That ol' thisness.

I wasn't a reader at school and it was with great difficulty and little enjoyment that I got through any of the prescribed novels.  I only remember actually finishing one and can't actually remember what the name of it was.  It was the autobiography of what seemed a pretty bland existence and the fact that it was so simply written is the reason that I persisted with it at all.  I must admit that through the discussions in class that we had about this book, I came to a greater appreciation of it but still don't feel like I'd enjoyed it or gotten very much out of it. 
Josh's comment about choice really resonated with me:
"It was so much better reading it this time, when I wasn’t being told to read it, it was my choice. Choice is really important.” 1.
I only discovered a real joy of reading fiction after I left school and it has been through me having choice in the matter that makes me cherish reading and getting my own meanings out of books.  My lack of confidence with my reading was part of why I didn't enjoy it throughout school.  I guess if I'd had more experiences like that of the unknown novel about the simple life of a farm boy where I had felt the teachers love for the subject, had some prior knowledge, been helped to find purpose in reading the books, sensed that I was an agent in the learning of others and felt like I belonged to the community of my class that was all reading the same book, I may have thrived. I was pretty resistant to it though, as I felt accepted by everyone, but in my head was still an outsider.
The chord this strikes with me is that specialised attention to all students being engaged in my classes is something to strive for.  I figure that this is an interplay of teaching my subject and teaching the students- both need to come together so that the individual responses to the subject are taken into account.  Prior knowledge and experiences, which undoubtedly vary from one individual student to the next need to not be seen as a hurdle, but as a part of the thisness of the class that is best embraced to get the most out of the subject matter for all participants involved.

1. http://steveshann.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/walking-through-the-barrier-josh-part-3/

I wanna be a good teacher! But I cannot decide for whom that should be.

Compliance with teacher competencies and the assessment thereof, do not necessarily have anything to do with being a ‘good teacher’.  The subjective nature of the term ‘good teacher’ means that the impression of what this is for an individual student will be different to what this is for a national governing body and different again from what this means for the parents of the students.  Said ‘good teacher’ will vary in their attempts to be good by whom they feel accountable to: the students, the students’ parents, the school body, the national governing body, et cetera.  The expectations of the general populace may well be different to the ideals that are being sought within an educator’s education.  I know that some peoples’ hearts may actually threaten to stop if they were told that classes will not be properly segregated into subjects, students would not be sitting in neat, orderly rows, and writing on the walls will be encouraged. 

Can the social context of an extremely good teacher, who is not going to burn out by trying to please everyone, allow them to make themselves equally accountable to all of these stakeholders?  One good test of that may be seen in a teacher’s education, when a single assignment is marked against four different marking criteria, represented by four different individuals, representing four different interest groups or ‘subjects’.  As long as we have an idea of what their and our own criteria of what a good teacher or good assignment is, we can intelligently respond, projecting the image our own micro-cosmos upon the background that will either enhance or disfigure the original intent.

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-living-creatures-being-sold-as-keyrings

What exactly do you do Bubble?

A helping hand

Yoda, Splinter, and Mr Miyagi have all been influential figures in my life and present certain similarities to one another that are deeper than the fact that they’re all sagacious warrior sensei types.  I use the word Sensei as it fits the concept I’d like to use that is somewhere between my definition of ‘teacher’ and ‘master’.  While this Sensei-figure may tread the line of being too random and becoming irrelevant in their musings and Zen wisdom, they occupy a position of earned respect without straying too far into the realm of ‘master’, who commands the blind respect of their disciples. 

When the misty-eyed reminiscences of my youth fade, I think that my Sensei would be beaten down, closer to peer level should they be a truly ideal and accessible figure in people’s lives.  Would this view work for anyone else? Examined carefully, it must be.

Influence

  How interesting can rocks be? I mean, really?!  I’m pretty sure that all geologists who really get into it must be just interested in selling out to petro-chemical companies for going into petroleum exploration.  Right?  

  I like turtles, it’s obvious to Everybody that turtles are cute, charismatic, and cool critters.  My life idol is Peter Pritchard: a David Attenborough figure in the turtle world, who once spoke of walking, on his way to a turtle conference at a Las Vegas hotel, past all the zombies slouched in front of their slot machines and thinking, “These people look miserable; barely even interested in this pursuit which is meant to be exhilarating.” He pondered the irony and it hit him as he reached the conference room: They have no Turtles in their lives! Or at least a decent turtle substitute.  The joy and passion that turtles hold for turtle people is undoubted.  

  This is how I come to one of the more influential teachers in my life, a man whose turtle substitute is rocks and whose passion and knowledge, combined with an approachable demeanour and good humour allowed him to convey subject matter which could have made most of the class fall asleep.  I owe my first semester of Geology pass to Professor Richard Arculus.  It was proven as second semester geology's fail appeared like easier subject matter to me, but the way in which it was carried out was above average, rather than completely phenomenal.  

  I recall clearly the day when Prof. Arculus explained what Kaolin was (a type of clay) and how it was used.  I was staggered to hear that this mineral had been passing through my body for some time now, without my knowledge, and was used (unless my memories of this turning-point of days aren’t as accurate as I’d like to think) not only in toothpaste, but also in many forms of powdered “mashed potato,” and McDonald’s thickshakes!  Could rocks actually be interesting?  I wasn’t completely sold on that one, but that was the closest I ever got to thinking so.