Rubber Chicken’s Dojo

everything is almost set for the korea move. the interviews, the applications, the dashes into the city to get notary publics, late evening calls to get signatures from a justice of the peace (thanks mr buttner) and frantic running around and a hell of a lot of swearing.

got my visa today. now i can start packing in earnest. still not really sure i’ll fit everything i need in the suitcase. i may need to send another box. i’ll just add that one to the five i’ve already sent.

4 days to go!

there’s only so much shit i can take before i’m worn down and ready to fall in a screaming ball of mess on the floor. the stupid thing is, i can’t use this medium as a way of release because it would be deemed ‘unprofessional’. i would easily fill up the days recalling all the stupid crap i see everyday. i gets tiring pretty quickly. it’s not even a politics thing. the admin at school do their best but there is only so much they can do from their end.  for the last few weeks, i have felt my fuse slowly being shortened. this morning i was only barely able to suppress a rage tht i felt towards just about everyone i saw. there’s no point taking a day off, or a ‘mental health’ day. i know what i’m coming back to. i know the shit they get up to when i’m not there. do i have the holidays to look forward to? not really, i know i have to go back sooner or later. is this something every teacher goes through? probably. am i going to stick it out? probably. will i be back next year…. there’s a good question…

nearly 40,000 state school teachers walked off the job today across queensland to protest and demonstrate their anger at the queensland government’s lack of response to agreeing to a raise in salary. 

the enterprise bargaining agreement signed by the queensland teacher’s union (qtu) three years ago has expired and since then, other australian states have received massive pay increases, leaving queensland teachers, especially in state schools, far behind in terms of parity. as a beginning teacher, i’m some $4000 behind colleagues in new south wales. as my seniority increases, so does the difference in pay; the largest being a whopping $20,000 for a band 9 principal (large school).

some friends and i met with other teachers in the south-east queensland area to rally our cause, first at the convention centre, then at the steps of parliament house. 4000 teachers, one voice, no audience. the government turned a deaf ear to our chants and catchy phrases, slamming the demands as ridiculous and unrealistic. we’ll see who blinks first…

the first day of school has come and gone. this is going to be a really long year. it’s always the minority that spoil it for the majority and that’s no different with my class. they seem pretty intent on pissing me off. the rest of the class are fine, with some really nice kids who will miss out as the little shits are managed. i am going to make sure they don’t miss out.

after a slow week, school has finally finished for the year and it’s time for the holidays.on wednesday, we headed to wet n’ wild for a sun-filled day of waterslides and not seeing the kids all day. it was actually really good. the four year 7 teachers just hung out all day (i had to look after some stragglers for a while and took me ages to find them.. and we kinda unintentionally ditched the chaplain) and shot the shit. i got a bit burned in the sand traps and a bit of my neck but nothing a bit of moisturiser couldn’t help.

yesterday was clean up day and the seniors had a bit of a cry at the end of the day. it was a bit hard to let go of such a good cohort. they were a damn nice bunch of kids and i think i got pretty damn lucky. and after seeing my class list for next year, i can see just how lucky i was. next year is going to be pretty tricky but i have some things brewing that i hope to implement straight away and get on top of things early. being more prepared is going to be handy as well, which was something i didn’t have a chance to be this year, coming in late as i did.

i received an email last night regarding the ict pedagogical license that i completed last month. it was from the moderators and it outlined their thoughts and my results from the work that i had done.so i’ve actually passed the moderation and have gained my license, which is pretty neat. i don’t know if there is an actual license as such, or even a certificate for that matter. it just means that i am able to demonstrate how i use ict in my planning and teaching. what i do know however is that the school gets more funding for having teachers with their licenses and we’re now up to six. not bad at all really.

it only occured to me this evening that i have a week left of school. the year 7′s graduate on friday. i have been working a lot on doing a cd for them all. it basically contains about eight slideshows with photos of them doing stuff throughout the year. it’s turned out pretty well. i spent a lot of time editing photos and photoshopping title pages for them all. some have turned out really well. i’m quite proud of the work on the title pages, even if the rest was quick and slightly dirty. there’s still a bit to do with school before it shuts for the holidays. this is easily the busiest i have been all year. luckily i don’t have to worry about shifting rooms for next year. i’ll be staying in the same room, so i’m pretty pleased with that. i’ll definitely need to do a clean up though… stupid mess

i’ve been doing this ict license for school for the last two months. it does not make me any more qualified as a teacher but it does mean that the school gets more funding, which seems pretty stupid if i’m only a contract teacher who probably won’t even be there next year. anyway, a part of it is writing a belief statement about what you believe as a teacher and how ict affects learning, from your perspective. it got me thinking, nay, worrying, about what the hell i actually belief in as a teacher, what teaching theories i follow and what the fuck it all means. i drew a blank, a zero, nada, nothing. so while i was procrastinating and thinking about what the hell it all means, i stumbled upon this. in my years of studying psychology i was never one to buy into the pop-psychology gimmick. but after reading this, the impostor phenomenon, certainly strikes a chord. what if? what if i’m not actually cut out to be a teacher and i’m just turning up to school everyday and fucking around with these kids and not actually teaching them anything? what if i’m just posing as an educator and reinforcing the shitty institution of learning that the queensland government has built up over the last 70 years? what if i’m just adding to the list of shoddy teachers that clog the system and don’t allow really good teachers to shine? what if i’m just overreacting? this is what procrastination leads to…

i’m still editing some canberra photos. not going as quick as i would like but there’s just so many other things i need to do as well. like making avatars for my posts!  :..: <[-_-]> :..:  (got that one from chuffy)

i spent last week travelling with some students down to sydney and canberra, taking in parliament house and other various activities. i’m still pretty tired from it, even though i got back on saturday. i’ve got over 500 photos to go through so i’ll post some as i edit them. good or otherwise… mostly otherwise.