This is now 4 years old... ...how time just disappears.


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H. Hello and welcome to another post...

H. The letter H has different pronunciations depending on where you come from. In Argentina the sound of the letter H is silent. In Spanish, when people laugh using text, one types in: "Jajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaja" in English, it is: "Hahahahahahahahahahahaha" The letter "J" in 'español' has the same sound as the letter "H" sound in 'ingles'. The word "hola" is "hello" but one pronounces it "orlah" and not "Horlar".  When it comes to the indigenous language of the Indigenous Australians or the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Aboriginals), the language has a complete "Englishnasation" applied to it (Is there such a word?). I don't believe this has been a fair process, but since the British conquered this country and took over it despite the efforts of the Aboriginals first here, imagine if the Spanish or the Portuguese had arrived here first? What a disaster that wo...
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A. Annotations to becoming a reflective teacher - my A to Z of things...

A.  Teachers who on a regular basis think about why, what, and how they teach, are reflective educators (Killen, 2016). There is no better way to start my reflection than by looking at Roy Killen and his views on education. His vision from four years ago still resonates and drives me to become a better teacher.  But, let's not put all of our eggs in the same basket. There are others who have influenced my thinking about education and teaching as well. The best thing about my learning has been the discovery of teaching-ideals from Dr Roberto Parada at Western Sydney University. All of the knowledge he has passed on to preservice teachers, such as the fundamentals of pedagogy and the notion that all of what we learn at university, will only become real in the staffroom of a school and not in the classrooms with pupils. Why is this the case? Well, as Roberto tells us, all theory is good in theory, but what we learn in the classroom from the students themselves is what will shape ...
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T. Teaching strategies begin with the setting of goals.

T. Teaching strategy - the setting of goals: For Module 5 - Professional Practice 102792 at WSU - instructions : Draft three clear goals.      You might like to align them with the teaching standards. Goals are about pedagogy, good teaching concepts, the understanding of theory and applying this knowledge to suit the students in your class and at school.        Goal 1 Being an effective teacher that makes a difference to the students: It is more than just presenting content.     Passing on knowledge of the content so that students remember.          Killen (2016) suggests that ‘effective teachers spend a considerable amount of time transforming raw content in forms that make it comprehensible to students” (p. 25). Australian Professional Teaching Standard 1 makes clear mention of this but needs to triangulate education to incorporate the “ability to teach” – as knowing your students and knowing how they learn is ...
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J. Jajajajajajajajajajajajajaja is the best medicine.

J.  Sometimes, when there are three Js together, or even two Js together, I think of music. Some people see the letter J and think of Jar Jar Binks. I also think of the new-old word popping up everywhere considering the vaccinations: jab. However, when I see a single letter J, I think of laughter and how little of this medicine we have left, considering the last year we just had. If nineteen is a number you would like to forget it's important to think how a lot of the issues with a lack of laughter in our lives is dependant on attitude and people's point of view and the lack of open-mindedness or a positive frame of mind. Turns out that critical to the pandemic has been our preparedness in handling mental health and the sentiments that plague our community ahead of the dreaded Covid-19.  Will the vaccine cure the concerns created by the pandemic? Will the little "jab" finally fix mental illness that has plagued people in lockdown? This is why I feel that laughter is a...
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O. Ohhhhhhhh my God.

O. Oh no. Dear blog. Please forgive me. I was supposed to populate you with words ages ago but it's only been tonight that I have found a spare moment.  Today I went with my wife, Mim, to my parent's 60th wedding anniversary celebrations at the Deckhouse in  Woolwich, near Hunter's Hill in Sydney. What a great place for such a great occasion. A milestone in anyone's eyes. 60 years is a long time to spend with someone else - that is, unless you love them, then it's perhaps never long enough. I believe that the love my parents share is what keeps them living longer and stronger as dad is now over 90 years old. When he was a young boy, so he tells me, it was common practice to have children of different ages in the same classroom. This was due to the lack of good teachers available to teach and was all too common in small country towns and remote areas. It was also common for children to leave school and go to work to help the family. In more recent times, young people...
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E. is for an email I sent my lecturer at university...

E. Hello Sasha Hope this finds you well and hope you are keeping safe. I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate learning things connected to this course. I have been so ignorant in this subject matter until now as I knew so very little of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their history, culture, and problems arising from terra-nullius. I had zero knowledge of what the indigenous people of this land have gone through and what they are going through now. It is torturous reading about it, and I cannot imagine the pain they are going through now.  How can we live with racism like this? We all condemn Nazi Germany for that they did to the Jewish people - what is wrong with the Australian Government not wanting to acknowledge similar issues in this country? Coming from Argentina and knowing what our people went through with the Military Governments in the past and bringing people to account for atrocities. I cannot believe the hypocrisy that exists today here in ...
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L. Now I am going to take you through my ideas on 'learning'...

L. What is learning and how does a teacher evaluate if a student has learnt something or not? What does a student need to do to 'prove' learning has taken place? How does a teacher measure the extent of the learning that has taken place? One of my favourite movies is 'Cast Away' with Tom Hanks. The issue that I have with this movie is that I actually get frustrated watching it as Hanks, from my perspective, is a complete dunce and basically totally inexperienced at being lost alone in a deserted island. But this is the whole point of the movie. Not that I have looked at the intentions of the storyline or the nature of the book, I am sure it is supposed to frustrate the viewer into thinking they know better and perhaps makes them think what they would do if it was them in that situation. There are so many scenes in the story where the viewer is asked to think about better ways of doing something to survive. Here is the trailer to what I am talking about: https://www.yout...
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K. Letter K is for knowledge, but, what is knowledge, actually?

K. What is knowledge? As far as I am concerned, knowledge is connected to skills and attitude that an individual has on a particular subject matter such as the knowledge a plumber has to know how to change or fix a leaky tap and having the attitude to charge you $100 for doing something you cannot do yourself, or more importantly, be bothered to gain the knowledge to do it yourself in an effort to save some money. Knowledge is what a teacher imparts to his students. Coincidently, I looked in the dictionary to learn what the word "impart" means and it says exactly this: impart /ɪmˈpɑːt/ verb make (information) known. " The teachers imparted a great deal of knowledge to their pupils" That is exactly what I want to talk about - how does a teacher impart this knowledge to his students? How does a teacher know the student has gained the knowledge he is imparting? Take a look at this graphic: What I gather from the cartoon above fundamental to 'knowledge' is the m...
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V. V is for Victory... ...a need to pick my battles.

V. I have had some victories at school as a practice teacher. I have been placed at Cambridge Park High School (CPHS) near Penrith and only 23 kilometres from home. In communication with other teachers, I have been asked whether Cambridge Park is somewhere near Cambridge in the UK and if there is a connection somehow. The association is immense and it will be an important accolade to be connected to such a great location in the world of education. On their website, it says: The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through education, learning and research at the highest international level. What an excellent example of resilience, considering it has been a place of knowledge since 1209: The University of Cambridge is a collegiate research university in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's fourth-oldest surviving...
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M. Mastering the art of learning

M. What profoundness to suggest I am mastering something. At what level is 'masters' level and how does one evaluate this level? What is the point of measure when becoming a 'master' of something? How do we compare one master against another? Is a master like "Master Yoda" in Star Wars? What was George Lucas referring to when he created the Jedis?  I am currently reading a book called "Psychology for inclusive education" edited by Hicks, Kershner & Farrell (2009). Chapter one by Gary Thomas discusses the epistemology for inclusion and references the great work of Skinner and a statement he made in 1972 that still resonate with teachers of today: "What, after all, have we to show for nonscientific or prescientific good judgement, or common sense, or the insight gained through personal experience? Is it science or nothing?" More to come on this point...
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