On Sunday night I had the great experience of attending the College Sports Wellington Sportsperson of the Year awards at the Amora Hotel. Our oldest daughter, Kate had been nominated as a finalist for Multisport as a result of her win in the Senior Girls Triathlon at the start of the year.
It was a fantastic evening and wonderful to be amidst sports people and see the rising talent in all categories of sport. Paula Tesoriero, the Paralympian cyclist inspired the audience with her motivational speech as guest speaker.
Getting ready to start proceedings
Kapiti College Finalists [Left to Right, Kate - Multisport, Jake - All Rounder, Tara - archery]
Nearing the end of my final year of Teacher Training in Dunedin I applied for about 80 teaching positions. The only successful application was for an interview at a Porirua Intermediate School.
The school flew me up and I was fortunate to have an excellent interview. On arriving back in Dunedin later that day I received a call informing me I had won the position.
It was a challenging and rewarding time at the school and a complete culture shock. The roll consisted predominately of Samoan children. I loved the cutural flavour and the Powhiris welcoming visitors to the school.
After 3 years I decided to apply for teaching positions with younger children that resulted in getting offered a permanent teaching job at Waikanae School in a Year 5/6 class. The school was looking for a teacher with interest in music and thankfully I have had many opportunities to share my skills.
Since coming up north from Dunedin we had been living in Whitby. With starting at Waikanae School I found after 6 months the commuting in a car pool to be inconvenient. We decided that the Kapiti Coast could be a better place to live for a young family and happily we found a home for ourselves on the Kapiti Coast.
We have found Raumati South a wonderful area to bring up the girls with it's relaxed life style and sporting opportunities.
Coming from Dunedin I appreciate the more temperate climate and living near the ocean is refreshing in the summer. Enjoying the outdoors as we do I can't imagine a better place to live a healthy contented life.
My strong bond with my new home is reflected in my song titled Kapiti.
Over my years of teaching I have taught a number of dyslexic children. Sadly my knowledge of their needs and I'm sure it's the same for a lot of teachers was centred around reading difficulties.
At Kapiti College tonight I discovered first hand from teenagers the challenges and frustrations they daily faced. I heard not only about their problems with reading tasks but also in the way teachers don't understand what they specifically needed to make learning managable and therefore rewarding.
Some children talked about not picking up on instructions, being scared to ask for clarification and how they found ways to avoid tasks. They also talked about not feeling they could achieve and often a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.
We were given some extremely simple and practical advice that would enhance the learning opportunities in the classroom and help relieve the feelings of confusion and isolation. A much satisfying workshop that will make me a more effective and flexible teacher with children who need a slightly different approach in the way they learn best.
Have you had any personal challenges or experiences with dyslexia and what has been helpful in dealing with those specific needs.
