BYTES 101

I am currently sitting in a bytes session. McKinnon Melodrama with the BYTES B group to be precise. Most of the groups seem to be working with the exception of a few annoying students who cannot seem to participate with the rest of the class. I am reflecting on this BYTES organisation and a large component of this job of mine is people management. Having a team of people who are all dealing with less than ideal situations and circumstances, working with people whose methods they may not agree with and working on topics they did not necessarily design is very interesting and at times quite difficult to manage. There are issues with people not being given enough information about what they are supposed to be doing with their groups and people who want to strangle others for their perceived inability to organise their way out of a paper bag.
Perhaps the biggest issue at this stage though is the lack of access to technology and to appropriate workspaces. At the moment students are completing both a compulsory BYTE - 9UP and an elective BYTE. Because it is a rotating timetable the students have 4 periods one week and 2 the next on their elective, and then the opposite on their compulsory BYTE. At the moment, the timetabling has BYTEs in the library, in 2 of the computer rooms in the school and T8, a small technology room with only 10 computers in it. When the 9up groups are in the city, this is not a problem because there are 75 students off the campus. However when 9up decides not to go into the city but to work at school, those 75 students invade the library and other BYTES classes are shunted into other areas. My Bytes classes for the last 2 weeks have been forced to run in the small room t8, which is too small for 20-25 students and also does not have the required access to technology. At the moment the students are actually getting behind in their tasks because of the lack of access to technology. One of the points of this program was to experience 'ubiquitous ICT.' The only thing that we are currently experiencing is invisible ICT. At the moment they are buying another class set of laptops in order to try and ease the pressure on technology, but in the meantime, and even when these laptops arrive, there are still going to be issues with not having enough. Ideally and realistically we actually need access to enough computers for every student in the year level, which is at least 200. I dont know what the options are for this and whether there is the funding to allow so much ICT.
It is raising interesting issues for the planning of the The MERC (McKinnon Education Research Centre?)which is being designed at the moment but will not be ready until next year. In some ways it is difficult running this program without the specifically designed centre with necessary resources, but in the other respect it is important that we are able to look at how the program is currently running, and make changes to the design or technology of the Merc in accordance with what we are discovering that we need. We are learning a lot at this point in time about the organisation, staffing and technology that we require to make this program run smoothly. Hopefully by second semester or next year at the latest we will have ironed out some of the issues that we are currently experiencing and will start to feel that the program is running smoothly and that people are happy in their roles. In the meantime is that another grey hair?

Alcohol, Antibiotics, Sudafed and stitches…oh yeah…and school…

So this week has been interesting and perhaps for all of the wrong reasons. Those of you who know me will have, at least once, heard my infamous (roof seal) cough. Yeah, that’s right, the one that sounds like a seal barking. So after going out on Saturday night, I awoke on Sunday to find that the roof seal had come to visit again. This happens whenever I am run down or sick and so is an ominous sign really.
He made a rather dramatic (and embarrassing) appearance at the staff meeting at school on Monday night in front of all of the junior school teachers whilst the junior school AP was holding the floor. Not only did he make a smart remark about my cough but he stopped speaking so everyone could turn their full attention to me as I coughed! However I am not one to be sensitive about my cough, I have lived with a visiting roof seal for long enough to be used to the strange stares and ‘amusing’ comments that the roof seal earns me. By Tuesday I was suffering from swollen glands in my neck, an improved, more awful cough and the beginning of blocked sinuses. I went home early on Tuesday afternoon because I had the last two periods off and was not really feeling well. I had coughed my way through 4 periods already which had considerably amused my students. Wednesday morning I had a doctors appointment to remove more skin from around a freckle that I had previously had cut out. Whilst I was at the doctors I asked him to check me out because I really wasn’t feeling the best. I had a temperature and other such nasties so he put me on antibiotics. I headed back to school for a scheduled PD day with the best intentions, however my flu-like illness (bird-flu? Can chicks get that?!) and the nausea that I feel after a local anaesthetic meant that I had to keep getting up and walking out of meetings to get fresh air because I felt like I was going to be sick. I ended up going home at lunchtime that day too. Thursday I woke up worse and so had to call in sick. I spent the day in a drug induced haze correcting practice year 12 writing folio sacs and year 11 assessment tasks as any good sick teacher will do (well I cant waste a day off can I?). Friday I woke up and still didn’t feel any better really, however Friday night marked the first social outing that I had organised for the staff (ten pin bowling at Strike on Chapel) and I decided that if I was going to make it out that night, then I was going to have to put in a day at work! (stupid I know). So I coughed, spluttered and snotted through my day at school (again the students were some what bemused by my coughing – particularly at the discovery that laughing made me cough which resulted in much laughter, much coughing and not a lot of work being done) all so that I could go out that night. Not only was I on antibiotics, but Sudafed too to keep the sinus headache away. Managed to make it through the day, came home and had a well-needed nanna-nap for an hour and then got ready to go out. Bowled like the total unco that I am, drank 2 ½ vodka and orange, which I might add does not mix well with antibiotics and Sudafed (as my stomach noted at 4.30 this morning) but had an okay night. Was a great turn out and I think that it was good for newbie/oldie relationships and a bit of getting to know you outside of school.
On reflection though I feel as though I have lost most of the week to sickness and PD, and it means that in an already ridiculously short term, I have lost even more classes. Not only do we only have 6 weeks this term, but school has packed more social/sporting events into the 6 weeks too which means that we haven’t had a single week yet without at least one day without classes due to something else on. It is a strange scenario. There are people who, due to unfortunate timetables, have only seen their year 12 classes for 8 periods instead of 16 over the first 4 weeks of term, which is a massive difference. It is making it hard for my fellow Year 12 history teacher and I to keep our students up to the same point in terms of content because I have had so many more classes than she has. Due to the short term too, we have a ridiculous number of teachers trying to run SACs in the last week which means our History students have to come in to school on the holidays to do their sac. Dedication hey? Or craziness? But you do what you have to do I spose. I am hoping that I can return to school next week with renewed health and vigour because I really don’t enjoy feeling like crap and dreading going to school because I don’t know if I can make it through the day. I guess no one does really so maybe that was a stupid thing to write… I can sense the delirium setting in again…

Friendship and Profession - Do they mix?

A few things that have happened lately have prompted me to ask this question. I feel this year that the dynamic of my workplace relationships have changed somewhat. One of my best friends at school has moved to another school, and I think I am finding it quite a different experience without him. Not that I saw him much during the school day, but there was always opportunity for chats and laughs after school and a often much-needed de-brief.
This year also marks the return of my best buddy in the state to school after her 6 months off last year to travel so I have almost traded one best mate for another at school. Our relationship is uncomplicated and one of total trust so it is good to have her back.
Another thing that has changed is the influx of new graduate staff members. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because it is great to have new young teachers and more fresh minds and enthusiasm, but a bad thing because the social circle that we are so used to has increased dramatically. I think that this will cease to be a problem when we all know each other better and this will only happen with time.
Perhaps the biggest issue I am facing at the moment is mixing the personal with the professional, because it is becoming an increasingly blurry line. I often go out with other teachers from my work on the weekends. I count some of my fellow teachers amongst my best friends but there are issues with this. I told one of my friends something in confidence because sharing details about my personal life with my friends at school has caused problems for me before. He happened to mention it in front of some other people (in a way that was meant to be him and I sharing a private joke) but it meant that people started catching on to what he was saying. Team this with another male friend who happened to come over on the weekend to be told the same personal information by my sister, and the news was out. The two of them made comments in front of other staff members when no one was supposed to know at all.
It all ended with another friend being upset because I didn't tell her what was going on, when in fact I told only one person (and only in confidence). Thus illustrates the problem with having friends at work.
The question I pose then is this: in spite of my newly found honesty about myself and my life, do I need to be a separate person at work to the one I am in private? And if some of my friends at work are also friends in private, then how do I reconcile the two to ensure that the things that should remain private do? Like the different person I am in the classroom compared to the staff common room, do I need also to be a different person in the common room to the one that I am outside of it?
Don't get me wrong. I certainly have my professional persona. I do act professionally at school and am able to separate out the private me from the school me, except when the people that know both me's' constantly blur those lines. Its seems that despite my best attempts to keep the professional professional, the private just keeps getting in the way. It seems that the only solution to the problem is to never socialise with people from work, which is a break that at this stage I am not willing to make. Maybe one day...

This is an email I received from a student about his Year 12 English Oral.


hi miss
this is mine and my partner's oral. sorry about the late email, i was on sport yesterday and i also got a new puppy on saturday so you may or may not know what that is like. anyway see you tomorrow.
P.S : ATTACHED A PIC OF MY NEW PUP. :-)

An ingenious excuse for not completing homework I think! (anyone out there had this excuse before?) And I love the photographic evidence sent as proof too!

A little bit tired...

Back again already after a bit of a mixed day. Day two of the BYTES program did not run as smoothly as Day One. To begin with, we discovered that the subject with 40 students in it has only one staff member timetabled on to teach it - bit of a problem. The AP that needs to deal with said problem is, in fact, on year 12 camp and so I was unable to even talk to him about it. I will file that away for discussion and resolution at a later date. I am also a little bit disappointed with how our next BYTE, What's My Scene started off. The activities that we had designed to begin with started off a little slowly and many of the students became a bit bored. Luckily the afternoon session was a bit more lively and I think they enjoyed it. Will check their blogs later. On that note we suffered from a technical difficulty too. My beloved blogspot.com was undergoing a scheduled outage at the precise time that we were trying to set up the blogs for this group so I was reduced to having the students write in a word document that they have saved in order to have them post it next time (my wasn't that a long sentence!). Dramas galore! It can't all be smooth sailing though. I have no doubt that once the students get into What's My Scene a little further they will actually love it - we just have to get past the content crap to get to the self directed project bit that they will love. At least through this blog I am recording what went wrong this time so that when the topic is repeated later on we can tweak it. That is what this whole year is really - a learning curve. For me, for the school and for the students who are our guinea pigs. This year is the trial run - next year the new centre will have been built and the program will run as it was intended in an even bigger and better format. For the moment we need to celebrate the successes and then reflect on the changes to be made at a later date.

Yes...I'm still here...

It's 8.15 in the morning and despite the fact that I possibly have a million other things to do, I am choosing to write this instead. I think it's important and I made a pact with myself that I would keep this blog up to date. So... Thursday and Friday saw the official launch of the BYTES program with information sessions for the Year 9 Students, in their two groups, BYTES A & BYTES B. I managed to make the super-confusing timetable situation (2 different timetables running on a two week rotation) crystal clear for 14 & 15 year olds which is something to make me proud, and the other staff sitting in on the session were impressed as well. First official function down without so much as a hitch. Breathe in, Breathe out! Yesterday was the first day of BYTES classes, and I taught the same group 4 periods straight, but the activities and information that we had for them, to introduce them to melodrama, seem to have gone well. Started them on a reflective blog to get them thinking and writing about the experience of both BYTES and this particular unit but haven't had a chance to read them yet so I am interested to see what they think. So yesterday was a 6-on day for me and today may be the same which means that despite the fact that the Year 12's are on Camp and I am 5 periods down this week, I have not really had any time to myself. This morning is the first time that I read my blogs since Wednesday (and usually I obsessively read them every morning).
But I'm not complaining (even though it may sound like I am) because so far things seem to be going well and I am really happy with both my new position and my classes. My resolution to be super-prepared this year has so far not failed (we are only in the second week though) and I am enjoying the feeling of being truly on top of things.
Anyway, although only a small update, at least I am confirming that I am still here and that things are ticking along nicely albeit quite quickly.