Experiences from my profession.
A gift from a student who was ***not*** doing okay. The mental health supports swung into action to try to understand her suicidal intentions, alleviate the chances of tragedy. At year's end, among the sweetmeats and cards, a gift that I first mistook for chocolates: three luxury soaps in a box saying PEACE. I appreciate… Continue reading Soaps
The Five-Step Plan every educator needs Dear Graduate Teacher, Congratulations on your first teaching job! Double-congratulations for making it through the hardest part - the start. You've survived the first term and are now catching up on sleep in your school holidays. WOOHOO!! How's your lesson-planning going? Your assessments and reports? Parent-teacher interviews? Your portfolio… Continue reading The Five-Step Plan
Which type of human is modern education promoting? Following on from this post and that post I offer my take on the last three points in the list. 3. Increased mandatory curriculum There are so many things the Education Department wants us to teach! So much so that, in the 2000s, the Federal Government wanted… Continue reading Human Doings
Human BEings vs Human DOings ... which would you rather be? In my last post I mentioned five significant changes to education in Australia (and, let's face it, around the world) that I have seen in my thirty-year career. Here is my take on the first two: 1. Inclusion of children with disabilities In the… Continue reading Human Beings
Our teachers' union. For most teachers, Education Support (ES), assistant principals and principals, Term 2 sees a peak in workload. The pressures of report-writing and related activities are part of this already-excessive burden. So begins the email from the Australian Education Education, ever battling the state government to make conditions for teachers better. I don't… Continue reading Human Being
Professional people do a lot of professional development. Depending on the event it's often at a swanky hotel or function centre, with swanky food and a plethora of monogrammed notepaper and pens. Over the years I have built up a store of writing pads and writing implements from such events. Covid-19 lockdowns brought a sudden… Continue reading Writing Tools
Paul Murphy, Teacher Habits blogger Peter Greene’s Board of Directors It’s time to go back to school for children in Victoria. That means the working year for teachers starts as well. Every teacher with five years’ experience or more will have… Continue reading Back To School
Dear Students, please get out of my subconscious mind. We are all on holidays and should be at rest so now is the time to move out of my dreams and into your own. I enjoy teaching you and value your contributions to the class and admire your efforts, especially when you come from… Continue reading Dear Students
Warning: this post contains bad language. ... or should that say “bad language teaching”? In every teacher’s career there are times when the unexpected happens, when something occurs in the class that is not planned, which the teacher - ostensibly in control of the class - must address with a minimum of fuss and a… Continue reading Great Moments in Teaching – Confession 1
Annabel Harz: Author and Artist 