Let it snow…

let it snow, let it snow.

Will we ever see it again? I’ve taken to looking at the Cairngorm webcams to get a sight of the white fluffy stuff.

In the meantime, I’m loving the ‘extras’ for the blog

It’s better than nothing.

It’s Monday

I’m finding it hard to pick myself up today. Emotionally and physically. It didn’t help sitting in a meeting after school listening to the impact of budget cuts and how things are going to get worse not better.

The suggestion that we are all professionals and will have to make do is beginning to grate. Both from a teacher’s perspective and a parent’s. How easy it is to say that everything will be done with the best interests of pupils, but what are those best interests? To keep a school running, making sure classes have a teacher (even if it is any teacher), or to give pupils the resources for the education they need. It seems more and more decisions are being taken with the explanation that the bigger picture has to be looked at. Being a middle manager, I do understand that. However, at ground level, it’s hard to keep the candle burning at both ends.

It seems management time may be cut. I’m barely able to do my job currently and that’s with all the additional home time. Do we all throw our hands up and says ‘what gets done, gets done’?. Yeah right, the pieces will only have to be picked up eventually. Even my goodwill is starting to wane. We had to complete a questionnaire on stress last week. Another ticky box?? Probably.

In a time when Scottish education is supposed to be radically changing, teachers are being made surplus and classes are being cut so that there is enough staff to provide cover for absences, the last thing we need is for funding to dry up or to be told, this is it – get on with it.  Of course we will, but the number of staff who are desperately hoping for an early retirement package is scary. These are the people who are teaching our children…

Tomorrow is the 1st of December. It’s a new month and hopefully I’ll have picked myself up. I’m going to dust of the department tree ( that I’ve had no time to take apart and box up from last year ) and bring some cheer into the place.

There nothing like a bit of sparkly tinsel is there?

Good Old Days

It must be my age. It’s the ‘tattie’ holidays and I find myself once again remembering days gone by as I watch my own boys romp around in the great outdoors. We’ve left the outskirts of the big smoke for a few days to come back ‘home’, a term which my husband continues to be annoyed by. He just doesn’t understand it. Having left up North over 20 years ago, he feels the term should now only refer to where our wee family unit live now. I kinda get where he comes from, but when I take my turn to drive and hit the sight of the wonderfully barren mountains, my shoulders visably drop and I smile. Don’t get me wrong, I love where we live, but like everyone, I have so many vivid memories from my childhood days – good and bad – that the connection remains strong. It’s very important to me that my children know both worlds – city life and all that goes with it, but also that different kind of freedom and independance that comes with growing up in the countryside. I have fantastic childhood memories of spending long holidays on my great uncles farm. It was real old style. You worked Monday to Saturday, Sunday was the day of rest. That was the day I took my faithful old sony walkman, bunches of comics and packets of sweets to a wrecked old VW Beetle (which of course I had customised with any old paint I could find) that lay beside one of the fields. I roamed here, there and everywhere. Often on my own, trusted and unworried that anything would, or could, happen. Life was simple and fun. I saw countless calves being born and rode bareback on a placid old Shetland Pony. In the hot summers, I paddled in the burns. I played for hours on end with often only my imagination for company. Not a PSP, WII or Nintendo in sight. When the hay was taken in, it was by sheer hard graft and tractor and sled. It was the kids job to tramp down the hay on the sled and aim not to fall off the higher it got. Health and Safety? Who knew and who cared. But I genuinely believe it all helped me become the person I am. When not on the farm, holidays and weekends were often spent at the beach where between my parents and their circle of friends, there were boats, windsurfers, endless barbeques and long walks. Those days of course are long gone, but the spirit of it all lives on. I only hope my kids will have memories like that.

The Joy of Parenting

I love being a mum. It’s such a privilege seeing two wee people develop and watch their characters and confidence shine. Having watched other people’s children develop into young adults for many years, it still amazes me how much my own delight me as they grow.

I’m not a believer of categorising people, particularly children, but as I watch my two, I wonder if their characters will really change that much as they grow older. Yes, they will become (I hope) even more confident and develop their skills which will in turn change their attitudes and way of living life, but will their core characters become any different?

I am reminded of when my eldest was in nursery and we attended his first parents evening. Being on the other side of the fence was quite nerve racking and I wondered if I could put my teacher hat to one side and purely tackle the situation from a parents point of view. I found myself listening to his teacher and analysing everything that was being said (much to my own annoyance!). It was when the teacher kept referring to the fact that he liked to play with ’small world toys’ particularly, that I couldn’t help but wonder why this was an issue, particularly when his teacher agreed he would play with other children and interacted well with the adults. Even as a very young child, my eldest loved time to himself. He’s a very sociable lad, but after a while he likes to have his ‘me’ time. He loves books and toys, making up endless adventures with his incredible imagination. The way I see it, he has the best of both worlds. The ability to interact and communicate, but also the ability to be independant and not require constant attention from other people. Sometimes he has an old head on his young shoulders, and perhaps sometimes he thinks too much, but that’s the way he is and who is anybody to try and make him be any different. Too often these days do children have to act and behave in particular ways, so that a box can be ticked to say they’ve fitted into a that box.

My youngest on the other hand is currently a totally different kettle of fish and people keep telling me he suffers from ’second child syndrome’. I think that’s probably true, but definately only in part. I keep saying that he’d have a party with himself in an empty room and still manage to trash the place. That tends to make people laugh, but he really would. He loves to be in the thick of things and we experience things with him that we never did with his brother. I look at them both and wonder whether the youngest will become more streetwise and watch out for his brother or whether his fearless attitude will somehow become curbed when he too starts nursery and school. Either way, they will both continue to amaze me I’m sure. My only wish is for them to be happy and be themselves, whomever that may end up being.

Mother Hen

I felt a bit like a Mother Hen last week. We had a couple of visitors to school, one of whom was the Director General of Education. A colleague and I had been asked to meet with them briefly, along with a few pupils, to discuss a project we had undertaken. I stood and listened to those 3 pupils whom I’d worked closely with, answer confidently and honestly all the questions that were thrown at them and never was I so proud. Their answers were exemplary (and they hadn’t even been primed!) It was a joy to watch young adults delight in giving their views and opinions and really see where they were coming from. Stars, all three.

Early Days

I’m really getting to see a new way of learning with my eldest who has just started P1. Being a secondary teacher, it’s fascinating seeing how it all begins and the speed at which a child picks up things. In a matter of a few weeks, I have a child who knows several words by sight and is reading. I came home one night to find him at the table, pencil in hand, writing down words he had obviously been learning that day. What happens? Where does the enthusiasm go? At what point does a child decide that homework and learning is no longer fun?

Is it just the natural progression of growing up? The other external influences that take over? Or just the fact that they get bored? The abundance of enthusiasm seen at primary seems to be less obvious as a rule at the next stage, but it’s something that needs to be nurtured more in secondary. We can all make claims that leadership of a school is solely to blame for what happens within it. To a point that is right – but only up to a point. As educators, we all have responsibilities. As individuals we have to enthuse our pupils on whatever we are teaching within our own walls. To not get bogged down and become cynical with what is going on around us and to not get caught in the trap of teaching as a job. It’s more than a job. We can shape and influence those in our charge – both in a positive and unfortunately, negative, way. Those who see it purely as a job, as far as I’m concerned, need to look elsewhere as a profession. Ooops, rant over.

Time Management

You know what? Someone needs to sort this out for me.

Monday is supposed to be my best day for time, and I got absolutely nothing done that I needed to, or wanted to, today. It’s driving me nuts. 3 times I tried to start a meeting with a student teacher today, and 3 times we were interupted. It’s easy to go and hide, but lets face facts – you only come back to the same problems that are waiting there for your return.

So what’s the answer? To not support staff? – makes you an ineffective PT. To leave issues with students to others outwith the Department? – yeah right, they’re as busy as me. To leave the admin? – I wish. There is only one answer – win the lottery! I bet I could manage my time then.

I’m coming round…

…to the idea that my fabulous old Pentax camera may be a tool of the past. It’d saddens me to even write that, but I have to face facts. I’ve hung on to the past for too long perhaps, but with the camera comes loads of memories – right back to the start when I bought it. Raking around the wee old camera shop in Morningside (which has now moved up the road and turned itself into a brighter and cleaner shop, much to my disappointment) to find exactly what I wanted – a fully manual, nothing fancy solid camera. In fact, my only issue at the time if I remember was would I buy it immediately with the only money I had – that month’s rent – or take a chance and hope it would still be there when I managed to stop going to the pub and get some money together? (Why as students could we afford the pub so often – ahhhh, those days are long gone…) I think I considered the options for about 30 seconds, before handing over my money and leaving with a smile on my face.

But I digress…

I’m running an Elective period for seniors this year and I’ve decided to run photography as the first block of work. It’s such a joy to get out and about with the students, doing work that will ultimately be non-assessable. No pressure or deadlines from the SQA, just pure enjoyment of learning for enjoyment’s sake. Cor, if only all education could be that way. It takes me back to the good old days of Scotvec Modules. I ran darkroom photography then and it always amazed me how some pupils who had no grasp of numeracy and little interest in many of their other subjects, could quote percentages of chemical mixtures and get their darkroom techniques down to a fine art so easily. The buzz of seeing a student’s face light up with excitement, never mind listening to the squeals of delight when they saw their image start to develop is something I’ve never forgotten – and something I’ve not often seen since.

So, I’ve taken the bulls by the horn and started to take photos again with the students, but this time using my other half’s camera. I still don’t like the fact there’s so many auto settings and the manual function confuses me somewhat, but the feeling of cheating is starting to fade. Manipulating on photoshop again feels like I’m cheating on a test, but I guess that’ll pass too.

So, we’ll see how things progress. Looks like my unused darkroom in the loft will stay that way. It was a great idea, but in practice didn’t work out. It’ll certainly be cheaper to pursue now, but will it be as much fun? Who knows, but I’ll give it a try.

I’m loving…

…my National Geographic magazines! I came home tonight to find my monthly copy waiting for me by the front door. It may sound sad, but I asked my dad to give me a yearly subscription last Christmas and it was one of the best presents ever. I have to confess, with the first ‘read’ of each monthly copy, all I do is gaze at the pictures – well, I am an Art & Design teacher after all! The photography is amazing and something you can only aspire to. It takes me several more reads to get through the articles, each new one as interesting as the last. I’m getting a nice wee collection now to relook through at my leisure (ok, school holidays!). All I need now are those floor to ceiling bookcases. Oh, and the cosy library space and rip-roaring fire. Ahhh, a girl can dream…

With the end of the year fast approaching (one of my S2 boys told me it was about 90 odd days until Christmas), I know what I’ll be asking for again!

The Scottish Learning Festival

For the first time in my teaching career, I got to attend the Scottish Learning Festival, albeit in the capacity of contributer to a stand as opposed to attendee. A colleague and I were showcasing a fantastic cross-curricular project we had done on ‘Anti-Sectarianism’. It was an interesting experience and the chance to talk to, and listen to, a whole range of people ( never mind a chance to grab as many ‘freebies’ as possible).

It was disappointing that I came across so few secondary teachers. The majority of those I spoke to were from the primary sector and I wonder if budget restraints had kept many away. It’s a pity really that not every teacher can get the chance to visit one of these events at some point – if only to have a nose at what other people are doing.

There was a fantastic section which evolved as the day went on – a wall of cartoon images created on site – each cartoon having been produced on a flip chart page, then displayed once finished. A load of post-its and pens had been left and people encouraged to ‘post’ comments on a cartoon of their choice. Topics included ‘A Curriculum for Excellence Needs…’ It was an fantasic way to start discussion and the comments ranged from sensible, to quite defensive to very funny! I loved the idea behind it and definately see this kind of thing being used in my classroom in the near future. It could be a great lesson starter to get minds quickly into a particular mode of thinking, or even better, a great way to start written tasks where pupils could comment on art and design work and then these comments are taken to further discussion. Immediate reactions are a wonderful thing and often I think some pupils get bogged down with thinking about a task too much – this could be a great way of avoiding that in the initial stages of a task. I’ll let you know how I get on…

It was a long day, but I’ve come home with a few ideas and loads of ‘packs’. Boy, is networking tiring! Shame it took over 2 hours to get home and thanks, Brian, for the company and the driving!