Things that go Thump in the Night

Did the Earth Move for You?

Last week, at 12:04 on Monday morning, we had a wee Earthquake.
For any Kiwi or even Japanese readers of m'blog, an explanation of what being in a major earthquake feels like would be superfluous, but for most others, let me say

IT WAS BLOODY SCARY.

When the first trembling started, it was enough to wake me up, but it wasn't too bad.  The worst was when my Beloved hit me.

She thought that I was "mucking about" or just turning over in bed by bouncing on the mattress, so she does what she normally does when she gets upset with me (a more than rare occurrence) she hits me. 

I've still got the bruise.

However, back to the earthquake.

The movements began to escalate, accompanied by a baso-profundo rumble.  The house started to sway, we could hear the joints creaking and moaning, and IT DIDN'TSTOP.  It went on for bloody ages.

My Beloved began to fart (a sure sign of semi-terminal stress), the dog began to howl, alarms were going off all around, and I said "Goodness" "Isn't this exciting"

My Beloved hit me again.

It stopped (The hitting as well as the quake)

I went back to sleep, and slept right through the next, slightly smaller one at about 2:30am.

DeepSleep

Next morning at school, a bit earlier than usual, around 6:30am, just to check the bloody place was still there.

Nuova Lazio High School is built in the slum Garden Suburb of Nuova Lazio (funny that, must be a coincidence) which happens to be built on a drained swamp in the middle of an ancient caldera, so when the shaky Gods of Aoteroa start feeling their oats, nobody's quite sure whether the whole place will disappear into a stinking 200m deep quagmire,

or be blown to Kingdom F*cking Come.

It does lead to some trepidation amongst the citizenry.


This time however, all seemed OK, no obvious damage, so the Boss-Man (not me, I hasten to add, I'm just an assistant Boss) said the school would be open for business (Teaching and Learning ....HAHAHHAHAHAHA) that day.

We are having our big end-of-year exams, run by the NZQA (my job to organise and administer) and set in our Auditorium.  When I had a look in there, it looked OK, apart from a couple of big, free-standing wooden back-of-stage thingies, which had fallen down and crushed a couple of desks. (Luckily, the quake was in the middle of the night.  If it had happened during an exam, we would probably have lost a couple of students)

We might have had a squashed student

So the exams went on.

We got blasted by parents who thought we should have closed the school.
We got praised by parents who were gratified at our efforts to allow the students to complete their exams.

Some days, you just can't win.

I had to shut the Auditorium that afternoon, as there were some tiles hanging loose in the ceiling.
We all saw them, but thought they were polystyrene, and no threat. 

However.

One fell down at lunchtime, and it proved to be made of a fibre-reinforced plaster, backed by plywood, and each tile weighed about 30kg.

So we shut the bloody death trap before someone got killed, and moved the exams into some other rooms, displacing Richard {of RBB], but that doesn't matter, it's only Music.

Exams

An exam

All of our students are sitting exams this week.  Our seniors started their NZQA exams last week, and they continue right through (for some of them) to next week as well.  Quite a few have been coming in to do last-minute research or revision, and some have been trying to complete another couple of Internal assessments under our supervision.
Don't believe all those stories about our lost generation of youth.  The vast majority (90%+) want to achieve and excel, and it's a joy to help them do so.  If any are reading this, best of luck folks, you deserve to succeed.

A different type of exam
Peek but don't cheat

Our juniors are also sitting exams in all the core subjects, and this year they're sitting them in the gym. under the usual exam conditions.  This creates a lot of problems, notably for the PE staff, but the boss wants the Year 9s and 10s to become used to the traditional big-hall exam feeling, and he has a point.  None of our pupils have sat an exam in this way before.  All through Intermediate and Primary, all assessment is in their own classrooms, and most of the assessment they get is formative rather than summative, so they were not under as much pressure.  Our pupils have to become accustomed to the feelings of stress and anxiety everyone gets during big exams, otherwise they will be at a major disadvantage when they sit the big NZQA exams in their Year 11.

Stress makes you do strange things

The juniors have been behaving superbly.  No mucking about, no talking, no cellphones.  There are always exceptions however.
Our hyperactive Year 10, who was starting to hyperventilate and trembling in his seat after the first hour of a two hour exam.  I think he's never sat in one place for more than 40 minutes in his life.  He tried, but just couldn't do it.
Then there were a couple of our year 9s who went at it hammer and tongs during tea time.  The usual name-calling got very intense, and the two involved just wouldn't let it go, and were eventually sent home.
Then the piece de resistance.  One of our notorious juniors, who is constantly in trouble, and who has been accused many, many times of tagging (drawing graffiti for any non-NZ reader) walls around the school was caught cheating in his English Exam.  Because we have about 180 students in each of our junior years, and because the gym will only hold 120 at one time, I have allocated some of the students into 3 or 4 extra classrooms, and it was in one of these that the cheating was discovered.  The silly boy had his notebook out and under the desk, resting on his knees.  Every time he turned a page, the supervising teacher could hear the paper rustle.  The best bit was after the notebook had been confiscated, it was found to contain, not just notes for cheating, but many examples of the boy's graffiti style.  Proof at last.  He's for the high jump, and I really hope the board kicks him out.  He's constantly disrupting just about every class he's in.

Parent's Night

Lastly, we had the police in.  As I mentioned in an earlier post our computer systems were hacked a couple of weeks ago, which cost us a lot of time and money to fix, and some of our seniors may have lost a couple of credits, because they couldn't finish some assessments, so whoever did it is not well-loved by us.

The policeman who came in was not one of your average cops, he was from the cyber-crime division of the NZ police in Wellington.  I didn't even know we had one (It is apparently bad manners to call them robocops.  They seem to strongly resent that name.  Wonder why?)  He had come in to process a charge of theft made against another of our pupils who had stolen a flash drive from one of our science teachers, and had then wiped the contents; a complete year's notes, resources and exercises for all of the teacher's classes.  Luckily our great Systems Manager, he of the Red Hair, managed to recover almost all of the data, but the pupil involved did not seem to realise that he had done anything wrong, and the charges were laid in the hope that something might get through to the kid before it's too late.

The policeman, after dealing with the theft, had a long talk to Red Hair about the hack, and we are delighted to find that he has the power to get the ISP to divulge their logs, so we can find the actual physical address of who it was that hacked into our system.  I'm not talking about just an account name, I'm talking about an actual physical trace which will stand up in court.  I didn't realise that all such logs on modern electronic switches could reveal so much.  The hackers "Ass is Grass", and will probably be covered in blood if our angry seniors get hold of him.

Justice is Nice

Revenge is Sweet

RETRIBUTION WILL BE MINE

The Last of Days

The end for some

Not perhaps in the biblical sense (isn't it odd, that our culture is impregnated with so many biblical references, even in this increasingly secular society?) but we have 6 days of school left.

Well not strictly true.

We have 6 days left before the prizegiving and the seniors disappear for their study leave and their big exams.

It has become apparent that my senior computing class is reacting to the diminishing number of remaining days in the usual way.

1. The "I know" group. These students have been working to a careful plan since week 1. Their work is being handed in for assessment and grading in good time. Almost all will pass.

2. The "yeah, yeah" group. They've started to increase their work rate over the last term, rushing in their assessments as the deadline looms. Many if not most will pass.

3. The "Oh Shit" group. Every time I announce the number of remaining days, they look shocked and betrayed. How could I have let them down so badly? Why didn't I remind them that there were only so many days left ages ago? It was my fault. I should have pushed them harder. It was my fault; I should have given them more homework (as if much was done by them if I ever gave it out). It was my fault; I should have done the work for them. Maybe one or two will pass.

4. The "I don't give a f*ck" group. They've given up. They have no idea what they have to do, they make no effort to catch up, and they don't seem to care. (They do, or at least some of them. Sometimes I can see the expressions of despair crossing their young features. Then the next day, it's back to the blank, emotionless mask) some in this group don't even know what planet they're on, let alone what the date is. The Marijuana crop has been good this year. None will pass.

Student being told 6 days left until exam

I cannot remember what group I would have been in when I was at school.  I like to think I would have been in group 1, but I was probably in group 2/3 when I was at high school, group 2 when I went to technical college, and definitely group 1 when I went back to University in the 90s.

I don't blame or get angry with the students.  I try and cajole them to get on with it, but I know that for some, the idea of working to a deadline is completely alien.  Their maturing teenage brains are still in adolescent configuration, and they don't always respond in a logical manner.

We do our best.  I know that most will mature into likable, responsible young adults, but for some the road to maturity will be hard.

Roll on the prizegiving

PS Highlight of the year. Tana Umaga, the last captain of the All Blacks will be at the prizegiving, presenting one of his scholarships. It was a very decent thing to do, encouraging academic and sporting excellence from many disadvantaged areas in New Zealand. For many of our students (and staff) it will be the highlight of their school year. For any non-New Zealanders reading this, please be aware that:



1. Football (Rugby Union) is the next thing to a state religion in NZ

2. The All Blacks (The NZ national Rugby team) are deified (unless they lose, especially lose to Australia)

3. Tan Umaga is/was the high priest