Again I haven't blogged for ages so I apologise for being slack. I guess there are not many things going on in my life at the moment that are interesting enough to blog about so I might just blog about my feelings.
I am a bit apprehensive about next year. At the moment I am spending my days (in between sailing and walking to the beach and getting sunburnt - I really should buy some sunscreen) studying the Russian Revolution in order to organise myself for teaching Yr 12 History next year. Somehow it was so much easier when I thought that I was teaching English. I guess there wasn't that load of content to learn like there is in History. English has content, don't get me wrong, but it is content like issues and novels and themes and character relationships and those are the things that are second nature to me, not remembering dates and years and facts and figures. My passion for history comes from a firm belief that we should know what has happened in the past and learn from it so that we do not repeat the mistakes that those before us have made. I like the action and reaction aspect of history and the feeling I get when I realise why something is the way it is today because of something that I have learnt from the past. (I dont even know if that all made sense so I will change the topic).
As well as the content being intimidating, I will be working with a teacher next year who is new to the school, because my colleague who was teaching both history classes this year has taken another position. This concerns me because of the 'unknown' factor. I have only met the new teacher twice, and really don't know how we are going to go working together. The school that she is coming from is very different from our school and she is used to having only 7 students in her year 12 class whereas she will have at least 22 next year. I was really hoping, I guess, for someone to give me guidance, and I really don't know now if that will be the case.
To make matters even more interesting, the course has changed for next year, which means that I cannot just follow the lead of the teacher who is leaving and pirate all of his SACs etc, because they all have to be written from scratch.
The upside to this is that there will be plenty of PD opportunities for me next year (I am booked into 2 already!) I am eager and willing I suppose so I will just do my best I guess.
Anyway, I guess that it is another challenge for me to face, and so long as I dont fall on my arse next year, it should make me a better teacher and better able to help design curriculum and plan out my year from scratch.
I feel like I am rambling a bit now.
Onto other news. Another task that I am undertaking next year is a website for my students. I am in the middle of designing the website, with the help of a good friend from school who is a bit of a guru, and I intend to put up lecture notes and information for my Year 12's so that they can work at home and print things out at home, and to have online tasks for my Year 7's and Year 11's. I am really interested in making better use of ICT in my classrooms next year, and I have managed to get my Year 7 class timetabled into a computer lab once a week in order to have them do more online tasks, and to better utilise computers, not just as a way to type up a story or some work, but as a way to enhance their learning and to enhance their expression of their english work.
I did a PD a couple of weeks ago on using ICT in the classroom. It was quite interesting - nothing that I thought was revolutionary, but a lot of interesting ideas. The guy running the PD comes from a laptop school and decided that if they were going to use laptops then he was not going to use paper at all. He therefore had lots of ideas about how to bring computers into the classroom. Some of the ideas I felt werent enhancing tasks that we already do, but were merely transferring a lot of what teachers already do, into an electronic medium. I am not interested in doing things on the computer that we could do just as well on paper. Even so, there were also a lot of ideas in the PD that translated into new and interesting activities to try out in the computer lab. Now all I have to do is work out the things I will use and start designing the tasks for next year so I can put them up on my site!
The more I sit here typing the more I realise how ambitious I am being these holidays with the amount of things I am trying to get done. I guess that is why I have chained myself to the study this week!
Oh well, the longer I sit here the less I get done!
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Friday, December 10, 2004
The End of the Beginning?
Well, I just taught my last class for this year. I feel: relieved, tired, sad, excited, reflective and grateful. Relieved and tired and sad to be finished, excited to have survived my first year and to be planning for next year and grateful that I have landed myself in such a supportive school environment for my first years. One thing that I can say about this year is that no matter how difficult a day has been or how hyperactive a particular class have been on occassion, I have not once felt that I was in the wrong profession. Where else do you get to form so many relationships both with staff and students that are so uplifting and worthwhile? In what other profession do you have the challenge of people management, coupled with public speaking, improvisation, problem solving, welfare, curriculum planning and implementation and the responsibility for the minds of your charges? And what a massive responsibility we take on every day. However it is not a responsibility that is daunting or overwhelming, rather, for me, it is a responsibility that is exhilarating, and one that I am happy to carry every day.
I went on a four-day camp last week during which I was responsible for feeding the 20 students (with only a tent, barbeque and hot-plate at my disposal) three square meals a day and snacks in between! Rather than being a negative experience, I had the most fantastic time, and it was all because of the students.
I learnt: That my taste in music is exactly the same as the students (I wonder how long that will last!)
That despite the fact that punk and rock and metal were the order of the day in terms of the music the students enjoyed, they still had the mindfulness to offer to help me out constantly, to run errands to the supermarket, to help with the house(or should that be tent)work, and to make my camping trip as easy as possible.
Even when the students were waking me up at 2 am in the morning to get help to find the panadol, they were so polite and apologetic that it really wasn't a chore.
The students at this school, and I am sure many others, really are so pleasant to be around, and it comes out even more so in situations where we take them away from school.
My year 7 Form group, who I also teach for English are another bunch of students that I could happily spend all day with. There is something about the energy and enthusiasm of the students, no matter how over-the-top they are being that means that despite the fact that they are exhausting more often than not, I am never tired of them.
So I guess that this is the end of the beginning…the end of my first year of teaching, and the beginning of the next installment for me, with new students, new subjects and new challenges.
I am more than ready to face them all!
(Well…maybe after Christmas!)
I went on a four-day camp last week during which I was responsible for feeding the 20 students (with only a tent, barbeque and hot-plate at my disposal) three square meals a day and snacks in between! Rather than being a negative experience, I had the most fantastic time, and it was all because of the students.
I learnt: That my taste in music is exactly the same as the students (I wonder how long that will last!)
That despite the fact that punk and rock and metal were the order of the day in terms of the music the students enjoyed, they still had the mindfulness to offer to help me out constantly, to run errands to the supermarket, to help with the house(or should that be tent)work, and to make my camping trip as easy as possible.
Even when the students were waking me up at 2 am in the morning to get help to find the panadol, they were so polite and apologetic that it really wasn't a chore.
The students at this school, and I am sure many others, really are so pleasant to be around, and it comes out even more so in situations where we take them away from school.
My year 7 Form group, who I also teach for English are another bunch of students that I could happily spend all day with. There is something about the energy and enthusiasm of the students, no matter how over-the-top they are being that means that despite the fact that they are exhausting more often than not, I am never tired of them.
So I guess that this is the end of the beginning…the end of my first year of teaching, and the beginning of the next installment for me, with new students, new subjects and new challenges.
I am more than ready to face them all!
(Well…maybe after Christmas!)
Monday, December 06, 2004
Blogging on
I guess I haven't really blogged for a while for a couple of reasons. One, I have been busy writing reports and beginning my planning for next year, and two, because I seem to have this idea that anything that I put in the blog has to be profound (or at least mildly worthwhile!). I think that I really should get over the idea of only writing down those things that I think are profound otherwise I might only blog once a year!
Anyway - news with me - Finished reports last week and started cleaning my desk. It really is amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 1 year, and how many places you can find to put it that are out of the way. It took me a couple of hours just to sort out all of the mess, decide what needed to be kept and then discard or file. I am the sort of person who hoardes almost everything (I still have school work from primary school (and most of it at that!)). But now that I have a desk at school that needs to be a functional work space as well as a storage area, I need to be a bit more ruthless. I am already running out of room, and now that I am taking year 12 History, I am adding a whole new array of books to my shelves.
The only thing that is certain for next year when it comes to my allotment is that I will be taking one of the Year 12 Revolutions classes. I have started re-teaching myself the content (I did the subject as a year 11 student in 1997) and am beginning to work out how I will present the information to the students. It is actually quite exciting, because for the first time since I have started teaching I will have a set content to teach, rather than themes and novels and issues.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't place History above English in terms of enjoyment or in terms of which subject is best, it will just be a new challenge for me, but one that I am looking forward to. In a way, the factual content makes History easier to teach because it follows a more linear pattern than studying an english text.
School is interesting at the moment. The Year 7's and 8's are high as kites because school is nearly finished (not until next Tuesday for them mind you) and all they want to do is make noise and carry on like a pack of crazies! I have to find ways to try and harness their energy and focus it but all they want to know is whether the work we are doing now will be assessed. How many more times can I hear the line "if it's not being marked then what's the point in doing it?"
The Year 10's and 11's have been finished for quite a while now, but are back today and for some of the week doing their orientation for next year. It is really nice to have my senior students back in the school, because they are all coming up to have a chat and a laugh (and to tease me because we still have a week and a half of school!) I certainly would not like to teach in a junior school - i enjoy the balance that the seniors give you. I also took a year 11 orientation english class with the year 10s today and they were so quiet! Don't think that will last much past the first lesson of next year!
As I am sitting here amongst the rubble that I have dumped on my desk during today, i am looking at the inch thick layer of dust on my shelves and thinking that perhaps a little more than filing is in order! In fact maybe I should be doing that now...
Anyway - news with me - Finished reports last week and started cleaning my desk. It really is amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 1 year, and how many places you can find to put it that are out of the way. It took me a couple of hours just to sort out all of the mess, decide what needed to be kept and then discard or file. I am the sort of person who hoardes almost everything (I still have school work from primary school (and most of it at that!)). But now that I have a desk at school that needs to be a functional work space as well as a storage area, I need to be a bit more ruthless. I am already running out of room, and now that I am taking year 12 History, I am adding a whole new array of books to my shelves.
The only thing that is certain for next year when it comes to my allotment is that I will be taking one of the Year 12 Revolutions classes. I have started re-teaching myself the content (I did the subject as a year 11 student in 1997) and am beginning to work out how I will present the information to the students. It is actually quite exciting, because for the first time since I have started teaching I will have a set content to teach, rather than themes and novels and issues.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't place History above English in terms of enjoyment or in terms of which subject is best, it will just be a new challenge for me, but one that I am looking forward to. In a way, the factual content makes History easier to teach because it follows a more linear pattern than studying an english text.
School is interesting at the moment. The Year 7's and 8's are high as kites because school is nearly finished (not until next Tuesday for them mind you) and all they want to do is make noise and carry on like a pack of crazies! I have to find ways to try and harness their energy and focus it but all they want to know is whether the work we are doing now will be assessed. How many more times can I hear the line "if it's not being marked then what's the point in doing it?"
The Year 10's and 11's have been finished for quite a while now, but are back today and for some of the week doing their orientation for next year. It is really nice to have my senior students back in the school, because they are all coming up to have a chat and a laugh (and to tease me because we still have a week and a half of school!) I certainly would not like to teach in a junior school - i enjoy the balance that the seniors give you. I also took a year 11 orientation english class with the year 10s today and they were so quiet! Don't think that will last much past the first lesson of next year!
As I am sitting here amongst the rubble that I have dumped on my desk during today, i am looking at the inch thick layer of dust on my shelves and thinking that perhaps a little more than filing is in order! In fact maybe I should be doing that now...
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