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.

The Best Things in Life are Free

No, I'm not talking about the song by Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross (not as good as the one sung in the musical film), I'm talking about real life.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day.  Blue sky, fresh, refreshing breeze and white fluffy clouds.
Free.

My little dog came up and snuggled in beside me on the couch.  Uncritical adoration shining out of its little demented brown eyes.  (I say demented, because I farted just as it snuggled in, and it didn't seem to care)
Free.

My beloved gave me a peck on the cheek as I climbed out of bed to go to work.
Free.

We teachers here in NZ had another day of action, where we refused to teach our year 9s (11 year olds), and the Ministry can't/won't dock our pay.
Free.

Pest Free

Actually it meant that we had an abundance of Free periods all through our day, and the school was Free of the little pests. (Not all, but many)
Twice Free.

Eat more Lettuce

I decided yesterday that my gut had expanded enough to warrant some action.  So yesterday (and for at least the next 2 months) I was/will be Fat Free, Alcohol Free and Sugar Free.
Guilt Free.

Three of my year 10 girls decided to skip my class and have a wander around the school.
Sense Free.
I know the title of this little post is The Best Things in Life are Free , but as these girls cause more mayhem than the rest of the class put together, believe me it was for the Best.  My class was then Free of disruption and I was Free to actually get some real teaching, learning and, Praise Be to the Everlasting Deity of Education (Not Anne Tolley), some assessment done.

I really hope this isn't the God of Education

So as I lay my (not so weary) head down on the pillow last night, I was Free from Care.

Until this morning, when I have to start worrying about timetabling, exam arranging, room allocation, new course implementation, report writing, report generation and as always, relief supervision.

Back to Work

After the pleasant sensation of waking up without an alarm, at the civilized time of 8:30, I really felt relaxed yet alert yesterday.
I went into school, not to work, I was on strike, but to get a lot of little things tidied up.

Pleasant day, meandered from one little task to another, interspersed with cups of coffee and chats to colleagues.

Had a long talk to our computer systems manager while he was upgrading the computer I use at school to IE8 and Office 2010.  We are upgrading all of our servers and switches next weekend, which should result in a much faster and more robust system.  We also discussed the insane policy  (or really non-policy) of the MoE and the government.  If they bought all of the needed computer systems centrally, they would save a fortune.  I would estimate they would save $2.2m.  Every year.

I'll be finishing off the reports today, checking all the comments have been put in, ready for printing on Friday.  I had the idea of putting the picture of the new principal of Nuova Lazio High on the back of each report, as a memento, but this concept was not well received by the few colleagues who were about.

I finished adjusting the gears on the new tricycle I had bought for my beloved for her birthday.  She has always wanted one, as she suffers from a mild form of vertigo, and she does not feel safe on a normal bicycle.  So I bought her one.  It came in a box, and I had to assemble the parts from a photocopied set of instructions, which seemed to use very bad and minimalised chinese-english translation.
It's a strange mixture of well-engineered (gears and frame), robustly engineered (frame/axle connection) badly engineered (chain guard had holes drilled in the wrong places), unique Chinese engineered(axle brake using a flexible metal band) and just plain weird (front dynamo-powered light).  Overall I was pleased with it, and after I get a bike of my own, we can go gentle bike rides along the Hutt River walk. (Or John Key's cycle track if it's ever finished.)

Back to work, teaching and relief never stops.

Out of Touch

Well, didn't we do well.
It has been reported that our Prime Minister, Mr. John Key has said that teachers are out of touch from the real world.

Complete bollocks, we're immersed in the real world from dusk 'til dawn.
We swim through all levels of society in one day, consoling a son of a busted P-user one minute, discussing mental health with an interested group of seniors the next. 
We don't have fixed hours, they vary greatly, dependant on the amount of preparation or marking required.  We don't have a fixed maximum class size, unlike most schools in the UK and Europe, and our pay and expenses (what expenses? Unlike MPs we're expected to buy our own lunches, and pay for our own travel) have not increased to the same extent as have our MPs.

I also heard a radio broadcaster saying that we didn't need a pay rise, or free laptops, or a maximum class size.  He pointed out that the entry level pay for a new teacher was $45,000, which he said was better than many other entry level professions.
It's actually $33,000 if the new teacher has a degree and a post graduate teaching certificate/diploma, and it takes 4 years of development to reach $45,000.  It's not a lot.

I hope that Mr Key is just being supportive of that brain-dead parasite he calls an education minister, because if we really start to strike in random ways, just watch the country's productivity go down the tubes, and how much will that hurt the government.  Just a year out from the election.

Little Buggers

Two of our staff at Nuova Lazio High are thinking of leaving.
Not Nuova Lazio itself, but the teaching profession. 
One has just had enough of being verbally abused day after day, the other has had enough of being assaulted.
Both are good teachers who have been working with kids for over 15 years.
Both are respected by most of their pupils and by their colleagues.
Both have had enough.

A typical LB

The Ministry of Education is pressuring schools and principals to reduce the number of stand-downs and suspensions handed out to the naughty kids.  We try different methods, like restorative meetings, where both parties involved discuss with a mediator the circumstances and feelings involved during an incident which caused a breakdown of the normal relationship between teacher and student.
It can work, but only if the student wants to re-build the relationship.

A scary LB

Many people outside the profession don't realise that schools have changed hugely since they sat at a desk in a classroom.  Respect  can no longer be demanded of the students for the teacher, it has to be earned, and students demand that they be respected as individuals by the teacher.
It's not just schools that have changed, society has changed, especially in how most citizens view authority.
So we are now in a situation where the truly nasty kids are almost impossible to discipline.  They and their parents know we are virtually powerless.

LBs in their national dress, hoodies

Let me take you through a typical situation so you can get a feel for the problem.
A pupil in Year 10 in your class refuses to stop talking to his mates.  The constant noise is causing loss of concentration by the other pupils, and very little learning is taking place because you are spending all the time in trying to get this little bugger (LB) to just stop talking.
Eventually you've had enough and send him out of class.
He refuses to go and keeps on talking.
You then send a pupil up to the administration block to get a Deputy Principal.  If you're lucky the DP is there and takes the boy out.
The class has lost about 15 minutes, 25% of today's teaching time.
You have to then record the incident in the computerised student management system, using professional language, because the comments you are writing about the LB is now in a public document and are liable to be shown to the parents if they request them.
The little sod returns to your class the next day, and the cycle repeats.

LB Returns

Sometimes he doesn't come to class but roams the school instead, banging on doors, breaking and tagging.
If a pupil plays the game according to the rules he now knows backwards, he can stretch the whole process out for not just months, but years.
All he has to do is show a little bit of remorse or empathy now and again and the powers that be allow him back into class.
It is not until LB is 16 that we can actually throw him out, but even that process is fraught with dangers, and really needs support form the parent(s), which is not always forthcoming.

New School Uniform

And now the government is talking about extending the minimum age at which a student can leave school to 18.
And they're talking about increasing our hours.
And they want us to spend time in school on compulsory extra-curricular activities.
And they want to pay us less , and to do extra work during the holidays.
And they blame all the problems of the younger generation on the teachers, and are constantly repeating the mantra of "Teachers are Shit" to the media and the public.
And they want us to, in the first year of teaching (when you really learn the skills required to survive and to teach well by the only real method, direct experience) to undertake a Masters in Education, at our expense, in our free time.  What free time? You're so absolutely knackered that first year from constantly controlling/communicating with all of your kids, that all you really want to do is sleep.
And they constantly push new ideas, new concepts and approaches to teaching, most of it is crap, but we have to listen and try to obey.

Another Mad Idea

The government had better be careful.  I've rarely seen so many teachers so militant.  We're sick to the back teeth of being the government's whipping boy.
Just wait until the first strike, when packs of LBs go roaming around malls and shops because they aren't allowed into school.
Just wait until the LBs are stuck at home and Mummy or Daddy have to take a day of work to look after LB.  Won't that have a great effect on the country's productivity?
Just wait until the crime rate goes through the roof, because LBs are now breaking and entering outside of school instead of inside.

No wonder we occasionally snap.
I'm just sorry that our two friends have had enough.

Sad Wednesday

Bit down this morning, as we had quite a rough day yesterday with some teachers off sick, and not letting me know, some teachers not preparing work for their classes being taught by other teachers and to cap it all, we all had to traipse along to the paid union meeting.  In Naenae.
We didn't learn anything new, just that the government was still intending to shaft us.  More work, less money, more working hours, more kids in each class, after hours work.
We'll probably end up with a strike of some sort, and it depresses me that we have to take such action.
The only light on the horizon (apart from forthcoming holidays) is knowing that the whole country will soon see that the Minister of Education (Anne Tolley) is completely out of her depth and by all I've heard, may actually be partly brain-dead.  When this blows up, and it probably will, watch how John Keys distances himself from her.

I also dreamt about my Mum last night.  She died over 8 years ago, and I often think of her.  She really did her best for us, was an advanced thinker for her generation, and I really wish I had gotten to know her better.  But she was my Mum, and so often that's how we categorize people and we don't even think about the person behind the label.
I cracked up at her funeral, the emotions were just too strong, and the "stiff upper lip" quivered and broke.

The dream led me to even more maudlin thoughts as I lay in bed, with my beloved beside me.
What if she died.  We argue, we discuss, we get huffy, we make up.  She is my life and I'm hers.  Life without her is almost impossible to contemplate.  I know that others will say it's all part of God's plan, and that we all have to accept death as part of life, but I say bollocks.
I just get angry.
I've seen Mums and Dads and Sons and Daughters, Old and young, babies and wrinklies all die some really rotten deaths.  I worked in a hospital as a biochemistry technician when I was a lot younger.  It was a renowned center for paediatric and maternal care, and we also did a lot of research work for other general hospitals close by. I saw a lot die.  The babies were bad, but the worst was the toddlers.  Some tumours (like neuroblastoma) mostly occur in young kids.  They're old enough to know that something's wrong, but not old enough to understand.
I am not sure exactly how I would feel if my beloved was taken from me.  Obviously a great sadness, but what else?
I suspect that I'd get really angry.
I've come across this poem, written by Dick Underwood which expresses how I think I would feel.

I’m so angry that you left me,
For you said you never would,
And I thought that that meant, “never”,
And I thought that that was good.

If you didn’t mean your promise,
it should never have been made.
I’m bereft and broken hearted,
So angry and afraid.

I now know you couldn’t help it,
And your life just drained away.
But I’m angry you were taken,
And God wouldn’t let you stay.

I’ve a right to feel so angry,
I’ve a right to feel afraid.
‘Cos you said you’d never leave me,
Or your presence never fade.

I’m afraid that if the anger,
Or the fear should ever go.
I would feel so sad and empty,
So I want you all to know …

I’m so bloody, fucking angry.
It’s not fair and it’s no good.
For you said you’d never leave me,
And I thought you never would.

Bye Mum.