absolutwillie

Tag: fun

  • Hiccups and CO2

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IjzAIwGbjw?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata&w=320&h=266]

  • Sir's got swag

    I had a really good giggle this morning when one of the kids in my favourite (yes, I have one) class told me that I had “swag”. Apparently this was not only a compliment on my dress-sense, but on the way I teach and come across in general! Naturally I was flattered. It wasn’t all that long ago that the last thing anyone would ever have accused me of was being cool or having swag. I am sure my inner-adolescent blushed.

    My schedule today ended up having a great balance of both English as well as LO classes, as well as the opportunity to assist some Gr. 12s with their English exam preparations and a chance to sit in on an art period! All the good things in school ;0)

    After school I picked up some of the school paper kids and headed off to the teacher at the helm of the paper’s house, where I joined the editorial team in getting the term’s edition print ready. We set up our laptops around the dining table and got busy. It was great fun! My experience in printing came in very handy, and chatting with the kids turned out to be both entertaining and enlightening. The nicknames kids come up with are horribly funny, especially for their teachers! Apparently most of my colleagues from Stellenbosch University have been given nicknames as well. Some more kind than others. Naturally the learners didn’t want to tell me what mine was… saying that they will tell me at the end of my last day of practicum.

    Here’s ’til next Friday then!

  • Friday Vlogsperimentation

    Still learning. Still making mistakes. Still having fun!
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89cSfjAvOzo?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata&w=320&h=266]
    Byeee!!!

  • Snow and rainbows

    Today showed me how very differently one class could respond to a particular L.O. lesson than another. Where the Gr.X C-class nearly yawned the class into Oz, the A- and E-classes loved every detail! Where the first class was decidedly bored out of their skulls the moment they walked in the door – the other classes snapped out of it the moment I started the lesson. They enjoyed what I had prepared for them, and participated to such an extent that the lesson felt less like a class and more like a lively discussion among friends. It was amazing.

    Your preparation as well as the kids make all the difference. The classes who put something of themselves into the lesson, got something more in return. This mix of energy allowed me to pour my whole self into the moment and emerge with my learners, energized and ready to move on at the end of the period (which flew by in no time).

    I have yet to figure out why the first class differed so greatly from the other two, and what I could do to bring their spark out in the former group.

    …

    After school I went to buy my colleague a milkshake for his birthday (which he didn’t want celebrated elaborately). Three of us jumped in a car, drove in the icy rain to the mall, and celebrated with sweets while surrounded by snow capped mountains. From the pay-point, I took the following photograph:

    All was right with the world.

    I also made him this little video as a birthday present :0)

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V8DpEi_33Y?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata&w=320&h=266]

  • Annoyed

    Annoyed annoyed annoyed
    I am viciously annoyed.
    Ticked off, miffed,
    agitated and
    oh
    so very
    vexed!

    Some of you will remember that I had presented a lesson on “Poetry for Enjoyment” when Prof. Beets came to critique me. The lesson served as a bridge between the movie “Dead Poets Society” and the Grade 11 Prepared Reading task, which made up their oral assignment for the term. After the D-day lesson, I presented this lesson to my Mentor’s other Gr.11 class to their surprised delight.It’s a fun lesson, carefully crafted to achieve the “unthinkable” – making poetry so much fun, that you’d want to delve into it at home, in your own time, and love it.Following my two presentations in my Mentor’s classes, she suggested that the other Gr.11 English teachers consider having me present this lesson after they’re classes have watched the movie. A suggestion which seems to’ve been received quite well, judging by the bookings I received. Of course I had to make room for these lessons in my L.O.-schedule, but I figured it was worth it for me, for the learners, and for the love of poetry!

    Today saw me presenting this lesson to 11B, with both their teacher and the Department Head in the classroom. The light wasn’t ideal for the overhead projector, but the lesson went down without a hitch. The learners seemed to love it, and their teacher said how enjoyable he found it. The Department Head, whose classes are up tomorrow and the day after, was however not as enthusiastic about the poem I used at the end of my lesson to drive it all home. She asked that I change it to one of the Gr.12 EFAL poems she had on a DVD.

    This is the poem I have been using all this while as an exercise in performing a reading:[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpwAP36-w7E?si=X8fGGxRjUGePY040]

    I’m sure you can imagine the hilarity (enjoyment) that ensued once learners were given the text to this poem and told they had two minutes to prepare a fun way of reading it, and then reading it in front of the whole class. Right there. (Yes, I’m incorrigible – with purpose.)

    The plaintiff flat-out refused that part of the lesson.
    These are the poems I’ve been asked to substitute it with:

    Guy Butler – A Prayer for All My Countrymen
    Roy Campbell – The Serf
    John Donne – Death Be Not Proud
    Charles Eglington – Cheetah
    John Milton – On His Blindness
    Oswald Mtshali – The birth of Shaka
    William Shakespeare – Sonnet 116
    Karl Shapiro – Auto Wreck
    Stephen Spender – An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
    W.D. Snodgrass – Mementos, 1

    WTF? Let’s switch out a light-hearted, nonsensical and funny little poem for something more… well, either high-browed convoluted-ness or death and misery. Great.

    Of course these poems are all fantastic works of art – in the same way a Rembrandt is fantastic. They’re also just as much fun…

    I’ll have to make a plan.

  • Saturday Fun-day tester

    An experiment in vlogging:
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iImS2Rl443w]

  • Photo day!!

    It was Photo Day at school today… this still (since my days) seems to mean chaos in the classroom, and fun everywhere else. Learners are expected to be everywhere at any time of the day, to appear in class photos, team photos, individual photos… you get the idea.

    Funnily enough the drama kids wanted me in their photo! Badly enough to petition the principal :0)

    I loved it, of course, even though it felt strange to sit in on a group’s Year Photograph after only being around for four weeks, and full knowing that practicum will be over in another four weeks’ time.

    But no matter how I declined, there was no getting out of it after they came back with the principal’s blessings. Here’s an iPhone photo taken at the same time as the official photo:

    I [heart] U too!

    The learners at this school are amazing kids – and they are barging their way straight into my heart…

    Back to academia:
    Days like today are very tricky when you’re trying to teach your lessons despite the mad-hattery around you. I suspect a better way to go about it, is to channel the excitement and turn the chaos into a learning experience in itself. Orals or creative writing projects could transform the lesson into something the carry with them whilst changing uniforms, posing with different teams and classes and just generally having a wildfire day.

  • International Schools Rugby and Big Band Brilliance

    Today was a day packed to the brim with excitement and activities. Not to mention work.


    SARU had selected our school to host several international rugby matches that were televised and broadcast throughout the rugby-universe. And everyone got a chance to take part! Even if you were part of the Under 14 D rugby team, and played waaaaay at the back on the secondary fields – you were a part of everything, and the excitement that filled the air was intoxicating.


    Even one such as myself, who barely knows what a rugby match looks like, could enjoy the day quite vigorously. Which I did. Starting with early morning security detail, to watching the sun rise over the snow-capped mountains, to supporting the U14Ds and all my kids playing before the main games. I don’t know how many of them recognized their student English/LO-teacher pacing up and down the fields – but seeing the faces of those who did light up made my heart swell.

    Similarly, at the Orchestra’s Winter Concert earlier tonight, it was such a pleasure to see kids shining in their passions, and living for what they do. I had such a great time watching them play, listening to the gorgeous music they made, and just being a part of their Big Night!

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOaJkm1H9_Y?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata&w=320&h=266]

    I’m growing quite attached to these kids.

  • The Big Brag

    Today was all about building school spirit – gees – which pretty much translated to kids in red costumes bursting in controlled chaos. Fun most of the time, but pretty draining. Especially the day before the Big Rugby. Which will be followed by the Orchestra’s winter concert that very evening.

    All of which needed to be prepared for today. Of course I helped everywhere I could, and some places where I couldn’t… old habits die hard.
    Best news of the week though: the kids whom I helped with preparation for their English Language term paper all passed with improved grades! Yay!!!
    To celebrate, here’s a short clip of some Geesvang:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fqi3sk9FJA?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata&w=320&h=266]

    I spent most of the day preparing the school hall for Saturday evening’s concert – which promises to be big fun!

  • Saturday’s Fry-Day duty

    Drostdy played Bishops today, and we had a loooooot of rugby kids and their peeps to feed. As student-teachers, it is pretty much accepted that we are also free labour and are to be made use of wherever and whenever possible. It’s a kind of right-of-passage, I guess *lol*
    I see it as paying my dues.
    And I don’t mind one bit!
    I was fryin’ fries for free :0)
    There is a lot to be said for building camaraderie around a sports-day at a boarding school. (Most of it good!)
    It is a great pity that some of my colleagues do not seem to share my optimism with regards to doing service at/for the school. They really are doing themselves a disservice by not participating – or begrudgingly if they do. People can be so much fun to work with!
    And you get to see behind the severity of everyone’s class-faces ;0)
    Good times!