It's Here.......Thanks Mum!!!!!

Oooo-er, very cool eh? My Mum bought me this in Ireland after a recent trip. It arrived today. I think I'll get some wear out of it for sure. Just perfect for this chilly weather we're having. Thanks Mum!!!!!!! The BA loved her card too. :-)

Took our big, bad tempered cat to the vet today to make sure there was nothing more wrong with him than a bad case of stress and resentment of local feral cat interlopers. There wasn't. We've been given a spray to spray around the areas of the house where he normally lurks. It's supposed to calm him down. We shall see. Lately he's been hissing if you so much as look at him :-( Himself calls him The Anti-Pet.

The last few days of term are bearing down upon us. Year 10 exams have started and year 8 and 9's start on Thursday. I hate this 'revision' period. The lower ability groups have no interest in exams and no desire to revise or take any of it seriously so it turns into a recipe for challenging behaviour. The theory behind exams 'right down the grade levels' hinges on the idea that it gets them into practice for when exams really matter (year 11 and 12). The Boss gave a talk on revision practices in assembly on Monday and pointed out to the kids that efficient revision does not simply involve reading your notes through.

This is a big issue.

Do any of us remember being taught revision techiques explicity in school? I do hope it happens. My revision used to consist of retyping my lecture notes and doing old exam papers, although never for English; I just used to rely on pretty good stream of consciousness for English :-)
What about you older folk? Did anyone teach you how to revise for exams or was it just hit and miss?

One of the girls in my Care Group today told me that she had 'revised' by doing an old exam. "How did you go?" I asked. "Notsure," was her response,"I didn't finish it!" Had she got it 'correct this far', I enquired. She didn't know. She hadn't marked it and she hadn't attempted the bits she didn't know.

*sigh*

The Nanny State strikes again. They will not 'try to find an answer' because they believe the only way you can get support is by 'asking a teacher'. So much for independence. Lord help them on the day that there is no teacher or alternate adult standing around to answer their questions.

In other excitement, I was working up for my next career as a security guard again last Friday.

One of our young lads, with Aspergers, flew through the door of my classroom and launched himself at another pupil, putting him an incredibly effective headlock as I discovered when I tried to prise the two of them apart. The other pupil, realising I was not going to get him out of this predicament imminently, squirmed around in the other guy's arms and started laying into him in no uncertain terms! Somehow, and I don't know if I can claim credit for it, they separated and as I was sending the 'victim' to the other side of the room out of the way, the first boy spotted a 4 foot long penshelf from the whiteboard, dislodged in the scuffle, lying on the floor. Before you could say 'Bedevere's your uncle', he had scooped it up and proceeded to charge across the room wielding it, lance like, at the other pupil!!! I don't know what he would have done if I hadn't leaped on him but suffice to say a number of students scattered wildly as he approached.

I ended up cuddling him from behind and pinning his arms while I tried to encourage him to calm down. When I eventually let him go he gathered up his things and allowed me to shepherd him down to the Office. It took some time afterwards to debrief the class which I think we did successfully. There were some interesting comments amongst the predictable lack of empathy from many teenagers.

When a specific group of pupils complained that this lad shouldn't be in the school because he was 'unpredicatble' and could hurt people, another, gorgeous young kid spoke up. He has a non-English speaking background and with his 'practical' grasp of English announced to the class
"But he only attacks people who 'piss him off'." Out of the mouths of babes.

The 'specific group' who were complaining were the ones who deliberately wind this kid up, waiting for a reaction. Well, they certainly got it that day. I am happy to report that the 'victim' who of course turned out to be the perpetrator (he'd thrown something belonging to the Asperger's boy onto the top of a high locker) was also suspended until this morning.

But sheesh. I'm not sure I signed up for this gig. My next professional development course had better be assault response training!!

Best go and write an exam. Why not?

Where were you?

Bobby Kennedy: 1968
Not sure when I first heard but vividly remember walking to school as he lay dying in hospital and seeing a heart drawn in chalk on the pavement with the words 'Pray for Bobby' inscribed.




Elvis Presley: 1977
Sitting in my dad's Holden Kingswood at the intersection of Cross Road and Goodwood Road, taking my younger sister to school.





John Lennon: 1980
Sitting on the beach at Barwon Heads in Victoria. A child ran up to a nearby parent calling out that John Lennon had been assassinated. I thought they had made a mistake because no-one assassinates pop stars.




Princess Diana: 1997
Putting a video on for my two year old early on a Sunday morning in the summer. I was heading back to bed but I couldn't work out why the news was screening pictures of the Royal Wedding from 1981 so I stopped to watch.........





Paula Yates: 2000
Driving with my friend Claire to pick up our children from a party. I was so sad but almost unsurprised. I had been devastated by the death of her partner Michael Hutchence too but I can't remember where I was when I heard about him.






The Queen Mother: 2002
We'd been in Spain on holiday and returned to England to be picked up at the airport by our friends. Back at their house the radio announced plans for her funeral. We were stunned. We hadn't heard she was dead. "Where have you been?" asked my friend, "it's all anyone's been talking about for days." Well, we'd been in SPAIN!!!!!


Heath Ledger: 2008
Arriving in Glenelg for our first staff gathering of the school year I heard it on the radio and texted the Bestie immediately. Again we were in shock. We had both adored him.





Michael Jackson:2009
Walking into the school library this morning, frantic and flat out trying to complete a modified exam for a 9am start. A host of students greeted me with the news...and their opinions. Fascinating.

At 11 years of age my bedroom walls were plastered with pictures of the Jackson 5. Even today the strains of "I'll Be There" bring a lump to my throat. My parents bribed me to good behaviour with promises of the 'Going Back To Indiana' soundtrack! (I still have it) Somewhere along the line Michael lost the plot. Mightily. Actually he went out with less of a a bang than a whimper it seems to me; but when he was flying high we were all watching.

Theme Thursday: Repetition

Well, everyone has to collect something don't they?

This started, right down the far right hand side of the picture, as a gift from my Middle Sis when I arrived in the UK, pregnant and at a crossroads. For my birthday that year she gave me a pair of Victorian shoe lasts she'd picked up at an antique fair. A year on she came back from Turkey with a fancy pair of embroidered Turkish slippers (unfortunately just out of shot), not quite in the BA's size but as close as she could get at that time. It started a 'thing'.
"I'd like to collect little shoes," I said.

Since then Middle Sis has brought me shoes from Ecuador, Greece, India, Egypt, China, Holland and (another South American country which currently escapes me)! Other friends have given shoes from their own countries; Taiwan and Korea and places they have visited, Japan and
Hongkong.

I haven't added to my collection for a while now but I am very pleased with the repetitive sets of little toes pointed upwards on my dresser.

To see what others have made of 'Repetition', click over to Cheese Party and say hello to AmyJo!

What Was Wrong With Learning The Piano?

Watch This If You Are A Family Member or have nothing to do for the next 3 minutes.

Announcement: Alright friends and relatives, the Baby Angel aka Ringlets Starr/Keithette Moon/Joan Bonham performed for the first time tonight as the drummer for her 'class band'....and I do not mean class as in quality :-D

Firstly, may I say that as a mother who takes photos of her kid, having a drummer for a daughter is a real bummer. Not simply because I will never get to make spangly lycra costumes for her to dance in or because guitars are cheaper and quieter nor yet because listening to her practice is no longer melodious and soothing; no, the reason having a drummer for a daughter is a bummer is because she right up the BACK of the band and VERY difficult to shoot!!!!!

So during this lengthy video, shot with my DSLR because we forgot to take the proper video disc recorder, I spend a good deal of time trying to dodge the guitarist who kept covering her face up with the neck of his guitar and trying to avoid the not insubtantial singers who kept swaying their hips across my lens. There are some serious focus issues here too folks due to the automatic nature of the camera; but it does give you a taste of the Baby Angel in all her glory.

Her comment was "OMG, note to self, try not to look like that when concentrating!"

I was pleasantly surprised by her ability to keep in time!

So It's Overdue? Meh.

On the back of my education discussion, one of the girls in my Care Group had something interesting to say this morning.



She was bemoaning the fact that none of her peers seem to care about assignments or exams or grades. She was explaining that she had come, this year, from another (more expensive) independent school where everybody 'tried' and the standards were high. She has been appalled by the fact that our kids are lazy and apathetic and that she is now easily top of all her subjects because she likes to do well.

"When you say to them...you haven't handed it up? They just say 'Meh'." (visualise that with a shrug)



So it's not just me then.



The thing is, if this is what it's like at a school where parents pay for an education, what must people in state schools have to deal with? Mind you, I shouldn't generalise, I'm sure at some state schools they have a more motivated clientele! How do we turn it around though? What difference can we make? I mean, there is obviously an attitude from home coming through here. It's the whole 'path of least resistence' thing. Parents want an easy life and find it uncomfortable to get their kids to 'do' anything they don't want to.

Well guess what folks? When they handed you that baby and the Flaming Sword that went with it, there was no guarantee that you wouldn't burn your fingers from time to time. That the sword would not be heavy and the child less than delighted by its radiance!

Sometimes good parenting means your kids hate you, they are not happy and they have to work at life! We have currently been putting a bit of that into practice here at Chez Arizaphale where the Baby Angel, at 14, has been falling into the old trap...."my work is not as good as I want it to be so I won't hand it up at all".

Sometimes when kids are given these 'free choice' topics they are overwhelmed. They have grand ideas and then very quickly realise they are not going to get it completed to the level they had imagined and so the wheels fall off. Here's some examples:

Science: Choose an experiment you would like to do. Design the experiment documenting the steps you took to carry it out. Write a report on the results.

Sounds great right? An experiment on ANYTHING you WANT!!!!!!!! Just like they do on TV in those science mystery programs or on forensic shows or...or....
I could do something on what happens to plants that have been exposed to radiation...or something on electronics...I LOVE electronics!!!!!

But what to choose?

As any scientist will tell you, most experiements are pretty boring on the face of it and generally hard slog. Choosing something which can be done within the time frame of say 4-5 weeks is a big ask and it means the type of experiment you can realistically do is pretty mundane. Not what the kids imagine when they first see the task and so they leave it, because they can't think of anything grand or complicated enough....and theyleave it.......and they leave it.......

Here's another one:
English: Write a song and design an album cover to go with it.
(I think this one is supposed to get them to use media skills they have been studying)

Write a song? just like that? Write A SONG?????????

Again, the excitement! The flushed faces, we love music, we listen to it non stop.....we get to WRITE A SONG!!!!!!! Do you know how difficult it is for your average Joe to write a song? The BA has a double edged sword. She is a good writer, a deep thinker and a lover of indie music. The challenge to write something exceptional is very real. Everyone is expecting it. OMG OMG The Pressuure!!!!!!!

And so nothing gets started. Deadlines go whizzing past with a satisfying sound; to paraphrase Douglas Adams. This parents, is where your Flaming Sword must parry and slice:

You will sit down and start this.
Here are three ideas....choose one.
You will not be going into town with your friend until I see this much accomplished.

And they will rail. They will kick and scream and cry and tell you 'you don't understand me'. They will promise faithfully to do it after...later...whenever....

And your life will be Hell. For awhile.

But what you are communicating to them is that it DOES matter; that it does take blood, sweat and tears sometimes; that anything worthwhile is usually not easily gained. It is these lessons that they will take into life with them; into Year11 and 12; into University or their apprenticeship or their first job.

But people! IF you say, 'never mind' or do it for them or believe their adolescent promises of 'later' and don't show them how to prioritise; that is what they will take into school with them and then into life.

Think about the long term not your immediate discomfort. Parenting was not always meant to be fun. Do your kids and society a favour and give them a WORK ETHIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here endeth the lesson

Crafty Tuesday: Best Friends

Yes, it is scrap booking time again. This week for Crafty Tuesday I give you our latest project from Friday night Scrapbooking Workshop.

We started off with these funky embellishments (let's face it, scrapbooking is all about the embellishments! photos mess everything up :-D)

Actually, the 'model' we had to work from was a hen's night and the embellishments were all about 'bride-to-be' but it didn't take too much imagination to pick a new theme.In the end I wasn't very happy with the page, it was too cluttered, so I shifted one of the embellishments off onto the facing page and my plan is to re-organise the layout with one or two more shots and do a double page spread.I'll let you know how it all works out.

By the way, did you notice the 'names'? The labels do have the kids names on them, in the same funky lettering, but I am getting to be a dab hand at wiping them off with 'Paint' nowadays :-D

As always, Carrie has been busy whipping up super craft over at Barely Controlled Chaos and many of her commenters are worth a look too if you love a bit of craft, like me!

SOOC Saturday: Because You Haven't Seen Him For Awhile

I don't know why I haven't taken many shots of the Small Boy lately. I think it's because he's usually off up the street with his mates or at footballl or basketball on the weekends. Maybe it's because the BA and I have been doing a lot together, without the boys....

Anyway, I took this one last weekend. He's playing for a new football team with his friend from Two Doors Up and this is his new strip.

I also took several of his socks pulled up so high they looked like tights but he wouldn't let me post those. Mind you he never said anything about not posting THIS one....What? WHAT? Oh get off my case AFM...there are no exposed body parts here and he posed for the photo after all! Quite different to the Baby Angel's builder's bum shot.

But oh my goodness. Hasn't he grown.

They do that when you're not looking.

This is a' Straight Out Of Camera' shot. Melody at Slurping Life invites you to join in sharing SOOC shots every Saturday. Go over and check some out and perhaps join in?