We Say Peri

HAH my French was pretty darn good - I even chatted up our Waitress where Avril had a two part date with some French Canard lol!!

Paris was a great little adventure with good friends.

I arrived late in the evening on Valentines Day and had a Romantic Date solo atop the highest peak in Paris – Sacre Coeur. A couple Gargoyles kept me company so life wasn’t too bad.

Day 1 – while I awaited Laura’s arrival I adventured around Notre Dame Cathedral, Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie (where they kept all the prisoners awaiting the guillotine!!!) There was even a silly little man dressed up in Quasimodo garb scaring unaware passer-bys.

I did some window shopping and toured the Picasso museum before catching up up with Lovely Laura and her sister Megan. We spent the evening chowing down French Sushi and wandering the Louvre – ps the Louvre takes many, many, many hours to tour – you can’t do the whole thing in a day and we only had 3 hours!!!

Day 2 – We met up with Avril & Chris and checked out the Musee d’Orsay, Eiffel Tower & Arc de Triomph :D Followed by some din-dins at the aforementioned restaurant au flirty waitress.

Day 3 – We met at the Pantheon and did some garden touring, Café frequenting and walked the French grave yards. It was an early morning as I had to leave for my flight around 12 o clock.

My big revelation was gazing into Van Gogh’s self portraits. I really appreciated the detail of self-reflection. I value that quality in people and had a great little afternoon looking into and interpreting his insights.

I would definitely do Paris again but a bit more on the piss next time – and maybe even see some can can girls at the burlesque shows :D As for now I truly look forward to Rome!! In 39 days :D ;D ;D

Check out my photos

3 Point Discipline Plan

I forgot to post my 3 Point Discipline Pan from my New Years resolution :D

The "plan" is pretty basic - have and maintain the expectation that students will not talk/interrupt when you are teaching: this is for two main reasons - it stops others from learning & its fuc*ing rude :P

I used to think if my lessons were high energy and engaging that students would be so "into it" they wouldn't have time to misbehave - unfortunately kids don't always come to class emotionally/psychologicall

y prepared to learn. Instead of hoping negative behaviour wouldn't happen - I now have a 3 point plan with the expectation it may occur... this sets a routine for students so they know exactly what will happen if they are messing about. When you're consistent this routine will become a deterant for negative behaviour (along with effective lesson planning that keeps them engaged).

1) Warning - correct the behaviour but let the student know its unacceptable and ANY additional problem will result in step two. Be firm.

2) Send out or Move - depending on where you're teaching - either way remove the students for 5 mins from the environment. Let them know this is their last chance and if you have to speak to them again you will move to step three. (Be consistent and don't let anything slide - this is seriously the hardest thing because you want to teach rather than play policeman - but until discipline is under control it is impossible to teach).

3) Remove from lesson - at my school we have a slip to send extremely disruptive students to see a senior member of staff who will keep them in a detention for the remainder of the lesson (along with anyone else in the school who has been removed). In Canada we generally don't have as high a level of disruption - so what you could do is have them sort music or do another simple menial task. I have a work sheet titled WHY MUSIC outlining philosophy and research into the effects of music education that students copy out by hand. Some have copied it out several times :D this way i'm not using music (such as theory) as a punishment but they are still learning something.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - phone home for any student who reaches step three. Its freaking scary at first talking to parents but you HAVE to do it. Write down exactly what their kid was doing and explain how this is negatively affecting other students from learning. TRUST me when I say students talk - as soon as I phoned home the next day the whole class knew I was playing hard ball and not putting up with any BS. Being consistent greatly reduces any negative behaviour in the classroom.

England is a bit of a shit-show - so I have to take it one step further. I record any disruptions (step 1-3) in my Behaviour & Discipline log. At the end of each term I have evidence for parents just how much disruption their child creates in the classroom. Your daughter has interrupted my teaching 7 times in 12 lessons!!!! But I also have evidence of students who deserve praise for having perfect behaviour and attitude for learning and can also reward those individuals.

Another great trick is for any kid who's reached step three - have them come in at lunch to speak with you (or if you can do it immediately after the lesson). Pick up the phone and dial their parents number at home/work in front of them - then pass the student the phone as its ringing and say "You will explain why you were given 3 chances and removed from my lesson today. After that the parent might want to apologies to you or the kids silence says it all.

Old UVic Buzz words

Before I jumped into this first teaching post of the year I must highlight some up and coming events.
A) Spice Girls Concert January 22
B) Trip to Paris in February 14-17
C) Trip to Rome March 28-31
What a kick ass start to 2008 eh??? I'm pretty stoked. After the Christmas hump - I know I can make it to summer holidays :D

All right so a couple buzz words (or sayings) have rung through my head ever since I left University and recently they've totally started making sense. So much of Uni was hear say or just something to 'memorize' but these little gems have finally been internalized and make a hell of a lot of sense in the practical world.

First off - a great professor said - It must be physical before it can be musical. This could seriously be the thesis for music instruction because it leads so easily into everything I teach. It especially links abstract ideas to concrete practice and helps kids develop musical sense.THAAAAANKS Dave!

Second - I remember learning organization skills throughout formal education and from extracurricular involvements but recently it totally occurred to me how crucial it is to be organized to be an effective teacher. As I dragged my ass all last year I became more exhausted in a vicious circle that left me feeling pretty crappy about my job. Three simple words "do it now" have turned things around. Organization is contagious and after my Units and assessment tasks are planned out ahead of time - day to day teaching can leave me feeling energized. Each lesson can be put into context and I can see where I'm going each week, month and term. Also I no longer have piles of things to do later around my desk - a major stress relief compared to 2007. Little tasks can pile up and turn into demotivating big tasks when left to fester: trust me!!

Finally - I'm not sure why this stuck in my head but Dr.King once told a group of us that 3rd year teaching is one of the best years of our Careers because you've survived the bumps and bruises of starting off - and you're still naive enough to think you've found the perfect balance to teaching. After that, apparently, we're suppose to humble to the notion that there's so much more we can do with our teaching practices that the confidence buzz wares off going into the 4th and 5th year. I can see my self feeling really confident in the next year because I can start to recycle my Unit lessons and cut down on the Macro planning - I mean every year things will need to be tweaked and each class/student brings a whole new challenge but I do look forward to having things in place and not spend my term breaks writing the next Unit plan.

I guess University's about making a blue print to fall back on when you're stuck in the real world. I do feel well rounded when I approach teaching dilemmas - sometimes I'm not in the right mind frame to resolve conflict but a comforting discussion with a colleague gets me back on track. I just wonder if I’ll be eating my own words about "Never going back for my masters...."

New Years 2008

Happy New Year Folks!

My 2nd New Years in the UK. It's been a hell of a year and far from perfect. I think that's why a fresh start is so exhilarating because things generally get better the more you hack at them lol!! I spent New Years in a local Bar dancing my arse off and trumpeted 2008 in with a state of the art party horn :D

Compared to New Years 2007 -> 2008 started off ten fold better! I even won £100 in the door prize. Good company, great drinks and a fantastic new years smooch should put a smile on this guys face. I have some tricks up my sleeve for my students in the New Year and I'm hitting the classroom guns a blazing. Also looking forward to Mom coming for a visit in the Spring and I believe there's a Ms. Hickman appearance as well... Yippee!

My score on last years Resolutions was a mediocre 5/10... - My car blew up so rowing/erging plans were kayboshed; my Visa bill didn't survive the plane ticket home from this summer - although I haven't charged anything on it since; with the Visa bill no UK fashion could be justified; my fishing trip with dad didn't happen; and As for wedding music - Tanya's friends did a superb job sans moi. On the flip side I Got on Skype and chatted back home much more; joined a Brass Band; discovered Romance; Won my Div3 Vball league; and Completed a Rozzy recommended Detox. So this year I'm picking up some British Teaching lingo and aiming for 'smart targets'.

1. Cycle across Ireland
2. Improve my vball block - penetrating over the net
3. Compose a Baritone Duet feature for Brass Band
4. Pay off $5000 CAD against my CIBC Visa
5. Implement and Refine my 3point classroom management system to eliminate low level disruption in the classroom.
6. Travel to France or Italy
7. Decorate my Room
8. Drink 2 Liters of water everyday and have water bottles available at work & home
9. Not to skip lunch by stocking the fridge at work on Mondays.
10. What's a NYears resolution without the typical 'get fit' entry?? Well mine is to do 5 push ups before I take a shower at home. Each month this number increases.

All the best to my friends and family around the world. I hope 2008 brings great things - especially for all those Rower types back in Victoria/London Canada heading to Beijing!!!