A Time To Reflect

It’s the winter hols. Hip! Hip! Hooray! No more school for a fortnight.. What shall I do? Go snowboarding, go ice skating at Lake Ida, go surfing (apparently the water is at its coldest in spring when the melted snow from the mountains is flowing into the sea not during winter) or shall I just watch DVDs whilst curled up under my Saints duvet on the settee. Ideally, I would do all of the above but I have a feeling that I will be doing jobs around the house and of course planning for the next school term.

As the winter hols are the mid-point of my first year of teaching in New Zealand, I suppose now is a good time to reflect on how it has gone.

The main thing is that I have survived. I can’t say I had any doubts that I would but I did have a few worries before the start of the school year. Particularly, as there seemed to be a lack of class and planning information available for me to peruse. As I have since found out, that appears to be indicative of the looser and less accountable kiwi system. By the way, as far as I know there does not seem to be a New Zealand equivalent of Ofsted. What a shame!

I have made a few mistakes along the way and got through some things with some last minute planning and quick thinking (No change there some of you might say). Somehow, I have managed to organize our class camp trip, two field trips, get to grips with NZ’s Numeracy Contract, manage ‘Inquiry’ and organize two hockey teams to take every Tuesday to Hagley Park for the intermediate schools’ sports afternoon.

So how are the kids? They are not a bad lot but they sure are noisy and a couple are rather 'trying'. I think, I gave them too much slack to begin with. Being older (12/13) I thought they would be more responsible and understand expectations. However, I have been proved wrong as they are rather work shy and rather obviously (thinking about it now considering their age) are more interested in gossip. Initially, I was rather surprised by the poor quality of work served up but have since found out that the cream of the kids are in two extension classes. Of course nobody had bothered to tell me this at the start of the year!

What is ‘Inquiry’? Basically, it is a ‘subject’ that is meant to develop thinking skills and independent working. It does not have a curriculum but has themes that can go in any direction depending on how much freedom is given to the pupils. Last term’s theme was ‘Conservation’. Some of my kids wanted to set up ‘walk to school buses’, some groups did something on recycling and a couple of groups investigated setting up worm farms. Needless to say, none of these inquiries are yet to bear fruit. Next term is ‘Popular Culture'.

I suppose both teaching and kids are pretty much the same wherever one is and it is not that hard to adjust to a new work culture.

Post Script (a couple of weeks later)

It is now Sunday evening and I am feeling the blues because the holidays are over and tomorrow is a school day. Boo hoo! So what did I do during my time off? I did manage to get up to Mt Hutt for some snow boarding but I did not make it to the beach for a surf (not with the cold southerly winds we have had). As predicted, I did some jobs around the house and did some school work. Unfortunately, I did not spend any time watching DVDs or continuing my quest to steer Redbridge up from the conference to Premier League. Oh well! Next hols then!

Turning Thirty

I remember a decade ago thinking that being 30 was old. Now I'm 30. Am I now on the inevitable downslope towards oblivion?

Okay, I have to admit, I was scared. Never believed in the whole 09.09.99 thing, or the world ending with the beginning of year 2000, but I really thought that when I turned 30, my life would cease to exist. How wrong I was.

To commemorate the end of my twenty-something being, I decided to drag a few (older) people along to a quaint cottage in the bustling metropolis that is Arthur's Pass. By the way, we spent Easter 2006 in exactly the same cottage. Once there, I spent my last two nights as a twenty-something indulging in 'comfort' food (crisps, chocolates etc) and plenty of alcohol, in an attempt to block out the event that was taking place on Sunday 01.07.2007.

The weather the week before had been cold so Arthur's Pass being situated at an altitude of 800 m had snow.However, during our time there, it mostly rained so we missed most of the snow. Even though it was wet, the weather did not affect us as we spent most of our time sat in front of the roaring fire chatting and playing board games. Obviously, Trivial Pursuit came out, and was eventually won by Helen. It wasn't just a weekend of gluttony, though, as we ventured out for a look around the township and a walk up to the Devil's Punchbowl to view the surging waterfall. Of course, we did pop in to the pub (The Wobbly Kea) for a couple of cheeky ones after our exertions!

I spent the last few weeks of being a twenty-something reflecting on the previous decade. I always thought that perhaps I could have done better, and bigger and more…. But, in all honesty, when I started to list all the things I have achieved, I actually felt like gloating! Yes, I am proud of my achievements to this date. Living in various countries, having travelled round the world twice, buying two houses abroad with Pete (although having two mortgages is no fun, really) and all the fun I had! Hoping that the fun part does not disappear? A few milestones will no doubt take place in this coming decade to keep me on my toes. I guess Pete and I will have to set a date to get married, and from then on I will have to behave like a responsible adult?

All in all, I am now thirty. And I can say that it is just a number! As long as I still get asked for ID in the supermarket when buying alcohol, I am happy!