Tag: school

December – What a great month!

December is such a huge and wonderful month. Summer starts and my birthday, which continued coming today. I received more gifts and good wishes as I went back to work and caught up with a few people who didn’t catch me yesterday. I love it! When I was a kid I used to say my birthday is always good for a weeks worth of joy, and it hasn’t changed much really. So many treats….

Tonight’s ‘Awards Night’ at school was a most enjoyable evening. It is always a treat to see the students who work diligently during the year, receive acknowledgement from their school community. We had the author Scot Gardiner speak at the event tonight and he spoke very well. I enjoy the guest speakers I have heard in the two years we have been holding this event. Scot was excellent. He spoke for long enough and was very entertaining. The common factor with both speakers was a message that academics is not everything and it is important to be a good, kind human being. Our school strives for that personhood aspect of education and that is what I love most about it.

This week I have one more evening out for a school event. I also have a massage and chiropractic appointment, so it’s a busy week. My daughter is home staying with me which is lovely, yet I will need to enjoy every moment we have, due to the heavy commitments. She’s just out with her dad for dinner right now. I’m giving her a massage when she gets home and looking forward to another practise.

Busy Busy Times

Last night we had the Christmas concert in the park in the middle of town. It was great. I walked down, enjoyed the kids music making and walked home.

It’s been frantic at work. My Digital Storytelling class are undertaking to make a short film for each homeroom to be shown to the whole school next week and as these things always happen, at the last minute, there are still some that aren’t complete yet. I am rushing around to get that organised in lunchtimes and feeling very flustered about it.

I still haven’t started my report writing yet, but am making a lot of progress with my marking, in snatches here and there. We have a public holiday on Friday for the local show, so I expect, I will spend it writing reports.

Today we went to an ‘adventure’ park with our year nines as part of a transition program. They are going to the senior campus next year. It was exhausting.

My team talked me into participating in a couple of things. So I did the ‘Leap of Faith’ which involved walking a plank with a harness on, up very very high.

I also did one of the team activities. We had to all as a team get over this really high wall. There was one student left who hadn’t done it and as I was attempting to convince her it would be fine, some bright spark suggested I show her, for extra points for the team. I would have gladly disappeared, yet instead allowed my students to boost me up and drag me up over this wall.

Bruises galore! Why do I always fall for these things? The kids are younger and braver than me! I am so tired, but it was great to see the kids push their boundaries. Some of them are amazingly strong, brave and fit. One more day of teaching and then a marathon report writing weekend, including my birthday somehow. Oh, I have to make my wish list!

Restorative Justice

Tonight we had a speaker talk to us about ‘Restorative Justice’. Terry O’Connell came to our school to run a session and it was a bit of a shame that only about a quarter of the teachers attended, because it was brilliant. I totally agree with most of what he said and I can’t wait to explain it to my students and practise it with next year. I am going to be one of the year 9 co-coordinators next year.

The result of the no compromise situation, I ended up getting the position I wanted!

The power of restorative justice, I feel is that it is relationship building. It also gives all involved to have a learning experience. This is the kind of environment I want to work in and belong to. Read the article in the link about Terry because it outlines more about what this system is about. It works equally in all relationships I imagine and I had a play with it tonight with my son over a small situation and found the questions very satisfying and the outcome pleasing.

I have learnt more in the last three days than I have in a long time. My brain feels very satisfied! It’s wonderful when you have highly productive learning experiences. A great high for me and rare too! Often it can be tedious and hard to get through, yet both courses I have attended were really interesting and useful.

I didn’t get home from work until late and have mounds of corrections so I am beginning to feel a little under the hammer.