Just Sitting…
It has been a ridiculously hard week and as I sit to write this I am grateful for a wonderful window of 15 minutes that taught me a lot. There has been some pretty big stuff going down in one of the...
View Article“I know my son and he doesn’t lie…”
I had reason to meet with a mother recently to discuss some behaviour issues (her son’s behaviour, not the mother’s). There had been some ongoing concerns expressed by the mother and by me, emails...
View ArticleTeacher Technorati
Now… I’m assuming that, because you are reading an online blog, you have a reasonable amount of computer / internet / technological knowledge. Certainly it is becoming increasingly important for...
View ArticleThe Warmth of Community
The plume of smoke was ominous enough, spewing forth less than a kilometre from my house. The smell, however, made it obvious that I was a house fire. My son and I watched for a few moments from our...
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Volunteering – so good for Middle Years kids
Prudent Middle Years educators will be aware of the Association for Middle Level Educators (AMLE, formerly NMSA). A recent article from their Middle Level iNSIDER is a great reminder of the value in...
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Kaitlin Roig: an heroic teacher
Today’s shooting in Conneticut is, without doubt, a gut wrenching event that any teacher will struggle to deal with, and every teacher will be deeply and passionately hurt for both the students and...
View ArticleSandy Hook, Mike Huckabee and heroic teachers…
As the pain and hurt continues in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre, there are some interesting comments being discovered across the Internet. Let me share a couple… Mike Huckabee is an...
View ArticleEffective Relationships with Students
One of the books I read during my summer break (well, skim read, but that almost counts, doesn’t it?) was The Art and Science of Teaching by Robert Marzano. Let me reflect on just one of the chapters...
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Why People Lie
Recently, I received an email from Allison Morris in response to my (slightly belligerent) post on lying. Allison forwarded me an infographic she helped to create which summarises various pieces of...
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Understanding Bullying… from the inside
As educators, we all know the significance of bullying and the degree that it can be endemic in our school despite our best efforts to stamp it out. Middle Years kids are just as hurt – maybe more so...
View ArticleA testing time…
It is NAPLAN* week here in Australia where every student in year 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit national tests. To say these are disliked by the students would be a gross understatement. To say the tests are seen...
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Socks with Holes
A colleague shared a great story with me recently and I thought it would be worth passing along… A copy of the full article can be found here While in the 9th grade, Kimmel arrived at gym class one day...
View ArticleSki lessons
I can’t ski. There… I’ve bared my soul by exposing a long-held secret. In 2005 my wife, kids and I packed out bags and headed off to live and work in Canada for six months. It was one of the best...
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Forgetful Teens – revisited
Teenagers are forgetful. It is a well-known fact. But do we need to just accept that this is the case or is there something we can do about it? Some time ago I wrote a post about forgetfulness in...
View ArticlePornography
I would not usually use this blog as a forum as I will today, but I believe this is important. Would you please take this link and read through the article on the impact of pornography on our young...
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Weird kids = Awesome kids
I’m rather a Doctor Who fan and the meme above was on their Facebook site recently. I really like it because it reminds me that kids, especially the adolescent kind, are a wonderful mix of weird and...
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If these walls could talk…
Teaching is something of a isolated profession – generally your peers, the parents and the principal have no idea what you really do in the classroom. There’s a lot of trust placed on a teacher to...
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If these walls could talk 2.0
I got a bit carried away last week as I started writing on this topic. Let me try again… The end of the academic year is racing toward me at break-neck speed. There is so much to do and so little...
View ArticleBeing energised in the workplace
The post today is an article I wrote a in 2011 for the MYSA Leaders Network. You may find it valuable… As I sit to write this, another busy term has come to an end and I’m looking forward to a...
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Giving the look…
I’m sure you are well aware of the power teenage girls hold over each other just simply by giving a look. Interestingly, I’ve been dealing with some of this in a group of students this year but...
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