TROPIC Conference at Caloundra

What a refreshing two days! I really enjoyed getting away and spending a couple of days with other TROPIC Observers and having a chance to hear about ways to be effective in learning, and ways to take better care of ourselves. It was good to catch up with Mark Davidson again too and I could tell his comments about human behaviour were hitting home with some of the Observers. What a team has been grown from our small beginnings in TAFE! Well done, Martha! Peter and Deb, you are fantastic!

Mentoring

It's great to see a move in the direction of providing Teacher mentors at TAFE. There's some training coming up I have put my hand up for, to go with the TROPIC mini conference we are having soon too. I hope it becomes part of our 'culture' at TAFE. It has the potential to change the one we've got into something better...

Del.icio.us

I can't believe I didn't know how to use this simple and effective tool till now. It's great. Blogs and Wikis are already familiar to me but the Del.icio.us thing has eluded me till now.

Now if I can only get to understand GoogleDocs...I am having more trouble learning about this tool than I had learning about the others. Today I was able to create a page of my own and upload some files to it. It cannot be that hard and I can see it has the potential to be a really useful tool for collaborative work. I can see the death of the Flash drive coming too - why keep a Flash drive if you can access all the files you need on the web?? Unless you are going to a remote location where you cannot access the Internet, have big security issues, or want to supply files to students in one convenient package in case they don't have the Internet....

PD on Web2

Just started some PD on Web2 and it is very interesting. I think it will help me sort out my thoughts a bit on all the changes taking place. It's giving me access to some great links and material as well. Maybe it will also be a way of developing a bit of an online community with other TNQ staff? It's amazing how the social blogs and networks seem to be so successful. It would be great to bring some of that enthusiasm and regular contribution to this sort of setting....

It's break time

Here it is the June break and I am enjoying some time at home. The weather is great so I have been spending my 'spare' hours washing everything in sight and getting it out in the sun - the mould here is such an enemy of cleanliness!! We've had such cool weather we're enjoying nightly wood fires and have just put the electric blanket back on the bed....

My marking box is still full, and I have another week to get it done before returning to a full semester of teaching and TROPIC activities. I am organised as far as the teaching is concerned, thankfully. Just cannot let my students down by not returning their hard work as soon as classes resume.

Have just been reading an entry made by one such hard-working ex student who writes some great stuff about child protection/safety in the 'real' world - to see what I mean, have a look at Imaginif

Ever had one of those days?

This morning I thought I knew what was in store for me - get up early, drive out to a community agency, teach for the day, drive home late, stay late at work finalising lesson planning for tomorrow and Thursday...but it didn't happen that way.

I had tried confirming that I was to teach at this agency today as planned late last year, without success, as no one answered my e-mails or phone messages left on answering machines. As there were 17 or so people involved in the class and I would not be at all popular if I failed to show and they were expecting me, I drove the 55kms out to the agency. The day was glorious - sunny and cool - the country was green and lush from all the monsoonal rains we had had. The joy of driving through such beautiful country is pretty special! There was little traffic, and no rush.

When I arrived at my destination, sadly there was no eager group of students ready to come to a class, but really I was blessed already by the unexpectedly peaceful interlude, so contentedly got back into the car for another lovely drive back to base. Then I had the gift of all the afternoon hours to prepare for the following days, without pressure, and could go home at a decent hour.

Ever had one of those days when you felt as though you were being paid for doing something wonderful, not just for working? This was one of those days for me :-)

March plans

Thanks for the preview of the March get together for TROPIC people, Martha! It's something to look forward to. I am especially looking forward to seeing everyone again and also to the promised guest speakers. Have been asked to do an observation by a Teacher in H&CC, so will endeavour to get that done before our meeting.

TROPIC - a stunned reaction

Back at work - back at promoting TROPIC to Teachers both new and veteran. I offered TROPIC to people in our Faculty meeting today - over 60 people present. One thing that was said bothered me - it was said that TROPIC would tell Teachers only what they were doing RIGHT. They may need 'a peer' to tell them the 'hard' stuff about what they were doing WRONG. My immediate response was to say I hoped all Teachers saw TROPIC observers as their peers who were not coming in to tell them what they were doing wrong, but to have a professional conversation between 'equals'. I don't see TROPIC as a way for an 'expert' to tell an experienced or even beginning Teacher what they are doing 'wrong'. It is not a mentoring system. It is a system of peer observation and reporting on what is seen in a classroom. It's a tool Teachers can use for self-reflection. It's also a way to access ideas on different ways of achieving behavioural results in classrooms.

Maybe this 'telling people what they are doing wrong'idea explains why not many Teachers access TROPIC?