more things i do not miss from my old job

that hill.  every. single. day.
55 hour weeks.
teaching friday afternoon.
the semi-regular and compulsary 14 hour days.
supervising detention.
staffroom duty.
hearing 12 year olds tell each other to shut up no matter how much you discourage the use of those two words.
the bell.
lunch time sports trainings.
homework.
yellow submarine being played shrilly and badly on recorders by a music teacher who is too lazy to change his programme to meet the needs of the musically gifted and talented youth in his care.

(5007)

things i do not miss from my old job

wet weather duty
teaching PE
the peter's spelling test
asTTLe
having 30+ students
being called miss
8 page reports that no one reads
assembly
guided reading/writing/maths lessons
planning for guided reading/writing/maths lessons
working 12 hour days
spending all day saturday planning

possibly more stuff i haven't remembered yet.

(4917)

too

it's a superlative.  please use it correctly.  yes, i see the irony from someone who doesn't use capital letters.  the difference is, i know how punctuation works.

and i'm back.

(3365)

i really should do this more

it's been so long i've almost forgotten how to do this.  in fact it took me a couple of tries to log back in.  but i made it in and i'm back.  a lot has happened since i was last here.  holidays were had. planning was done.  anniversaries happened.  meals were eaten and time was spent with good friends.  people died (no one i know though). books were read.
  
i read 50 shades of grey.  much more better written than twilight i think.  however, not unlike twilight, only enough material for one book and lots of padding out.  it got to the point in book three when it was they're doing it again...boring...and skip over the pages.  i enjoyed it despite myself.  and i know two differences that will be in the movie.  bet you he's not auburn haired.  bet you his chest is smooth.  nothing wrong with a bit of hair on a man.  can i hear an amen?

what else.  hmmm...nothing much.  but i'm determined to write more than once every 4 months.  i guess i better get some better work stories to keep you all more entertained.  what do you reckon?

(2683)

les miserables

i went to see les miserables, the film.  i have seen the stage show six times and read the book twice.  i really love les mis.  i deliberately avoided all the reviews as i didn't want to be influenced.  i was disappointed by the casting of russell crowe as javert (my favourite character) and was prepared to be extremely underwhelmed by him.  i wasn't disappointed.  his singing was dire but i think he made up for it in his acting which was a bit better.  he didn't ruin stars, my favourite song, too much.  the second time i saw it i knew what to expect and i found him a little more palatable but still awfully nasal.  phillip quast (the original javert and also an australian) is my favourite javert.

anne hathaway was great.  i dreamed a dream was stunning.  the second time through someone ate and drank through the entire song and by the end i was ready to kill them.  if you are going to see this movie, do not move during this song or you completely kill the mood!  you have been warned.

i enjoyed the movie.  there were a couple of bits that i thought were great and explained stuff.  the new song was completely irrelevant and added nothing to the movie.  but i guess they wanted an oscar nomination.  which they got.

sacha and helena were great too.  amanda, not so much.  i thought hugh did a good enough job. nice little cameo by colm wilkinson as the bishop of digne but i thought his voice was too theatrical for the rest of the cast and didn’t quite fit in.  marius wasn’t nearly hot enough, but enjolras…mmmm…
all in all i really enjoyed it and was a blubbering mess at the end.  i will buy it once it comes out on dvd as it will be great to have on in the background when i do stuff.

(2368)

i'm nearly sorry for being boring

it's been all busy busy busy recently.  this 11 week term is a killer plus we have the production.  it's not going to be that good i'm afraid as we haven't been given nearly as much time as we need to make it awesome.  one might even think that it's been sabotaged so we don't ever do one again.  that's what is being said anyway.  personally i think it's incredibly sad that people are so small minded that they can't see the benefits.

rant over...

(2170)

save us all from justin bieber

i mean seriously...fainting?

(2033)

this is my new favourite thing

 i like this (being a grammar nazi and all).

(2028)

national anyone?

so here's the thing.  the government have decided to run education as a business and the profit margins aren't good.  forget about it being people and the future.  you aren't showing a good enough return for our investment so we're going to stick it to you.  and at intermediates we're feeling the full force.  

what does 1:27.5 mean for me?  three technocraft teachers gone.  and in order to keep the other three, three classroom teachers gone.  that means only foods, fabric and workshop taught because those are the 'core' areas.  no more art, music or information technology.  so for my school, to keep those three core subjects,  that means for the 360 students we have we'll have 10 classrooms because tech teachers are part of the equation.  that's 1:36 by my reckoning.  a far cry from the 1:27.5 purported by the government...who have never once asked us.

they want to encourage 'quality' education by 'quality' teachers.  to do this they suggest we test the bejeebers out of these kids via 'national' standards (which are open to interpretation) and then cut all the resources we have available to help us.  this includes funding for teacher aides, access to resource teachers of learning and behaviour (RTLB) and denying the teachers of older students access to a resource teacher of literacy (RTLit).  our RtLit likes me so my students get her help.  

they also have said the 'quality' teachers will need a master's degree. then they only fund student allowances and loans for four years.  a master's programme takes 5 years.  and then where is the teacher training component?  the bit that gives you practise in a classroom.  these people haven't set foot in a classroom for 30 years.  i've been in one for 15 years and you would not believe how much it has changed in that time.

fuck you john key.  fuck you national government.  you have no idea and do you really care?

strong worrds i know.  we have been told to keep it all about policies and not about personalities but i find it hard to be neutral.  i vote for all the teachers who voted national to go first.  you wanted it...you can have it.

 

(1946)

fire! (said a la shatner on the bridge of the enterprise)

yesterday i walked across hot coals as part of a world record attempt.  i was number 43 out of 615.  we smashed the record.  i can tick that off my bucket list along with holding a guinness world record.  i didn't know it was on my bucket list until i saw it advertised.  it was a great experience and i would do it again (unlike my friend who ended up with a blister).  yes there was a sore spot on my instep from where i felt the heat dig in but it's all good now.

 

(1881)

it's been a month so time to check back in

just watching a doco on working hard to save the lives of extremely premature babies - like so premature that a week earlier they would have been considered a miscarriage.
so many moral and ethical issues.
just because we can should we?

(1840)

on a (weather) roll now

apparently the weather is due to pack up again. after today i'm not sure i trust weatherpeople. it was supposed to get up to 20 degrees today. it didn't. we took the students swimming and they froze their nads off (even the ones that don't have nads). one boy even went blue.

on a completely different note, just cos i feel like bitching, yesterday i taught johhny cash's 'my grandfather's clock' in assembly. some of our students go to the lowest place and leave the 'l' out of clock. i thought i'd get in first (didn't say the word though...that would be wrong). i have done this every time i have taught it to my syndicate. turns out some staff took offense. which is fine...i work with some people who have no sense of humour and some others who are fun police. but they didnt have the balls to come see me about it. they reported me to the boss. you know what? it is bloody hard getting up in front of 360 11 and 12 year olds and singing. i'd like to see them do it. plus, if you think that 'they wouldn't have thought of it if i hadn't mentioned it' you'd have to be pretty naive. every time i teach this song they change the words. and as for 'maybe you should choose another song'. the kids loved singing it.

get over it and piss off.

(1791)

update on the weatherbomb

we got lots of rain and lots of wind all day. further up the country they lost roofs and power. it is currently fine. i hope it lasts like this until thursday.

(1783)

weatherbomb

we are supposed to be hit by a weatherbomb this weekend. things are being cancelled left, right and centre. nothing has really hit yet so maybe it is a storm in a teacup (pun intended). i have blogged now in the before hand of it so i can blog in the afterwards to see if the weatherman was correct.

on a different subject. someone i know blogged on 29 feb just for the hell of it. wish i'd have thought of that! doh!

see you after the weekend.

(1773)

paperwork

paperwork paperwork paperwork
paperwork paperwork paperwork
it seems as if that's all i ever do.
a lot of is is completely unnecessary.
we have these things called computers.
they have programs that you can use.
you put our data in. once.
someone else manipulates it with the push of one button.
how hard is that?
far too hard it seems.
please retire soon.
you know who you are.
(1744)

i'm still here

just don't have that much to say...maybe some time in the near future.

(1712)

it's been an interesting break

i knew from watching the muppets as an adult that they were pretty subversive but sesame street is just filthy. bert wants to know why that beaver wants all that wood. and elmo spends all his time saying hey baby. to underage people.
just filthy.
and now i'm off to eat ice-cream.

i love messing with the heads of stupid people

apologies to the genuinely stupid people out there...i'm sure it's not completely your fault

last night in my sleep i wrote a deeply profound blog entry. it was amazing (i'm sure). i think it was about the stupid person who came to my door the other day. she was from mercury energy. every now and then they cold call to get new business. she started the spiel...we're in your area to check you're on the best deal yada yada yada. she then asked me 'do you know which energy company you're with?' to which i replied 'yes i do know which energy company i'm with.' she looked a bit puzzled and stated a bit more of the spiel. then she asked me again 'do you know which energy company you're with?' to which i replied, again, 'yes i do know which energy company i'm with.' she kind of giggled nervously. i then decided to put her out of her misery/stupidity and said i was perfectly happy with my energy company thanks. i think she thought i was reluctant to tell her but really she was asking the wrong question. the script writer didn't do a very good job.
silly girl.

(1636)

another year over...

...thanks john lennon.
i may find some time at some stage to write something deeply profound, or not. though i did like my friend's comment about me wanting to see a movie...the cat in the hat? she asked...well to be fair it is a cat and he wears a hat, but the movie is puss in boots. going to see it later this afternoon...and in 3D. it's my first full length feature in 3D.hope i don't leave with a headache.

(1600)

half a day to go

...but that's not counting the half day on friday that the boss demands of us...

(1591)