In response to the events of our recent Easter Fair, and the Easter Ferret which somehow managed to bite one of my kids on the back of the leg and draw blood, the next morning between finishing my breakfast and getting in the car to drive to work, I wrote this quick little song for the kids. They thought it quite amusing. Yes, it’s four chords repeated over and over, but what do you expect for a ten minute song writing session when you’re technically already late for work?

The chords are C / Am / F / G, with the fourth line changing to F / G / C / C. Easy! The first part is slow, and the rest of the song follows the same tune and quicker speed of the second half. The little Ab / Bb / C ending you can also add in after each chorus if you wish.

The Ferret Song

Small, sharp teeth, beady eyes,
Whiskery nose twitching side to side.
Stalks its prey without a sound,
OUCH! I should have turned around, ’cause

Chorus
I got bitten on the leg by a ferret,
I got bitten yesterday at school!
I got bitten and it’s not really fair, it
Should have bit my friend as well!

The lady said, ‘What? It’s got a lead on!
If you don’t believe me then take a look!
It could’ve been worse, you could’ve been weed on!
Don’t be such a sook! But…

Chorus

Next time I see a ferret, gonna chop it half and
Kick it across the netball courts!
Or if my best friend won’t stop laughing
I might stuff it down his shorts! ‘Cause…

Chorus

It should have bit my friend as well!

Anyway, the kids thought it was amusing. The young feller who was actually bitten by the ferret the day before was so chuffed he actually substituted his own name into the lyrics instead. That’s all for now… more original songs next time something out of the ordinary happens at school, eh?

Cheers.

Related topics: The Easter Ferret, the School Spirit webcomic Easter Ferret story.

Technorati Tags: ferrets, Easter, songs, music.

Easter Sunday brings the beginning of a new storyline to School Spirit, the webcomic version of this site. Originally I intended this strip to be a stand alone Special (larger edition) as I usually do for events like Easter, Christmas, ANZAC Day, etc, but it was such a small, regular sized strip that I decided it could just be, well, a small, regular sized strip.

Either way, here’s the beginning of the latest storyline, The Easter Ferret. For those who’ve read this blog a few times in the last week or so, yes, this will feature a few of the events of our own Easter Fair during the last week of term – especially the events recounted in my previous post of the same name – The Easter Ferret.

Clicking the strip will take you to that particular strip on the site. Incidentally… I packed away my Christmas stuff earlier than this. I took it all down on Easter Saturday.

Technorati Tags: Easter, webcomic, ferrets.

The Easter holidays have just started now, so this is likely to be my last regular post for much of those two weeks. There’ll be a few updates about School Spirit, the webcomic, but I doubt there’ll be too many more about teaching the kids. A good reason for this is that I’m not going to see them for two weeks, eh? So, hopefully, if you’re reading, this one will tide you over. I hope it comes out sounding sensible, but it’s something that I’m not quite able to explain to myself. I still thought it suitable to go up here though. Every now and then I suppose you have to ramble to get the important things out… even if you can’t quite put your finger on it, eh?

Anyway, here goes. I experienced a change in my role as a teacher the other day, and it really had little to do with the professional side of the deal. As I’ll say further down, I’m sure there were other things that have contributed to this awareness, but in this case it’s the relationship side of things that mean more. Enough rambling though, eh?

Feel free to comment at the end if you’ve something worthwhile to contribute, eh? See you at the end.

This is my eighth year teaching now… although granted it’s only the first term completed. That still means I’ve been at this caper for 29 terms. That’s a bigger number, eh? The Easter holidays have just begun and, although it’s been a short term with only seven and a half weeks due to the early Easter period this year (apparently it’s the earliest Easter has been since 1913!), once I arrived home on Thursday afternoon (an hour earlier than usual, I might add!) my body basically just decided it was time to shut down. I don’t think you ever quite manage to maintain your energy levels through the term quite adequately. Even through a shorter term you still seem to be running on fumes and adrenaline by the end.

I’ve brought this up though because, although I’ve completed seven full years working day in, day out with the kids, most of the time you think you’ve pretty well got most of the job covered. There’s not really all that much you need to learn to carry on with your job after seven odd years of experience, eh? Well… I don’t think that’s quite correct.

If you’ve ever played a role-playing styled computer game, then maybe you’ll sort of understand what I’m about to get at here. At the risk of betraying some sort of computer-geekish background (which is probably not quite accurate, but there you go, I generally enjoy the stories behind these sorts of games and I’ve had an interest in midieval history since, well, forever!), I’ll just leave that sentence up there! I’ll see if I can suitable explain what I mean.

When most of us talk about going up a level in regards to teaching, at least down here, it’s usually to do with the pay structure. You start out as a graduate and that’s the pay scale you’re on. Each year, provided you’ve met certain standards and so forth, you move up a level until you reach the top tier. I honestly have no idea what the top tier is now, nor which particular level I’m on right now either, as the structure has changed a few times since I started and I’ve just lost interest in exactly where I am on the scale. I know my pay has improved considerably since that first pay packet, but that’s as far as I’ve looked. But that’s not the sort of ‘Teaching Level’ I’m thinking about.
When I left work on that final afternoon a few days ago, yes, I was exhausted (as was everybody else working there, I should add!), but I stood by a gate watching one of the kids (not technically mine, but I taught the little bloke a few years ago) wander home after a quick chat and felt… satisfied. Like I’d reached some new step. The job seemed a little easier… a little more fulfilling. I actually felt more experienced now. Can I put my finger on why? Not specifically.

While I’m sure there are lots of things contributing to this new sense of accomplishment, I would suggest it was this last quick conversation with this boy that earned me that last few bits of experience to ‘gain’ this new level, if I can stick with the role-playing analogy. I’m usually a little uneasy mentioning particular instances such as this, but I think in this case it’s worth while. This little feller’s been having a bit of a hard time around the traps lately and trying hard to pull it all together, but I’ve seen the boy he is inside and know he’s going to do okay. I reckon he just needs somebody in his corner unconditionally, and I’m pretty sure he realises he’s got someone there. I won’t elaborate any further. Some things should remain close, eh? I’ll just say I think it was just this one conversation as he left for home that did it. A real smile and a thumbs up as he said ’see ya later, Mr V’ and he was off with a spring in his step.

I guess this sense of ‘level advancement’ is probably more to do with realising I was right about this kid and watching his back while he found his way through a few rough spots. If that’s the case, I’ll have to say that the feeling that came from that short five minute chat alone by the school gate means more than any of the pay scale level advancements I’ve been through.

And he says he’s gonna build me another wooden box to store more DVDs in, too. He’s a top little feller, this boy.

Mind you, it’ll cost me a twenty!

Cheers.

The latest storyline in the School Spirit webcomic, Fire!, has just concluded in time for the Easter break, so now we feature a Good Friday special strip. Just a one off joke but probably one that most people returning to the shops for a Boxing Day special are aware of – the ever earlier appearance of Easter goods on the shelves.

The cartoon to the side is clickable, as always, and will take you to the School Spirit website. Specifically, it will take you to the page of this particular strip.

Meanwhile, the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal will run again today so no doubt I’ll have the telly running in the background so I can pop my head in and out and keep up with how much money Victoria has raised this year. I think they’ll looking at about $14 million or some amazing total this year. We keep seeming to beat the previous record each and every time lately.

Anyway… enough for now. Hope you enjoy the Good Friday humour, and all the best.

I don’t actually think I even have any hot cross buns in the house today…

Technorati Tags: Good Friday, Easter, hot cross buns.

We held our annual Easter Fair this afternoon and one of the activities our grade organised and ran was what has become my staple Easter Fair event, Whack-a-ferret. In this case the burrow is a dirty great piece of white polypipe with a bend at the bottom, the kid waiting at the end is holding aloft a little wooden mallet to belt the snot out of the ferret as it comes out of the pipe, and the ferret itself is a soft yellow ball with eyes, whiskers and a tail drawn on in permanent texta. If they manage to whack the ferret on the way past they win a little solid Easter egg. If they don’t, then they’ve donated 20c (or three turns for 50c!) and generally come back to try again later and give us more money.

Nothing all that dastardly, eh? Nothing really dangerous except maybe a squashed finger if anybody nearby isn’t paying attention. It’s not like it’s a real ferret, eh?

Which is what turned up today.

Yup. While dropping our ferret down the polypipe and watching kids belt the life out of the asphalt as it rolled past, a mother held a real ferret down where I could see (on a leash with a little seat-belt harness, naturally…) and with a grin suggested they were here to protest the unfair treatment of ferrets. I thought nothing much more of it and gave a friendly chuckle while wondering why you would bother bringing what is basically a hairy snake with legs to a primary school anyway.

At least, until the cunning little blighter bit one of my kids…

Yup. It’s not everyday you write up a sick-bay incident report when the incident involves a kid getting bitten by a ferret. What more could I do than get him to clean the blood away and whack a bandaid on?

Fortunately, Mum was quite okay with the whole deal when I approached her with the story at the end of the day. Turns out they actually see this woman every now and then walking her ferrets down the street! It was only last night when they joked that he’d be coming to school to help run Whack-a-ferret and wouldn’t it be funny if a real one bit him. He’ll get a proper clean with some Dettol or something tonight and she’ll let me know if it causes any more trouble, so I’m appreciative of her good humour and understanding.

But honestly… bringing a ferret to an Easter Fair…

At least I can add that to my list of ’strangest things I’ve had to tell parents’, eh?

Related Posts: The Ferret Song

Technorati Tags: ferrets, Easter, parents, teaching

Last week saw me scoring a kids’ basketball match (okay, just pressing the buttons and controlling the scoreboard… not the actual sheet with the important stuff that gets signed by the umpires and stuff later… but the kids only care about the scoreboard, eh?) and then stopping off at the local bottle-o on the way home because the madness of the experience left me ‘needing’ a drink.

Note the quotation marks around the word ‘needing’… I probably could have done with just a good few deep breaths, but good deep breaths, although they’re good and deep, just don’t taste as good or deep as scotch, eh?

Well… one week on and I’m back there again, sitting down a little before the game while the kids start turning up… and this time it’s the umpire who approaches me and suggests I help score again. Fortunately there was a young girl from the other team who was willing to do the paperwork side of things, so I agreed. Her mum was sitting right next door, so that was good too as I taught the girl six years ago and I assured them I’d barrack for my team and their son. He’s another I’ve taught as well so I was more than happy to do that.

Anyway… seems it’s like scoring is like falling off a bike. You never forget how. Or is that riding a bike… anyway, you always remember both, eh? The scoring worked again, and I must have felt confident this time around as I spent as much time watching the game and pressing the (mostly) correct buttons as I did arguing in a friendly manner with the girl and her mother about everything we could think of. Much less stressful this time!

End result – the kids had a good match and ended up winning about 51 to 39. High scoring, so I guess my fingers were moving quicker than last week, but once more the scores matched up to the score sheet. Well… pretty much. When we found a 2 point discrepancy between us, she just added it onto her sheet instead of worrying about removing it because she figured the other team were far enough behind it didn’t really matter!

More importantly, especially in regards to possible future visits to certain anonymous meetings, I didn’t feel like I needed a stiff drink once I’d finished. That has to be a positive, eh? I think it means I’m a competent scorer now and could do it at the drop of the hat! That’s something worth celebrating, eh?

With a stiff scotch!

Related post: Scoring for basketball… leads me to drink!

Technorati tags: basketball, kids sport.

Sunday morning, the sun’s already belting down before nine in the morning, and anyone with half a brain is planning on spending the last day of their weekend holed up indoors either camped in front of their air conditioners or spending time with a bag of granny smiths inside the crisper compartment of their fridge. Not me. No, this particular Sunday, with the mercury tipped to rise up like a furious Messiah beyond 38 Celsius, I’m driving into town to the club’s presentation day. Why? Because when they said to me in November, ‘hey, you’re here killing time after work anyway, and you work with little buggers this age, you can coach the Under 12s!’

And me? I said, ‘yeah, okay’.

Jokes aside though, this day is probably the most important of the year for those kids, even though I doubt they realise it. They turn up to train once a week before the older teams and are usually all finished and back home again before the senior players rock up later in the afternoon after work. They turn up each Wednesday afternoon after school and run around like mad cats across the various local ovals across town chasing red leather balls or, if someone’s actually managed to take a catch, after each other. We don’t technically keep track of who wins or loses these matches, and if they ask ‘did we win’ and we reply ‘well, you played really well’, they tend to grab each other in communal group hugs or ’stacks on the mill’ cheering ‘we won, we won!’ Life can be so simple when you’re young, eh?

Despite all that, and the fun and enjoyment they get from just getting out there and having a red hot go, I still think that the presentation day at the end of the season is one of the most important for them. It’s the one day when the rest of the club actually realises they’re there. The Under 14 and 16 teams play each week and with luck reach finals and, appropriately, are talked up to the rest of the senior members of the club. When they play finals, there’s always several members of the senior teams turning up to support them throughout the day. Not so the Under 12s.

Presentation Day is the one day of the year when the rest of the club recognises that they are a part of the club, and importantly, they’re the future of the club. This is what I tried to bring across making my impromptu speech handing out their little trophies. Not only were they being presented to the club on Sunday, but I made sure I mentioned something particular about each young kid too. They’re not just little tackers running around in games that don’t really count through the week, these are kids that love the game, love playing together and are the future of the club.

I was rapt at the end when they presented me with a parting gift for the season. A cricket helmet… the last piece of gear I needed and was too stingy to buy! Now, after three seasons, I finally have a full collection of gear. I should have held out and tried to get them to give me a cricket bat next year, eh? But I guess the one item I’ll treasure most is the photo of the team. It’ll end up on a wall somewhere around here an, one day, when some of these kids reach the A grade team, I can look back and think ‘I can barely play this game, but bugger me, this kid playing A grade… I was his first coach!’

Anyway… although their presentation only lasted about twenty minutes, the rest of the club was now aware of who these little fellers were, and they now knew something more about them.

Once that was over, lunch arrived, the rest of the presentations were made, the kids all went home, and we watched the Under 16s play the Legends (over 40s) in the now annual challenge match. The young fellers did well, but the Legends retained their undefeated status and much amber fluid was consumed.

Once the game concluded and most went home, with the day still hot and dry, somehow the buckets came out and anyone who wasn’t quick enough or wasn’t paying attention got drenched in water. I didn’t end up dry until I got home at 11pm! Couldn’t really complain though, eh? I figured if a kid could now come up to me, give me that little cheeky glint in his eye and then throw a full bucket of water at me and not grizzle when I caught the bucket and tipped the last half on him, then I guess that’s respect of a sort, eh?

It’s the respect I’d prefer, anyway!

Guess I’m coaching next year now too…

Related posts: Coaching Under 12s… the final cricket match of the season.

Technorati Tags: cricket, kids sport, coaching.

Ever had that experience where you’ve been doing something – it doesn’t really matter what – while the radio is playing quietly in the background, and then suddenly your ears prick up at a quick newsflash and your stomach sinks to your toes because your ears have subconsciously picked up on a single sentence the announcer has just said?

Yesterday afternoon I was driving home from work particularly tired and run down after the week’s adventures. It was only a four day week, but with school photos, various meetings, and several stinking hot days with the kids I felt like I’d been given a good flogging all week. So you could imagine that my mind was elsewhere (although hopefully focused on the road!) when the radio program was interrupted with a local breaking news story.

Turns out there has been a single car accident in the north east of the state along the Hume highway. Sadly, it’s a triple fatality with a fourth in critical condition in hospital, and no other details at this stage. Normally I wouldn’t batter an eyelid except to think ‘those poor buggers’ and so on. But today…

Today was the day one of the kids and her family (of five) were driving along the Hume highway to start their Easter holiday early. You can imagine the thoughts running through my head in the moments following the sudden news.

Now, statistically there would have been thousands of people driving that road yesterday, but how many of them would have had that many people or more in one vehicle? I spent the rest of the trip home running over the figures to convince myself (fairly well, I should say) that with four in the car it’s another poor group of people and not the ones I saw off with grinning faces the afternoon before.

It was a bittersweet moment last night as I was driving back into town for a game of indoor cricket when I heard an update on the radio and learned it was some other poor family that has to face the tragic news. The description of the people involved didn’t match the family I was concerned for, and they’ll be happily waking up this morning on the first official morning of their New South Wales holiday.

You feel a little awkward being thankful for that, knowing full well it’s going to be one of the worst mornings ever for someone else.

If you ever want to completely disrupt a good school day, then by all means, just organise to have the school photos taken. A photography company rolls in for the morning (but stays all day), takes over the main hall or building of your school (which is probably in use by other people too), and takes the grades one at a time out of their rooms to take nice pictures of them. Add to this the fact that five grades of the school have also double booked themselves for an excursion to the beach because this day happens to be the perfect day for the neap tide, meaning it’s the best opportunity to see the rock pools! So you’ve got half the school turning up an hour early to have all those grade photos taken, as well as their siblings for family photos! Yay! You leave home five minutes early and STILL MISS OUT ON A CAR PARK!!

At any moment the School Captains will knock sheepishly on the door and ask if you can bring your kids out now, even if they’re right in the middle of a big lesson you’ve spent all week working towards and… bugger me… they’re actually working well! Then when you’re outside in the first clear spot you can find, you set about the task of getting twenty five excited kids into a line from the shortest to the tallest. Meanwhile… the kids at the front have worked up their excitement levels to near-hysteria and by the time you’ve gotten halfway down the line, the front half is once more a shambles. Meanwhile, you haven’t even reached the end of the line where already one kid is grizzling because his mate behind him messed up his hair or messed up his collar. Which only starts the other kids off laughing at the poor kid!

Yup. Trying to organise a row of excited kids into an ordered, height-sequenced line can be like juggling jelly with a tea strainer.

Anyway… we managed it and wandered over to have our grade photo taken, a feat that took all of a minute once we were standing nicely on various benches or sitting on seats, hoping the tall kids up the back wouldn’t fall off and break their legs, because a phonecall home to mum explaining why little Johnny broke his leg having his photo taken leads to all sorts of questions you just don’t have time to answer. Fortunately, none of them fell off during the photo, but there was a moment of madness when the photographer told all the kids up the back to jump down…

Not to worry… the photos have been taken, and fortunately we got them all done before recess, so the boys particularly didn’t have to worry about getting filthy during playtime. They were very happy about that. Probably a good thing they were all wearing their uniforms too and not in any old dress ups they found at home! All’s well that ends well…

But I’m still a little concerned about the kid who whispered quietly as I was having my own photo taken… something about ’should’ve gotten your mum to do your hair this mornin’, Mr V!’

Related posts: Your mum’s here, boy… better get out of that dress!

Technorati tags: photos, school photos

This would be one of my all time favourite children’s songs. Truth be told, it would have to be one of my all time favourite songs full stop! It’s a great little piece lamenting the lost innocence of growing up and leaving childhood imagination and adventures behind. Most people have probably heard or sung this song sometime as they’ve grown up over the years since it was first written, but I make sure that every kid that passes through my grade has the pleasure of hearing this song now too. As we’d just finished reading the novel ‘Rowan of Rin‘ which featured a Dragon at the top of the Mountain, this fit in rather nicely. To the side you’ll be able to listen and hear the original group, Peter Paul and Mary, performing their song, and once more, the words are included below.

At least, the words I learned and pass on to the kids. Again, the chords I use are listed below as well.

Puff the Magic Dragon

Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea,
And frolicked in the Autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And bought him string and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.

Chorus
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the Autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
Puff the Magic Dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the Autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail.
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff’s gigantic tail.
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came.
Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name.

Chorus

A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys.
Painted wings and giants’ rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that might dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
His neck was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain.
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff that might dragon sadly slipped into his cave.

Chorus

The chord progression is the same in the verse and chorus. I play it with the capo on the second or third fret.

G / Bm / C / G / C D / G Em / A7 / D /
G / Bm / C / G / C D / G Em / A7 D / G D7 /

Related Posts: Review – Rowan of Rin, The Unicorn Song.

Technorati tags: Puff the magic dragon, Kids songs, dragons.