Cam’s Ramblings

I’ve had an interesting two days at school. Allow me to set the scene.

I am placed at a Prep-Year 12 school in Melbourne’s outer south east, and am teaching year 7 and 8 students with a very good maths teacher, Ms. W. Ms. W is also quite knowledgeable in things IT, so is able to hold quite a good conversation if and when I want to discuss matters which relate to my second teaching method. Which, admittedly, isn’t often.

Anyway, most schools in the local area are either Prep-Grade 6 or Year 7-Year 12. Ours is the only Prep-12 school, so we take in quite a number of new students at Year 7, as well as those who are just progressing up to teh next level at our school. A typical part of any Grade 6 program in the area is a ‘discovery day’, where the grade 6 students come to high school and spend a day with some of the teachers and starting to get a feel for how it works.

So on Tuesday at recess, the coordinator of one such day came in, as one of the planned teachers who would be taking sessions with grade 6 kids was no longer available. The session which required covering was an IT based one. My name was thrown forward as someone who could take such a session, as I would (in theory) have complete control over what I actually did. But it was instead decided that Ms. W would take the session, and I would take all of her classes.

So Wednesday rolls around, and I am teaching all five periods. I was already taking two of the classes, the other three were just a bonus! The day started out well, but went downhill from there. Although I did have a CRT in the room with me the whole day, I must admit, it didn’t help much. My first class for the day almost lost me my voice. My second class pushed me to the limit. Thankfully I had recess next. Ahhh, the new coffee machine in the staffroom is bliss!

Period three saw me in the computer lab, and this class ran quite smoothly. My fourth class however was a completely different story. No matter what I tried to do with this class, I just couldn’t make them do anything. There were, as in most classes, two or three kids who wanted to work. But most spent the lesson yelling, fighting, pushing, kicking balls and trying to figure out who should be dating who. No kidding, one conversation I caught was “…who’d ever want to f*** you?”, followed by “It’s OK _____, I’d willingly f*** you any day”. These types of statements from 13 year old girls!

So the end of the lesson came, I knew who had done what work but now the true test came. I sat in front of the door and waited. I waited. And I waited some more. After several minutes of listening to everyone yell “shut up!’ at the top of their lungs I finally heard something the vaguelly resembelled silence. I said, in a rather quiet manner, that I was waiting for silence before anyone went anywhere. Another few minutes later I got what I was after. So I dismissed half the class and kept the troublesome ones some more. Again the yelling started. I found it amusing that the same ones who were telling others to be quiet were the same ones who kept making the noise. I think it may have been about 15 minutes into lunch that I finally got silence, expressed my disgust at the group and let them go.

Speaking of lunch, I have never had a more peaceful 25 minutes sitting in a classroom all by myself. I relished the silence, because I knew period five was coming. And it was not going to be pretty. Needless to say it wasn’t, it was very much like period four. Except this time, the kids just left once the day was over. They didn’t wait for any indication that they could leave, they just left.

End of Wednesday.

Start of Thursday.

I was only to teach one class today, for a double period. I had decided to spend the first lesson covering the final key concept in their current topic, and the second lesson revisiting a skill many of them had failed to learn properly. Fortunatelyfor me, the second lesson was so incredibly appropriate for one of my new favorite classroom tools, the Interactive Whiteboard.

I was teaching the class how to draw a pie graph. So we had our raw data, converted it into percentages and then into the amount of ‘pie’ we needed to fill (reminding the kids that a circle has got 360 degrees, which does not equal the 100 per cent we also have. They didn’t quite get it at first). With my electro-protractor which was the size of Paris, I could very easily show the kids how to measure the angles and draw them into their graphs. And they loved it. The example graph we were building saw us needing six sections of pie. After I showed them how to manipulate the protractor on the board, I had twelve kids come up and fill in teh pie for me.

The kids loved it. So I left school on Wednesday feeling pretty down after a bad day, but I managed to regroup, write this great whiteboard program and left today feeling on top of the world.

It just goes to show that teaching is one hell of a roller coaster. And it can all change with a single lesson. The other thing I have taken away from this is the importance of planning. I spent a few hours last night thinking of how I could present this lesson to students. After some thinking and some other ideas, I finally decided on my approach, and created my materials. Here’s hoping they remember it for the test!

And I must admit, I could not be happier! I have returned to the same school I attended for my rounds earlier this year. I left from there not feeling the greatest, and with quite a list of areas for me to think about. It is now several months later, I have returned to a new supervising teacher, new classes and new students.

Today I just observed two classes and worked out what I intend to teach my Year 7’s. They are almost at the end of their current unit on Data, which will be wrapped up by next Thursday. This class has 5 periods of maths per week, 2 x doubles and 1 x single in a computer lab. So pretty much every lesson I have to come up with something interesting and more than just bookwork, ‘cos 2 hours of that is boring. Not only for the students, but also for me.

So I have come up with my Data Olympics. I am writing five ‘events’ which students will take part in, which will serve as useful revision for them. I am intending to include topics taken from the textbook, but include them in games and other fun activities. I don’t know exactly how I will pull it off as yet, but I’m sure I will.

Next Monday I begin my second last lot of rounds for my course. Today I found out which classes I will be teaching, and some details of the work one of those classes is up to. Fortunately for me, I am teaching to one of my strengths again.

Year 7 maths are currently doing a unit in chance and data, including a common assessment task based on frequency tables, graphs, means, medians and modes. While I don’t know exactly where the class is at, hopefully I get to spend a decent amount of my time working through this unit. All I have to do now is locate the textbook… this is where the uni Library comes in useful.

I have nothing else to say right now, but this time next week I’m sure I’ll be full of ideas to do with year 7 maths.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the end. At 10am tomorrow, I will walk into room P3.14 which is where my first class of the final semester is being held. It feels a little bit weird, finally getting to the end of my degree.

Like every other semester I am studying four subjects, two of which I am looking forward to, the other two I am not so sure about. The two subjects I am looking forward to are Simulations and Games in Teaching and Learning and Transition to Beginning Teaching. Simulations and Games is going to be great, because it fits into my idea of the ideal classroom, where learning occurs through fun. Transition is also going to be fun because of the tutor.

The two subjects I am not looking forward to as much are Teaching for Diversity and Promoting Student Wellbeing. While the topics I will be doing a bit of study on are certainly important to my teaching, my hesitation in showing mas enthusiasm toward these subjects is simply explained – I haven’t yet studied a unit with similar content.

I have done units before with a focus on technology and student engagement, which is where I believe I will enjy Simulations. Hopefully after a few weeks I am more into the swing of study again, and am feeling more positive toward all my subjects.

Yay for my final semester!

In 1985, ‘86 and ‘87, one of the greatest TV shows ever to grace Australian screens was produced:

While reading through a forum today about the axing of Big Brother (which I can’t say disappoints me), someone mentioned that It’s a Knockout (IAK) should be re-shown, even if just in the place of the Friday Night Live program. I reckon it’s a great idea!

Now here I must admit, I never saw the original series. I was born in ‘86, so only ever saw the repeats in 1994 which, from memory, were at 6am. So i would often get up toward the end of the show and catch the last game or two. I never got up early enough the next time to see the show, but occasionally mum and dad would tape it.

The thing I look back on about it now was its simplicity. From a technical point of view, and I’m aware this may be because of the limitations of the eighties, there is nothing fancy. The text and graphics, scoreboard, music… everything was just so simple!

If you want to reminisce with some classic IAK from 1985, one episode has been uploaded onto YouTube. It’s broken into seven parts, as there were seven games, with the first being found here:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=fiX96-43HJU&feature=related.

Obviously each subsequent part is called ‘part 2′ etc, which you should be able to locate easily enough. Enjoy!

AddThis is a funky tool which I have just discovered and added to this blog. Simply put, in the side bar are two buttons, one reads ‘Bookmark’ the other ‘Subscribe’. If you want to add Cam’s Ramblings to your Favorites list, or to any other list of websites you may have out there, click ‘bookmark’. IF you want to subscribe to an RSS feed of Cam’s Ramblings then click ‘Subscribe’. After telling AddThis where you want your bookmark of feed to go, it’s all good.

I have a number of RSS feeds which I have downloaded to Outlook, and rekon it’s a great way to have web content come to me, as opposed to me chasing it down. Just a few nifty tools I thought I might employ.

Yesterday I returned home from a much needed trip away. I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Hobart, visiting the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, Cascade Brewery, Mt Wellington and Port Arthur. I was last in Hobart about 4 years ago, and while it hasn’t changed much it was great to go there as my own person, not with my family.

Let me clarify what I mean by that. Up until about 2 years ago all trips away were with family. As a group of 3, 4 or 5 people we would either fly or drive, stay in the same hotel or apartment and generally do the same things, all together. However of late I’ve began to go places on my own, with friends. While I can’t claim to be a seasoned traveller, I must admit I do enjoy the certain freedoms that come with travelling without parents.

So we got to Hobart, got to our apartment and enjoyed a few days off. IT was a great trip, and Hobart is a city I would highly recommend as a place to visit. The Cadbury factory in the suburb of Claremont is a must-see, even if you don’t like chocolate. Even though you no longer go into the factory itself (I have previously done a tour of the factory. The smell was amazing!) you get a talk and video on the history of Cadbury and their method of making chocolate. Then there’s all the freebies they give you. And finally you get access to their shop, which has their products at significantly lower prices than the supermarkets.

For example, a ‘family’ 250g block may cost you about $4. In their shop they sell for $2.95 in all the correct wrappers, in date etc. Nothing wrong with it at all. Additionally, they have their ‘not quite perfect’ stock which they sell. You can get three ‘not quite perfect’ blocks for $7.50. They come in a plain white bag, so you don’t get all the fun of opening the Cadbury wrapper, but for what works out to be $2.50 a block I think I can manage. The ‘not quite perfect’ component is often very very hard to identify – it may be as minor as being very slightly over or under weight, having had the wrong type of stripe over the top, the ’shaking’ effect as the chocolate dries not quite long enough…. nothing though which affects the taste or quality of the product.

So I would highly recommend Cadbury to anyone.

I will try to retell my other tales from Cascades, Mt Wellington and Port Arthur over the next few days, but I think you’ve had enough of my ramblings about Hobart for now. That, and it’s about time I started putting some work into developing my Interview Portfolio. I have pictures in my mind of how it will look, it;s now just a matter of building it. When I’m at a certain stage I’ll start to publish parts of it on this site, under ‘Interview Portfolio’ above.