730 days and counting...

On Saturday, we'll be meeting with the functions woman at the Zoo. Unfortunately between the time I emailed her, and the time she checked it, the 10th of November had been taken. BOOOOO. So, we're going with the 3rd of November because in Melbourne, we get a public holiday on the first Tuesday of November (for a horse race can you believe it???), so that will coincide nicely with any anniversaries while we're still in M-Town. (I just made that up. It's kind of lame).

Speaking of, it's Nic and my (not sure if that's grammatically correct) 2 year anniversary (of being together) today! Go us! We made it through moving straight in together without dating, putting up with my mother, worrying about whether we were both rebounds, having housemates move out on us with a week's notice, and having very little money while I've been studying... and of course all the good stuff... But it's been an action-packed 2 years. We've done a serious trip together (6 weeks in North America), added two furballs to our little family, moved house twice, gotten engaged, I finished my degree, changed jobs, quitted jobs...
So. Yay for us!

In other news...
I find out in 7.5 hours if I'm qualified to be a teacher or not.... eeeeeeek.
The good news is that a job has come up where I did my rounds/where I volunteer. Although there's a lot of stuff I'd like to change about the school and how they do things, they seem to be pretty switched on, flexible, and they don't teach from worksheets or text-books which is awesome. The teachers there are already talking like I've got the job. Unfortunately since it's a government (technically) position, I have to go through the whole thing with the application and everything so... I'm hoping my app doesn't stink so bad that although everybody else has rejected me, they won't reject me as well. If they do, I'll know I'm really doing something wrong!!

weight off my shoulders...

Funny story, actually. I was in the grade 4/5/6 classroom this afternoon and they were doing maths. I kind of felt like every answer I gave was like this one. I am so no good at maths. I did however manage to work out that 3km=300,000cm. But damn that took a lot of brain power. I kind of wanted to ask the rain-man autistic kid for help, but I think that would have been inappropriate and maybe not sent the right message about my competency to become a teacher....

I went back to school today, where I did my 5 weeks of rounds during term 3.

I had decided that in order to get more experience teaching, while I wait to be a registered, qualified teacher, I might as well head back and volunteer. Since they know me there, and I know the kids, I figured I'd be able to pretty much jump back in.

And I'll tell you what, it was fantastic to be able to just hang out, help out, check work, give help... without stressing about assignments in the back of my mind. Without worrying if I needed to collect work samples, or if I was doing enough, or the right thing, or what I needed to put in my reflective journal when I got home.
Nope.
I just did what I wanted. Then, when the teachers ran out of stuff to do and the classroom was too hot and they were just going to go read in the shade.... I went home. Because there were no rules to say I couldn't. My mentor teacher was super grateful for all my help, and said I was welcome to drop in whenever I want. So, the more I go, the better it looks on my resume, and the more exposure to different things I get. I suppose, as a teacher, it would be SO good to have helpers- particularly people who know what they're doing. The kids who really needed help and one on one attention got it, my mentor didn't have to worry about checking to make sure kids were working cos I could do that... I figure when I get my own class, I might go back to my University and raid a class of 4th year Bachelor of ed students, see if they want to volunteer to help me (looks good on their resume and they learn a lot, too), and then I can have helpers while I learn how to teach properly.

I think with all the finishing assignments, stressing about jobs and money, applying for job after job after job, seeing the same BS written on almost every school website... I was starting to feel a bit disillusioned. Like: is this what I want to do? And maybe it's not what I want to do forever... I don't think it will be enough for me to do forever... but for now...
And going in today, I feel better. I hadn't wanted to ask anybody from my cohort if they ever question whether this is what they want. I'm not sure why. Maybe I don't want the: "Why not!? You'll be a great teacher!" talk... or maybe I don't want them to think I wasted the last 2 years... Or maybe because asking was like admitting something that was too scary to admit.
But I think it will be ok. I hope I get a good school where they look after me, where I can do interesting things and have fun with my kids. Well, maybe I shouldn't worry about that so much just yet, and focus on actually getting a job in the first place.

holy bananas....

YO

Long time no see y'all.
I'm writing this as a tentative 'I might be back a bit more' thing because, I might. I'm about to graduate from my Masters, but theoretically won't have a 'real job' till term 1 next year (school starts in Feb down under) so will have plenty of time to kill between now and then AND, since I won't have assignments due any more (cue cheers), I won't have to worry about writing them, and having them sap my energy.

SO

I suppose the best place to start is a bit of a recap of the last, oh, 3 and a half months.

my feet do my learning....

So.....

Hi.

Long time no see. I don't really know where to pick up so I'm going to put in some random snippets of things and see if that gets the ball rolling again. Truth is, what I think happened was that I started this blog (just wrote job, whoops) in October, when Uni was finished for the year. I had nice looooong summer holidays to write merrily, and when school started, assignments weren't due for a while and things were pretty easy so I kept writing. Then assignments were due. Like... Massively. I think I had about 6 to do in 2 weeks, which was about the time I really stopped writing here. Winter holidays are nearly over though so I can't promise I'll be writing a lot mor, BUT, in the middle of august, I'm on rounds for 5 weeks straight at one random school (not the one I'd been volunteering at) so I'm sure I'll have some interesting things to say then.
In the meantime though, since this blog was originally meant to be about wedding-y stuff, that all seems so far away that it really really has been put on the back burner. People say: so how's the wedding planning coming?! And it takes me a minute to figure out what they're talking about. But we're toying with ideas, of going overseas, or whatever, but we also don't know where we'll be living by then so even the date is sort of up in the air.
I said to Nic the other day that we need to stop worrying about where we live (as we'd been restricting future living places to our ideal places- Vancouver or BC, Tasmania, Washington state, etc) and worry about getting Nic a good job, in something he wants to do, and wants to progress with. I figure once we have that, we can move in the future, but there's no point moving anywhere just so as he can get another office admin job again that has no career progression. So! Now we're sort of going to be looking everywhere (English speaking anyway).

But anyway, that wasn't even the point of the post, though I realize I have missed writing out my thoughts and getting them straight here... All I really was wanting to say was: I was looking on a Canadian jibs site today just randomly, and stumbled on their 'resume tips for teachers' section. It suggested that in your resume you should include key words, such as 'creative lesson plans', 'curriculum development', 'ESL students' and 'brain-based learning'... I'm sorry, brain based learning??..... I wasn't aware there was another type of learning.
Seriously
How else do people learn if not with their brains, or not at all?

Anyway. Need to head to my little school- it's probably my last day, so I'm saying bye to all the kids :(:(:(:(:(:(
Sorry for any pos in this post, writing it on my iPad means unreliable touch-screen typing.

if i could them again, maybe it'll be different...

I'm doing my maths assignment, sort of.
As in, I'm getting distracted, but I'm getting distracted by a book on teaching maths. It's just that it doesn't relate directly to what I need to be doing.
Yet.

{via}

But I was reading this passage and it made me laugh. Anyone who's worked with kids should be able to appreciate it. Background: It's a book on teaching kids to become good problem solvers. They're given a problem, and can use any materials in the room to solve it. Then they share their solutions and have to back it up.
Right.
So this was the problem provided to a year 1 & 2 class:
"There are 14 legs in a barn. What animals might be in the barn?"
One girl's solution says: 7 Cknz (7 Chickens)
This is what the book says about how she got there:
"Maris took 2 toy cows from the sorting tub and counted their legs. Then she took one more cow from the sub and counted all the legs. She took a fourth cow from the tub and counted the legs. She put the fourth cow back in the tub, then recounted the legs on the remaining three cows. She paused, then returned the remaining cows to the tub.
Next, she took out two sheep and counted their legs. Then, she took out a third sheep and counted all the legs. As before, she took out a fourth and counted all the legs. She put the fourth sheep back into the tub, then counted the legs on the remaining three sheep. She paused, took out the fourth sheep again, recounted the legs, and with a big sigh put all four sheep back into the tub. She repeated this same process using pigs and horses" (This is where I laughed. Poor girl).
"Finally, she took out two chickens and counted their egs. She added chickens one by one, recounting the legs each time. When she had seven chickens on her desk, she counted the legs and said, "OK, that's fourteen".
At this point Marisa looked at me (the author) as if she had finished the problem. I read the problem to her again. After looking carefully at the plastic chickens, she said nothing.
"What does the problem want you to find?" I asked.
"An animal with fourteen legs" she replied.
"What animal did you find?"
"Chickens"
"How many legs does one chicken have?" I asked.
She answered, "Two"
"So if there are fourteen legs," I continued, "How many chickens are there?" Marisa thought for a while, then counted the chickens. "It's seven chickens in the field," she said. From Share & Compare, Larry Buschman.

Anyway. I can imagine this poor girl counting counting counting the legs, one two three animals- excellent, 12 legs! Maybe if I add one more... DANG!

 

{via}

Nic is coming to School with me tomorrow!?
Did I say this already??
Now I just want to challenge my kids with animal-based numeracy problems.

future living arrangements...

School day today!
And tomorrow!
And Thursday!
Nic is coming with me on Thursday to see if he wants to go back to school (again) and be a teacher. If nothing else he gets to meet the kids I keep talking about.
Today was a good day though, I actually kind of did some teaching. Oooo, aaahh. The kids were quite good, since they know me and like me- I think they were excited cos me teaching was a bit of a novelty, haha.

But in less related news, we got a letter in the mail today telling us that our 12 month lease was up in August (yep, it's only May) and could we let them know within the next 14 days if we want to go on another 6 month, 12 month, or month-to-month lease. I'm not sure how it works elsewhere but here, if you sign a lease agreement, you sign something saying you won't sub-let, and anyway if you do, and they ruin the house... well... that's trouble... or, if you go month-to-month, they can basically boot you out at any point with a month's notice... so, you have 0 stability, and the landlord has 0 stability, so that's not so hot...
Problem is, in 6 months from August, it's Feb. The school year in Aus starts in Feb. If we want to move to somewhere rural, we'll need to have done so before Feb. This is, as you can see, problematic.
However, if we don't move, OR if my School offers me a job... we'd want to be on a 12 month lease so they can't get rid of us till August next year. Is it assumptive to ask the Principal of the School if she'll be likely to have a job for me 9 months from now? Haha.
ASSUMING the landlord (who is lovely) doesn't want to move in here now. She's 20-something and lives with her parents while renting out this house to us. She works full-time. I can only imagine it'd be a matter of time before she actually wanted to live here.
So.... that's a little problematic.

Anyhoo. I'm sure i had more important things to write about but we all know how School fries my brain. And this week I have 3 days of it! Yay!

just dance: it's gonna be ok...

This song has been on repeat at School the last couple of days.

I had an absolutely perfect moment at School today.
It was lunchtime. I'd been wandering around talking to the kids, as I often do.
There'd been a slight patch of drizzly rain and we'd retreated indoors, before a ringletted girl excitedly told me we could all go outside again. I did. The sun broke through.
On the front porch/decking of one of the two school classrooms (and for North American people, our schools are set up and look VERY different to what you'd be used to.) were kids, and music playing.
On the front lawn bit, the grass has only just grown back over the Easter holidays, and kids have been playing soccer out there all week...
I walk over to this building and watch, enraptured.
3 Prep girls dancing.
2 prep boys dancing.
2 year 1 girls dancing.
3 year 5/6 boys dancing.
All of them, alone and together, with great big smiles on their faces.
The older boys, often stoic and 'too cool' to laugh much or make jokes, grabbed each other's hands and jumped up and down, squeezing their eyes closed.
The year 1 girls tried to show off moves they'd learnt in dance classes.
The younger boys' interpretations mostly involved breakdancing-like moves as they rolled and somersaulted and contorted themselves on the floor.
Sometimes they just threw themselves around with the beat.
And it was adorable- they loved having music on, and when it was on, they just had to move.
It was hilarious to watch this angelic prep girl- 5 years old- mouthing the words to some terrible R&B/Pop song, or trying anyway.

And it was just.... kids having fun. Kids dancing. Kids rocking it out as the sun shone and a tune came on.


Later we did a sport class with an outside contractor guy, and a kid with autism ended up yelling and crying and sitting on the floor, and the teacher left him to it. I asked her later what was happening in his mind to make him need to act like this- I don't know much about Aspbergers or Autism, so I'm constantly trying to learn... She explained that he's autistic, which I had guessed, and that the stress of having a different teacher, of being in the echoey room in the gym, of everything just getting a bit much, he just had to yell. But looking at him- he was ok, it was just how he had to get through his stress. And the other kids? They went about everything like it wasn't happening.
I asked the teacher- she has two young autism kids in her class of 5 year olds- if she knew a lot about AS or Autism before she joined the school. Because it's a small, specialised private school, they get more kids like this than regular public schools. She told me:
"Well, I figure they're just like every kid. Every kid is different. Every kid has different needs, and a different way of learning, and different ways of reacting to things."
I thought this was really smart. Often we get caught up in a diagnosis: this kid has xyz, so that means they'll behave in xyz manner. She has 2 autism kids in the class and they're completely different. I think probably knowing about these conditions can maybe help us, but I think people too often rely on that diagnosis as a crutch. "Well, he has xyz, so we shouldn't expect him to be able to do...". Which is bad.


Gee, Em. Way to have a strong ending.
"Having low expectations of kids is bad."
Maybe I should use that in an essay sometime.

On a different note, I so need to go for a run. I get home from School and I'm so tired. I get on the couch and can't move. I know, I should get home and go straight away, but I'm so hungry by that point that I think I'd pass out. I'm hungrier on School Days than any other time. I think my body is fairly good at self-regulating hunger at least, which is nice.
Or, I should, y'know... use that gym membership.
Or I could turn on the heater, curl up under a blanket, and force Nic to make me dinner again cos I'm too tired to live.
You guys... this is going to be my life. Teachers tell me you don't go home any less tired, even when it's your job.

.
.
.

F.a.n.tastic...

but if i don't go to the disco with a boy, i won't have fun (duh).

Today, I gave relationship advice to a 9 year old.

{via}

Two girls were sitting on the couch in their classroom, one of them looking kind of down in the dumps. I came over and asked if I could help at all. One girl (call her T) explained that her friend (K) had 'gotten together' with a boy that had asked her out, and who had subsequently dumped her. Now I'm hoping these kids just 'go out', and don't 'do stuff' together, but we didn't get into that.
The dumped girl thought she had been dumped because the boy actually had a crush on T, but T was with another boy. At least, that was how I understood it. It all seemed a little convoluted, and I think they'd been going out for all of a day, but, whatever.
Now she was sad because of the dumping, but also because she had nobody to go to the disco with.
The disco is a school party (remember, there's all of 50 kids in this school) where they have music and dance and then they all have a giant sleepover party. The kids don't have to go 'with' someone, take a date, whatever- it's probably encouraged that they don't... But here was this 9 year old girl upset because she was friends with all of the boys but thought that the ones who would 'say yes' to going to the disco (I'm fairly certain they're all going regardless) were the ones she didn't like.
As she was telling me about this boy and that, and going out with this guy or that, I felt myself puffing up, ready to get all 'grown-up responsible adult' on them, full of self-righteousness.
After all, they're 9! They shouldn't be 'going out' with boys! They're too young! They should worry about that later! In like, 10 years! They need to stop worrying about boys! In fact, just be friends with them! Just because you like him, it doesn't mean anything! You're too young to know what love is! What you're feeling isn't real! You're just silly children!
And I thought back on me at that age.
I thought of our little club where you had to have a 'boyfriend' to get in.
I thought of secretly holding hands, and quick pecks on the lips that meant you'd 'really kissed'.
I thought of the politics we were involved with- him liking her, but her with him, and they just broke up so now she wants to go out with him....
I thought of how it all felt so real...
And I thought how how I had done what they're doing: they're not worse than we were, assuming they're not like, making out or having sex, or getting naked. So, I couldn't give that talk. I wouldn't be that lame adult.
"First of all, K, you don't need to take someone to this disco. So go with a friend. Or 3."
"Yeah, but... like... it might not be as much fun, if I don't go with a boy".
I looked at her, hard.
"Pick a friend who you know you'll have fun with. Pick a boy friend, or a girl and go there, and rock it. And when that boy who dumped you sees you having awesome fun, then he'll wish he hadn't dumped you. I think, as girls, we need to not worry about not going with a boy! We're ok on our own, or with our friends. And if you get there, and boys are dancing, and you want to dance with one, then great! You can dance with them! And if not- dance with your awesome, fun friend. Then you don't have to worry about going with a boy, and that boy not talking to you all night!"

...

I don't think she found my speech very inspirational. She couldn't let go of the idea that she needed to go with a boy to this disco.

And I find that a bit sad. This kid is 9. I get it, in highschool, when there's hormones, and you actually have a formal/prom or whatever, and it's a bit more lame to go on your own, but there's not this kind of culture at this school. I wonder if the boys feel like they need to 'take a girl' to this disco. I bet they don't.

Also, holy crap. As a teacher, we don't have classes on this. We have classes on treating kids equally, on what to do if they're being abused, about disabilities and gifted kids, but if kids are getting into 'relationships' in your class? If one kid dumps another kid and that affects their attitude while at school? How can you give a 9 year old girl relationship advice because she got dumped a day after being asked out? I told her boys are all idiots and she shouldn't waste her time, but I think this nearly made her cry. Maybe you're not meant to get 'close enough' to the kids for them to want to tell you this stuff? But that's not how I want to work.

Today was my first day with these older kids, and one by one I started to win their 'trust'. That is, getting them to look to me for advice, as well as their normal teacher. For two, it was just helping with their computers. Easy. For another- spelling, for one: spelling, but showing that nobody is perfect, so her not knowing how to spell something was ok because I wasn't 100% sure until I wrote it down myself. Breaking away the layers of suspicion that I'm a newcomer, to the point where I'm a friendly, knowledgable and helpful person...

I miss my little kids, though. These guys are hard work on that front. Here's how it went with (most) of the younger kids:
"Everybody, this is Emily, she's going to help out in our classroom!"
"Hi everyone!"
Instant acceptance. Three girls come up and hug me. Boys as me for help on their models.
To a degree it's the same- there were some in that group who took work, or it took a few times of me helping them... but once I had it- they stopped asking their teacher, and asked me. Buahahaha. Should I stage a coup?!

won't somebody please think of the children...!!!

I read this article this morning in The Age, which is Victoria's 'more respected of the two options' when it comes to Newspapers.
And something welled up in me that compelled me to write an entry here, for all the good it would do... but the ideas were (and hopefully still are) circling around in my brain, begging to get down into words. So here goes.

Incase you can't be bothered reading the article, it basically bemoans the fact that children aren't being taught bible stories any more. *gasp!*.
Before i go on, also, I know religion is a touchy subject. I'm not religious. I went to an Anglican Christian school, I'm technically Jewish (blood line, yada yada yada), and I don't believe in anything. That being said, everything I write here is obviously my opinion and hopefully I won't offend people- it's just the way I  see things.

 

Wouldn't this make a great children's story? {via}

Ok, so, children aren't being taught religious stories in school, and the article says that this is a damn shame because children miss out on learning some of the valuable lessons from the stories and go on to become immoral and corrupt citizens. That last part may be my inclusion but it may as well have said that.
Some guy is quoted as saying: "Without what the Greeks called mythos or story, we have no way of orienting ourselves in life, either as a people or as individuals".
Yes. Stories are good. Agreed. Massages are also good, agreed. In the 2001 census, 20% of people identified as Anglican, 20% as Catholic and 20% as 'other Christian', so the majority of the population runs as Christian.  Ok, so of that 60%, 23% of them 'participated in some religious activity' in the 3 months prior to the census. So, we're a lot of us Christian, and not  a lot of us 'practicing' it.
Which brings me, I suppose, to my unease, because I know what can happen with things like this, and it would be suddenly the job of teachers to teach the 'real meaning' of Easter. Because, in my class of impressionable little minds, I would feel a hypocrite teaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus. I learned about it in school myself. One of their selling points in this article is that children take from the Easter story a message of hope. That they can use the lessons learned in the Easter story as a way to find strength in difficult times. They say in the article that kids these days only care about chocolate brought by a bunny.
I learned the Easter story.
I sung Christian songs.
I said the Lords' prayer every Thursday in assembly...
And yet, Easter for me means chocolate and a long weekend.

So I feel that this article is a thinly veiled way to try and bring the 'dominant religion' in to children's lives (or they'll be damned, or something) and make it 'normal'. Make it 'the proper religion', and if you practice anything else, or believe in anything else, then you're abnormal and don't fit in with our culture in this country. They try and disguise this through the importance of 'the message' or the importance of 'the story', but I can tell you there are plenty of beautiful stories with beautiful messages floating around for children that don't involve a diety that they may or may not want to believe in.
I suppose this all links to a different article I read about religious education in government schools. Government schools have to be, by design, secular. Some of them have 'religious education' or RE. These RE classes are usually always run by a Christian group. Should a student's parent forget to 'opt out' (not in) to these classes, they learn the Christian way. They don't learn about a diverse range of religious which I think is really valuable and is something that kids should learn - we did, in year 7, and it was great... bur they learn about Christianity. If a child does opt out, there's a clause in a law somewhere saying that they're not allowed to go on with other work... so... they end up sitting in the back of the class (apparently) or out in the hall, or sharpening pencils.
So, I don't know enough about this to read between the lines and figure out how much of it is glorified or not, but it seems so strange to me that RE would be taught by volunteers from a Christian organization, where kids aren't allowed to go off and do some other learning while this is taking place. Again, doesn't this create such an 'us' and 'them' sort of mantra... as in: if you don't believe this way, you don't exist?

So, people, here's an idea. Let's teach about religions, not religion. Let's teach about tolerance. Let's teach about hope, and respect, and helping one another. Let's model these things, and encourage them within ourselves and within kids and students and others. Let's teach about Aboriginal stories, because they, too, have beautiful stories and myths, and are sort of technically 'the religion of Australia', even if not as many people believe those things. Let's teach about Buddhism and some of the mindfulness and stillness practices it brings. Let's teach about the strength of community, about loving one another and ourselves. Let's just not rely on one religion, Christian or otherwise, to impart the values or morals we wish children to develop.

underpreparedness...ing.

I was going to do a "Tasty Tuesday" post yesterday when I made a peach and passionfruit cobbler.
Then I realized it was Wednesday.
I suppose I could do 'Tasty Thursday" but it doesn't have the same ring.

The other day our literacy tutor posted up a link to this blog, which I have subsequently spent many hours traipsing through- trialing out resources, sites, games, activities... making comics and story books and mind-maps... It's awesome.
And I realise more and more that I think, for now, lower primary is where I'm at. I want to get kids to that fluent reading level. I want to be able to still read stories with them, but to also write stories, too. So, I don't necessarily want Prep kids who don't know their alphabet, but also not year 6 kids who probably know more math than I do.
But the funny thing is, is that it's through our literacy classes that we're learning (very small amounts) about ICT, and how we can use it. We're going to do stuff on digital storytelling/storybooks, multiliteracies, etc. Other subjects have touched on it, sure. Our maths teacher keeps saying: "You can do this or that on an Interactive whiteboard", but funnily, most of us have never used one. Or if we have, it's in a really fundamental, basic way. Like putting text up, or drawing on it like an actual whiteboard.
Lots more education-y rant below...

lunch ladies

Today I went and had tea and cake with my step-grandmother (let's call her Joanne), my aunt (by marriage)(We'll call her Liza), and my Dad's partner, S (fooooorrr... Suzanne! That'll do), who is visiting Melbourne for a week.
I think it was an interesting feeling, sitting with 3 women who are 'outsiders', in a way, to 'my family'. So, I hadn't seen either Joanna or Liza for probably 4 or 5 years. And at that point it would have been very very briefly at a Christmas party and I would have probably said 'hi', before I wandered off. They figured out this was the last time- I thought it was when my Grandpa died when I was 9..ish, and we had the funeral. Maybe not, but that's what it felt like.
Brief history: Joanne married my Poppa as a second marriage, I was old enough to be a flower girl but not old enough to remember the wedding... So, they weren't together long before Poppa died of brain cancer. Apparently Joanne used to come with my Poppa to babysit me since I was born, up until he passed away, but I never remember he being there. For me, she was never 'really' part of our family.
Liza is technically my 'great-aunt', having married my Poppa's brother. And Suzanne and Dad have been together for maybe... er... 8 years now? And it was only on my trip to their place last year that I had grown up enough to realize she wasn't a horrible monster and that she was really, really good for my Dad.
So there's the scene. That's what I mean by 3 women who are 'outside' the family. It was just interesting to me that they were all tied to that blood- blood in me, but didn't have it themselves, you know what I mean?
But anyway, we talked about life, and weddings, and family, and Nic, and my brother, and food... It was nice. Really nice. Joanne and Liza often travel together- they've gone halfway around the world (and Australia) and back together. I just loved seeing that that friendship was still going. I hope I have that one day, in a woman. I love Nic, he's my best friend, but sometimes it'd be nice to have a woman companion, too.

 

This is a rock wallaby. He has nothing to do with anything. I was just reminded yesterday that my posts have been rather wordy lately, and I felt like I needed to break it up some way. He is from Magnetic Island, QLD, and is quite tiny. Also, they all appear to have iddy-biddy smiles on their faces. T'aw. AND LOOK AT HIS LITTLE HANDS. 

Anyhoo..

And then I came home and did some pilates/yoga in front of the TV cos today was hot (wtf autumn!?) and I didn't want to cycle in 30C.

I forgot to mention, but the other night, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, I suddenly realized that I can actually times things by 4.
As in, I suck at timestables, right? 2 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 - fine. 4? Not beyond 5 x 4... 6? Not really, I'll work out what 5 x 6 or 10 x 6 is, and go from there... 7... same thing, 8, same thing. But then I realized that if I need to times something by 4... I can double that number, then double it again. This might sound super lame to all you number people, but suddenly I could work out 6 x 4 without having to go from 5. I could also work out 122 X 4 without much difficulty as well, which is probably more than most people. So, I was excited about this. This brought me one step closer to 'being able to do maths'.
And I told Nic, cos I was excited.
And somehow, we ended up having an argument about timestables.
Seriously.
In bed, arguing about timestables and teaching them.
That surely has to be one of the dumbest arguments going around, right?

 

And right now I've been struck by a thought...
So, i'm no good with parents. I know right now at School, when parents come, I'm just some random young-looking-person who hangs around and smiles, and talks to the kids, right? But I don't introduce myself because I get shy... I'm really shy about parents. I'm terrified about parents... So here's me and Nic arguing over the best way to teach timestables... and he's someone who has heard and who agrees with most things I say about teaching (usually eventually)... and he just... wouldn't... he wouldn't let me compromise on this... And I'm now thinking: Holy crap, he doesn't even have an investment in this. What about when I get a parent who thinks they know best?!!?
So, maybe all this arguing with Nic will go to a good cause. I'll have already heard all the critiques, already backed up my point of view, already provided evidence...
He'll say he's doing me a favor.

Want another wallaby? You know you do.

YAY!

end of term!

School day!!!

It was the last day of term today so things ran a little differently, and as I'm in it, there's so many things I think of that I want to remember and talk about later, but then so much else happens that I forget the original things.

Originally, when I got there, I got stung by a bee. Awesome. Luckily it was like: OW PAIN!! FLAIL!!! And then like: there's a bee on the ground! I think cos of my super-quick-awesome-ninja-reflexes, I flicked the bee off before his stinger got in me. He got me on the wrist, and bee-stings I've had in the past have puffed up massively. So, like a little kid, I went to the sick bay and got some lavender oil and tried not to cry (remember that thing about how I cry at everything? Yup. Prospect of super-puffed-up-hand all day? Not a happy camper. But I didn't cry. Go me.), and watched it and watched it, and lo-and-behold, it didn't puff up. You can actually hardly tell I got stung at all, which has made it the least dramatic bee sting of my entire life. Sorry bee, but you died for nothing.

we'll celebrate our differences! but only if you're black.

Man, the title of this post sounds horrible. Please read it in context.

This morning was our literacy class, which is run by an awesome, awesome lady from CA, who did her thesis on race politics in classrooms, and is really in that 'sphere' of race, and literacies, etc. That's where she is. So, we skipped over a lesson on teaching handwriting (read: we didn't do it, because it's not what she does. Let me divert a moment here before I go on to my main point. She doesn't do it, yes, but we will. At some point, I will need to teach kids how to write. Not 'how to write' in the broad scope of 'learning to write a narrative', but in actually forming the letters. This is a b. Don't confuse it with a d. That kind of thing. Our one lesson in our degree on teaching handwriting, and we're not doing it. And this is a ridiculous thing: we're in a 2 year Masters course, and we get 1 measly semester of literacy and numeracy, which make up, what, 80% of the primary curriculum? Had we done a bachelor of ed. we would have had 4 years of this stuff. I'm feeling a little underprivileged. I'm feeling like if I have any 2 hour breaks next semester, that I'm going to find a literacy or numeracy B.Ed. class and sit in on it. Is that uber-nerdy? Yes. Do I want to know as much as I can before the future of these kids rests in my hands? Yes. When kids come out of my class writing "th3 bog i5 dlacR" (the dog is black) because they get their e's, d's, b's, and k's all messed up (or whatever it happens to be), then that's my fault. Anyway, not the point) so we could talk about being white.

play-dough numbers.

I didn't write anything yesterday. I didn't have anything to say, and it probably should have been favourite things monday but I was at class for most of the day and the other part was spent cycling to class, or watching online movies. About education.
That's not even a joke.
How do I spend my spare time? After I've read through my favourite blogs (y'know, the wedding or life ones), I actually do Uni work. Or watch clips about education. Or do independant research,
Yes.
While my cohort has read one chapter of our many books and articles that we're supposed to have read (I'm not making this up), and those same people haven't started the assignment due on Monday... I've done that assignment, done my readings, and am researching, independently, things that I find interesting. About education.
Can anyone spell
L-A-M-E?
Well done, grade 2.

Anyhoo. Just for fun I went to School this morning because they have a bit more of a structured literacy or numeracy lesson.
Or so I thought.
(Dun dun dunnn).

skip counting.

I decided to skip class this morning.
As Nic so helpfully points out: I'm a Uni student, that's what I'm supposed to do when I don't really want to go.
8am is way too early for maths, anyway, particularly when the teacher reads off powerpoint slides. Occasionally she asks us a maths problem, or shows us an activity we can do in our classroom, but if you get the answer wrong, she's terribly condescending and if you get the answer right before she's 'ready' for you to get it right (ie: be the first person answering a riddle/puzzle/whatever and get it right? She'll accuse you of having read the powerpoint already, or having seen the problem before. Or something stupid. And I mean accuse, as well).
So, I figure, I can read the powerpoints from home, and the other articles she prescribes, and not worry about never answering questions anyway because I don't want her to think I'm stupid (like when she asked if anyone uses their fingers to count, and I said I do, and she asked when, and I said pretty much for anything, even simple addition (which is true. Something like 8 + 7? That'd be on my fingers. Yup. The more I read, the more I think I wasn't taught maths very well. People who look at that and just know what the answer is? Yeah, can't do that. Kids who would look at that and go, I dunno, 7 + 7 + 1? I don't do that. Sucks.), and she looked at me like I was a complete moron)...
Ironically, I'm staying home (with kitten on my lap and dog next to me on the couch) researching progressive education/alternative education schools in Australia, and BC, Canada. Then I'll finish my assignment, then I'll probably start a different one.
So it's not like I've slept in- I still dragged myself out of bed, not having decided at that point that I wasn't going... No, I'm still actually going to be productive. That makes things better, right?

i should have stayed home... or just hidden in a bin.

Today was School day!

And before I say that, let me make an observation. I realize, as I watched the doe-eyed kitten stare blankly around her at imaginary things, that she is much like a Prep child. So, 4-5 years old, just started school, learning about the big wide world. She falls over, makes up games, runs, plays, and is terribly, terribly distracted. Try and talk to her for too long and she'll be gazing off over your shoulders for something more interesting to watch.
And Mal? He's grade 4 or 5. He's got his head screwed on, can hold a good conversation, and is insanely proud of everything he does, and wants to tell you ALL about it (whenever either of us come home he gets his toy, usually one that squeaks, and wiggles himself into little balls of joy, showing you how well he can make it squeak.). He still plays, but in a more reserved way, and gets bored of the silly kittens antics pretty quick. He knows stuff, he takes commands.
She is currently chasing her tail. Point proven.
Maybe this is why I like younger kids. I can compare them to animals. HA!

This is how my animals help. I'm trying to put that foam underneath the fridge to stop Mia losing her toys under there... This picture could be typical of the little School though- Prep girl all up in your grill like: "Excuse me, Emily, um, what are you doing?? Um, can I help? What can I do?... Um, excuse me Emily, why are you putting all that under there???" And on and on... and meanwhile, goofy doofus-face is standing in the background telling you some story about some unrelated thing while peering over your shoulder to make sure whatever you're doing isn't interesting enough for him to want to be too involved, and also occasionally tapping you on the shoulder to get your attention again so he can continue his story.

That being said, I am really glad because I am really enjoying my days at the School. I'm still a socially awkward mess if it comes to meeting actual grownup people, but kids? Kids I can do. Which I still find bizzare. But I can see teaching- Primary Teaching - as something I'll enjoy. And it's exhausting. Ridiculously exhausting. But... I enjoy it. I love reading stories. I can't wait to have my own classroom and meetings and meditation and learning about maths.

That being said, today wasn't particularly fun... I did some interviews with two Prep kids for my maths assignment, which took a half our each... The girl I interviewed now keeps telling me how well she helped me learn to be a teacher. Then I ran errands because an integration aid was turning 50, and they needed tabbouleh. So I got the ingredients. Then I stapled balloons to the roof of the staff room, which took an hour.
At lunch, we were all in there, and some of the year 1/2 kids came in. I was nearest the door, and knowing them, I asked what the matter was.
"E. HAS HER LEG STUCK IN A CHAIR!" They cried. We ran to the classroom. Well... I sort of ran, then walked. After all, running causes more panic, which causes more commotion, which for kids convinced their friend is about to have her leg amputated cos it's stuck in a chair? Hm, not so hot.
A few of them entered the room before me, yelling:
"WE BROUGHT A TEACHER!!! WE BROUGHT A TEACHER!!!"
And I'm thinking:
Uh... Sorry to disappoint, but not really. If this situation is beyond my capabilities, we're going to go get an ACTUAL teacher.
Anyway, by the time I got there she was free, but crying, cos, y'know, it hurts to have your leg stuck in a chair. But she was fine, and everyone was quite relieved.
I read a story to the Preps (love it. They're an awesome audience. Laughing at the appropriate places, exclaiming when something exciting happens, they're quiet, and interested, and sometimes, if it's especially interested, their mouths are open and they're leaning forward so they can see that much better.)... One of the grade 1/2 kids had gone missing, so E, the teacher, was looking for him. I felt a bit bad as I'd sort of ditched her after lunch, but they were going to have their school photos done, and I wanted to learn stuff, not do photos.
So there was a search party for this kid on while I read the story. It's not unusual for him to disappear, but this time they couldn't find him. A half hour later, and they did. He had hidden in a bin.
A bin of all places.
(Do you all say bin? Trash-can? But it was plastic...not a can.. with like.. a lid.)


Do you think I'm cut out for this? For finding kids who have hidden in bins? For kids who throw tantrums? Who cry because someone "took their seat"? I don't know. Probably not. But I suppose that's why I'm here, learning. So when this stuff comes up, in my classroom- when a kid disappears... I'll know to check the bins if I can't find him anywhere else. Don't know if any of the others from my course can say the same.

In the end it was a bit of a waste of a day. Apart from reading the story and helping some girls find 'A' words in magazines, I didn't really have 'class time' today... Plus I have crappy crappy period pain, but then, I did get homemade carrot cake, so maybe it all balances out.

fights, competitions and being a teacher...

Yesterday was school day.
I've already unloaded a bit to Nic which is really nice, but I like sharing what I'm learning here as well.
But since this turned out to be super-long verrryyyy education based, I'll understand if you don't want to read on!
But if you want to hear about a fishing game almost turned to violence, or how competition and incentives produces bad results, or how worksheets are taking the place of actual teaching and what I feel about that particular scenario, then please, do read on.

 {via}

favourite things pt 4.

Favourite things: Sleeping on the couch.

Ok I'm actually remembering to do this on a Monday this week. I'm taking a break from looking for (academic) journal articles about how to make maths creative, and fun, and hands-on to write this. I find it fascinating, though, much more than I thought I would. Because here's something we never think about, right:
In real life, on a day-to-day basis, which do you think we dedicate the most time to:
-Written computation (ie: addition/subtraction/multiplication written with pen and paper)
-Mental computation (sums done in your head) or
-Calculator computation.

Most people would probably say mental computation. I don't know about you but if I'm adding something up, I'll try and do it in my head (or on my fingers), or with my iphone before I bother writing it down... And yet...
Which of those would you say is taught most heavily at schools?
And I think you'd find the answer would be written computation.
Isn't that strange?? And almost no time is taken to doing mental problem-solving. And I'm mad about that now because I think a lot of my maths problems comes from feeling 'locked into' the written algorithm we're taught in school. Example, here's a problem: 25 + 27.
And in my head I work it out how you would if you wrote it nice and properly, like this:
  25
+27
-----

And today in class we discussed how other people worked out the answer in their head. And some people say 25 + 25 + 2. That's MUCH easier than trying to work out stupid-looking 7 + 5, which by the way, I would probably do on my fingers as well. Or even if I could think to do 5 + 5 + 2 + 40... But I don't. I add the ones, carry the one over, then add the twos, and put on the extra one. And it's not the easiest way to do it.
But what I find especially interesting is that kids will develop their own methods and their own tricks, all the time. And sometimes they'll feel embarrassed by their methods and won't say how they got the answer because they've been taught that there's a 'right way' to do it, and that wasn't the way they used. There's been research done which says kids use their own algorithms, as long as their method doesn't fail, which is when they will revert back to the written version. Anyway, enough maths education talk..

• Waking up with sore muscles after smashing it out at the gym. It's like, confirmation that you worked hard.
• Getting home after a run with a very tired pup whose tail is down, and who flops on the floor the minute you get inside. Poor dude.
• Nic making Sunday morning pancakes with raspberries. I might have already listed these as a favorite thing but I love them.
• Falling asleep on the couch. This could be while watching a crappy action movie (they put me to sleep.), or watching something else with my head on Nic's lap, or just on a lazy non-Uni afternoon- not worrying about how long I sleep or that I'm going to be late for anything. Bliss!
• Erasing a task on our to-do-list-fridge-whiteboard. Especially something that's been there for 2 weeks that you've been putting off doing for so long. And rewarding yourself, possibly with a chocolate biscuit. Yum.

Hope everybody had a great weekend, and happy Monday. :)
Also, I'm putting together a compilation of kitten-on-bags, as a follow-up to a post the other day because I realize now just how much Reya is obsessed with bags, and it's cute.

here miss, we baked these brownies for you...

Thursday!
Which means, School day!

{via}

I'm finding that I'm learning so much, and I'm so grateful that this school is totally accommodating in having me visit them, letting me join whichever classes I want. The teachers are always glad of an extra pair of hands and eyes.
During the day, or when I finish, I find there is so much swirling around in my head- the things I've seen and done, the things I've noticed about students, about myself, and I can never get to a computer or a piece of paper fast enough to write it all down.
Today I joined the year 1/2 class (so that's a mixed class of grade 1 and 2 kids, not grade half). I had been looking forward to Thursday all week after how much fun Prep had been (they call it 'transition' at this school.. I like it.), I wanted the fun, but I also wanted the next step up.
As I sat on the big red couches that dominate the centre of their classroom, all 15 kids with their feet just hanging off the cushions, a girl with pale blonde hair came and sat next to me shyly. I gave her a grin.
As they all peeled off to do their tasks, I went to check on this girl, and she says to me:
"You helped me the other day when I dropped my hotdog."
I hadn't realized it, but the first wednesday when I was just having a look around, a young girl had, infact, dropped her hotdog - it rolled off her plate as she was en route to her classroom. She had looked at me with such shock, as if to say: "What just happened?" And I took her hand, and together we went and got her a new hotdog. She remembered, even if I didn't remember it was her.
More educational ramblings to follow.  It's quite wordy. You have been warned.

99 bottles of beer

My next post will be my 100th on this blog!
I feel like making this one a write-off so that I can get to 100, but I'll try not to.
Consequently, it probably will end up being a write-off, but not intentionally.

This is not my cat. This cat is too smart to be my cat. This cat could take on Dr. Mallei*. {via}

Have you ever seen a completely blissed-out kitten? (Or cat?). I mean, a kitten (or cat) that is in so much luxury that it doesn't know what to do with itself?
I think it's hilarious.
Since the nights recently started getting a little chilly, now that it's officially autumn here, it was cool enough to pull out a blanket Dad gave me when I was much younger. We called it a "mink blanket", because it feels like faux-mink fur, I guess. Super soft on one side, a bit longer but less velvety on the other side. It's blue, and has dolphins on it. It's crazy warm and great for couch cuddles. Anyway, we pulled this out the other night, and I put Reya on it.
I think her brain exploded a little.
Instantly, her eyes glazed over, half-closing in ecstasy as she starts working her little feet in that kitteny-kneading motion. Pad pad pad. The same one that she does to my throat every single morning at 5.30am (not kidding.) The purr starts - nobody's patting her, this is self induced pleasure. Sometimes it gets too much for her and she wants her whole self to be enveloped by this soft luxury and so tries to find a fold in the blanket, into which she rams her head. She can't make herself comfortable lying on it though, because she wants every part of her to be one with the blankety goodness, and so kind of lounges back and forth, unsettled, still kneading away with her paws, face being mushed into the blanket, eyes closing. Sometimes she springs onto it accidentially, on the way to somewhere else, and it stops her dead in her tracks, like:
"HOLY CRAP, THE SOFTNESS!!!" And her brain explodes a little again, and she starts the purr, and can't bring herself to continue on to where ever she was going before she was trapped by the blanket.

I realize I'm about to make this post all about the two furkids, but there's one other funny thing.

Mr. Sensitive-Sooky-Trouble-Face is so... well, sensitive. He'll be lying, sleeping, next to me on the couch. Reya will be doing something naughty, I dunno, chewing a plant, or playing with the computer cords, or finding another one of my hair-ties somewhere ("Didn't I put this away 5 minutes ago!? In a closed cupbpard!?!"), and I'll give her a bit of a hiss, to get her to stop. Or go: "Oi!"
And Mallei, thinking he's, for some reason, in trouble for sleeping, gets up all of a sudden and runs off. Ok, so he can't differentiate between when I'm telling her off, or him off, though I never hissed at him, he still seems affected by it, but still, seriously? You're sleeping here, I'm not that bad at yelling at you.
But then we get to kiss (figuratively), and make up. And have happy couch cuddle times.

And now the two of them are having mutual lick sessions, whereby the kitten grooms Mallei's face, cos it has short fur, and he just licks her everywhere until she's slobbery. It's very cute, and kind of funny.

Not quite as dramatic as this. {via}

Also, in other news, I had a maths class this morning.
Maths, you guys.
Not that we did any actual maths.
Then I cycled home.
It took me 10 minutes more to get home via bike than it does to drive in and park (have I said this already? If so, sorry). I think if I don't take the dirt trail through the nice park but instead stick to a small sort of side road, it'll be quicker still since my bike + roads = awesome, bike + dirt bikepaths = not so hot. (See, maths.)
And, FYI, in Australia, maths is plural (mathematics anyone?), so I will be writing maths, not 'math', cos that's what makes sense to me.

Possibly not the right attitude to bring into the classroom. Mantra this semester: Maths is good. Maths is good. Maths is good. {via}

And now I'm going to sit around in my underwear for 3 hours (did you need to know this? Possibly not), and then I'm going to cycle the 9km back to Uni for my 3pm class. Joy! It'll be super good for me though. I figure, people say interval training is the best cardio way of losing fat. What's cycling, but extended, random intervals? You cycle up-hill, get puffed, cruise down the other side while you have a rest, maybe go on flat, resting, go fast to beat traffic, get puffed, rest... etc. It is, I suppose, a much more 'natural' form of interval training than sprinting for 30 seconds, jogging for 2 mins, sprinting for 30 secs, jogging for 2 mins.  Plus it'll be less evil on my knees. Bonus.
And that's all.


What should I do for my 100th post!? I feel like it should be something interesting or special or awesome or different, or all 3. Ideas?


*Which, yes, he was meant to write on Saturday (thanks Nic), and I/he will get to soon.