School Spirit

Today turned out to be a really good one by the time I got home. Sure, first day of the final week of term and the kids were a little off the planet. I blame the final week of term, a rainy, cold day, and… yeah. That’ll do. They were off the planet, but we got just about everything I wanted done. Their lockers are clean and most of their good, presentable work from the term has been taken down from the walls and glued nicely into their profile books, ready to be taken home at the end of the year. But… they were off the planet.

Not to worry. The afternoon picked up quickly.

Those who’ve been reading this blog for a while may remember a few of these bits I’m going to bring up again. First…

Early April I was asked to write a reference for one of the kids in the band. He’s played drums for us for over three years now, but with the inclusion of his brother this year, he’s been able to move onto electric guitar instead. It’s been a lot of fun including an electric guitar into your regular school band orchestral music. We’ve even started playing a blues piece and he just leans back and adlibs solos.

Anyway, a few days later I had the reference written, and he commented on it, which was nice. He thought it was pretty decently written and then, as seems to be the norm with kids around me, made a slightly little joke about me to keep my feet on the ground. Well, this afternoon his mum whispered some news in my ear.

The little bugger got the scholarship this afternoon!

I haven’t had a chance to see him since he found out yet, but we’ve got a concert and rehearsal and pizza lunch for the band kids tomorrow anyway, so I’ll have to give him a hearty slap on the back. Great news to start the afternoon off with.

Second…

I’ve been following a few kids with their basketball for a few years now. This season I’ve ended up scoring most of the games for them as there’s been very few parents turning up to watch (probably due to the Tuesday afternoon timeslot, to be fair), and until two weeks ago, they hadn’t lost a game. Then they did… on the final match of the season. But that was okay, because if they won the final the week after, they’d be straight into the Grand Final anyway.

But they lost that one too.

So they had to turn up this evening to play the team that beat them the week before in a second chance final to make it through. They pulled away to win by about eight goals. A great story from my perspective, as these two kids deserve the success after the various paths they’ve had to travel over the last few months outside basketball. Drove home quite chuffed and proud tonight, even if the do end up getting done Wednesday night and lose the Grand Final. They fought back and will walk away Wednesday night with something to sit on their desk, eh?

Does mean I’ll have to cancel my dentist appointment for Wednesday afternoon though. There are more important things than dental hygiene, eh?

Besides… it’s a good excuse not to have two teeth out.

Thanks, boys.

Related Posts: The kid needs a reference… , Writing a reference… follow up, The only loss for the season…

You hear a lot of talk about teachers through the media and your every day man on the street. Your every day woman on the street too, but I’ll use the common phrase here and if anyone gets their back up because it’s not politically correct then just substitute the gender of your choice and read on, eh?

That’s the way.

Especially now that, here in Victoria, the Government and the Union have come to terms over a new pay deal (which is still to be signed off on - no word on when that may happen, but that’s another issue I’m not interested in rabbitting on about), there’s talk about what we should also be doing to earn it. Or, what we’re already doing to earn it but what the Government wants us to do as well. I’m just going to leave this bit hanging though and say that, often, especially in regards to building a relationship with the kids, it doesn’t start and end with those two book-end bell tolls at the start and end of each day. I find it carries on, and is often more powerful, when developed outside the school setting.

And I’d like to add too that, for me, it’s just as rewarding for myself as the kid, maybe more so in some cases. At school, the relationship is always that of the student and the teacher. If you play the card right though, outside of the school setting, these kids you’ve made an effort getting to know start to move closer to equals without losing that respect for you. I know several kids who see me closer to an equal rather than just a past teacher because they saw me showing an interest. In school situations they switch back (usually, it must be said - you can’t always keep the cheek down, eh?) to that student to teacher relationship, but once outside of that again, it’s back to a healthy mutual respect.

I’m sure other teachers may disagree with this in some cases and prefer not to blur that line between the relationship, and that’s fair enough. For me though, a bit of blurring outside of the school grounds can work wonders for both parties. There’s things kids won’t necessarily feel comfortable sharing with a teacher, but if they see you as something more than that, they’ll open up if they think they need to.

Here’s where I’m going to with this.

One of my kids let me know that he and his family were off to watch the footy on Saturday night, down at the MCG. We both support the Bombers, despite their very ordinary year so far (and the prospect of much more pain to come in the near future!), and I told him that I’d be down there watching too. Well, he had to know where I’d be sitting so I showed him the back of my membership card and he told me he’d be sitting somewhere down at ground level.

‘Maybe I’ll see you there then, eh?’

By Friday they’d given me their seat number so what else could I do but wander along before the game started and say hello, eh? I’ve met with kids at the footy the odd time before (once sneaking my way into the ticketed Members stand to do so - that’s another story), and besides, this kid’s a real genuine little feller. I caught them wandering out of one of the retail shops there just before the game (there goes $100+ in merchandise right there!) and had a quick little chat with him before the match started.

Then the family coming with them appeared around the corner. Someone’s been telling stories about me because once I’d been introduced (’who’s this bloke hanging around your son?’) it was all excitement from these people I’d never met. I’ll have to ask him what was said on Monday… you shouldn’t get that excited meeting a kid’s teacher at the footy, surely?

Anyway, instead of sneaking into their ticketed area to find them for a decent chat later, we organised to meet just beyond that rail I wasn’t allowed to step beyond (but I’d have found a way…) at halftime.

Now, I know right now that this is now one family I’m never going to have an issue with, and one kid who I’m pretty sure I’ll have on my side for the rest of his primary school career. How? One little visit at a place the kid is interested in. Show you share their interests (even if you wouldn’t generally do so normally - kids just appreciate you turning up) and their trust just builds.

And what did I get out of it?

A got half an hour of quality time with a top little kid and his family and a strong little parting handshake.

Monday it will be student to teacher again, but below that facade will be a stronger level of respect from both of us.

To me, that’s something that will help the kid more than a week of schooling.

Right from the very first, I should probably lay my cards out on the table. I’m not a dedicated convert to the global warming or climate change phenomenon. I’d like to think of myself as a healthy, albeit slightly suspicious, cynic in regards to many of the arguments (if they can be called that) predicting the end of the world due to this nasty carbon stuff. It’s only fair that I say this up front before moving on to the main topic of this post, which is the now global event called Earth Hour.

If you haven’t been aware, Earth Hour was an idea originating in Sydney last year (2007) where everyone was encouraged to turn off their lights for an hour for the benefit of the planet. About 2 million people (or is it households? That would have been more impressive) and 2000 businesses signed up to take part. The goal was to reduce greenhouse emissions in Sydney by 5%. About 10% was the figure achieved according to some reports, so straight up congratulations to Sydney on their one off reduction. This year, it’s a global event and cities all around the world are taking part.

Look, I think it’s a nice idea, I really do, but I have a suspicious feeling that it’s mostly going to be a single, feel-good hour which will give the planet a quick breather (if I may personify the planet… why not? Many people writing articles like this see it as suitable!) before most of the lights will come back on and the planet will once again glow like a Christmas bauble throwing thousands of black balloons into the air like we see on those greenhouse reduction ads on Australian television.

In regards to those ads, why don’t we ever see one showing those black CO2 balloons coming from the backside of a cow?

Some people (and blogs) are spouting the idea that it’s a great initiative to support the Earth and harness the interest of school kids in the wellbeing of the planet, and even better, ‘promises an opportunity where they can behave to demonstrate their understanding of being a global citizen‘. I actually agree with this idea, although I don’t know whether Earth Hour will be the true success it aims to be and therefore I’m not sure I would have (had it been during the term and not the school holidays) sold it to my own kids as a way to help save the planet. I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that, and I’d be selling the kids short if I tried to tell them so. I’m not much for flowery imagery in my statements, but it seems others are - ‘YOUR participation will go a long way in spreading the message thatwe, as individual droplets working collectively - can create an impetus far more powerful than the mightiest of rivers‘. Nice metaphor, and all meant with the best intentions, but does it really mean anything? Rivers are good for hydro power generation, which is apparently better for the environment… but that involves dams, eh? We’re not allowed to build more dams in Victoria… it harms the planet.

On another blog, I found this quote, which shows support once more for the initiative (and keep in mind I support the idea in general, I just don’t believe it is going to have the impact it promises). ‘This is a wonderful, simple idea to share with your students. It can make them feel part of a global movement, but more importantly it demonstrates that individuals CAN come up with simple, sharable ideas that make a difference‘. I actually agree with much of this statement. It truly is a wonderful and more importantly simple idea, and I recognise the benefits of the kids feeling like their involved in something bigger than themselves, their town or even their country. I’m also right up there with anything that will help kids think they’re important enough to make a difference. Again, I’m just not convinced the difference this will make will be of any significant benefit once those lights go back on sixty minutes after they get switched off.

My concern here is that I doubt it will actually achieve anything in the long run, which is what it is intended for. Once that hour is over, just about every business who has signed up will put those lights on in their office towers while no one is working there, have their neon lights back on to advertise their companies to passing pedestrians or motorists. The lights will come back on and the telly will flick back to whatever was being viewed before… and it will happen every night afterwards.

Until next year’s Earth Hour comes around again when we can all feel good about ourselves for going without lights for another hour to save the planet.

There’s my little cynical bit over with. I’ll go about my normal nightly business with a light on in the room I’m working in (usually a little lamp) and maybe the radio in the background or the telly if I’m in the lounge. In the classroom we generally only work with lights on if it gets too dim to see with cloud cover outside over the sun (or once we’ve done so much work we’ve covered the windows with displays!). To me, getting people to work with electricity in this way would be more beneficial. Hopefully that’s the message a lot of the people who take part this year get from it all. If it truly causes thousands of people to think to use only the lights they need when they need them, then I think Earth Hour will have done its job.

I’m not too convinced with some of the comments on the official Earth Hour site either, particularly the Frequently Asked Questions page. What candles should we use for light during this hour, it is asked at one point, to which the response is candles made of beeswax. Why? Because they are carbon neutral because ‘the CO2 they emit has already been taken from the atmosphere to produce the wax‘! Okay, by that logic, coal fired power stations are probably just as carbon neutral because the carbon produced by the burning was already taken from the atmosphere when they were alive as trees back in the Carboniferous Period! Millions of years ago those ancient forests grew, sucking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere which is now stored in those coal deposits. So burning it is only releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere from where it came. I think that’s a little bit of flawed logic there, but again, it’s a nice thought, eh?

I’ll finish with this quote from the Age newspaper which, despite not particularly liking that paper, makes what I think is the most important point to be taken from this whole initiative. ‘It’s not simply about turning off your lights on March 29, even though it is estimated that this alone reduced carbon emissions equal to 48,000 cars being off the road for one hour last year. It’s about awareness, understanding and commitment: awareness of the impact of climate change, understanding that small, practical gestures by individuals can collectively make a profound difference and commitment to making an ongoing effort to reduce energy consumption for long-term benefit‘.

Anyway… enough rambling. On the whole, I think this Earth Hour initiative is very well-intentioned and will be a great article for the media across the world to cover, and very well might make the world’s politicians sit up and take notice (or at least wave at the crowd when they turn up to show their support before going back to their other policies the next morning). Any small approach to reducing these pollutants will help, but I’m just not convinced this is the world changing event it’s being built up to be.

Mind you… I’m more than happy to be proven wrong!

Technorati Tags: Earth Hour, climate change, global warming.

Yup. I don’t really understand how it came about, but we just lost our last indoor cricket match of the season which dropped us from third to fourth place. Usually that would mean we were playing off against the top team next week for the right to play in the grand final. Seems that when you’re playing in a mixed A and B grade competition, they do things a little differently.

They’ve split the ladder into two groups of finals. The first three play for the A Grade title, the next three play for the B Grade title. The first of each set of three automatically go through to the final match. So… yeah. Losing this last match means we’re now straight into the B Grade Grand Final next Friday, and the team who beat us take our spot on the ladder and have to play to get into the A Grade team.

So… basically… we’ve just earned a Grand Final place by losing our match. Fortunately we tried our bums off to win because it looked like we might have dropped out completely, but it’s quite an amusing turn of events. We lose our last match of the season, yet we’re still going to leave next week with a trophy!

How cool is that??

Today was the final week of the regular local cricket season. For myself, an eternal C Grade player because I’m really not the greatest cricketer going around, and not wanting to play two week matches in B Grade anyway, the season finished a week early with a bye this week. But… that gave us the chance to wander across the district to a little township further north to watch B Grade try to win their match in the hopes of making the finals next week.

More importantly, it was to see off a clubman who retired today after playing 436 matches for the club. And to see him off in style.

They were in to bat last week and made 236, leaving 10 wickets for them to take today while out there fielding. We set ourselves up around the boundary under the trees and away from the main stands with a few coldies in the esky and gave it our all. As the sun fell lower and lower in the sky, we slowly got louder and louder and had a good old afternoon calling out friendly and not so friendly sledges to the opposition and, more importantly, our teammates. Just because they’re out there playing doesn’t mean they’re not fair game to a friendly sledge! A long story short, they bowled them out for 220 and won the game. If results fall our way, they’ll play in the finals next week. But to be honest, that’s secondary.

Our old feller finished the match not out from his batting innings the week before, and fittingly came on to bowl at the end of the day and took the final wicket to win the match. Those of us who were there were quick to gather at the gate before he arrived (because he’s pushing it now and doesn’t move fast when he doesn’t have to) and formed a guard of honour for him to pass through.

One of the best moments I think I’ll ever have at the club.

I only had the privilege of playing one match with him since I joined the club, but looking back, having the opportunity to say I’ve batted with him once and hitting the winning runs in that match myself (of the half dozen I made) is something I can look back on proudly to say ‘I played alongside him’.

A nice, fitting way to send off a legend of the club, but not quite perfect.

We fixed that up tonight back at the club rooms with lots of beer.

Cricket’s a drinker’s game!