mark's school

Hello all you faithful GoodmanDownUnder Bloggers. This is my first crack at the blog as Nancy was not willing to write about my experience at school this week for me – can you imagine? I will tell you that I will probably do about as much blogging as I do driving here when the four of us ride together – Nancy has pretty much dominated that activity, partly because she has mastered Newcastle navigation a bit better than I at this point and mainly, I believe, because she likes the adrenaline rush of driving on the wrong side! No surprise there. I have done plenty of driving by myself though and find it entirely consuming in that I really have to focus on what I need to do next in the car as opposed to what I usually do at home which is think about anything but driving! My biggest challenge remains finding the correct door in which to enter the car – I cannot count how many times I have climbed into the passenger side only to discover that someone moved the steering wheel over.

So week one at Cardiff High School is now in the books. Thanks to all of you who sent your well wishes earlier this week– they were much appreciated. I will begin by saying I really like it, the people are great, the kids are lovely (for the most part – of course it is high school so there are still plenty of knuckleheads) and I am entirely grateful for this amazing experience.

Main office/entrance

Now for the meat:

I began the week on Tuesday with a day of teacher meetings and preparation time. A number of things of significance occurred that day: First of all the day started at 9 am – just a little odd for someone used to leaving the house at 4:30 am - I must say that I love that I am now able to see Nancy and the kids every morning rather than sneaking away in the dark of early morning like at home, Another was when the faculty sat down for our first meeting I noted that there we only about 40 people in the room and I wondered where the rest of the staff were. It dawned on me about half way through the meeting that forty teachers was all there were! I then came to understand the true difference between a school of 675 students and Thornton High which has over 2000 students. The second entertaining event occurred at 10:15, when after meeting for only 75 minutes we broke for “tea” which consisted of tea, instant coffee (the standard here) or water (no one drinks soda here L - but not to worry , I bring my own Diet Pepsi)and a massive assortment of muffins, bickies, pastries and fruit. Tea time lasted for 30 minutes followed by one more hour of meeting and that was it for teacher training. My Maths colleagues, who consist of 5 other men and 1 woman, all of whom are hysterically funny at times and incredibly helpful to this rookie, then invited me to the local pub for lunch where they each proceeded to consume two beers along with their meals before returning to work at 2 pm. We followed that with a short department meeting and about 30 minutes planning time before 3pm when they all ran out the door.

When school officially began the next day I had my first look at Aussie students – all neatly decked out in their school uniforms (Yellow shirts with grey shorts/skirts are Cardiff’s colours). The kids were organized in the outdoor assembly area and sent off with their year advisors to get their timetables (course schedules) before going off to class. My first class was a group of 7^th graders – oh my word, are they tiny compared to my THS high schoolers! They were lovely and chatty and oh so polite (Sir this and Mr. Goodman that) and asked a million questions about America. We had a great time and before I knew it (I have no sense of the bell schedule at all – I just react when it rings!) off they went to their next class. I followed this class with an off period and the next thing I knew it was lunch time and then “Sport” for the afternoon. Apparently every Wednesday the kids finish after three classes and then do Sport for the afternoon. The choices they have are wonderful ranging from surfing and swimming to golf to snooker to indoor games and so on. What a great system!

My classroom

Thursday and Friday were normal days and I finally got to meet the rest of my classes. I have another year 7, a year 9 level 3 (yes, they do tracking here – level 1 being the strongest - I’ll let all you educators know how well it works after I get a better sense of it), a year 10 level 4 (almost the lowest and it shows!), a year 11 General Maths (also a low group but older and more willing to work) and finally a year 8 level 1 (these were Prue’s favorites and clearly will be mine too).

The biggest challenge up until today has been the heat. It has been fairly moderate here since we returned from New Zealand but this week (naturally, as school is resuming) someone turned up the furnace. The daily temps were well above 90 degrees and sadly there is no air conditioning in the building. With my office and classroom both being on the 2^nd floor, the room temperatures were easily over 85 degrees – not to mention that the humidity here is constantly between 65 and 80%. It was a trifle embarrassing to be standing at the board or leaning over a student’s desk and be dripping sweat off of my shiny head! Every time I’d finish a class I would go back to the office to sit under one of the ceiling fans and just as I would dry off it would be back to class for another sweat-fest. The kids were extremely gracious about it and one little bloke was kind enough to ask:

“Sir, do you find it a bit hot here?” I could not help but crack up at that one and just wipe my head and move on. Thankfully last night a rain front moved in and it cooled to around 78 degrees. As I sit and write this on Friday evening, it has been pouring for last two hours and we have probably had over 2 inches of rain just tonight. Hopefully my body will acclimate before it heats up again here – otherwise I will just grin and bear it for another month until it begins to cool off here (all the way down to the 60’s I hear!) and bring a towel for wiping in the mean time.

So I can conclude with these thoughts: Teachers and students in Australia are much the same as in the US. Just like my colleagues at home, the teachers are committed, creative and sincerely involved in giving students the best possible education. The administrators still administrate and the teachers still want to be left alone to teach. The students, while maybe a bit more polite than some of our kids, would still rather be on vacation than back in school. The facility itself is not nearly as modern as most of the schools in the US, but the basic underpinnings are identical.

The Quad

The final story I will share highlights what may be the most significant difference I have noticed so far. The principal, in her address to the teachers on the first day, brought in a video from a speech she had attended in 2006 given by an Australian educator named Dr. Paul Brock, who has a fascinating story in his own right, and who has an incurable disease and a compelling message. Our principal’s message was: We must as educators, teach our students not only to be academically capable but equally as important, to be morally aware and actively involved in the social world around us. I loved it! Finally a principal that sincerely encourages teachers to educate the “whole child” as opposed to exclusively focusing on data and testing proficiency as the cure for all ills. Below is the link to Dr. Brock’s speech for those of you with the time and interest:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/amid-apathy-a-voice-of-sanity/2006/04/14/1144521506024.html

Blessings on you all from Down Under,

Mark