Gifts Not To Give To Teachers and Why Part 2

Here's the second part of my posts about what not to give to teachers and why!



5. Artwork created by your child.

I don't mind if the child decides to give their hand made artwork. But as a parent- the teacher does not want your child's art work if *you* chose to give it to them. He or she is NOT your child's aunt or uncle or grandparent. What do you think the teacher is going to do with the collage? Stick it on their fridge?



6. Something that is just going to gather dust.

Is it something that you feel the teacher likes? Is it useable all year round, or really really awesome and seasonal?Do you mind if she uses it once this Christmas, and then gives it away? Or if the ornament is given to her child? If so, great! Carry on! If not... why are you giving it?




7. Chocolate
Bear with me!!
I'm NOT saying 'do not get him or her chocolate'. I love chocolate. Most people love chocolate. But if you're going for something unique, chocolate is not the way to go. It is fairly generic. (but tasty and generic!). Also your child's teacher will get about 10 boxes of it or more. Be aware also that many teachers are on diets, or are concerned about their weight. This may mean your chocolate is not eaten for a year (as she's rationing it out) like my mother does, or, it might be given away. Make sure that he or she doesn't have diabetes, and isn't allergic to nuts or other ingredients like that. But it will almost always be appreciated anyway, and as generic, default gifts go, it's one of the best. :)



8. BAD chocolate

This one isn't excusable!
Really cheap, gross tasting chocolate. It will not be eaten at all, and you have wasted your money and just made yourself look cheap and without taste, without care for the teacher. That said, no one is expecting $30 truffles. There is usually plenty of cheap, TASTY chocolate for sale in supermarkets. Even in GoLo there is quite nice chocolate for a lot less than usual.




9. Are you from a trustworthy family? If so, skip this part!

Home made food.

This is a touchy area. I LOVE home made food. Biscuits, cakes, awesome!
But ... foods that the *kids* made are often looked at with scepticism. Or foods made in dodgy households. My mother came home with cupcakes and said "Don't worry, they're safe, [student teacher] made them!". I've heard many teachers say that they don't eat food given to them by students or their parents, but I also know of many teachers who do, and love it. Mum often gets given sushi, or spring rolls, or cold rolls, or cakes, biscuits, etc, and if it's from a trustworthy family, she'll eat it.
Of course no one reading this will admit or realise they're from a dodgy family, so I guess, just try to present it so it looks nice, not mashed up or in a gladwrap ball, and is covered, and don't let the kids do it all themselves! And make sure hands are washed, pleeeaaaase.

More posts to come!


Disclaimer: Teachers like the sentiment, no matter what it is. This is simply supposed to be a guide about how to improve the gift giving for the teacher's end of it.

And Relax.

So, my teaching prac is over! It already feels 'long ago' because I've been instantly thrown back into assignments.

Unfortunately, even though I'm fairly anonymous here, I don't feel like I can summarise it to the extent I want to, just in case. It makes me really nervous, just in case I say the 'wrong thing'.

Let's just say that I enjoyed it, it was stressful sometimes, fun sometimes, and I feel my skills have improved dramatically. I had some concerns about behaviour management, but I managed to improve a lot especially in the last few days. The kids were great and I'm going to miss them, even the 'naughty ones'. They made me and my fellow student teacher an autograph book card, and had been sneaking out all day! They were asking me if they could go to the toilet and I was getting annoyed about how many needed to go. They were in actuality, signing the cards. Aw.
I don't know how or when she managed to tell the class about it since one of us was in the class all day!

One of the boys who has huge issues, and I really do wish him the best (though I think he needs some help to achieve that), made us a card, but the printer was broken so we had to just read it.
We gave the kids freddo frogs, which seemed contradictory to my Healthy Eating unit of work I had to organise, but ah well, moderation?

On Wednesday we had a Healthy Eating party, and I'm thrilled to announce that those kids who tell me they don't eat healthy food because they don't like it, or 'just don't', loved the sandwiches I was making with them, and also loved the honey and banana low calorie yoghurt I gave too! When I had been telling them I ate yoghurt for breakfast they were all 'ewwwww!'- I think I've converted them! :D I think the reality is that they just aren't given it, and don't know what it's like.



There's a lot of socio economic issues like that in the school. Something I loved was that I could start dialogues and provide experiences that they haven't had before. And I think they now all know that hotdogs aren't 'healthy'. I'm sad that I ran out of time for SO many things. I wish they hadn't put us in a pair, but it's not like we're the only ones who were in a pair. And as far as pairs go, we got along well. I was nervous about it at first but I think we worked as a team.

And we managed to spill salsa all over the floor. I'd given it to one of the boys (they love feeling all manly. It's hilarious. I offered it 'can anyone stronger than me open this?', not 'can you open this because you're a boy', don't worry) to open and he was opening it sideways. Just as I warned him... SPLOOSH all over the floor, my pants, my feet. Ah well I did the same thing the next day with my pasta!

My report is very good. :D I think it's very complimentary (yet true) and also has the very useful part where it mentions that I mainly taught Health and Maths. Why is it useful? Because my major is for teaching English and SOSE. This shows that I can be versatile, and that I take all subjects seriously, not just my favourites. There's a tip for student teachers out there- if you want to expand, make sure that you have evidence of your expansions! And get as much practice as possible with different subjects- remember you'll be teaching those too!

I feel I have a much better grasp on Maths now, which is excellent. I was so nervous about it.

There's a lot more that I'd want to tell, but I think it'll have to wait until later. Feel free to ask questions!

But for now, I have to stop pretending that just because the lights are dim in this room it's early in the morning, and accept that it's later, and I need to do some essay writing now so I can finish on Friday for the semester.

Gifts For Teachers: What not to give and why Part 1

I've been talking with other teachers and parents in the past few days about what not to give to teachers. All of the following gifts have been given to teachers. As with anything, there may be exceptions to these 'do not gives', many of them are just due to the number of times these are given rather than the whole idea of it. My overriding advice to anyone trying to buy a present for a teacher is a) know the teacher. b) use common sense.

1. Apple, owl, or pencil themed things. Particularly if they are tacky.
(Though the one above actually looks quite nice, I still don't want an apple decor in my house thanks).

As I explained in my previous post, teachers get this stuff a LOT. For some reason people have attributed 'teacher' with 'apples' and 'wise owls', and stationery. And apparently this means the teacher actually wants gifts with those things on them. From everyone. Imagine how often people have given him or her presents with apples, owls, or pencils. Then imagine he or she has been teaching for over 10 years. That's a whole lot of apple themed stuff. Where is she supposed to keep them all? And if you were an accountant, would you want to constantly get earrings with calculators on them, bags with bank statements on them, or little abacus ornaments? For years and years, not just a one off? No.
Your gift may be perfectly nice, (though from what I hear they're often tacky and also forced upon the consumer by catalogues and shops saying they're 'perfect for the teacher!') but everyone else is also being influenced by the market and also tradition- it's not just you. It's everyone! So please, try to be more original, unless it is an absolutely STUNNING teacher themed gift.

Please also avoid anything with the word 'Teacher' emblazoned on it in any way shape or form. Teachers have their own identities, and they also get hundreds of these things over the years.

Similarly: Things with "Miss Surname" on it, that are intended for use at home rather than at school. Um, do you want things with Mrs Jones on it, all over your house? Rather than Mary?


2. Mugs.


All teachers loooove drinking coffee, or tea when they're relaxing from the kids!
... I don't. I hate coffee. Please, get to know your teacher before you assume that teachers love coffee. (So this goes not only for mugs, but for any coffee or tea related items). Unless you're okay with the fact that the coffee or tea themed things might be redistributed to other family members or to Goodwill.
The other issue with mugs is similar to the issue with apples.

I like mugs. I do! But my mother and father, both teachers, have been teaching for about 35 years each, and each of them are given 10 mugs a year... those mugs don't get worn out. Each of those kids and their parents thought that teachers like mugs, that they drink lots of tea and coffee. Which is often correct. But everyone else thought that too!

Teachers get hundreds of them. We've got a giant cabinet full of mugs, and I don't think any were bought by us ever, except the fancy ones from overseas that came in a set.
Sometimes the mug is filled with something- this is nice! But, teachers will probably dispose of the Cadbury branded mugs after they eat the chocolate that was sitting inside it. If you'd like to give them anyway, know that the teachers did like the sentiment, and accept that teachers often don't have enough room to keep all mugs.

There are exceptions to the mug rule: Really REALLY nice mugs.

3. Framed photos of your child.

I suppose the sentiment is that we won't forget your child. But as with the mugs and the apples: Where are you expecting us to put this? On the mantlepiece along with the photos of our own biological children, nieces and nephews, husbands and wives, parents, grandparents, cats, dogs, boyfriend, girlfriend, holiday snaps with friends?
Don't you think it's a little out of place? A little self centred to think your child goes into that category? Your child is not our beloved little cousin or our baby, no matter how sweet he or she was. We're not running an orphanage or teaching the same group of kids for a 12 year period, nor are your children our friends or youth group members. Perhaps some other teachers can help me explain this concept.

Gifts like framed photos come across as a bit odd coming from parents. If it came from a child themselves because they want to be remembered by you, because you made an impact for them and you were really special to them, that is the exception to the rule. But sorry Jane, I probably won't be displaying it on my wall. (But feel free to send me photos of you as you grow up! :D I'd love to know how you went).

In the future if I ever get one like this, I might put the photo in a scrapbook along with class photos, and use the frame for something else. :) Thanks for the frame, Mrs Jones and Timmy!

4. Ornaments with your child's name on it, or worse, face.




Again, pretty self centred. If it's pretty, it might be kept anyway. If it's horrible and tacky, it might be displayed for one Christmas and then weeded the next year. But that goes for any Christmas Decoration given as a gift! And please use caution when it comes to religious gifts. Many teachers are not Christian (they might be another religion, or not religious at all). I think angels are pretty, but if it says something about God on it, I will feel uncomfortable displaying it.




Disclaimer: I will always appreciate the sentiment, as I'm sure will all teachers. I'm merely trying to advise for better gift giving, so you have more luck that the teacher will like the gift too.

No apples for teacher! -Buying Christmas (or other) presents

To parents,

Please try to give non apple themed presents to teachers this year. I may be a student teacher right now but I'm becoming increasingly aware just how many apple themed things people are giving to teachers, and just how many Etsy people are saying that their apple themed things would be good for teachers.

After 10 years, can you imagine how many apple themed things I'd have? I don't like apples *that* much.

And it's not that we don't appreciate the sentiment, because we do, but I have to admit to you now, that many of your presents are redistributed. I can't eat 15 boxes of chocolates by myself (don't stop giving it though, just asking you to understand that I might give some away). There's only so many Christmas themed things I have space for. ... and I have no idea what to do long term with the thing your child made me.

Please keep this in mind when you make your choices this year.

Thank you.

Chiara, and teachers everywhere.


p.s. Also please, teachers are given about 10 mugs a year- where do you think we keep them all? Nor do we want a framed photo of your child to put in our living room, even if he or she was a darling.

Echuca: All The Rivers Run

Moama NSW, on the Murray’s northern bank, was the first port to be established along this part of the river. It was settled by a British ex-convict called James Maiden, in the 1840s. The biggest challenge to Maiden was another British ex-convict Henry Hopwood, who was sentenced to transportation in the same British court on the same 1834 day as Maiden.


Map of Victoria

Henry Hopwood's rise to power and fame in Echuca was due to establishing his own punt across the river, originally called Hopwood's Ferry, and building a hotel nearby. When the punt was closed, travellers had to sleep and eat locally until it re-opened. As it happened, Hopwood's Hotel was the closest place to find accommodation. And as Hopwood made money, Echuca shared his prosperity.

The crossing was important in the 1850s because of the market for meat created by the thousands of men on the goldfields, but with the decline of that market and the slump in cattle prices, Maiden went bankrupt. Hopwood, with financial support from the big cities, developed Echuca which was formally founded in 1853 and surveyed one year later.

The Victorian railway came to Echuca in 1864 and transformed the town into a major port. The centre of Echuca during its expansionist decades was the huge (400-metre long) redgum wharf built in 1865 and later restored. Many of the paddle steamers towed barges, lying low in the water beneath loads of redgum timber, cut from local stands and shipped to Echuca for milling.



Redgum wharf, 1865

A railway bridge across the Murray was initially opposed by Echuca, because NSW would derive the benefits. But it didn’t matter; the railway company built its own bridge in 1876, with a lifting system that allowed steam boats to pass. Just to annoy the Victorian government, the NSW government built an iron bridge a mere 50 ms upstream in 1878. In time, the town became the trading hub from as far as Queensland, utilising the Darling and Murrumbidgee Rivers to transport their agricultural products, then by rail to the Port of Melbourne.

By the 1870s Echuca had become Australia's largest inland port and was enjoying substantial urban growth. Being the point of shortest distance between the Murray River and the major city of Melbourne, Echuca was both a key river port and railway junction. Steam-driven paddleboats would arrive at Echuca's wharf, unloading their goods to be transported by rail to Melbourne. Wool, wheat, other grains, livestock and timber were the most common cargoes.



Bridge Hotel, 1858

This industrial boom led to a rapidly expanding population to over 15,000 people, with all the amenities needed by a working town: pubs, brothels, gardens and music halls. The two-storey building Bridge Hotel (1858) was erected by town founder Henry Hopwood across the way from his punt and pontoon bridge. Now restored to its original design, the upstairs rooms can be viewed by visitors during a Wharf Museum Tour. An important pub in connection with public transport was Redman's Commercial Hotel (1862). It used to be a staging post for Cobb & Co passengers en route to Shepparton. The Echuca Hotel (1873) opened for business to replace the 1858 original which had been built for famous explorer, Thomas Mitchell. The Star Hotel (1867) was also very popular. When the Star Hotel lost its license at some stage, it continued to serve customers. Its underground bar developed an escape tunnel for drinkers so that they could get away during police raids.

Every sailor/paddle steam captain and port worker needed a brothel which, in Echuca, was a very fine institution. The Old Brothel (1875) had two floors, each with three small rooms and separate entrances for privacy. Spouse and I stayed at the excellent Steampacket Inn (1860s), half way between the brothel and the port!




Echuca Brothel, 1875

But visible wealth and increasing population left the town anxious about criminal activity. A number of beautiful bank buildings were erected, to assure people that banks were safe, dependable and respectable places to do business. The Bank of Victoria (1860), with its traditional architecture, still retains its original safe. The original police station and lock-up (1867) is now used as the Echuca Historical Society Museum. The museum collects all the material available relating to Henry Hopwood, Echuca’s river trade and the local timber industry. The Bank of NSW (1877) opened in a very beautiful, two-storey classical piece of architecture.




Bank of NSW, 1877

Another facility for security-conscious citizens was the town’s first courthouse. It was built in 1869, a simple building with decorative brickwork designed by Mr Wilhelm Vahland who designed some of Bendigo's most important public buildings eg Town Hall, Shamrock Hotel, hospital, School of Mines, Mechanics Institute, Princess Theatre and Masonic Hall. This Echuca courthouse became the town hall in the 1920s and the library in the 1950s. The second, larger Echuca Court House was built in the 1870s as the Shire Hall and was taken over by the government c1880. The plain exposed brick walls of the single storey building were decorated with stucco mouldings. The three bay Hopwood Gardens facade has a small central Doric portico, as visitors can still see today.




2nd court house, 1870s

The coming of the railway was inevitably going to harm the riverboat trade, although the railways largely travelled north-south en route to and from Melbourne. In any case, the paddle steamers continued to carry essentials to homesteads along the river system and returned heavy with bales of wool, and harvests of wheat.




Railway station, 1864-77

The historic port is now home to the largest collection of paddle-steamers in Australia. Many of them have been fully restored and offer daily cruises, along with insights into a trading river from over 100 years ago. In fact it was recorded that 240+ boats had used the wharf facilities in one year. Now Echuca is regarded as the home of the largest number of paddleboats in the world. The wharf is still operational, open to the public all year, and is now on the Australian National Heritage List. Six tourist cruising paddle-steamers run river tours: PS Adelaide, PS Alexander Arbuthnot, PS Pevensey, Pride of The Murray, PS Canberra and the PS Emmylou.

Every civilised rural centre needed a top quality post office. Echuca’s post office (built in 1870), with its distinctive clock tower, suggested that this was a city very proud of its short history and very confident of its future. In a sense that confidence was misplaced. With river cargo through the Port of Echuca all but ceasing by the turn of the century, Echuca returned to a quiet life. Fortunately the main 1870s architecture remained in situ. Today the population has stabilised at 12,400.




Post Office, 1870

The Tourist Bureau people note that this lovely rural city is only 206km or 2.5 hours north of Melbourne. The historic Port of Echuca alongside the wharf is a living museum. Original buildings, horse-drawn carriages, gravel roads, blacksmith and wood turner all create an atmosphere that feels appropriate for the latter C19th. I found a very useful book called Echuca: A Centenary History, Jacaranda Press, 1965, written by Susan Priestly





This has been a guest post by
Hels
Art and Architecture, Mainly
Melbourne

Two Funny Conversations With Kids

There is one boy in my class who is older than the others, and likes pretending he is my peer. And in some cases, 12 year olds *can* be like my peer, depending on the situation. But other times, it's obvious just how innocent (thank goodness! I get worried about these kids) and also unthinking in a childish way he is.

Him: So, Miss [Name] do you have a husband?
Me: Nope, I don't. (thinking "hello, my name is "Miss"!")
Girl 2 years younger than him: Do you have any kids?
Me: No kids, no!
Him: Of *course* she doesn't have kids, girl! She just said she wasn't married!
Me: ... ermm... that doesn't necessarily mean I don't have kids, but I don't have any, no.
*girl gives me this total 'what the hell's up with him look'*


This kid would certainly know unmarried mothers. He'd also know many divorced mothers (therefore, no husband). Yet obviously hasn't connected his thoughts up in his questioning process! Education from Life still needs the comprehension skills I think!


I was in the computing room watching a class while their teacher was out (my mentor was supervising both classes at the same time, and the other student teacher was in our actual class. So no duty of care issues, just in case you were concerned).

I went up to one boy who was playing games and asked

Me: Why aren't you doing your powerpoint presentation?
Him: I don't have one.
Me (conversationally) : Oh? Why's that?
Him: I'm just here on transition.
Me: You came here from another school?
Him: Yeah, [mumbles something that was the name of a school]. It's for kids who're being Extended.
Me:... Extended? What do you mean?
Him: You know, extended!
Me: No, I don't know...
Him: You know, the other type of suspended! One is suspended, the other is extended!
Me: Oh! You mean excluded??


Of course the word I didn't hear was the name of the local school for kids that no other schools will take anymore due to lots and lots of exclusions (being expelled) from schools. They have smaller classes and more security, and try desperately to get them back on track if not just contained.

I still thought that his "starts with an ex, is related to suspended, must be extended" logic was pretty funny.

Tea

As you can see, the title of this blog is called "Who Will I Drink Tea With?"

... well it turns out, I won't be drinking tea with anyone for quite a while!
Possibly TMI but it seems I've developed a sensitive bladder from too many years of being able to go to the toilet whenever I wanted or going "Just in case" because my mother did, plus drinking caffeine. I like my pepsimax and I do enjoy my cups of tea. However, when I started going to school three weeks ago, I was also drinking more water than usual, and having to 'go' at the specified times, as well as drinking a cup of tea every morning before school, AND more water because it's getting hot now! My bladder couldn't take it! And it was very very annoying. Until about a week and a half ago when my bladder decided it had had enough and just sent me constant 'you have to go for a trip to the lavatorium now!' all. The. Time. I was freaking out, thinking I had a bladder infection. Which it turns out I did not.

... I just can't drink tea anymore. Or at least for a few months until I retrain my bladder not to freak out at waiting for half an hour.

So there's a little thing that you don't expect to affect you as a student teacher but sometimes will!

Sixth Happiest Nation!

Australia is apparently the 6th happiest nation out of 104 nations!

It came in after Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Not bad, since everyone always talks about how great those countries are in terms of economics, democracy, education, health, safety, security, personal freedom, governance and social capital, all things that we apparently came into the top 10 for, and are also indicators of happiness according to the study. We 'lost out' on entrepreneurship and innovation, which the US and UK did best in. But still, pretty good, and we were at 15th place! The survey was apparently done by Legatum Institute, in London.

Canada was 7th, then Holland, USA and New Zealand. It was measured with 79 variables including quality of life.

What do you think about this?

And what's the relevance of the dog? He's a happy Australian Shepherd.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlekoshka/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

A Probably Obvious Tipette

For student teachers.


Most classes of Year 5 kids take a VERY long time to do tasks that you would consider absolutely basic.

What I thought was a five minute sorting activity today took 30 minutes. There goes the lesson!

I had given them pieces of paper with different foods, taken directly off food pyramids (that I was going to explain to them in the second part of the lesson). The instruction was to decide as a group how to sort them into categories, and then sort the pieces of paper. Write down what your categories are. Let me take a photo of them.

So, I had kids dividing it into some pretty bizarre ways, but that's okay! The thing that wasn't was that they took soooo long to do anything at all. We had one table that was Girls Against Boys, another where the boys refused to do any work, so the girls did it all and the boys sat and grinned at me every time I asked them to participate. We had The Meltdown. One of the boys melted down, because he didn't like that I'd given him no mark for the assignment he'd not done, and he refused to participate and sat ripping pieces of paper up. We had the table where they wanted to get it Perfect, and therefore couldn't agree how to do it or took years to move pieces of paper around. And we had the group that worked really well together, but then couldn't tell me why they chose their categories for the foods. Even the people who were on task took foreeeeeeeverrrrrr. I swear I can't remember things taking this long when I was a kid!

... Next Time: I will give a definite time limit. "You have 10 minutes to do this task".
I might make them work in pairs so this group fighting thing won't happen again. :(
I will have a demo version with different foods and do it very quickly on the smart board, plus give them categorising options (even though I was hugely curious to see how they would divide it up).


But even WITH those things, observing it done better by my mentor teacher, I'm surprised how long they take to do really simple things. Ruling up a page takes 5 minutes.

Patience, teachers, patience. Find some balance between trying to force them to work faster, being efficient in your teaching, and also allowing them to be slow- they're kids, simple things are not simple for them.

Frustration?

Do you get easily frustrated when a student doesn't understand what you are trying to teach?
- Samphor


Easily? No. I've only been teaching for a little while and I've had some children not understanding. Sometimes it's because it's a hard concept and will take them a while anyway, sometimes it's because they have massive gaps in their learning, sometimes it is my fault for not explaining well enough or not being able to explain in various different ways. I get frustrated at myself for not being able to get it explained, but I would try my best not to let it show to the student.

However, I do have a confession to make. Times tables and other maths surrounding that still makes me feel that ball of rising panic I felt when I was 8 years old. It is really hard to stop telling myself "I'm not good at maths" and just get down and teach it. It is like a foreign language to me still! I'm improving a lot, and I'm looking forward to understanding it more and more as the years go past. So perhaps that's why I am being patient with the kids- I was like them. I just didn't get something. I know how it feels, and in fact, still feel it. It is my job to help them feel successful so they don't label themselves as 'no good' like I did and put up a mental block for themselves. I want my students to feel that even if they're not getting it NOW they will get it later, and it's okay to struggle with things for a while, it doesn't mean you're a failure and no good- these are hard concepts to master! (for any subject, not just Maths).

I think that's a really important thing for teachers to hold onto, and any students reading this: You CAN improve whatever you're having trouble with, be it art or maths or English or Science or even P.E.

Some teachers get frustrated but I have a feeling it's because they are annoyed that they don't know how else to explain it, or they really want kids to all 'get' important concepts... forgetting that not all students will get there straight away. These same teachers often resent it when the student has the concept explained in a totally different way by someone else and 'gets' it. I honestly don't understand that feeling. I just want the student to understand it, if it's because of me, great, if not, then I have just learnt a new way to attempt it with another student the next year, and this student can now move on. Huzzahs all round!

Parents, you can help your student's frustration by learning what they're attempting to do, and working through it- use different ways to explain it if you can, perhaps one of us will be able to ease this child's mind! Then we all win.

Personal Life of Teachers

Do you ever let your personal life interfere with your teaching? Like if things are going bad at home, do you teach not as well at school?
- Samphor


I think that that is the case, yes. Personally, the worst thing happening in my life so far in my teaching career is simply being exhausted! I spent the first few days of teaching feeling very very tired, due to being very nervous and not sleeping properly. I think it affected my teaching by me not being as bubbly or as quick thinking as I can be. I still did the best I could and I believe I was very successful at 'faking it'.

If I were really upset in my life, I might have less patience for things that I usually am fine with, but I would try my best not to 'take it out on' any kids- it's not their fault. But personal life does affect things a little. I was talking with a teacher who was so upset about things going on with her life that she burst into tears when a teenager insulted her, it was the last straw.

Other teachers I have witnessed actually getting really angry on their bad days. Which is sad, and I really hope I never get like that.

The other day I was really disappointed in the class due to some extremely bad behaviour, so the next day I was certainly not as fun, though I was still polite. I got over it.

Teachers are human, and their emotions do affect them, just like a horrible horrible night at home would affect any other person in their career- they won't be up as much as usual.

Sometimes I think that if things were going great at home/in my other life, I would be really happy in class, so it works the other way too!

Teachers should try to remain professional, but sometimes, slip ups happen. And sometimes people have been so upset for so long they can't control it anymore- I saw that in quite a few teachers I had in High School and Primary School. It was very sad. Remember: It's most likely not about you, if they're constantly freaking out at everyone. Try to stay sane even when they're being stressful.

How would other teachers answer this question about their personal experiences with interactions between real life and teaching?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guest_family/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Dreaming

So according to the Aboriginal Education Officer at my school, it should no longer be called "The Dreamtime" but "The Dreaming" (Which was out of favour 10 years ago and is now back). So there you go. Just thought I'd let you know about the change in attitude!

Living At Home

How common is it for 20-somethings to live with their parents in Australia? Has this changed in the past few years?

I'd say "Very common". Most of my friends live at home. Two went almost straight to jobs from high school (after TAFE or a year or so of uni before stopping), I and a friend are uni students (yep, still, at 24), one friend is married, but if she weren't married she intended to stay home until after she finished her degree. My boyfriend lives in a shared house thing by 'himself', because he lived in the hills and it was too far to come to uni every day, and also he didn't get along with his parents particularly well.

People start thinking about moving out of home at about end of uni (so, 21 ish) but it's certainly not uncommon to stay longer to save money or because you simply can't afford to move out (I won't be able to until... at least a year and a half away.), if you're at uni or if you're not. I really don't even mind, I usually like my family! I also think that people don't want to fuss around with room mates who you might not like, move out with boyfriends or girlfriends you might not stay with, loneliness, deal with renting crappy places, and so on. And parents don't usually go "Right, you're moving out!!", at least not amongst my 'class' of people.

There are of course people who move out at 18 but I've noticed that is very uncommon. People don't go away to uni unless they can't get the degree they want locally, for example if they live in the country. Most Australians live in cities, most cities have universities, Tafes or other ways to have further education (apprenticeships or what ever) in your choice of career, so we just stay home. No dorm life for most of us.

I don't think it's actually changed much recently, I don't believe this is a 'Recession!!!' issue, this is a different cultural attitude and different geographical facts.

Constellations

How many constellations can you see there????

Hmn. I've never counted! And constellations are really just humans putting their imagination onto random placements and creating patterns connecting it with things in their lives. I don't know 'how many' to be honest. Most of them are upside down for us so 'Orion's Belt' becomes the bottom of "The Saucepan". Kids look in the sky and see The Saucepan, and also, The Shopping Trolley. (two different constellations). Aboriginal people of this area look into the sky and see a big stingray, where we see The Southern Cross (which is on our flag, and apparently can't be seen in the Northern Hemisphere). I don't know much about the Northern Hemisphere's constellations or if I can find them down here. I just know that when I travelled to Europe the sky looked foreign and weird.

Here are some links that might be useful.
Learning the Stars Downunder.
Some info about (some) Aboriginal interpretations of the stars.

Something you might be surprised about if you ever visit is that the Southern Cross and the two pointer stars is quite small! It certainly doesn't take up a huge space of night sky. But most (I think) Australians can pick it out and find it quite quickly. It can help us with directions, though very few know how to do that properly.

What constellations can *you* see as an Australian?

Toilets

Our toilets flush clockwise in the northern hemisphere. Is it true they flush counter-clockwise in the southern?

I went and tested. And tested our sinks (Didn't test the bath or the shower, perhaps that would have different results!). And I'm suspecting that things are differently shaped over here!
Our toilet didn't go any way at all. It just flushes. Straight back, no swirling at all. So do the toilets in the school.
Our sink, well our bathroom basin has two taps. The tap on the left the water went anti clockwise, the tap on the right it went clockwise.
Maybe someone else can help me with this?

Are our toilets shaped differently further than the dual flush thing? (We often have two buttons, one for full flush one for half flush. You only use the full flush for more solid waste, and the half for most flushes. Saves a LOT of water, and is compulsory for new buildings to have these now).

Kids Smarter Than Teachers

Are any of the students smarter than the teachers nowadays? Bet that's true!



LOL UniquelyEmber! I don't know if this question was a joke, serious, or a jab at teachers, but I'll try to answer it seriously.

I honestly believe that 'smart' is subjective. And I also deeply believe that it doesn't MATTER if the teacher is less smart on certain topics than the students. I also believe that it's okay to acknowledge that kids are smart, and adults have different strengths and weaknesses.

For a modern teacher it is a huge strength to acknowledge, in public, to the children, that you do not know everything. Modern teaching, at least in Australia, does not require it. And it's true. We don't. My first degree, which I'm basing my grad entry teaching degree on, was in History and English- does that mean I'm an expert at Maths, Science, or PE. But I have to teach them anyway. I'm put through a one semester course on each subject. Do I now know all there is about science? No. But I hope that I have the intelligence and skills to find out and teach myself.

Here's how modern Australian teaching works. We don't have teaching textbooks to work through. We look at the curriculum, and then decide how we want to teach that aspect of it. They're really broad, it's not "Child will know multiplication by the end of year 3". Then we pick what we want to teach, and go out and research it. We check what the children already know, then build upon that. This means that every year will be different. We often pick things based on gaps we see in the student's learning or skills, rather than 'semester 2, this means I should be teaching Australian History now'. I might notice 'oh wow, these kids have no idea about how people lived in the past!' and then do a unit on that. The next year that same year level might be obsessing over animals, so I do a unit on animal cruelty. Those are both society and environment topics.

The kids are *supposed* to be bringing in their own information. It is normal and common for a teacher to say "oh wow, I don't know the answer to that, why don't we look it up?" It's stupid to keep on insisting you're right when the kids say you're wrong though. But recent teachers are trained not to do that. And every year, teachers should improve their skills and expand their knowledge. Revise what they did last year, and add to it, or take away things that were irrelevant the year before.

The other day I made a really stupid mistake with tens and units and pop sticks. I said "If you want to minus six from a hundred, you unwrap this 10 here, and put ten of them in the ten's column, remove six and then put the four left over in the units". One of the students was like "Don't you have to move that 90 down to the tens?" and I said "Oh yes [Child's name]" you're right, I forgot about that step, why do you do that again?" and she explained to me (though I already knew what I'd done at that point.) I knew that I had to move it down, but I just forgot because I was holding 100 popstick bundles up in the air pressed against the whiteboard so they could all see. My mistake was no big deal.
If I'd gone "Oh yes, I was just testing you!"then that would have been very stupid.

If a child asks me a question, I reply with the best of intentions (ie, no bullshitting) and then they say "but what about..." then I should take that as an opportunity to model 'how do we find out more information' which is an important skill for adulthood. If I later find out that I made a mistake, I'll happily announce that to the class and say I was mistaken, here is the real information. It's about modelling.

As a class, we're all entitled to make mistakes, without embarrassment.

Modern teachers cannot be afraid to go into teaching as a partnership, as a facilitator of learning, nor to give up the old fashioned attitude that they are the all powerful, intelligent, all knowing, teacher, and that it'd ruin the children's perception of you if you didn't know an answer straight away. So you don't know the answer- what do you do about that? No one knows the answer to every question in the world.

However! Some teachers do not do this. Some teachers refuse to acknowledge their gaps. I consider that extremely stupid. But they've been doing that for all time, that is the traditional way of teaching. So I don't think that you can say that students are smarter 'nowadays'. In the past there were many, many stupid teachers, many uninformed students, and also many intelligent teachers and students. We now all have to think for ourselves, and not use textbooks.
And there would be the teachers who not only don't teach smartly (ie researching the best they can, and then helping the students answer their questions), but ... simply don't have much in their heads.

There are many intelligent children. In the past, I think teachers refused to admit that children could know a lot. And children have a different sort of intelligence. They aren't in training to be part of society, they already are part of society, and are people. And people have different strengths. Little Timmy might have wonderful reasoning skills for example. But I'll probably still 'know more' in other ways, because some sorts of intelligence just come with age.

In the words of my fellow student teacher

"And that's okay."


Photo credit

Koalas and Kangaroos

Are the koalas friendly, and do you see them a lot? I think they are so adorable. Or are they only in certain areas? And how about the kangaroos, are they all over and how do they react to people?


Hi Earthy Elegant Jewelry!
Koalas aren't friendly. They won't attack you randomly, but they're wild animals, and see those large claws for climbing trees with? They hurt. A lot. They usually just sit in their tree and eat and stare at you, and that's the end of it. You can't just go up and pat ones that are wild. There are lots of native animal parks however where they do provide experiences patting koalas! They just chill out on logs or on their keeper's hip and you pat them- only on the lower back/rump or they don't really like it.

However you do see them quite frequently, at least around here. My boyfriend went for a nice walk in the hills and he saw one, sitting quite close to the ground, eating nice eucalyptus leaves. They quite often show up in suburban backyards, if you're near the edge of suburbia near the hills. We've had them in our back yard two or three times. They are only in certain areas- places with plenty of food for them, that is, eucalyptus trees. (gum trees).

But then there's the drop bears. They're vicious and vindictive.

Kangaroos should live all over Australia, but since we've got so many houses, they don't often live in cities, they stick to the lesser populated areas. But go to any country town and you'll see them around the place - though not usually hopping down the street! My aunt has a mob of them that live on her property, and they're quite friendly because the previous owners tamed them. They'll come and knock on her door to get treats, and try to get inside. Most of 'hers' loves being patted, they're like dogs in that sense. However wild ones tend to hop away when they see humans. There's a large variety of different sorts of kangaroos. Around here we have the Eastern Greys.

Climate Change

What is its condition or situation since it is affected daily by climate change, declining water quality from coastal runoff, development...

by akapalaria


Hard question to answer. Australia is indeed having environmental problems, however the biggest problem is the drought. We're really not sure if it is 'climate change' or part of Australia's natural cycle (at around 1896-1901 there was a huge drought similar to this), but our water habits and farming habits and developments are not making it 'better', that's for sure. Damming upstream of the River Murray causes massive problems for South Australia's water supply. Farming of unsuitable produce such as rice (!) causes a problem too, but people argue back that it's better for the environment or we'd have to ship the rice further from Asia. I'm rather torn on that issue.

We've changed our attitudes in a few ways. I'm amazed hearing about 30 minute showers from Americans, and that '15 minutes is a short shower' from others, where here, we're usually limiting ourselves to 10 minutes maximum. We already had dual flush toilets. People are installing rain water tanks, recycled water systems, solar panels, and other things. The government is creating desalination plants (though this will cause salinity problems in the ocean, which is not good), storm water cleaning (many people are opposed to this) and have banned plastic bags in shops. People willingly shower with buckets, so that they can water their plants, or use that water to flush toilets- we're under water restrictions that mean we can't water our gardens as much as they need. If people have a green lawn in summer, people look at them as if they're being decadent, and others put signs on their lawn informing the public that they're using bore water, or rain water, so they don't get glared at.

I think Australia looks about the same as it did, but the growing population does mean there are more housing developments going up, which always distresses me. Australia is a place where people love living in suburbia. These developments are often tiny plots of land (gardens that are 2 metres wide...), and are also often on land that would be better put to farms or parklands. I wouldn't want to live there, and I also want to see more trees. Cutting down trees doesn't do any good, especially when they don't plant more to take their place because of the water crisis! However I don't know what to do with all the people either. Perhaps new settlements out in land that doesn't grow much produce? Attitude change perhaps should happen.

Please don't think we're a treeless, ugly place though! We're dry, yes, and there are houses and cities, but we're still nice. I promise. :)

Hotness of Australian Guys

Are all the guys as hot as Keith Uban? hee, hee
By Ceejay60.

I had to google to see who Keith Urban is. :P Oh yeah, that guy! The one who for some reason looks like Tim Minchin without makeup and shorter hair! (I don't know why I make that connection)

Like all (most? Debate it!) places in the world, there are certainly quite a few hot guys around the place. :P However, most are 'average' looking. But in a good way.
It's weird, but I *have* noticed a slightly different facial structure/attitude/expression on Australian faces vs 'foreign' faces (like the British or Americans). I can often pick out Americans from a group without ever hearing their voice. I can also pick out people from Polish ancestry. Apparently our mixes of races mixed in a different way, and our expressions are somehow different too!
Australia is not a place of hot people, just like any other country, with the possible exception of Sweden. :P (Kidding...) It's an ordinary place.

Has anyone else been able to 'pick' Australians (or other nationalities that are supposed to be from similar stock, such as Americans) from a crowd without hearing them speak?

Have you been to Australia and found a disproportionate percentage of the opposite sex 'hot'?

Niagara Massage Chairs

I went to the Royal Adelaide Show yesterday, a fun event where people go and check out new products, see animals, try things out, go on rides, do educational things, eat free samples, buy products, and watch entertainment shows.
It was a fantastic day, except for one nasty experience with a sales man at the display from Niagara chairs. He was incredibly rude and intimidating, and it is yet another example of discrimination against young people. Here is the letter I sent to the company a few minutes ago. I find it bizarre as all other displays in the whole exhibition always encourage interaction with the products, and most, even if you're a teenager unless you're being disruptive or it might hurt you.

Why are massage chair people the rudest people at the Adelaide Show? I met so many fantastic people there yesterday. Thanks to the Chutney guy, the Kyneton lamington woman, the nail art lady, the wobbly exercise machine woman, and soooo many more.

Note: This may just have been this one guy, not the whole company, but I've experienced rudeness in a similar vein before.




My boyfriend and I attended the Royal Adelaide Show on Sunday the 13th of September and experienced some rudeness by your staff in your stall. We are young looking, but we are 22 and 24 years old. I realise that there is often a 'no under 18s on the massage chairs' policy at the Royal Adelaide Show.

My boyfriend had been talking about getting a massage chair, and my Dad had been talking about getting one, so when we saw them we thought we'd go in to have a look.

We were immediately greeted by a man (I wish I'd got his name) in a very rude fashion, asking us what we were doing in his stall, as if we had no right to be there. My boyfriend, nervous at times, mumbled something about 'just interested in looking at your chairs'.
Your sales person then bluntly said that 'They're $9,000. How many do *you* want?'. My boyfriend thought he was joking on the last point, and said he'd take three. The salesman then demanded to see my boyfriend's credit card. He then told us that these chairs are only for 'old people', and that we couldn't use them, and that he only wanted to talk to 'old people', who would be coming in soon.
We left without looking at any chairs.
This whole exchange took less than a minute, and we were made very unwelcome.

We understand that teenagers often want to go in and 'try' the chairs with no intention of buying one. We also cannot afford a $9,000 chair right now, but we did not know how much they cost until we were 'informed' of this. This assumption that we were teenagers, or without money, and the rude manner that we were dealt with, means that we will be sure to not buy your products in future, even if we did have $9,000 to spend on a chair, and I will not be recommending Niagara chairs to my father.

I believe that this is very bad practice, and though I have been asked if I'm over 18 before at massage chair stalls, this goes far beyond that in terms of rudeness and assumptions.

I would suggest that your representatives be trained to try different techniques as to how to deal with potential 'time wasters'.
Thankfully the exercise equipment people (Whose products cost over $2,000) took me seriously and I now have their contact details to share with my parents who
were looking for options. They seemed to have no trouble accepting us as potential customers or influencers of parents and 'hype' to the general community.

I hope to receive a response soon.


My boyfriend also wrote them an email.

I went to see the display at the royal adelaide show yesterday. My experiences were quite offputting. I was immediately swooped upon and my purpose for being there was challenged. I am a younger person, so perhaps not the usual sales target. However, at 22, and my friend, 24, it's certainly not unreasonable that we could be genuine customers, or even just to be treated with respect and given some information about how they work.

It happens that I actually am interested in buying a massage chair, or a massage cover that slips over a chair. I didn't know the price range of the chairs, or if you sell the cheaper slip over ones, and, I still don't know this, for reasons that will become clear. So, after having my intentions challenged, I was then aburptly told that the chairs are $9000, with a sarcastic and hostile question "how many would *you* like to buy?". Now, the salesperson is probably correct. I can't afford that much. However, clearly I could not have known this previously, and therefore his rude attitude is entirely inappropriate. It should also not be ignored that there are 22 year olds who can afford such an amount.

So, assuming that he's not just being a jerk, I tried to make light of his comment by stating that I'll take 3, in a joking way. Perhaps he can give me a quick description of its mechanics, health benefits, suggest something more affordable, or politely apologise that they only cater to that particular price range with a thankyou for my interest in their product? However this was met with the demand that I show him my credit card, followed by a remark that these chairs are meant for elderly people, with a very pronounced implication that I am not welcome. At this point I was very confused and felt no other option but to move on, confused as to why I had such hostility directed at me, and having learnt nothing of the product except that they (all chairs? some chairs? most expensive? cheapest?) cost $9000, the salespeople are rude, and that I must be at least 25 in order to buy one.

There are certainly situations where a younger person could be disrupting enough to warrant this kind of rudeness. However, in this case I did nothing more than walk into this display area before this was directed at me. I was left with a sour feeling and certainly the affirmation that I will avoid this company, and, although I will have rare opportunity, I will discourage anyone from buying from this company given the topic arises.

I'm giving this feedback only because I don't think that it's right at all that a person should be treated in such a way merely because they don't fit the targeted market. I also understand that a salesperson can have a bad day, as can anyone. However, there are certainly ways of dealing with a bad day, and that certainly does not include taking it out on an unlikely customer.


Another point of view. I discussed this on a forum, and one of the responses was:

From what I've read, it sounds like he was definitely rude but I also think it's understandable. Though, understandable and excusable are two different things.
[...]

To be honest, though, I do think you both look like teenagers. Or at least could pass as teens. I'd completely understand how someone would peg you off as another teenager who isn't serious about buying a chair and only wants to try them.

Considering that, also remember that your presence there may not have just seen by the salesperson as a waste of his time but as a discouraging presence among a target group. Remember that these rules of marketing were not simply created by the people who sell such products but by the consumers, themselves. Rich people don't want to shop where poor people shop, stuff like that. The salesperson may have wanted you out of there in case more serious shoppers wouldn't want to approach the vendor with you there.