel recounts, stripping them of beliefs, character and values, freshly impacted on me the horror and inhumanity of WWII.

Popularity: 10% [?]

5 comments , ,

ANZAC Day and Pa

25/04/2008 Joh family

Pa in the ArmyAt school yesterday we had an ANZAC service. The students are always very reverent and respectful of this ritual in the calender. It is a powerful experience to be in a gym with over 600 teenagers and teachers and experience total silence and stillness. To be able to hear the slightest creak in the building and the birds outside.

This is the first ANZAC day since Pa died last year and I miss him. I usually go to the dawn service. He hasn’t marched for a couple of years due to being unwell, but I would spend time with him on this day. He would tell me stories about that time and stories from other men he had heard. He spent some time at one stage of his life at the RSL. I remember when he was in his 70s he would talk about helping out the old blokes, yet some of them were younger than him! It was quite ironic. I intended to write about some of the stories about him that I remember but I can’t today. Maybe next year.

In this photo, he is in the back row, forth from the right.

Popularity: 64% [?]

2 comments , , , , ,

‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khalid Hosseini

15/03/2008 Joh reading

‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khalid Hosseini was another great insight into the changes that have occurred in Afghanistan. It also contained stories of the different kinds of love experienced. The main love story was quite beautiful and touching, yet the closeness that grew between the two wives was equally touching. The harshness of the lives of the women in this story are difficult to stomach. Cellobella reviewed this book last year and her review has some background information about it.

I have been reading it for quite a while. I’m not reading as much as I used to. I’m not sure why. I am doing a correspondance course, so that has probably taken up some of my reading time.

Popularity: 5% [?]

2 comments , , ,

The Apology

13/02/2008 Joh relationships

Today we assembled our year 9s to raise the Aboriginal flag. We then went to our lecture theatre with the intention of showing the broadcast of Parliament and the statement the Prime Minister was about to deliver. We missed it. Some of the students heard it broadcast on the radio in transit, but most missed it. We read the speech on the big screen and had a reflection on what it meant. The 200 students were absolutely silent. You could hear a pin drop.

In my English classes today, we discussed the days events. Some students commented they didn’t understand why they had to apologise when they hadn’t done anything wrong. Mind you I hear this every day when disputes occur and they have done something wrong! It was a great opportunity to talk about forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as history. I was impressed with the way they listened and expressed themselves. I was also pleased that although some of them expressed some concerns or doubts about it all, during the morning’s activities, they had been totally respectful.

We talked about the Government and the statement representing our entire community and how saying ‘Sorry’ was a heart change, that would be just as healing for each of us, who chose to take it to heart, as it would be for those receiving the apology. We talked about the things that had happened in the history of our relationship. We talked about how building trust would be slow and this was just a starting point. It felt very good to listen to the open minds of the young. These are the days I am following my bliss by being in the classroom.

Popularity: 62% [?]

2 comments , , , , ,

Wyrd by Sue Gough

31/05/2006 Joh reading

A novel written in 1993 that reminds me of Da Vinci Code. I am not sure why and will have to reread it but everytime I think of Da Vinci Code, I have a connection with Wyrd that I discovered in the school library and loved reading a couple of years ago.

Because I can.
Comment, because YOU can.

Popularity: 4% [?]

No comments , , , ,

Visit to Melbourne

08/11/2005 Joh work

On Monday I went with a busload of year 9 student’s to Melbourne for the day. We toured the Arts Centre. It was interesting and there were a lot of facts about how much and when that revolved around the cost and trouble of building it and I can’t remember them all but I got the general vibe that it was very expensive and involved. Now it is there for all Victorians to enjoy, the tour guide said.
It is a beautiful building, but I doubt all Victorians are able to enjoy it. Take that one class for instance. Not one student had ever been there before. Victoria is a big place. I don’t know what I was left feeling about it all.
I guess catching the water taxi from Southbank to the Polly Woodside was another experience that left me feeling a little amazed. It has all changed so much from when I worked in the city in the mid 80′s. It is unrecognisable actually. I used to walk across the bridge to an annexe in Sth Melbourne and I don’t even recognise where I would go now. The landscape has totally changed.
Progress?

Because I can.
Comment, because YOU can.

Popularity: 3% [?]

No comments , , , , , ,

Self Sufficiency

11/10/2005 Joh reading, work

I have been reading about the bird flu and terrorism and other possible dangerous consequences of living in cities and thinking it might be time to revisit my old ideas. I don’t want to sit on a hill meditating with the herbal tea but I would like to have some contingency plans for getting away from the insanity of society, should some wastage hit the fan in my world as it is some places all around the planet with seeming regularity. As a teacher I would like to prepare my students to be resilient without scaring them or making them too fearful about thier future.

This article:http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/veneer-of-civilisation-is-easily-eroded/2005/09/08/1125772644245.html reminded me of a workshop we had with our year 8′s last year about Medieval times. The man who was teaching them about knights and castles told them that in three days our civilisation would boil down to basically what happened in New Orleans. When I first heard it from him, it rattled me and reading the above article has yet again rang a warning bell. There are so many fearful scenario’s that could play out.

I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want to expect the worst. I don’t want to ignore signs and be unprepared though. I have people I love that I want to protect. Where would I draw that line though? I love many, many people.

Because I can.
Comment, because YOU can.

Popularity: 3% [?]

No comments , ,