Sunday procrastination

I've got the usual Sunday blues; I find myself procrastinating once again, this time on the MyHeritage website, where I have found out that I have a 54% likeness in appearance to Pete Doherty. Shoot me now.



The TF event on Thursday was brilliant. My kids were so excited and their families so proud. Mulberry girls cleaned up the awards being 4 out of 5 of the winners! The first prize won an ipod nano (!) along with a framed Young Voices Writing Competition certificate, a book and gift vouchers.



Sir John Jones was an incredibly inspiring speaker, who not only gave us plenty of anectotes to get us laughing (at times, uncontrollably) but real food for thought with regards to the kind of teacher we need to be in order to make a change.

He spoke of habitual behaviour, the things we do that keep us in our comfort zone, using the example of which hand we wear our watches on to highlight this (obviously the only acceptable hand to wear your watch on is the left). He asked us to switch our watches over for the duration of his speech, flaunted his new watch-less left hand in the air and shouted 'Let's get naked', a hysterical moment. He went onto explain that it is our habitual behaviour that stifles change. (I think the fact that I couldn't bring myself to switch my watch over speaks volumes about my discomfort with change.)




He shared a wonderful story with us that displays the creativity of youth: a 6 year old girl in her art class says "I'm just drawing God". Another pupil says "I don't know what he looks like" and she replies "Well you will in a minute".

He informed us that the four factors that determine success in life are
1) poverty
2) family
3) neighbourhood
4) quality of schooling (Oh the pressure!!!!!)

The most interesting thing he shared with us was Robert Rohm's DISC model of human behaviour. The D type - dominant, driven and defiant - is focused on getting things done and making it happen; the I type - inspiring, impulsive and intuitive - loves to interact, socialise and have fun; the S type - supportive, sensitive and shy - enjoys helping or supporting other people and work together as a team; the C type - cautious, clinical and calculating - seeks consistency and quality information (and enjoys list making!). He decribed the reactions of pupils in a hypothetical situation where they are told that a test has been cancelled and linked that to the types of behaviour - the S types might say "thank you", the D types might say "well the test was innapropriately timed anyway", the C types might say "but I revised thoroughly" and the I types might (would!) say "what test?".



Finally, as teachers, or passionate people we must:
- like children
- be dream builders
- be irresistible optimists
- love the questions more than the answers
- regard crisis as the norm
- have little paranoia
- be comfortable with change
- see kids with difficulties, not difficult kids

So my e-ticket has been bought and it's official - I'm off to India on April 3rd!!! But man have I got a lot to do before then! Need to finish WA3 tomorrow (logistically speaking), going to see Lail (www.myspace.com/lailarad) do a gig at 93 Feet East on Tuesday, got a work gathering/excuse for drunken frolics at Tayyabs on Wednesday, family + friends dinner on Thursday, off to Gorsefield on Friday for the weekend with my year 11s and back on Sunday arvo after which I intend to see the Namesake, leading GCSE revision class on Monday and hopefully going to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Roundhouse that eve all before I jet off on the Tuesday, oh and did I mention the week's lesson planning and teaching to boot!

Nothing like a youtube video of myself and Lawrence singing a disney classic at the school talent show to lighten my mood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9a7qCH-kIE).