Very Smurfy

Do you remember Smurfs as fondly as I?  Perhaps this shows my vintage, but many around my age might still have one or two of these little fellows floating about their homes.  Hiding in long forgotten places, just waiting to be remembered.  I have six of them.  I only ever had six, but I have them all.  I wonder how it is, in all the moving to and fro, hither and yon, that these little friends have remained with me all this time.  I don't know, but my children knew exactly where to put their hands on them!

We're on a mission for my Smurfs.  One of my assignments requires me to come up with a design challenge and to put it into action.  Of course, then comes a 2,500 word essay regarding the activity...*sigh*.  In any case, Smurfs were my inspiration.  Because I don't believe in fairies.  And I wanted something that was full of creativity, fun, colour....and a little bit of whimsy.  So fairies were out.  But Smurfs?  Well...there they are with so much more personality!

So.  My design challenge is to create a Smurf resort because they will be arriving in Our Town for their annual weekend convention and there is no resort here for them to stay at.  I can't wait to see what the kids come up with!  We're roping in a couple of 'little friends' to help us.  And what do you know, they fit into the VELS stage of learning I'm aiming at.  Perfect. It's their turn to help me with my homework.  For a change.

It's Like Brand New

It is done.  Finally.  I spent a few days procrastinating.  If one can call studying procrastinating.  I'm sure I hear stories about people doing housework to avoid the study.  Not me!  My oven, however, is finally clean. 
And because Frances things her oven is worse, can I say it took a couple of goes?  Yup.  It was bad.

And now it's not.  Now it's shiny.

If your oven is scaring you, can I suggest you tackle the thing head on and clean it?  It's amazing how good you'll feel, even if noone else in your family appreciates it!

Metaphorically Speaking

I think I'm seeing some light in my dark tunnel.  One of my uni subjects requires us to come up with a metaphor to explain what we think about teaching and how we see ourselves as teachers.  In a couple of weeks we all need to present something that covers specific aspects and how the metaphor explains them.

I have been excited about using 'Artist' as my metaphor.  I've tweaked and refined as I've hit hurdles.  But the presentation of the information had me stumbling about in a dark place for a little bit.  So many information sharing sites to choose from.  Does one learn a whole new program or just upload a Powerpoint?  Which program will do what I want it to?  How do I go about explaining my metaphor and compare it to teaching?

Do you see where I've been?!  I tell you, a dark little place of questions.

One by one, I have been answering those questions.
What would I advise someone else to do about the program?  Think about the information sharing later...just begin with Powerpoint.  I know how Powerpoint works.  It does all the things I want to do with the presentation.

How do I articulate my metaphor vs real life ideas?  Having an artistic bent, I began with pictures.  Because presentations need to be attractive and interesting.  Yes?  I'm sure I don't want to sit through something that is boring to look at, so why would anyone else.  And then I decided to record an explanation of each slide.  Everything is more cohesive  now.

All of a sudden I see light at the end of my dark little place.  It is looking and sounding good.  To me, anyway.  We'll see what happens with 'peer review'!

Monday Menu Plan: Week Beginning 11 April

Today has passed by in a blur!  Mr Busy has entertained himself while the girls went and picked chestnuts for a school family.  They returned home with glorious reports of money earned and time spent with friends.  Me?  I studied.  All day.  Just as well I'm on holidays from school because this week would be a bit difficult to get my head around otherwise.  I have to construct a presentation for one of my subjects and there are plenty of information sharing websites being suggested.  But their use is making my head hurt and my blood pressure rise.  Rather than become a basketcase, I began in PowerPoint and will upload to one of the sites from there.

I had intended to clean the oven today, disgraceful thing that it is.  Alas, I forgot to become unobsessed about my presentation task!  Perhaps tomorrow.

In terms of food, however, we're completely covered.  Planning is done, shopping was completed on Saturday with the help of Miss Mischief and we're ready to deal with holiday appetites.  For me that means eating less....for the kids it means eating more.  They get bored and think eating is a way to entertain themselves.  I need to get them baking first!

Monday:  Meatloaf, vegies
Tuesday:  Redcurant lamb chops, vegies
Wednesday: Honey mustard chicken, vegies
Thursday:  Ricotta fritters, vegies
Friday:  Dinner at my brother's
Saturday: Perhaps we need to plan for visitors?
Sunday:  Soup, english muffin pizzas

So on our holiday agenda apart from eating?  Mr Busy will be doing NAPLAN testing early in Term 2 so he will be getting on Matheletics most days and I need to sit with him and figure out some strategies for brainstorming ideas for writing a persuasive text.  He gets writers block in the ideas stage.  Poor boy.  I'll be studying in between other things and I suppose some planning of those 'other things' might not go astray!

What do you like to do on school holidays?

Of Trains and Quiet Evenings

After the early morning mind games I caught my train in just enough time.  The station I would normally go from has very little parking by 8am, so I headed to the next station and managed to get my ticket and be on the platform with 3 minutes to spare.  That's plenty, right?  I came home with Dh, who had driven in to the city so we had a lovely chat in the comfort of our own car.

My PD was very informative with lots of things to bring back to the teachers I work with.  Things to look for.  Things to do.  Activities to enjoy, just because...and to assist students in particular ways.  And what did I hear all day?  Visual, visuals visuals.  Children with language and learning difficulties all need visual aide supports.  Clip-Art, here I come.  My return to school this morning was greeted with tales of little people 'falling of their perches' here and there.  It's the last week of term, so I suppose it makes sense that some of them would be to weary to cope well.  My heart ached for them...and their teachers!

I'm planning a nice quiet evening in front of the TV, I think.  I've one chapter to read for Uni and then I'm done for the week, I think.  How did that happen?!  It's only Wednesday.  Perhaps my Tail Feathers stitchery might keep me company too.  It's contstantly in my mind and I walk past it thinking how lonely it looks resting there on my sewing cabinet, neglected and patient.  But every time I sit down for long enough to do it I'm too weary to think about moving!  Maybe tonight.

Menu Planning: Week Beginning 4 April

Does it still count as Monday if the sun isn't up yet on Tuesday?  I'm not sure it does, but I have good reason for putting this post off.  Yesterday was a normal full day of rewarding work and full-on study. A friend came over to repair the drum kit that needs to be returned.  I cooked dinner....after the girls had done some baking.  Late in the day.  And I noticed a tiny little icon on my Foundations of Teaching online link.

That tiny little icon told me my first ever University assignment had been returned and graded.  Do you know how nerveracking it is to wait on that first one ever?  Even worse, wondering if when you finally open that document it will have NN (fail) on it.  Well, I opened up mine and looked at the grade and took a moment to realise that DN means Distinction.  I cannot tell you how completely satisfying those two little letters are!  There were a handful of corrections that were not the most super important things in the world, but still very worthy of noting for next time.

On to the dinner table for this week.  I must be missing my kitchen.  The meals I have planned are ones that I imagine I'll end up cooking most nights.  They are meals that are inspired by a Nigella Lawson book off my shelf and simply needed to be investigated.  I'm sure it's wrong to leave such books languishing on the shelf without more than a passing glance.

Monday:  Chinese beef & noodles
Tuesday:  Risotto (maybe!!)
Wednesday:  Spanish chicken with potatoes & chorizo
Thursday:  Pasta (Miss Sunshine)
Friday:  Redcurrant lamb chops, vegies
Saturday:  Lasagna (make a double batch)
Sunday:  Vietnamese pork noodle soup

I'm off to a PD today about supporting children in literacy who have language difficulties.  I always feel very nervous about catching the train.  Will I get a parking spot?  Will the trains be running approximately on time?  Will I have to go to the station a few down the line to get a parking spot?  You see my point, don't you?  I don't go on the trains very often, and when I am travelling on my own I go round and round in my head about how I'll handle any unexpected things.  However, training my way to the venue will provide a wonderful opportunity to read.  For fun.

Still Smiling

I work in lots of different classrooms.  With lots of different children.  Not only do I work with the children who require extra support, but it is inevitable that I spend time with almost every other student at some point.  When you spend 10 lessons of the week in any one class you become pretty attached to one another.

On Tuesday when I was skitting off to another classroom half way through an afternoon the Prep's (5 & 6yo's) were asked to say good afternoon to me.  Which they did.  And then they spontaneously errupted into a loud chorus of "We love you!!".

Yesterday as I was heading off to have my lunch one of the Prep girls came back into the classroom just to say goodbye and to tell me she hoped I would enjoy my lunch.

They are such precious little people.  They have their quirks and we have some frustrating days here and there.  But they have the ability to make me smile for days just because they are who they are.