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…

‘In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.’ - Anthony J. D’Angelo

This evening was the final regular basketball game for the Under 14 season. Okay, this week is the final regular game for all of the other junior age groups and divisions too, but I’ve only been following the Under 14s Division Two team this season on Tuesday nights… the Friday night matches with the teams I used to follow are now too awkward to get to before heading home. But… like that delightful old lady you meet on the bus with the great big book filled with photos of her grandchildren and her pet chihuahua, I’m rambling.

They’ve gone through the entire season undefeated, with one minor scare when they remembered how to play in the final five minutes of one match to scraped away with a draw they should never have pinched. The semi final is next week, a game they were always going to feature in, but tonight… I actually felt they were going to lose it.

Mind you, they worked their hearts out trying to prove me wrong!

But by full time the score read 31-34, with a final goal with under a minute to go pretty much sealing their fate and delivering their first loss of the season in the final match. Which I’m quite pleased with, to be honest.

Better to lose this week than next week and maybe lose the chance to play off in the Grand Final. As they say, it’s probably the loss they had to have.

Get their backs up… put a bit of steel back into them… remind them to be hungry.

After all, the game that gets you into the Grand Final is the most important match of the season, eh? At least then you KNOW you’re gonna get a trophy or reward!

So, while it was a little disappointing watching the kids have a loss, I reckon it might just have won them the Premiership this season.

We’ll have to wait and see though, eh?

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.

Today was the first of three days of NAPLAN testing. That’s the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy test. Long name, needs punctuation.

On today’s menu was an early morning entrée of Language Conventions. They featured a side dish of spelling, a garnish of grammar and a whole lot of punctuation. Suggested serving size - 40 minutes. I photocopied the Grade Threes’ test this morning before they came in (shrunk down to fit two pages to a sheet, double sided to save paper) and gave them to the Grade Fours. Why give one test for half your kids when you can test the whole lot and then have assessment evidence for them all for when you write reports in the next few weeks? A few of the Fours finished it all within ten or fifteen minutes, but most of them used up the forty minutes suitably.

With the first of four tests done and packed away, one lap of the oval and five or ten minutes running madcap around the jungle gyms just outside the classroom to let them move and make some noise again. That’s one good side to being in a room separate from any others. You can let them run loose on the odd occasion without really interrupting anybody else. Then it was back inside to carry on our class serial novel and out to recess.

The second course was delivered just after recess. A forty minute Writing test. The topic - ‘Found!’ Write a narrative of your own using your own ideas or inspiration from the ’stimulus’ sheet (a flash piece with words, pictures and suggestions about the topic ‘Found!’ they all got to look at). Five minutes planning time (’What’s planning for?‘), thirty minutes writing time, and five minutes at the end to edit your work (’What’s editting for?‘). One change I noticed to this year’s new look tests is they can only write on the three pages they’re given. They used to be able to grab some extra paper and staple it to their booklet if they needed to write further. Not so this time. I suppose that cuts back on the kid who writes and writes and writes and forgets all about plot, character, interest and keeping the reader awake.

You know the stories I’m talking about. They’re often written by girls (no offense intended, but you can’t argue with the facts!) and often involve ALL of their friends and often either kittens or puppies who end up getting married and wear bows. All this spread over six pages of grade three handwriting with scant regard for spelling, full stops or indeed any of the general fundamental rules of English grammar!

Yeah. Those ones.

That all done, finish off, give all the kids and myself a lolly (because, come on, we deserved one!), pack the tables up, and outside into the sun for another five minutes of running around remembering what it’s like to be a kid again before lunch. Which, thanks to some great May sunshine, we had outside.

After lunch? Aw, we’ll just let the kids sit a Trivia Challenge, eh?

‘Can you help us with these questions now?’

‘Nup, can’t help you with these ones either. Just like NAPLAN.’

‘So… why’d you even bother comin’ to school, eh?’

‘Cheeky kids get clips over the back of the head!’

Once the day ended, I found myself sitting down at a table ticking through the photocopied grade three tests to see how they did, as well as the grade four tests as well. I’ll read the stories more closely tomorrow.

So yes. There was Day One of NAPLAN. First up, make them sit the Language Convention part. After recess, sit the Writing piece. After lunch, a Trivia Challenge just because it was the only time this week, and they’d be used to tests by now, eh? After work, correct through the Language Convention pieces.

After that? Off to Tuesday’s basketball match. No coach. Okay. Guess who spent the first two minutes of the game standing by the sidelines calling out ‘Shoot a goal! Shoot a goal!’ until the coach arrived? Yep.

And they actually got one too!

Then they went on to win the match 44 to 12.

I like to think my two minutes of coaching inspired them to greatness.

Straight off the bat from our excursion to the local National Park alpine rainforest on Friday, today saw the entire 3/4 Unit catch a couple of buses across town to the local Showgrounds. There, amidst the mild May rain, beneath the blanket of cirrocumulus clouds blocking out the sun, and rolling through the damp grassy expanses of the town’s main oval, they were to run through a gamut of various fun footy skills, all under the eye of players from the St Kilda Football Club.

Well, we were there, and so were the players… but it didn’t quite turn out like that.

Seems they decided to pack up all the activities because of the light rain once we got there. This disappointed the kids, but it seems it was done to avoid the possibility of any injuries. The kids now reckon this is the one reason why St Kilda will never win a Premiership. How can you expect to be the best if you’re too scared the play in the rain? The kids were all fired up, but they got over it.

Instead, both schools who had turned up were ushered into the members’ bar rooms. First there was one inside session with a few players, then a question and answer session with the others in another part of the building. The first activity? Heads and Tails.

You know the game. If you choose Heads, you stand up one end of the room. If you choose Tails, you stand up the other. The coin is flipped, and the winning side stays in the game and another round begins. Easy. Now picture it with approximately 100 kids! Can you imagine what was going through our minds at this point as teachers?? Yup. Chaos and bedlam! To be fair though, the kids kept themselves under control fairly well, and the footy bloke managed to keep them all entertained through three entire games of this before we eventually decided enough was enough and sent the entire lot of them for a run around the outside of the oval.

Next, it was in to share questions and answers with the other players. I must say that the three we spoke with did a fantastic job. They listened and answered all the kids questions and kept their attention all the way through, often having them rolling with laughter at various spots too. They came across as very nice individuals and the kids left raving about them. Even kids wearing different coloured footy tops were lining up to get their backs and sleeves signed. The players themselves, they thought it was great signing their names on the guernseys of teams they didn’t even play for!

All up, it turned out to be a good afternoon, even if I didn’t get to man the tackle bags activity this year. I was really looking forward to that…

You can line the kids up and absolutely smash them into the ground, and they think it’s absolutely brilliant!

I call it ‘Name Your Mark’.

Maybe next year, eh?

I finished today feeling a lot of pride.

There’s one little feller running around our school I’ve had a fair bit to do with over the last three years, and I’ve kept an eye on him as he’s moved up the grade ladder since I taught him back in grade four. While you have to maintain a professional standard with your relationship with the kids you work with, we’ve always managed to get along really well, even before he reached my grade. Of the really prominent days and good strong memories I’ve got through my career to this point, this feller has been central in quite a large percentage of them.

The day he learned he would be in my grade the next year he told me straight up it was going to be fun - we’d barely shared five words with each other before that year’s camp. Although he loves running around and joining in with the footy on the ova, every single time I was on yard duty that year he’d make sure to tag along and just chat - and chat properly too, not the chatter you usually get from kids hanging around you because they haven’t got friends of their own. Stepping on his back at camp when he was crawling through the mud pool to hear him squeal and laugh. The end of year trip to the pool where he dared me to try to knock him off the inflatable dinosaur with a hose of freezing water. Beginning basketball and winning a premiership. Inviting me in for tea after dropping him home one night when he wanted to stay at the break up party a little longer. Not even waiting to say ‘g’day’ on the first day of this year before making sure I knew what day and time he’d be playing basketball this year.

And a few little things that weren’t always such good news.

But through it all, he always spoke respectfully with me, even when having a laugh and a joke at my expense.

He got himself into a little bit of a bother at the start of the year. Despite that, he managed to persuade the Green House team to elect him to one of the four captain positions for this year’s House Sports. It was generally agreed though that he’d forfeit the badge the next time I got himself into trouble. Most predictions were within two weeks. I quietly voiced the opinion that I had no doubt he’d make it, but I generally just sat back to watch what he’d do. I don’t think he ever realised though that he was that close to messing it all up.

The House Sports was today. About three months after the elections. There he was leading our team

There are times, ever now and then, when I get the feeling that I just know what is going to happen. Today was one of them. Last year, after having their first basketball grand final all but stolen from them (they finished the game one player short with their four best players fouled off, two before half time - that’s another issue!) I walked in to watch their next one knowing they would win. No doubt about it. Today was the same. Green House would win.

Sure enough, while I watched on from beside the green kids trying to keep a knowing little smug grin off my face, they announced the House Sports winners. Green. He’d done it. He’d just proven to everybody why I have absolute faith in him no matter what, and he didn’t even realise it! And now there he was standing before the rest of the school leading the year’s victorious House Sports team. This is why I believe in fairy tales.

Proudest moment though? When he looked across with the broadest grin his face could hold and gave me a big thumbs up.

Better than a trophy.

Related Posts: Scoring for basketball… leads me to drink!, Scoring for basketball… the sequel, Advancing a teaching level, When it rains it pours…, More than just yesterday’s teacher…

I’m not a baseball fan. I’m aware that there’s an Australian team we occasionally hear about every now and then when they pop up in the Olympics, but that’s about the extent of it. I’m even vaguely aware that there is a local club that represents our local town, and a few of the kids at school play in the junior league. To me it’s always been a typically American game and not large enough in Australia to gain any coverage to keep me interested. But I AM interested in the achievements of the kids running around in the playground, and I stumbled over a local newspaper article last night by accident that involves both.

I very rarely read the local paper because there’s generally nothing of interest in it. I only picked this one up because Mum likes to read it and I was heading that way and had stopped in at the local shop on the way anyway. So I opened it to have a browse and caught a photo of one of the kids. He’s not one I teach, and he’s not one I’ve taught previously, but he’s one I’ve known for a few years just from running around the yard and my basketball spectating. He’s still a year aware from my grade level, but he also says ‘g’day’ every time he walks past.

Anyway… his face popped out at me from the paper and, surprise surprise, it ended up being the only article I read. First, the good news.

First game of the season (it’s Teeball rules at Under 10s level - baseball rules at Under 12s), and only his second season playing the game (apparently he spent every night last season sleeping with his team hat on!). This little feller last weekend performed a triple play - apparently the rarest feat in baseball. He’s managed to get all three ‘outs’ in one fell swoop. Fielding at second base, he’s caught the batter out, then tagged the runner coming towards him from first, then ran down the player running from second to third to tag him out as well. He must have been fair belting across the field to manage that. Apparently he was then swamped and over-run by his entire team with high-fives flying left, right and centre, and fair enough.

But my grizzle was… I saw him every day last week and he didn’t mention it once!

So… Monday morning I’m gonna stride up to him and belt him around the head with the newspaper article a few times and ask him what the deal is! How can an eight year old keep something like that quiet from anybody? Then I’m going to do the same to one of his team mates who’s actually in my grade and didn’t mention a thing either.

Keep things from me, will they?

Related Posts: Scoring for basketball… leads me to drink!, Scoring for basketball… the sequel

Technorati Tags: baseball, sport

Saturday night a week and a half ago now, the final day of the Easter holidays, I went down to Melbourne to watch the footy and support my team. It was the first home game of the season and our first game we could get to this year. We beat the Old Enemy (well, one of the two Old Enemies) so all was good with the world and I bellowed my lungs out in support of the Glorious Crusade.

Sunday night, the day before I’m due back in the classroom to front the kids, I start to feel a little sore in the throat. Shouldn’t have yelled quite so much. I’ll be okay though, the kids were just about working well and quietly two weeks ago. We’ll just carry on nicely as though the last fortnight hasn’t been missed.

I fall for that every holiday!

Reached Wednesday night and the throat has not gotten sorer, it’s actually cleared up, but the voice has gotten croaky. Thursday, tough day not being able to talk louder than the kids (wasn’t gone, the kids are just a little rowdy this year), and there’s only so far holding one hand in the air and waiting for them to face you can go. By the end of the day, we were sort of glad to put the day behind us and pretend it never happened.

So… what better way to remedy a rapidly disappearing voice? Spend the last day of the week at the District Sports directing kids to all of their events, of course!

Gawd…

Actually, the voice survived the day quite well. I gargled a few glasses of warm, salty water the night before and softened the chords up enough. I just didn’t talk all that loudly with the kids on the day. Made cheering loudly for them as they approached the finish lines a little harder, but a quiet pat on the back or a knuckled nudge to the shoulder as you walk past afterwards is often more suitable and meaningful. Quiet recognition can carry a lot more weight, I reckon.

The kids did really, really well. Only about ten or so actually received any ribbons, but that’s not really what we consider these sorts of things about. Every one of our kids that fronted up for a race or event left nothing behind and tried their absolute guts’ out. You can’t ask more than that. When a few had a quiet grizzle about coming third last out of twenty seven competitors and stuff like that, I just asked them a simple question.

‘Are you at school doing maths right now?’

‘No.’

‘Then there’s a win right there, eh?’

Even better, the kids behaviour was fantastic. Only a few issues that cleared themselves up easily, and for the most part the kids not competing kept themselves occupied with a tennis ball, a nerf ball, and a footy they found… somewhere. They even threw together a scratch match against the kids from another school. We had to call it off after about forty minutes or so of continuous play as it was just about to get nasty. Our kids came back complaining.

‘They cheat! They change the rules and call stupid free kicks!’

‘That’s why I called the game off, fellers.’

‘Yeah, we weren’t gonna win.’

‘It’s not winning the game I’m worried about. I stopped it before you won the fight afterwards!’

That picked their spirits up a bit!

Technorati Tags: sport, children’s sport

This post actually follows on rather neatly from yesterday’s entry, the one dealing with writing a reference for one of the kids. I originally planned on leaving that topic be until later on when I learned whether or not the kid managed to win himself the scholarship to one of the local secondary schools. Seems I probably can’t though, as another kid brought it up himself this afternoon.

I was back at the basketball stadium once again this afternoon after work. As I’ve said earlier, I’ve found it’s not a bad way to wind down after a day at work and a good way to get to see some of the kids outside of the school environment. They’re definitely a little more relaxed and cheeky around you once they’re more familiar with you, but I believe their respect for you grows too. Anyway, I’m wandering off a bit at the moment.

I was early (should have read the draw I’ve got hanging on my fridge this morning) but fortunately one of the kids had turned up early as well just to hang around so it gave us a chance to catch up and chat about everything and nothing. Those are the best kinds of chats. He’s left the school for his final year of primary school, so basketball is also a good way to keep in touch now too. It was good to hear him talking and asking about the kids he used to run around with last year. Seems he knew already that this other boy was pushing for a scholarship and he was really eager to hear how it was going. At the same time he admitted a little feeling of guilt. Seems he wants this boy to get the scholarship, but at the same time, quietly hopes he’ll miss out because that means they’ll be back at the same school next year in year seven. A little bit of selfishness there, he admitted, but I reckon that’s great. His old friends still mean something to him. He wants the best, but failing that, he’s happy to know they might be back together again.

He was also rapt to hear that several of his old mates will be competing in the district sports on Friday. Another chance to catch up with kids he hasn’t seen since December. He was even bold enough to state that he’d sneak away from his own school group to come and visit us on the day. Who cares if he got a stern talking to, eh? I sort of suggested we’d love to see him, but keep his head down, eh?

‘What, are you gonna be there too?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I’ve been sucked in this year too, mate.’

His eyes lit up like cracker night bonfires with empty jerry cans lying nearby.

Leaving schools doesn’t always mean you leave your friends.

Related posts: Scoring for basketball, Scoring for basketball, the sequel, The kid needs a reference…

Technorati Tags: friends, school, kids

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??