Far and Away

Good @Snowie I'm a bit picky these days. If in the mood I love it . Or can ignore it. Think most of World Cup was only on pay tv dunno.

I will get it one day I suppose.

Hey all @Zoe7 @Faith-and-Hope @Emelia8 @Snowie @TAB

Glad I cant afford paytv .. saves me the worry of all those sports ads ... hee hee.

Son just likes a little tennis which suits me. I can take it or leave it, but I kind of like the yearly regularity of it and range of activities not just religion or commercial crap at end of the year festivities.

Oh God I keep rhyming I just cant help meself.

I like the rhyming @Appleblossom so please keep it up 👍💖

Ha ha Thanks Beautiful @Zoe7

I actually read in some obscure psychiatric journal that it was a sign of psychosis ... called clanging language .. so got conflicted about it ... but eventually hung around enuff poets socially .. to say ... 'up yours' to the ... you know who mob.

Hope you feel better soon ... and its done in a day ...

To be honest @Appleblossom anything anyone does can be turned around by some obscure and irrelevant research and every action/reaction could be put into a psychiatric class if one wanted to. I have had so many discussions (arguments) about so called experts way of doing things/seeing things/promoting their views. We can always find research to validate a point of view or opinion ...but there will always be evidence against as well. Teaching is a prime example ...one year there will be one program that is all the rage and the next it will be another - often conflicting in their approaches. I remember telling my Principal many years ago that one size does not fit all and we need to teach the individual and not the 'program' ...now that is exactly what we are doing - it was/is common sense to me but he would have none of it ...suffice to say he was 'forced' to retire lol

Hearing you re teaching generally and school programs @Zoe7

Yes thank you for having sufficient nuance to understand that about research and academia.

There is nothing like experience to sift through the chaff.

The school system benefitted my daughter but really let down my son. We are still dealing with those consequences but battling on. Getting a few signs written on the subway walls prophesying I am on a solid path, so that helps me keep hope, despite it all ... We have come a long way since we met.

@Zoe7 The 'listen to the expert' thing is sometimes becoming a problem with the pillarisation of knowledge.

Interestingly the pillarisation cultural concept has been explored early in The Netherlands ... as were studies in trauma. Some good things come from that little country not just cheese. Yay! I must admit I am cherry picking ... lol

There is often a 'one size fits all' approach to education but I think that is changing ...from my experience it is. It is hard for some teachers to get their head around - mainly because they want to reduce workload by providing the same program for all the kids in their class. What they do not understand is that is actually reduces workload when you teach to the strengths of your kids rather than trying to force them to learn in a way that does not suit them. By providing a range of choices and learning opportunities, you engage all kids and that then both reduces any behavioural problems as well as gives them a love of learning @Appleblossom A teacher at my school last week (who is retiring) described my class as often looking like chaos but when you actually come inside all the kids are learning, engaged and happy. Often you cannot see the floor from all the things spread around but the kids also clean it all up - that is my number 1 rule ...you can make the mess but you also need to clean it up (and that goes for me also). At any one time I could have kids doing science experiments, reading quietly somewhere, playing chess, doing extra spelling, art and craft, etc. - whatever they feel they need and we work out a plan together ...so no two days are the same. I do of course have to plan to teach some of the curriculum but we go off on so many tangents that I often wonder why bother lol

As for 'experts' - so many of those so-called experts have never actually walked the walk ...there are of course some who have but we tend to lay our hats on their approaches as being the be all and end all. For example, our school has adopted a certain approach to spelling - the author of that approach does emphasise that it is 'an approach' not a set in stone way to do spelling ...it will help some but not all of course. So many of our teachers do not understand the term 'approach' and believe there is a set way to teach it and it should be done the way the 'expert' presented it at the PD. This was of course just one way ...it is about taking the aspects that work for you kids and working out the program that way.

I do not know much about the pillarisation in the Netherlands so I will need to look it up.

@Zoe7 Its a slightly different application in the Netherlands relating to cultural pluralism, but I have seen the word applied to issues when the experts cannot talk to each other and are stuck in their own field and so the knowledge does not flow easily or may not be integrated into other areas.

I think that is why I liked you from the start as you care about kids learning and the art. Love the sound of your classroom. My boy would likely have thrived.

I got told early on when my kids were in primary school that they would `not fall in the normal distribution and were gifted so might miss out, which is why I tried to get my daughter into a select entry school.

It was interesting last night at the party there was a retired secondary school principal and his son and a guy who is starting next week at my daughter's old school. I think that is partly why we had a really good time even though some got drunker than I would like.

That makes sense @Appleblossom There is a distinct lack of conversation/sharing across different fields. We see this so often in mental health also - so many organisations could be working together to treat the WHOLE person yet there seems to be so many (not necessary) barriers to doing so. I have been so fortunate that my team has previously been very communicative with each other and that has not only helped them work with me better but also meant I have not had to repeat things a hundred times. That then leads to more efficiency in service as well as less time wasted to deal with the issues.

I remember our earlier conversations so fondly Apple - it was not all about MH but more wider world views ...and that gave me a sense of normalcy as well as allowing me to think in a time I was drowning. I will be forever grateful for meeting you so early on and to engage in such meaningful and helpful conversations 💖

I think your boy would have done well in our class too. My strength is with those kids that do not 'fit' into the 'normal' system. Several years ago our district principal developed a role for me in support. It was my role to engage those children that had either been excluded or found mainstream schooling difficult. I had a 100% success rate - which is very much unheard of in our system. Unfortunately the government stopped funding for such programs so I had to go back to 'normal' teaching.

Just last week we had a meeting of our 1/2 team to do some work on how to use an inquiry approach in our teaching - that is the approach I have taken all of my teaching life so for me I had to 'pull it back' for the others who were less familiar with the approach. We were talking about a whole-class approach whereas I am so much further along allowing each student to develop their own path ....it is a lot of work to start with but the results and rewards are so worth it. When kids are learning what they are interested in they are so much happier and engaged. My role is to weave in the curriculum but the kids often do not even realise that.

I am glad you had a nice time at the party with some meaningful conversations. I find so many such gatherings full of 'hot air' and meaningless talk. I don't like small talk but would rather say something when I actually have something to say. Sometimes silence says more than words.