Becoming a Teacher

Who would have thought that this handsome young fellow would end up a teacher responsible for other young people's lives?

By the way I'm the one on the left

Well I know my parents certainly didn't. They had much loftier ideas that their oldest might become a priest. I don't know if that's quite a fair assumption on my part but I know they were extremely proud of me when I entered Holy Name Seminary in Christchurch.

Usual church group but not usual dress attire [that's me lying down]

When I left the Seminary I did a variety of jobs in Christchurch, Dunedin and overseas. I can now see Lea saying ''where is 'I wasn't always a teacher 3'?'' I'm sorry Lea, I know it's well overdue but the London excursion will have to wait a little longer as it's a biggy with lots of photos and stories.

So skipping 2 and a half years I arrived back in Dunedin with my XJS Jaguar.

Isn't she a beauty? It broke my heart to sell her!

  Sadly I had to sell it due to a cash flow crisis. After a year of unemployment I met Jo who promptly told me in no uncertain terms that she wasn't going to waste her time on someone with no future. To be fair what she actually said is unprintable!

Just the shake up I needed! Behind every good man is a good woman so I instantly obeyed and from a casual conversation with a teaching friend I entered Dunedin Teachers' College.

It took me a while to grow into the idea that this was what I was destined to do. It was only after a few years in the real teaching world that I realised I had a passion for my new career. I knew I had found the best possible job for me. On previous blogs I have talked about the pleasure I get from inspiring children and sharing in their worlds. As people who know me would probably agree I'm really just a big kid myself.

To be able to spend my days having fun working with the little ones I've been entrusted and learning along side them gives me a great sense of purpose and satisfaction.

Here are some photos of my official teacher registration presentation in Porirua while working at Waitangirua Intermediate.

Thankyou very much!

A proud moment indeed. Glad it's over!

Really I've got an itchy nose!

Being True to Yourself

I had to make a career decision today. Do I take the easy option or go with my heart?
   I have taught mainly 7 - 10 year olds during my time of teaching. I have had many successes and the very occasional disappointment. All the ages have had their positives and challenges. It has been a matter of adapting to their at times quite different needs and fine tuning my teaching approach. The older children are great to teach as they have more independence. However for myself I have discovered that the younger children really respond to me and I love their energy and enthusiasm.
   This year I have had great fun with my year 3 class. I have thoroughly enjoyed my daily singing with the children. We’ve sung songs from Postman Pat to a bunch of New Order and Elliott Smith songs which I suspect are foreign to many and not in a typical classroom selection. They are songs I have loved to sing and play. It’s wonderful to see the children in full voice and at times jumping around as I play the guitar and sing with them.
   I’ve also loved the way they have got excited by words and how animated they get when they discover them in their reading and use them in their writing and learn to spell words like ‘circumstantialities’.  
   So in whether to go old or young my heart told me that I should teach the younger children as it felt the right decision.
   Have you had recent difficult decisions to make and how did you decide what was the right one?

Word Power

Words can offend, humour, frustrate and motivate. As a teacher I have discovered how children of all ages can be inspired and encouraged by the realisation that words are formidable tools to explore their thoughts and ideas. Obviously there is great excitement for a young person to have the capacity to express and communicate as they develop their language knowledge. Where is this heading you may inquire? Over the last 15 years I've experimented with a learning programme I call Glossary. A simple concept with powerful results of 10 new words a week played with and committed to memory in meaningful contexts. I believe it is fundamental to my teaching and practically unanimously children agree. I admit I am utterly obsessed but can't resist as I constantly see children's eyes light up as I use or they hear those remarkable Glossary Words. Parents are astounded as their children read, write, speak and hear in this new found language that overtakes them as well. Long live the Power of the Word! 

New Horizons

For the first time I have been introduced to the world of blogging. I am excited about sharing with you my passions and my adventures on the usually sunny Kapiti Coast.

One of my achievements I am proud of is my latest Picture Book called You're Not Eating Me. Let me tell you how this book was born.

I was teaching my Year 3/4 class a very interesting lesson on Alliteration.  Usually after class I go for my regular run.  I run about 10km in a session and during that time I simply love to just think.  And it occured to me on this day that I could take this lesson on Alliteration and actually turn it into something fun. Something the kids would love and enjoy.  And because they love it when we sing in class I thought my idea would simply be perfect!  So during my 40 minute run I came up with the words, but because I obviously didn't have pen and paper with me had to keep repeating it to myself until I came back to class.  Afterwards I spent about 20 minutes playing around on the piano and finally it just all fell into place.  I had words.  Fun words!  And music!  And now it was simply just to find somebody who could illustrate my book.  Not an easy task because I'm not much of an artist and I wanted something kids could really relate to.  So I did the only logical thing - I held a competition at school.

I was so incredibly impressed when Chelsea Osborne one of the Year 8 students came back to me with a selection of illustrations.  I was totally blown away by the detail she put into these pictures and finally after 8 months I was all set to get my "baby" published.

I wanted to offer something more.  Something more than just simply a book.  So I added a CD.   I included the "You're not eating me" song along with 11 others that I wrote and wanted to share with kids.  I know that these were popular songs based on the reactions in class.