Curious that I have two lots of blog posts for October 2007 — three if you include my English/ESL blog. One, Floating Life, soon after became my main blog. I think the October 07 entries there were originally on Blogspot. The other, Floating Life 4/06 – 11/07, had been the main WordPress blog — the first here in fact, being terminated in November 2007. So I hoovered the Blogspot stuff into the new Floating Life blog in November I guess. And there it sits. I will sample that one today. Its theme for the month was teaching. The link in Thomas’s entry below confirms these posts were origiinally on Blogspot.
My own grandfather was an inspiring teacher
01 OCT
He certainly was to me when I was his class of one, whether it was explaining something about Nature in the garden, or inspiring me to read Dickens, or telling me of his own past, or telling me about just about any place I pointed to in the atlas…
But let his daughter, my mother, explain:
It was quite a challenging task to teach forty children in one room over six classes with ages ranging from 5 to 15. A deal of thought, of preparation, and great organising ability, were needed to keep each section actually engaged in quieter activities. Much has been said for and against the standard in these small schools, but I feel that given an earnest and sincere teacher the pupils gained much more than they lost, and the students of this particular school proved in the years to come that they could take their place in any field of commerce, profession, or industry, without apologising for their humbler beginnings. [NOTE: one such student was Sinclair Hill, famous for his Polo connection with the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, among others. The story goes that his parents kept him at Braefield, rather then sending him to a private school for his early learning, because they so respected my grandfather as a teacher.]
In this building the younger children were taught to read, to write, to spell, to add, subtract, multiply, and all that is learned in any Kindergarten or Infants section of a modern school. To the older children in the upper classes the concept had to be more attractive and more challenging; their interest had to be aroused.
The worlds of History, Geography, and our spoken language, English, were wells of untapped splendour waiting to be opened. To these bush children it was a fascinating exerience to learn, and they were avid for knowledge. A lover of poetry himself, my father instilled in his pupils enough of the splendour of the written word to make them long to find more for themselves, which is so very necessary. He introduced them to Shakespeare, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Byron, Burns, the Brownings, Coleridge, Longfellow, Scott, Stevenson, Dickens… As for Australian poetry, it seemed to find an echo in the very hearts of the bush children, as Lawson, Kendall, Paterson, Adam Lindsay Gordon, Dorothea Mackellar, George Essex Evans, Bernard O’Dowd, and anyone else who had found a place in the Treasury of Australian Verse, wrote of things and places the children knew. Such was our heritage, to store in our minds for all times.
Not a bad role model.
Recycle 2
04 OCT
This one comes from August 18, 2005.
When I mentioned a day or two back that the Dip Ed course and the first few years of teaching could be somewhat transformative I remembered a funny story from my couple of years as a lecturer in Sydney University’s Dip Ed. I won’t mention names, as the person concerned turned out to be a really good English teacher who has had a very good career.
But back in 1978 “James” was in front of an English Class (Year 9 or 10) at Kogarah High School, rather heavily Lebanese. This really was new territory for a young guy who had so far inhabited the role of an English Honours student, and came from a solidly Anglo background. He was using sarcasm and/or irony as a control device, and there are times for that, but in this case I, sitting up the back in such a lesson, wrote the rather informal comment: “One day someone is going to call you a prick.” About five minutes later a student screamed out “You prick”, after which, fortunately, the bell went.
The student teacher and I went to a pub in Kogarah and discussed the situation.
As I said, he went on to do really well.
Perhaps watching Summer Heights High made me think of that again.
LOL! Pedagogical and theological disaster zone…
07 OCT
This is from a show seen in Scotland. I hope someone at the ABC or SBS takes note.
A welcome allusion…
08 OCT
Someone who has been at the classroom end of the teacher-student relation much more recently than I have is Thomas of Deus Lo Vult. His most recent entry begins in part from this blog. While not all that many people have been here yet, I have been very happy about some of the feedback I have been getting. Perhaps a positive non-ranting blog is not such a bad idea after all.
Thomas writes:
The past few weeks have been very teacher-dominated. I’ve had to survey people about the teaching profession, speak to people about motivations for teaching, done an assignment which was me reflecting on myself as a possible teacher and where I am headed, and had to think about where I’d consider applying for practical next year. As well, Ninglun has started a new blog up (I’d name it, but it seems to have a frequency of changing names and layouts) where he talks about a number of teaching-related topics. He also has a poll up at the moment, asking “What matters most in a good teacher?”, which I answered in.
All of this culminated in what I would call a self-reflective day on Friday where I started to toy around with the question of who was my favourite teacher, and why…
I won’t steal his thunder though, but if I were the teachers he mentions I think I would be very happy.
Sad
09 OCT
HEARD
Beth Lella
September 29, 2007
Peacefully at Kareena Private Hospital Caringbah, late of Sans Souci. Beloved wife of Robert (deceased). Much loved mother and mother-in-law of Robert, James and Jane. Adored “Dibby” of Max. Dear sister of Eric, Keith and Jean (all deceased), Neil and Fay, Roy and Kay. Loved and sadly missed by their families.
A dedicated Teacher and Headmistress of Milton, Mortdale, Sans Souci and Kogarah Infant Schools.
Aged 92 years
May she be remembered
for her dignity, grace,
laughter and love.
Beth’s family and friends are invited to attend her Funeral Service in the South Chapel, Woronora Crematorium, Linden Street, Sutherland on Monday (October 8, 2007) at 11am.
Unfortunately I only got this news this morning from my Uncle Roy. The notice had been in the Herald on October 3 — my brother’s birthday — but I missed it.
See my 2021 post Thinking of Aunt Beth on Australia Day.
Neil's Commonplace Book 