Mam for president!

Teaching is so much more than just teaching content! As a teacher you Jane to fill so many roles. The one I love best is talking about real world issues that will affect my students outside of the classroom, now and after school. Today was just such an example.

Part of the Gr 11 & 12 Life Sciences curriculum is looking at the impact that humans are having on the planet. Today we were discussing the consequences of climate change, and I pointed out that as a result of increased droughts people migrate to cities, which puts more stress on food resources.

Student 1: We should ban all immigrants because they steal our food.
Student 2: Build a wall!
Me: That's like getting a cut and, instead of cleaning it out, you simply put a plaster on it in the hopes it will get better by itself. Short-term solutions create long-term problems. Rather, we should be thinking 20, 50 or 100 years ahead and making sure our solutions solve the problem for the people living after us...

Student 3: MAM FOR PRESIDENT!!

Well, that wasn't quite the response I was looking for, but okay!

A well-deserved weekend off

This week was the Cape Town Expo. This is the regional stage of the national science fair for kids from Grade 6-12. I am part of the (volunteer) organizing committee. This week has been in the making since the start of the year, and for everyone involved it is a very stressful week.

This year, I am amazed at how much it has taken out of me, particularly as this year ran much more smoothly than previous years. Maybe I'm just more run down in general, but even after a nap yesterday afternoon, a lie in this morning, and another nap this afternoon, I still feel totally wiped out.

Expo is such a great cause though! The aim is to support teaching and learning of [all types of] science. It is so wonderful to wander around and see nearly 400 projects, which (in theory, at any rate) represent the best our schools have to offer in the greater Cape a Town area.

I took 20 projects this year, and of those, 14 received a medal and 3 received special awards. This is a fabulous result for the school, and for my team of teachers back at school. For those kids who sweated blood and tears (especially for those who were involved in the school play, or the musical Gala  evening, or the High School Jam competition, or a combination of these, all of which took olace the week before or this weekend after!) it was worth it. Their medal is true recognition of their hard work and dedication! I am truly proud to be associated with these extraordinary kids and their hard-working teachers.

I am already looking forward to next year, even as my body feels like it has been wrung out and run over. 

But I'm thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to just lie in bed and not think about school, marking, settling papers or planning lessons.

Gratitude day #26

Today we went to support members of our cell group who run an NPO called The Royal Kidz. They run a project that provides school shoes for underprivileged kids. Today's hand over was special though, as they handed over not just school shoes, but also a school uniform.

The 3 schools they blessed today were farm schools in Ceres. These schools are so poor, and small, that they haven't got a uniform. Many of the kids who attend these 3 schools not on,y have no shoes, they have no jerseys, jackets, hats, or scarves, yet they attend school in the snow in winter.

So Dano and Tony got sponsors to be able to make these kids a school uniform -  jersey, track suit, beanie and scarf, as well as providing school shoes.

It was my privilege to support them in this - to help hand over, to help dress the kids in their new uniform, to help serve them lunch. 

And I am grateful for both the opportunity to serve them, and that my kids' schools are as well-provisioned as they are. A little glimpse into the world of these farm children has rekindled my gratitude for all that God has given my family.

The Best day EVER!

or so claims my daughter. It certainly was fun (as well as stressful, exhausting and flipping hard work, mixed with periods of utter boredom - at least for the parents. After all, there are only so many things you can do when you're standing in a queue for your kid to have a ride...).

BUT - let's talk about the fun stuff. Today we got to ride in giant water balls (think hamster balls on water)...

 

...hold snakes (and #2 even touched a snake for all of a millisecond before shouting that it was going to eat him)...

...climb a giant bouncy castle slide (several times)...

...ride a zip line several times...

.
...spend R10 each on sweetie/ biscuit jars, eat lots of other yummy food and enjoy the sun after yesterday's rain. THEN... Oupa and Ouma came for tea and THEN we went out to Spur for supper. I mean, how much "funner" could a day get??

Android, God and someone pushing me around

At work we've been talking about tablets in education for over 2 years now. It's been a slow discussion. Painfully slow. Much slower than I would have liked.

I'm a huge fan of tablets. HUGE! I just happen to prefer Android tablets to Apple. I like Apple, don't get me wrong. The interface is beautiful, and both the screen resolution and sensitivity are brilliant. I just prefer Android.

Why? Because I don't like proprietary stuff. I don't like to be tied into anything where to change it becomes a huge hassle. (For that reason I was on a prepaid/ PAYG cell phone contract for about 10 years.) I don't like the fact that you can only work with Apple created files on other Apple products.

What I do like about it, is the same thing I love about Android. I love the fact that my phone and my gmail and my Google+ and my blogger all sync nicely together. Apple does that nicely too between iphone and ipad and mac.

What I love most about Android is that it's open source though - anyone can build and develop for it. I've always said that 2 heads are better than one, and many more are better. When you're trying to innovate, having more people attack the problem from a variety of different angles is more likely to produce innovative solutions.

Yes, it does open the door for viruses.

But I approach it like this: When God made the world, he could have opted to not give us free choice. Had he done that, there would be no evil (no viruses). However, he preferred to allow us to mess up in return for the creativity of a real relationship with him.

I see Android a bit like that.

Apple have gone the route of being closed down. Every app has to be vetted and can only be sold on official platforms. In other words, only Apple staff can decide whether a particular app is suitable for me (the average user) or not. They view it as trying to protect the user's experience, to protect them from harm. But only children have to be protected from harm. Adults stand on their own two feet and make their own decisions about whether something is dangerous or not.

I like the decision God made - to give me the choice. It's tough, and it's dangerous, and most of the time I get it wrong. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't like to be pushed around, or told what to think, or how to act, or what to buy, or what to say.* (As I've aged, I've learnt the value of submission, but that's a different context and discussion, for another time.)

While many of the Apple apps are beautiful and functional, there are many apps that do exactly the same thing, for free (in many cases) on Android. They may not look as pretty, but they're just as functional. (And the paid ones usually look just as pretty... it's just that I'm also a cheapskate and refuse to pay for anything when there's a free version available.) So if I'm faced with using an app that is proprietary, or one that isn't; one that is paid for or one that is free; every single time I will choose the non-proprietary free one, or even the non-proprietary paid one.

So I'm an Android girl. I'll nail my colours to the mast.

However...

I'm not actually anti-Apple. I think Apple products are amazing. And as much as it pains me to say so, the user experience with the average ipad compared to the average Android tablets shows that ipads just are better. Not by much, grant you, but they are better. If you take the top of the range models, then Android is comparable, if not better. But for your average run of the mill person, who can't afford the latest Asus, or Galaxy tab, most ipads beat most Android tablets. And often, Android lags behind Apple in innovation (take Apple TV vs Google Tv, as an example).

This leaves me with a crisis of faith. Do I stay with what I know, love and am passionate about; or do I go with the product that at the price I, as an average person, can afford, will give me the better user experience? (If money were no object, this would be a no-brainer for me, but  money doesn't grow on trees - especially not for poor teachers, like me! Anyone willing to sponsor me to purchase the latest Asus or Galaxy tab???)

The reason this has all come up is because I went to another ipad in education presentation today. I have to say that what I saw was impressive - far more so than any of the previous presentations I've been to. All the previous ones have tried to do the flashbang whizz stuff, and come off as being arrogant, showy and using technology for technology's sake.

(I love gadgets, so personally I think technology for technology's sake is cool - but when you're there to evaluate it as a tool for education, then that's a different story. I want to see that, pedagogically, it makes sense. I don't want to see translation of activities, I want to see transformations.)

But today.... that really was a fabulous presentation (Abdul Chohan from ESSA Academy in Bolton, UK). For the first time, I felt that many of my objections were being taken seriously, not just brushed aside. I felt that, for the first time, there were viable solutions for me, for the school. (And actually, there are lots of free, really great apps on ipad too... and several that are cross-platform.)

CRISIS! Whatever the decision, I need to make it soon - in the next few weeks. I need to purchase a tablet so that I can continue to stay at the cutting edge and do my job properly. (How I'm going to afford one, I have absolutely no idea.) Tough decision ahead.


*In fact, #1 and I had a very similar conversation this evening. She was whining about something and I said no, just because she was whining. If she'd just spoken to me properly, in a normal voice, she would have got what she wanted. After her little tantrum we had a discussion and she asked me why I hated it when she whined. It's a question I've never really considered, but as I did, I realised that it makes me feel like she's trying to manipulate me - either through her tears, or through her tone of voice, or because she just tries to wears me down so I will give in - and I hate being manipulated, or even feeling like I'm being pushed in a particular direction. That just pushes all my buttons, and I will dig my heels in and refuse. It's not that the direction is wrong, it's just that I don't like to be pushed around. She got that. Let's hope that it makes a difference next time!

From zero to hero

After the ultra lows of this past weekend, today I had a fabulous little "pick me up". I needed the encouragement so badly, and God knew that.

Today I received an email from an ex-pupil. I've removed the personal info, but essentially, this is what the email said:

I finally realized why everybody has made such a big deal about how different varsity is compared to school. They are two worlds apart! I thought matric was tough, until the real world gave me a wake up call.

Anyway, I'm sending you this email in order to personally thank you for the way you have taught me in my senior years, especially last year. 

Last year, I struggled to understand why you flew through work, why you didn't check homework, but trusted that we did it. I struggled to understand why you'd force us to do extra reading around the subject and why you put the onus on us to take down effective notes everyday in class. But most of all, I struggled to understand why you told us to give "100%" in every class. Even though I struggled to understand your teaching methods, I adapted accordingly in order to keep up. It has been the best decision I have made.

I realized recently that your teaching methods had prepared me for the real world. It has taught me self discipline, perseverance and resilience. It had taught me to work effectively on a daily basis in order to stay on track and cope with the work load and demands of varsity. The way you did things last year has taught me that lecturers really don't care about you, and that the onus is all on you!

So, thank you for doing what you did. I appreciate every little thing - besides subject related work- that you've taught me with your teaching methods. The values and skills it instilled in me has made varsity manageable and I am far more effective than I could imagine.

Not much tops that! Wow! There is something incredible about knowing I've made a difference to this life. It makes it all worth while - all the stress, and heart ache, blood, sweat and tears. Teaching is a vocation, not a job. I don't get paid enough for what I do, but the knowledge that I'm helping to build the future of this country, that I'm changing lives... that is some compensation. (I'd still love the cash ;) but this is good too!)

Not this year, she ain't!

I used to think I was a disciplinarian, that I had such great discipline in my class. And I do. I mean, my classes work, and pay attention, on the whole. I've realised though, that I'm not actually all that strict. I achieve what I do by making my lessons interesting, but I don't actually set the highest standards for my classes in terms of what I want them to achieve. Oh, I talk a good talk, but I've realised that anyone who watches me teach any class other than a top set will quickly realise that my expectations of mixed ability and bottom set groups is low, and that becomes a self-fulling prophecy.

As with most teachers, I guess, I focussed on certain things, and left other things undone, unnoticed, or deliberately ignored. (Others, like chewing gum, I spot a mile away. Don't bother coming near me with gum in your mouth - I will see it, and you will be punished.) Because of the nature of teenagers, this ultimately led to difficulties later in the year, as the kids pushed boundaries to find out how elastic they were, and I got increasingly tired of battling the same fires.

While I recognise what is possible for me given my personality type, level of involvement at school and at home, something had to change. Why? Because I have a class of kids who have been specially placed in my class purely on the basis that they are underperforming. This year, I have taken upon myself, as subject head, the responsibility for sorting these kids out. Huge task. (I speak as someone who was an underperformer at school, and thus as one who has been at the receiving end of many programmes to attempt to make me perform.) Maybe impossible. Yet, I have to try. Thus, in this one class I have made an agreement with myself that I will sweat the small stuff. The talk I talk must match the walk I walk. They must achieve 50% or more, because I say so, because they are capable of it, because it's good for them. To do so though, means that I have to sweat the small stuff with this group. I simply have to set the standard and refuse to deviate.

Some in this class have been taught by me before. They were expecting me to be the same as last year. They were under the misapprehension that I would be laid back, and not really care about the small stuff. And they were WRONG.

I have been keeping tight records on the small stuff - textbooks not covered, books not brought to class, stationery missing, homework not done, late to class, assignments not handed in on time - and I have been emailing home. With this class, I am prepared to take the 2 mins out of the lesson to stop the class and email the offending child's parents. Right there. In front of the class. And I have been following up. I have already issued 2 DTs, and I don't usually give DT's. (The debate about the worth of DT is something to be had at another time. Suffice to say that for me, in this moment, with this class, DT works.)

The result? My students from last year commented today that "You mean business this year" (or words to that effect). You bet your bottom Rand I do. This year, if you fail, it will not be because I did not do my utmost to help you. It will be because you failed to meet the minimum expectations and because your parents failed to help you meet those expectations. It will be because you lied to yourself, to me, to your parents.

In this class, you will arrive on time, bring your books to class, do your homework, bring your stationery, listen attentively, ask questions, engage with the work, hand in assignments on time, and generally get off your lazy backside. I am no longer accepting your half-hearted efforts as meeting the minimum standard. You will bring your best effort to my class, because you deserve it and I deserve it. That's "all" there is to it.

(Of course, I'm simply going to avoid asking the all-important question of whether I can go against the grain of my own habitual teaching practices and sustain this for the full academic year... It's one class. I can do this. Right?)

Exam answers

Every year I am alternately infuriated ("why the hell didn't you LISTEN in class and do your work?"), depressed ("I must be such a poor teacher to have kids giving these answers after I know I taught this section properly"), or amused by the answers that pupils give to their exam questions. This year I've decided to share some of the funnier answers I've had.

Before anyone thinks about making a judgement on the kids at this school remember that EVERY school has kids who give answers like these. If they didn't, then every school would have EVERY child getting 70% or more for EACH subject.

When asked about why scientists think the dinosaurs became extinct, the correct answer should be that, currently, the most popular theory is that there was a massive asteroid which impacted the earth, sending up clouds of dust and ash that obscured the light. This, in turn, caused both a decrease in photosynthesis (and hence a decrease in plant growth and plant life), a decrease in the amount of oxygen present in the atmosphere, and an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide present. The fact that the dust obscured the light also resulted in a global cooling and an ice age. Because the dinosaurs are ectothermic (i.e. control their body temperature using the heat from the environment), they were unable to cope with the decreased temperature. This combined with lack of food and lack of oxygen, caused many species to become extinct.

Here are some of the more humorous incorrect answers I got:

• The dinosaurs were killed by a bomb that went off. [OK then.... sure. Why not? That makes sense, right?]
• The asteroid blocked out the sun's light before it hit the earth because it was so big [which means it must have been much bigger than the moon], and so when it hit the earth the dinosaurs were too weak to withstand  the blast so they fell over and died. [I guess they're assuming that all the dinosaurs were in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time....]
• A glacier hadn't burnt up completely and when it hit the earth it whipped out the species. [glaciers? glaciers that whipped? I think I want to live in your world.]
• As [the archaeologists]  found more remains they started thinking there should have been a  more recent occurrence of extinction because they kept finding more fossils that ages well, but not that far back. [Um.... yeeees. Did you read your answer back to yourself? How did this sound in your head when you were writing it?]
• It could be possible [i.e. that the dinosaurs went extinct] but there are no proven facts to back the theory up. [Whatever your personal belief about creation and mass extinctions, kiddo, you still have to be able to explain the Alvarez-asteroid theory....]
• An asteroid decided one day that it did not like the asteroid belt, because it was being made fun of by its friends for being smaller than them, and then it went on a trip to have a closer look at the sun as it was moving it noticed a planet was going to be in its way, it tried to change its course, but the sun's gravity would not let it and it decided that it wanted to commit suicide any way and kill whomever was on that planet. The end. [Notice that that first bit is all one sentence! Phew! Great little bit of creative writing there.] 

The circle of life turns crookedly

Next year will be my 20th reunion... SCARY! I can't believe that I've officially been out of school longer than I was in it.

Today marked a rather special event for me - the first Valedictory that I have ever organised. 20 years ago, it was me sitting in those seats. Today, it is me standing in the background, organising and directing.

This was also a special event for me as this was the matriculation of the Gd 8s who started at the school in the same year I started working there. To them, I have always been at the school. There are some special kids (as there are in any year) in this group, but all the more so because I've walked the entire road with them through their high school years.

I have sat through, including my own, 13 valedictory services. As long as I continue to work in a school, I have another 11 years to go before my eldest child sits in those chairs, and a further 4 years until my youngest does - by then, a total of 28. This service was my aunt-in-law's (who happens to work at the same school...) 28th... AT THIS ONE SCHOOL! To me, 28 feels like such a HUGE number of services to have attended.

As the grade head who spoke today pointed out, there is a lot of maths in today's date. Today is 12/10/2012. The matrics are grade 12. Grade 12 used to be known as Standard 10. If you add up 2 + 0 + 1 + 2 = 5, which is the number of years one (usually) spends at high school. Pretty cool, eh?

And so turns another year in the circle of life... another group of prefects and RCL appointed... another group of Gd 12s move off into the big wide world... and yet, for those of us left behind, life goes on as it always has: lessons continue as normal from Monday. In many respects, it feels like nothing much has changed.

"She will always carry on.
Something is lost, but something is found.
They will keep on speaking her name.
Some things change, some stay the same."

Science and religion can mix

So I'm sure by now you've all heard the news that a Cape Town science teacher at a private school has resigned because the school wouldn't let her teach Evolution, which is in the syllabus.....

And of course, there have been lots of posts about it already, some more sensible than others. I feel like I'm already treading over ground that overs have covered, but I feel the need to add my two cents. Especially as I'm a science teacher in Cape Town too.

I'm a Christian. I believe the Bible and I believe God. As far as I'm concerned, God made the world and everything in it.

I'm also a scientist. I use scientific principles every day (I would say procedures as well, but that would be lying as I don't actually practice science anymore...). As far as I'm concerned, there is a right and wrong way to go about establishing scientific truth - it involves scientific method and practices.

I see no conflict between the two.

HOW God made the world is still a mystery to me. I accept the principles of evolution, but I'll be the first to say that science still has much to explain on this one.

WHY God made the world is clear to me. He wanted a relationship with someone 'like' himself.

Science doesn't tell me why. Faith doesn't tell me how. To be a well-rounded individual, I believe that I need both science and faith. This is what I teach my kids.

(And before someone starts jumping up and down and saying how dare I teach Christianity in class.... I don't proselytize. I don't talk just about Jesus, because that would be an abuse of the power I have. I talk about faith in general, about believing in a set of moral values, about belief in a higher power who created the known universe (and whatever is beyond) for a purpose (or several).)

For me to NOT teach evolution would be a serious failing, I believe. For me to remain silent about the role that faith plays in life would be, I believe, an equally big blunder. Why this school can't see that, why they can't allow their teachers to show that science and faith can work hand in hand, that they are not necessarily mortal enemies of each other, I just don't know. It makes me really sad.

Moving on and letting go

Tonight we had a meeting at Nellie's new school, in preparation for next year. It was a good meeting, very informative, but I found the first bit very hard. We took Nellie to meet her teacher, and see her classroom. She was so confident and happy for me to leave, that I nearly cried right there and then! I just know that I'm going to cry on the first day next year... I just know it! My baby is growing up, and becoming independent. While I know that's what is supposed to happen, it is a tearing, and it hurts.

Photo catch-up time

It's been such a LOOOOONG time since I posted some photos. I finally got around to getting them off my phone and so I thought I'd post a few.

This is one of a series of photos I've taken while taking the dogs for a walk. Don't we live in such a beautiful part of the world? I love CPT, and this is one reason why.

This photo was taken at Milnerton beach. My kids ADORE the waves (what kids don't??) This was the day I took the unintentional self-portrait (posted on FB around the time I took it). I love this one because of the contrast - my big girl is so little, and my little boy is so big! You can hardly see it in this photo, but the new stadium really does dominate the cityscape, and I think it's a rather pretty addition to the traditional cityscape.

Here's my little boy all growing up. He's being helpful, putting things on the checkout conveyor belt for us. He's entered that phase of life where being helpful is starting to be something he wants to be. (Of course, he is still a little terror at other times, point blank refusing to do whatever I tell him to do... sigh! I guess that's part of being a kid.)

And these are my other boys... Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee, Abstinence and Cell Phone (and yes, there is a story behind each of those names!). Towards the end of the term I was seconded away from chess to help run the DT system. I've managed these boys since I arrived at the school, so this was my 4th year of close relationships with them. It's only been a few weeks of me no longer being involved, and already I miss them like crazy! Thank God I still teach them, or I think I might go stir crazy! Whatever am I going to do at the end of next year when the elder three leave school for good???? 

What a buzz!!

And no - I'm not talking about Google Buzz at all! (Although... I have recently joined up on Google+ - the verdict is still out on that one.)


The buzz I'm referring to the one I get when I learn new stuff. I'm delivering a professional growth course for some of our staff, starting next week Wed, and for the following 4 Wed mornings. In my head, I'm calling it "Whizz Bang!" It looks at the basics of how to use animations in PPT, and how to find and download images, videos and music. Then, if there's time, I'll teach them how to create their own animations using Automatoon - or maybe teach them how to create a Prezi.


Anyway, as part of this whole thing, I had to be sure that I know how to do all those things. I wanted to create a fun way for people to learn at their own pace, so I decided that for the animations in PPT thing (which is something that others will no doubt want to learn) I would create my own training video, which I can save onto the server, so people can access it themselves.


Only one problem with this. I had no idea how to do it. So I set about learning how. And I did, in fact, manage to do just that. Unfortunately, since it's nearly 100Mb (yup... I guess I used the wrong video codec...) I'm not going to upload it onto the web (that will take about 2.5hrs!). Instead, I'll simply transfer it directly to the school server. That means that I can't show you what I did.


But I'm still very proud of myself for having learnt how to use a new piece of software while designing something that any of our staff can use in their own time to learn a skill that will definitely improve their PPTs. (Some of our staff only learnt how to use PPT at the beginning of this year, and that was the most basic info only.)


So herewith, a HUGE pat on my back.


Now, of course, I still need to finish my Prezi, and there's still a pile of marking to do. I'm hoping the buzz will last long enough through tomorrow that I'll be able to get through the boring stuff...

Farewell, Trevor

Last week I was half-listening to the news on the radio while trying to drive and simultaneously hold a conversation with my 5yr old. On came a news item about a boy found stabbed in his bed in a suburb on the Cape Flats. I didn't listen too closely, except to note the basics of the story.

Two days later, I got a phone call (during school holidays and on a Sunday!) from a colleague to ask whether I'd heard the news about Trevor, one of the boys in my tutor group. What news, I asked? The news that he had died 3 days previously. I was shocked! As she started to tell me the sketchy details she had, I realised that the brief news item I had heard on the radio had been about this boy.

I immediately ran to the trusty internet to see what other details I could find, because there seemed to be rather a lot of confusion surrounding the event. When I did, I discovered that one of the other girls in my class had messaged me on Facebook, asking whether I had heard and could confirm any details. The details I did manage to find weren't pleasant. No signs of forced entry, yet the house had been turned upside down and the boy's body had been stabbed repeatedly, then left hidden under a duvet and pillow on his bed. He had just turned 16 two weeks prior to his death. Fortunately, his 3yr old sister had been staying with their grandmother, but he had been at home alone. When his mother couldn't get into the house on her return from work, she called the police, who broke in and discovered his body.

Later that morning, as I took my family out for a morning at Kirstenbosch, listening to their happy chatter, I couldn't help but feel shell-shocked. How does the world continue to turn, how do other people's live go on, when tragedies such as this occur? I remember feeling that way for a VERY long time after Zoe died. How could others just go on? Why didn't the entire world stop? I can only imagine the grief that his mother feels right now.

The real tragedy of it all is that Trevor was just starting to get his life back on track after losing his own father 2 years ago. He had gone through a troubled patch, academically at least, but was starting to turn things around. He had such potential, and the world is the poorer because he is no longer in it.

The funeral is this coming weekend. I really don't know how I'm gong to handle Monday when we return to school after the holidays - I'm sure there will be a special assembly. What I'm concerned about though is how to help the tutor class. Of course, not everyone in the class was a good friend of his, or knew him very well, but as a class they've been together since they started at the school.

For all the violence I experienced in UK schools, I've never had to deal with a death of this nature, or one for a child in my class. At times like this I wish I was a trained counsellor, so that I would have some clue about how to manage the situation.

The person I feel most sympathy for though is his mother. She has lost two people she loved in two years, and not just any two people, but her husband and now her son. There are no words. Life sucks sometimes.

Goomy? Goemie?

I don't suppose it matters how you spell it. I'm also guessing that it has a variety of different names, depending on location and the generation one speaks to. What on earth am I talking about? A game, of course. But not just any game. Nope, this is a very special game; one I played for YEARS as a child.

It's a jumping game that can be played alone, as individuals, or in teams. All that is required is a few pairs of pantyhose tied together, or a long loop of elastic (and a few chairs if you're going to be playing alone). There are 4 levels at which the jump "rope" can be held - ankles, knees, hips and just under the arms. Then, the "rope" can be normal width (using both legs), or "skinny" (around one leg or with the body turned sideways to reduce the diameter). Finally, there are about 20 different patterns that I can remember (I'm sure there must be more though) that one has to jump through - and each pattern must be completed at each physical level in both normal and skinny. The final hurdle is that each pattern, at each physical level, in both normal and skinny, must also be completed while jogging.

In the team version, every member of the team must complete each sequence before the team can advance. In addition, during 'running' every team member must continue to jog on the spot, even if they are not actually jumping. Should one member stop, the team forfeits their turn.

It's a fabulous game that gives literally hours of entertainment as one negotiates the different levels of difficulty. I haven't played since I was in primary school though - a good 20 plus years ago. So what made me think of it? Nellie's Grade R teacher gave us some exercises to do with her at home to improve her low muscle tone in her pectoral girdle (upper body), and lo, and behold! Goemie is mentioned (though not in as much detail, or with that name, of course)!

I was amazed at how much I can still remember of this game, and how excited I got about the prospect of teaching it to Nellie. I wonder whether I can still do it all - it's a lot easier to jump neatly when you don't have wobbly bits all over.... (as my husband helpfully pointed out yesterday: I would do well at belly dancing because I have one of the most important requirements - a belly. Hmpf!)

Isn't it amazing though how memory works? I can't remember all kinds of other things, from far more recently, but I can remember something from more than 20 years ago with such clarity. I guess repetition must have something to do with it, and I certainly did have plenty of that where this game is concerned!!

Day 08: Someone who treated you badly

Hmm.... this one's tougher.

All of the examples I can think of are school related. There's the kid who tried to slam my fingers in the window (and partially succeeded), or the kid whose parent decided to defame me for trying to enforce school policy, or the "best" friend in junior school who abandoned me for another girl, or the boy on the bus in high school who used to bully me...

Other than that, I can't really think of anyone who has made my life hell. I guess I should be grateful. My life could have been far worse!

Outliers - book review

Yup - I've been reading a lot just recently. That's what happens when the matrics are writing exams, my classes have all finished their syllabi (syllabuses??) and I therefore have lots of time at work to do my prep for next year (so don't have to take work home with me).

I've just finished a book recommended to me back in 2008 or 2009 (I can't remember). 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell (author of 'Blink' and 'Tipping Point'), takes a good long, hard, look at what makes some people outliers - that is, so exceptional they stand well beyond the rest of us. What he discovers is shocking. Being an outlier has very little to do with talent, aptitude or genetic giftedness. Very, very little.

If Gladwell is correct in his conclusion (which you'll have to read cos I'm not going to spoil it for the rest of you) then it has MASSIVE implications for the way we do education and school sport. (That means it also has implications for the way G and I raise Janel - not necessarily to turn her into an outlier, but just to help her reach her potential.) It also has implications for the way that government needs to intervene in societal structures.

If this country is going to go from good to great, then the govt needs to hear what Gladwell is saying and implement it. There firstly needs to be an understanding of where we are as a nation - what apartheid has done to the national psyche - without any pandering to political correctness. Then it needs to change the educational structures that prevent children from reaching their potential. It doesn't mean more money needs to be ploughed into the system - it means that the MANNER in which money is spent needs to change.

If you want your worldview challenged, if you want to know how to raise your kids to give them the best chance of succeeding in life, if you want to know how to help change society for the better, then this is definitely the book for you!

Fame! Baby, remember my name!

So it seems that my name is about to get known in education circles. I got an email today from a WCED chap who would like to profile (pending all the bureaucratic yay-saying) my previous post on one of their email newsletter-type of thingys. (I never know what to call them - they're essentially email group membership list reminders, but can be used to disseminate other info too.) He obviously had a search term for the WCED (or similar) in his Google Alerts RSS.

While I'm flattered, and while I'm happy for others to read my blog, at the same time it makes me nervous. I have always known that complete strangers read my blog. I have no problem with that. I'm never going to meet you, you will never really know the people I'm talking about, so it's felt rather like going to a psychologist. I can tell you anything because you're anonymous and what you know can't hurt anyone because you don't know me or my family.

But of late I've begun to realise that there are increasing (although still very small) numbers of people reading my blog who, while currently strangers, have the potential to be people I will know through other circumstances. I find that a bit unnerving. It's one thing NEVER meeting someone who knows about me; it's quite another meeting someone who does. It's like meeting a stalker, except not. (And no, I don't consider you all to be stalkers! Let's just clarify that before someone complains.)

On the one hand, the fact that anyone else would really want to read my musings is vastly gratifying as I write predominantly (although not exclusively) as a record for myself, or as a reflection on my life for myself. (Reflection, for me, is a version of meditation. It helps me keep perspective.)

On the other, I do worry about my kids, my hubby, my family and my real-life-in-the-flesh friends. I'm a WYSIWYG kind of girl. I don't hide behind (or at least, I try very hard not to, but sometimes my insecurities get the better of me) pretensions here. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. Unfortunately, in the telling-it-as-it-really-is scenario, I also say things that open me up to things like identity theft.

And this is what worries me.

I talk about my kids here, my family, my friends, my daily life. I muse on all matters. However, I'm not sure that I want to open my life up too much to those with the criminal bent who might just decide to take my life (metaphorically speaking) from me. (Yet the thought of constantly having to censor my thoughts fills me with enough dread to stop writing entirely.)

Or is that just my paranoia rearing its head again?

Did I tell you that the family 3 doors down from us were held up at gunpoint last weekend? No? Yes, well, they were. My reactions are a bit all over the place. Firstly, HOW DARE anyone with a criminal bent come into our little street and perpetrate any kind of violence?

Secondly, I have become anxious: we are the last house in the complex, next to an open field, so very vulnerable; our doggies aren't half as vicious as the dog in the home 3 doors down (who still got held up); you can't see all the potential hiding places from our gate very easily (coming home I can change the route I drive to be able to see them all, but the time that really worries me is leaving home, because then I can't see them all, so will be driving blind, as it were....).

Thirdly, I want to shrug my shoulders and say "well ya shouldn't be coming home at 4.30am in the morning in the first place, now should ya?!", but I'm trying to restrain myself desperately, cos I know that if that HAD been me, I would have been scared witless - so a bit of compassion won't go far wrong.

So anyway, maybe my paranoia is not so misplaced after all.

In this day and age when we can be famous for being famous (Miss Bess Stovall from Max Lucado's book 'Best of All' comes to mind...) and where everyone wants to be famous (including me, if I'm honest), fame does have its drawbacks. I really do wonder how the really famous people cope with their lack of privacy.

Of course, I'm not famous, and I'm not even close, but the potential increase in readership of this blog has given me pause for thought. I shall have to think carefully about how I shall respond. I don't want to change this blog into something else. I also don't really want to start another blog for my teaching stuff (although I may have to do that).

Where does that leave me? I guess, in your hands. I'm thrilled that people want to read what I write. All I ask is that you show me some respect regarding the things I say here. That way, I don't have to change what I'm doing, and you still get to read all my drivel. Sound fair to you?

Who gets to be a parent?

As a teacher, I get to meet a LOT of parents. Some are incredible. Some are dire. It never ceases to amaze me that, in a world where there are such stringent requirements for people wanting to adopt pets from vets and other organisations that rescue animals, or for people wanting to adopt a child, there are no rules when it comes to who may give birth to a child.

Sometimes, in the staff room, we joke about enforced sterilisation, with we teachers as the deciders of who should be sterilised. It is only a joke, and we know that, but there is an element of honesty and truth in it. We see kids who are repeating the negative cycles their parents and grandparents have repeated. We know that if these kids have kids of their own, the cycle will be repeated once again.

As a Christian, I also know that there is hope for these people, because I believe that Jesus makes a difference. But what happens to them if they don't find Jesus before they have kids???

I was thus very interested to read this morning that there is a project that PAYS people to be voluntarily sterilised. Not just any people either - drug addicts. It's interesting because those who are using when they fall pregnant usually give birth to addicts, and those poor babies have to go through withdrawal cold turkey. Many do not survive. Those who do are often permanently damaged.

Of course, this is still voluntary. However, this is only a few short steps away from being an enforced strategy. Imagine a world in which, if you are found to be a regular user, you could be forcibly sterilised.

While I see the benefits, such a world also shocks me. I'm not sure I would be happy to live in such a world. While I believe in saving the innocent, I also believe in freedom and free will, even when that free will impinges on the rights and freedoms of others. It's finding the balance between the two that is crucial.

For the moment, this project is on the correct side of that line, I believe, but it's right up there, and I'd hate to see someone step over onto the other side.

End of year madness

It was the last week of September. I was standing in MerryPak. That's when it struck me: this year-end is going to be crazy. How did I know that? Quite simply, because as I was waiting in the queue, gazing around me, I realised that the MerryPak staff had ALREADY put out their Christmas stock. Yup - it wasn't even the end of Sep and the new Christmas trees were out.

Our year-end is crazy anyway. In the space of 41 days we have: my birthday, Nellie's birthday, Graeme's birthday, my mother's birthday, my mother-in-law's birthday, my step-father's birthday, and two of Graeme's uncles' birthdays. Oh yes, and a little celebration called Christmas. Christmas is complicated as well because we have 3 families to split ourselves between because my folks are divorced.

To pay for all this, I do matric marking, to try to make a little bit of extra money. So for me work only finishes about 10 days after school closes, so there is less time available to plan for Christmas.

Before most of these events take place, I still have a manic term at school to get through - exam setting, exam marking, planning for the next year (sorting out the sets for each grade, planning schemes of work, sorting out the server files, etc, etc), organising reports, etc. Plus, since I'll be doing matric marking, I'll have to leave school a day or two before it closes, so all my work will have to be done early.

Sigh.

Sigh sigh.

Still, at the end of the madness there are going to be some AWESOME parties, and CHRISTMAS! Yay!! And this year my little-big brother and his family will be home for a visit from the UK. Double Yay!!

It's going to be madness, but the end is already in sight. After all, MerryPak's Christmas stuff has been out for several weeks now.