An Easy Saturday Morning...

The first week of Term 2 is done and dusted. I was up early this morning, for no particular reason, and decided I might write a post or two. So, it was off to the study, grab the laptop, back to the kitchen to make a Chai Latte, and then outside to sit on the porch in the brilliant morning sun. The mornings are cold, perhaps brisk is a better choice, but the days have been very warm for this time

Some Graduation Photos...

Well, I have now officially graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Master of Teaching (MTeach) degree. The next box to tick is a professional competence one with the New South Wales Institute of Teachers. With a bit of a luck I should have satisfied all those requirements by the end of 2011.It would be nice to say "thus begins the next phase of our journey", but the reality is

Chew Volume 2: International Flavor...

This is the second installment of the soon to be cult graphic novel / comic series "Chew". I have never been a huge fan of comics. I have always loved good cartoons though and I am a fan, still, of "Thunderbirds". However, I am a fan of the work of John Layman and Rob Guillory.I am not sure that the second installment was quite as good as the first. But, after a while and having digested it a

Jozef Wadecki: Doing Poland Proud on the Gymnastics Front...

If you have not worked it out yet, it is school holiday time. I have a couple of weeks off, sort of. I am preparing a presentation abstract for a conference in August. It is also an opportunity to do some blogging. Although my personal blogging is for fun and to humour myself by ranting and railing on whatever takes my fancy or posting the weird and wonderful I discover while surfing the internet

Australian Aboriginal Proverb...

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home."It is important to learn something new every single day. It keeps the mind fresh and active. I found this proverb on a bookmark. I post it here because it says a lot about how I want to live my life "to observe, to grow, to love" and

Let's Talk Recognition...

National Reconciliation Week will soon be upon us (27 May - 3 June). It is hardly surprising that I am more aware of events in the Indigenous calendar than I have been in the past. The "more aware" is an increased awareness before the fact rather than watching the news and going "oh yeah, it is Reconciliation Week". I work in a school that is a touch over 90% indigenous, and loving it!The theme

Talk Of The Town -- The Colli Crew...

I have only been teaching for a short period of time at Collarenebri Central School. However, in a term I have had the opportunity to be involved in many great projects and activities. One of the proudest and most enjoyable moments has been the "raps" that the Colli Crew have been making with the expert assistance of Toby Finlayson of Desert Pea Media and the dedicated staff of the school.I have

The Chew: Taster's Choice Review...

I really enjoyed this comic / graphic novel. I know that I am supposed to be reading Chew: Taster's Choice (Volume 1) as a potential text for my more senior students. However, it really is a collection of comics bound into a book. Nevertheless, I am totally committed to the idea that the genre is one that can be a successful addition to the units of work that I have been teaching. In any event, I

Graphic Novels...

I am thinking of teaching a graphic novel unit sometime this year, perhaps even next term, but it is finding one that the students are really going to get into and enjoy. I am currently reading "Chew, Volume 1: Taster's Choice" by John Layman and Rob Guillory. I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would.I am not resistant or reluctant to new methods of getting the students to learn the

Term 1...Done & Dusted!

Well, Term 1 is done. It has been a long term in both the literal and figurative senses. In the literal sense it has been an 11-week term instead of the usual 10. In the figurative sense, it has also been long as teaching every day gives rise to new and different challeges every day. These challenges arise irrespective of the fact that the students stay the same.Nevertheless, when it is all said

Indonesian Nationals and Foreign Spouses...

Whenever I have had an extended break from posting I always feel the need to apologise for my absence. I am not sure why that is. Maybe it is that I really enjoy posting odds and ends on my blog, and the fact that I have been way so irregular in doing that probably bothers me more than it bothers anyone else. But hey, duty or work calls and I have been busy doing the thing that pays my

The Colli Crew - Change the Game...

Working in a small central school like Collarenebri Central School provides so many opportunities to do things and be part of programs that are integral to creating and sustaining change in the lives of the children of the community. The YouTube video above is one that we worked on for just a couple of days with the students.Needless to say, Toby Finlayson of Desert Pea Media is a real talent in

Teaching: 9 to 3, And Taking It Easy...

It is always with a chuckle that I listen to people saying how easy it is to teach and what a cushy gig it is. After all, as a teacher you only really work from 9am through to 3pm, and you get all these holidays as well. The chuckle is that these people have absolutely no idea what it is to be a teacher nor what is involved in getting the "job" done. I always encourage others to pick up the torch

Late Night Collarenebri...

OK, so the hazy moon was bothering me. So, I went out and took a few more photos. I am not sure that this is much better. Although, confession time, I did do a few things different. The first one was a "portrait" shot with some flash involved. The second one was done at a much slower shutter speed and with the use of a tripod.The third one is my study at 10.45pm. This was taken from the road. If

Collarenebri Central School -- Generation One -- Closing the Gap...

If you watch one thing today, then watch this.This is why I came back to teaching.This is a rap that Collarenebri school students put together. It has become a very highly acclaimed piece of art. They performed it last year at the ARIA ceremony at the Opera House down in the 'Big Smoke' (aka Sydney). They have received numerous requests to perform it elsewhere.My personal view is that these

New Moon...

More from Collarenebri.This is from a little earlier this evening. There is a fair bit of cloud in the sky at the moment. At least this is my excuse, and I am sticking to it, for the hazy looking new moon. It is already 9.30pm here and it is still a little humid and still pretty warm. It has cooled off a little from the peaks earlier in the day though.My second week at Collarenebri Central School

Why Teach?

I have always been a teacher, the only difference now is it is a bit more formal with a Masters degree and a professional qualification. I have often been asked why I do not blog more about my experiences. The reality is that I work in a really small school in a really small town and my students, like anyone else, are entitled to a little bit of privacy. I also believe that building rapport and

Collarenebri Thoughts...

The big move took place starting on 25 January 2011 and culminated on 26 January 2011 with our arrival in Collarenebri. As poor excuses go, this is why there has been a dearth of blog posts, and the fact that it has been more than a week since we went into the local Telstra retailer to get a landline and internet connection set-up. The landline works, but we are still waiting for WiFi modems and

Northern California, Second Graders, and Oral Sex...

Yes, if you are shaking your head at the title of this post, then you are not alone. As I read through the article that I found on Yahoo earlier, and which forms the basis for this post, I was shaking my head too and wondering how it is that this sort of behaviour can happen.The story originates out of Markham Elementary School in Oakland. The principal was forced to notify parents that a teacher

School Over-Crowding and Birth Control...

How best to deal with surging school populations? A rapidly expanding school population is not something that I am going to have to worry about at Collarenebri Central School. There is undoubtedly some fluctuation in student numbers. But, as I understand it, those fluctuations are up and down 10 - 15 students. Then again, Collarenebri is a town of just 250 people. It goes without saying that New