Ups and downs - curric chat with consultant went fine - will speak with her again in a couple of weeks. She threw me a little at first by saying her background was in RE and then mentioned she was friends with some of our neighbours!
Other classes OK - 12 Eng Comm was less volatile than usual because I took less crap from them and kept on the backs of the individuals most likely to bludge. About to ban the use of ipods in class altogether - some kids just spend all their class time fooling around with song selection rather than completing their assts.
Tomorrow should be another pleasant day of Edward Scissorhands, 12 Eng Comm again and then double Evan Almighty! Oh, and a silly evacuation drill at the end of p.2. Hope Lizzie is there so I don't have to be a warden, but I think I should be safe.
Verity very upset this afternoon that the Baby Born swimmer doll she has sought for so long managed only about 3 strokes before dying! I'll have another look at it tomorrow.
Off to bed and back to the Book Thief, which still hasn't quite grabbed me yet, but I guess it's early days. Nightie night.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
First day down
Well, to recap on Monday first, a student-free PD day. I came away thinking, wow, that was a really inspiring day! The govt has given us $3 million to build a multi-function centre which will revolutionise all sorts of activities at school; they've stuck up lots more colourful shade-sails all over the place which have actually brightened the place up while simultaneously actually making my main classroom a little darker with the lights off, which is good when using the data projector - still no blinds or curtains on the horizon despite years of lobbying.
Our new Head of Library has redesigned and organised the renovation of the library into a bright, comfortable space which appeals to all; she's also created a new website which allows students and staff more interactivity and looks great.
Our new chaplain Lizzie has started us off with an outstanding first service which was professional, engaging, smooth and basically demonstrated the best of an Anglican service. I loved it.
Following some debates in HODs meetings last term, the school is simply getting smarter all the time and taking active steps towards emailing parents a link to the online weekly newsletter rather than tying up photocopiers for a whole day and creating literally hundreds of newsletters, dozens of which never make it home! The money we will save in this way is extraordinary, and should have happened a long time ago.
Yet more good news: the school is finally going to be able to tap into a fibre-optic cable for Internet purposes, kissing goodbye to painful years of dropouts and interference to microwave links and other cables. Teachers were literally punching the sky with that one!
So all in all, a day of tremendous progress and positivity! Just wish I was a little healthier at present to enjoy it more.
Classes have started OK and thank goodness tomorrow is my day of one duty and only one period of teaching, so my voice should get a good rest and I can get a lot of other DVD burning and photocopying done, fingers crossed.
Sitting here watching the end of 'He's Just Not That Into You' - well, a chick flick par excellence with a few funny scenes admittedly - still not really something I can see myself rewatching much!
Also just had a close chess win against a guy who lost on time but it could have gone either way. If you're playing a 30min or shorter game, it certainly helps to build up a time advantage if you can. 'Slow' players will suffer. No more chess tonight, though.
OK, bed time, dudes.
Our new Head of Library has redesigned and organised the renovation of the library into a bright, comfortable space which appeals to all; she's also created a new website which allows students and staff more interactivity and looks great.
Our new chaplain Lizzie has started us off with an outstanding first service which was professional, engaging, smooth and basically demonstrated the best of an Anglican service. I loved it.
Following some debates in HODs meetings last term, the school is simply getting smarter all the time and taking active steps towards emailing parents a link to the online weekly newsletter rather than tying up photocopiers for a whole day and creating literally hundreds of newsletters, dozens of which never make it home! The money we will save in this way is extraordinary, and should have happened a long time ago.
Yet more good news: the school is finally going to be able to tap into a fibre-optic cable for Internet purposes, kissing goodbye to painful years of dropouts and interference to microwave links and other cables. Teachers were literally punching the sky with that one!
So all in all, a day of tremendous progress and positivity! Just wish I was a little healthier at present to enjoy it more.
Classes have started OK and thank goodness tomorrow is my day of one duty and only one period of teaching, so my voice should get a good rest and I can get a lot of other DVD burning and photocopying done, fingers crossed.
Sitting here watching the end of 'He's Just Not That Into You' - well, a chick flick par excellence with a few funny scenes admittedly - still not really something I can see myself rewatching much!
Also just had a close chess win against a guy who lost on time but it could have gone either way. If you're playing a 30min or shorter game, it certainly helps to build up a time advantage if you can. 'Slow' players will suffer. No more chess tonight, though.
OK, bed time, dudes.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Another late night
This time watching Law & Order with Al after So you think... Rabbitohs finally won in NRL which is good for my tipping. Currently in middle of huge chess game with an Indian guy of very similar rating - thought I was gone for sure, but anything could happen.
Knee OK, not bad. Looked after Cam N for a while today while ladies and girls were all watching Disney on Ice spectacular. At his age, my buddies and I would have been playing board games (maybe) or rolling around outside with guns playing army games (more likely). Cam and Dec were more into PS2, Nintendo, one board game (at my suggestion) and doing some unscrewing with a drill (under my close supervision). They seem on good terms but I guess you can't be besties with everyone.
Dec's cough is shocking and pretty hard to live with. Our throats are also a little sore which is not great. Friends rang us the other day to say they have swine flu officially - we'd seen them a few days earlier so it may or may not happen to us.
Al had call from her boss very recently where he intimated that he may be downsizing around September. He didn't actually say Al would need to look for work elsewhere, but Al is assuming the worst. In some ways, it would be good for her to get back into part-time or full-time work now before she spends too many years out of the labour market, but it's been incredibly convenient for her to work from home via the Web. She's already dreading a loss of playdates for the kids etc. Having them come with me to work/school could work out, but it would need a bit of thinking through. They'd get a 50% discount on fees, and the money we would need to spend on fees would be hopefully completely outpaced by the higher income she'd be making. It's the old story: do we go for income or do we go for lifestyle? Her great friend she was with today is an insolvency accountant who's just been given a $25000 payrise! Business must be booming for insolvencies... Anyway, I've tried to reassure her that it's early days in making these decisions (I hope). Let's take it one step at a time.
Never a dull moment!
Knee OK, not bad. Looked after Cam N for a while today while ladies and girls were all watching Disney on Ice spectacular. At his age, my buddies and I would have been playing board games (maybe) or rolling around outside with guns playing army games (more likely). Cam and Dec were more into PS2, Nintendo, one board game (at my suggestion) and doing some unscrewing with a drill (under my close supervision). They seem on good terms but I guess you can't be besties with everyone.
Dec's cough is shocking and pretty hard to live with. Our throats are also a little sore which is not great. Friends rang us the other day to say they have swine flu officially - we'd seen them a few days earlier so it may or may not happen to us.
Al had call from her boss very recently where he intimated that he may be downsizing around September. He didn't actually say Al would need to look for work elsewhere, but Al is assuming the worst. In some ways, it would be good for her to get back into part-time or full-time work now before she spends too many years out of the labour market, but it's been incredibly convenient for her to work from home via the Web. She's already dreading a loss of playdates for the kids etc. Having them come with me to work/school could work out, but it would need a bit of thinking through. They'd get a 50% discount on fees, and the money we would need to spend on fees would be hopefully completely outpaced by the higher income she'd be making. It's the old story: do we go for income or do we go for lifestyle? Her great friend she was with today is an insolvency accountant who's just been given a $25000 payrise! Business must be booming for insolvencies... Anyway, I've tried to reassure her that it's early days in making these decisions (I hope). Let's take it one step at a time.
Never a dull moment!
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