Priorities

Like all State schools in NZ, Nuova Lazio is running a deficit. The MOE (The ministry not the retired gentleman) never gives us enough money to teach everything that they (The MOE, The ministry not the retired gentleman) demand that we teach.

Many faculties use photocopied worksheets rather than textbooks, we get our pupils to copy work from a whiteboard, because sometimes our printing/photocopying budget has reached zero, Richard [of RBB]'s music room desperately needs refurbishment and re-equipping (and has been promised since before I arrived in NZ). Our needs increase every year, as the powers-that-be demand more from us, or change curricula arbitrarily, but our budgets gradually shrink.

We ask for a "voluntary" donation of about $80 from our parents, to support the "Free" education we are supposed to provide for their offspring, and this is quite moderate to other schools which ask for a great deal more. However, many of our parents cannot afford even $80, especially on top of the uniforms, shoes, sports equipment and subscriptions that their kids need.

So we're really short of money for even the basics.

Which begs the question why Ringo is requesting demanding about $20,000 to equip a classroom with a wireless network and a class-set (about 30) of netbooks or notebook computers.



As a technophile, I have absolutely no objection to getting more computers into the school, and greatly support the use of ICT in teaching and learning, but his idea (initiated by the MOE etc.) is worse than silly, it's inane.

For the whole scheme to work, we need:



1. Operational and properly configured devices

2. High speed network connection

3. High bandwidth connection to the internet, and a wide pipe beyond NZ's borders.

4. An understanding of the whole e-portfolio shtick, and a reasonable rationale.

We have 1 and probably 2, but definitely not 3 (It's beyond our immediate control).

4 is still in question. I cannot understand the great advantage of an e-portfolio compared to a paper one, or even a traditional file structure with hyperlinks if it needs to be done on a computer.



No matter how much the Systems Guy (Carrot Head [ aka CH]) and I try to tell him, he has no idea (or at least he gives that impression) of what the technological requirements are/will be, and the technical limitations and constraints on the infrastructure.

He just goes merrily ahead regardless.



He asked me (when I was talking to a student who was a bit nervous and unsure, Ringo breezed into my office, ignored the student completely, ignored that I was having a conversation with the poor girl, and just launched into his spiel) to be at his "training" session on Monday, when he is supposedly showing a selection of our teachers the ideas and concepts behind the e-portfolio crap. He casually mentioned that an external expert would be coming in, and would I "mind" giving technical support in setting up the data projector to use with this person's laptop.


I asked, quite gently, if this person would need the laptop connected to the network and hence the internet, and he replied, in that f**king condescending and sneering manner he so naturally generates, "Of Course".

I then told him to get CH, because the person's laptop/notebook/whatever would need to be set up for our network, configured for our server and have the internet proxy LAN address changed to work on our system.

He just stared at me for about 5 seconds, taken aback that there was any obstacle to his nicely thought-out plans.



He has no idea of what he's getting into, and I can see the $20,000 + , which we can ill afford (and which has not been allocated by the Board of Trustees, the Principal or our Business Manager. I don't even think it's in our official budget) being wasted, and the whole scheme scrapped inside the next 2 years.

I'm talking.  F**k Off

Next time he walks into a conversation of mine, with pupil, parent or staff member, and starts interrupting, I am going to tell him to f**k off. Seriously. And Literally.



We wonder sometimes why our students are a bit rude. Maybe they’re using Ringo as an exemplar.

The Peter Principle

No, we don't have a new boss in Nuova Lazio High called Peter.  I'm referring to the idea put forward by Lawrence J Peters in his book on management practices, which states that every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.

We've got Ringo.  Ergo Sum

He sent me an email yesterday, regarding the netbook project he's working on.  As I mentioned in my previous post there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea of using sensible computer-based learning and teaching techniques in education, but I honestly don't think we're ready, nor do we have the money.

But I'll say this for Ringo, he doesn't give up.  Apart from the lukewarm reception given to his ideas at the HOF meeting, the scheme's biggest weakness is Ringo's lack of technical knowledge.
He gets mixed up between laptops and netbooks
He casually refers to WiFi, but really means WLAN(wireless local area network)

Using a WLAN at the start

In the email he sent, he included a link to another NZ school who is running a limited WLAN, and he referred to "This sort of agreement".  Now we have two or three WLANs already in the school.  One in the staffroom, one in the workroom, and one down in our Social Studies block.  They're designed to allow teachers to use their laptops on the school network.  It works reasonably well, but the bandwidth isn't great, and the Systems Manager and I have great concerns over security.  Getting into a network requires that the computer using it is recognised by the network domain controller, and that various security protocols are established and password and network settings are correctly implemented.  WLANs are notoriously easy to hack into from outside.  So giving 30 of our little angels access to computers with the protocols set up gives us both the willies.
However, back to the email.  The link I mentioned before, took me to a page describing (quite well actually) how to set up a laptop computer on their school WLAN, no mention of a network agreement or any of the protocols we had been discussing.

Same person after using WLAN for just two weeks

Our Systems Manager (Carrot Head [CH]) and Ringo have visited a school (or two, I'm not sure) using netbooks (bought by the kids themselves, not an option in NLH), and discussed their usage with a very technical savvy Deputy Principle.  Listening to Ringo and CH  talk about their visit was enlightening.  Two very different stories.  CH described to me the problems the school was having with their netbooks (limited functionality, slow response time, saturated WLAN bandwidth, saturated external bandwidth, uncontrolled external apps and storage)  Ringo just talked about how cool it would be, how up to date it would be, how good it would make him look if it  was implemented.(no, I confess, I made that last bit up.  He never said that phrase.  I betcha he thought it though.

CH sent him a reply explaining basically that the information at the link was useless, just generic information.

But I don't think that Ringo grasps the basics.

Oh well, back to the grind.  Only 4 weeks or so left, and we've just been informed that as a measure of good faith, we're going to suspend the rolling action against our year 10s today.  Hope none of them realise that they're supposed to come to school today.

I think the PPTA is showing weakness, they should have intensified the action, not back down.  Refusal to mark NZQA exam papers would be a good start.

We must be doing something right

Reading ManOfErrors post about the state of education in NZ, made me think.  We are just going through the last stages of the course choice process, where we try to align the students wants for their next year's courses with the available resources, teachers classrooms etc.  It's always a bit fraught.  Sometimes a particular class that you (as a teacher devoted to a subject) really want to run next year, is cancelled because not enough students want to study it.

It happened to me 6 years ago, when I was desperate to start an academic computing class, working on advanced programming and University-Level database. (I get a lot of stick from colleagues who seem to imply that computing is just glorified typing made electronic.  Try and set up a search algorithm on a two dimensional array utilising stacks and queues guys)  I only got 5 students who put their name down for this course, so it didn't run.  I had to accept a compromise, where I amalgamated a Year 12 class with the advanced Year 13 class.  It worked, but not to the same extent as I had hoped.

It looks like next year we will actually end up with more academic computing classes at a senior level than ever before. (1 Y13, 3 Y12s and 2 Y11s)

The future of computing as seen by us and the students

Some of the students just choose computing because we're seen as an easy way to get lots of NCEA credits, and that's certainly true at the moment.  Most of the Assessment Standards from the NZQA in the Domain - Business Information Processing are just glorified typing tasks from the 60s, made modern with a few frills.  They are quite easy, and give a relatively high number of NCEA credits, although most of the students who pass these assessments could do a fair job in most offices on word processing tasks.  What the superannuated typing teachers living in their stenographic castles of the NZQA don't realise is that typing pools as they remember them are gone.  Even manager's secretaries don't just type, they're more PAs these days.  Most executives do much of their communication themselves, via email or IM or even word process themselves. 

The future of computing as seen by typing teachers

So there just isn't the demand for typists that there used to be.  There is a demand for people who can communicate effectively and who can think creatively and independently, and that's what we try to do, and sometimes we succeed.

I would also add that even those students who are focused on the word processing side of the available Units soak up good grammatical, spelling and communication skills from simply writing business-type letters.


We've actually ben a bit too successful.  In computing, I'm not sure we have enough specialist teachers hours to cope with the demand.  I know that in J-Ps department, some of their senior (and academic) courses have proven to be very popular, and they have the same problem we do, they just don't have enough specialist teachers for the demand.  The NZ system, screwed up as it is, does seem (at least in Nuova Lazio High) to be working to the extent of producing young adults with a good skill set for modern or even academic life.
 
Wouldn't we be able to do so much better with a better teacher/student ratio?
Oh yes, we would be able to concentrate the enthusiastic specialist teachers on smaller interested classes.
 
I hope Ms Bloody Tolley is listening.
 

Came accross this funny Thai Advert.  Nothing really to do with the rest of this post but it's unusual.



Pornography.

I'm a teacher.

I'm the Head of Faculty of ICT at Nuova Lazio (Also the guy in charge of creating the report system, the SMS (KAMAR)fixer-upper, the go-to guy for any minor/medium computing faults/problems, the mug who is taking care of relief, and much much more. But I don't like to boast.)
One of my jobs is to do the weekly trawl through the student's files for any "Unsuitable images"
By the nature of searching in an ICT system, and to the fact that any file can be given a name which bears no relation to it's contents, each file in the student's directories has to be examined visually to ascertain the suitability or otherwise of it's contents.
In other words, I have to look at every file created/saved/modified by the 958 pupils in Nuova Lazio.

It's a dirty job, but some one's got to do it.

The major search is for mild to severe porn.

My general criteria is the press. If an image could appear in the Dom. Post, then I deem it acceptable.
Girls in bikinis are OK, naked breasts or other exposed areas are verbotten.

Of course a double standard applies.








An image of Carmen Diaz in briefs is noted and erased, whilst a picture of Dan Carter in his Jockeys is ignored.






Over the last 5 years of doing these searches I have seen much amusing material, but actually very little porn.

The worst was found in the files of a Thai boy. He seemed to have developed a taste for Coprophilia. Mind you this same boy was also known for his propensity of cutting a hole in his trousers just below the zipped fly, and poking and waggling his index finger out of this hole. Especially in the presence of female teachers.

I think it would be fair to say he had some problems.

Most of the kids are just too embarrassed to look at "naughty" pictures when others are present, and many don't even know what they're looking at, they're just too young and immature.

It's been an interesting exercise. It certainly broadens the mind, never mind the tent effect. Funny. When I'm doing this search in the staff workroom ( I never do these searches in private, it's too dangerous. I need absolute transparency. As do some of the young ladies undergarments.)the other, (mostly male) members of staff tend to cluster around, looking over my shoulder, muttering comments like "Tut tut", "Well I never", "Would you look at the knockers on that", "Could you send that one to me?".
Guys never seem to tire of looking at the female form unclothed.

We're all little boys, embarrassed to admit it, feet crossed over in squirming awkwardness, but we don't close our eyes, just quickly avert them when caught.

I don't believe that the gentle sex suffers from the same obsession with naked glistening bodies as do the males.
I might be mistaken, and any ladies reading this feel free to correct my misapprehension.






Be warned.

The next image is, I think tasteful and not obscene, but some may find it offensive.

I find it eminently desirable. I could look at it for hours, just imagining the taste.

Do not scroll down if you think you may be offended by such an image.