Hakuna matata

Sometimes I just hate this Mum business.

So the last time I heard from Sarah - she's gone to New Zealand, remember - was Tuesday. Since then I've texted her, phoned her, got her voicemail and left a message, and found out by phoning the very helpful NZ flower shop lady that her Christmas parcel was delivered, but left at the door without getting a signature. But I haven't heard from her since Tuesday.

Should I worry? Clearly. I am her mother after all and I'll do that anyway.

Should I do anything about my worry? If so what? I have no other way of getting in touch apart from something quite extreme like the police. It's a very uncomfortable feeling.

Update: I've now phoned the police in Napier as I've still heard nothing from Sarah, and her phone goes straight to voicemail. Just waiting now.'

Further update: She phoned at 5am this morning to say they'd been on a four day hike and got out of signal range before they realised it. She was embarrassed to find they had attracted the attention of the police and consequently their neighbours. Next time she'll tell someone where she's going. Phew!

image: http://www.cambridgegreekcorner.co.uk/productslink.html

Preparing for Christmas on the beach?

I think she's enjoying herself. She and Tomas arrived in Auckland, bought a car, travelled to Napier and are renting a flat. They've done a lot of sightseeing already and sound very happy.

Christmas Greetings!

Health in the Eye of the Storm

Today we had an unusual In-Service day. Under the banner of Health and Wellbeing, our cluster, teachers, support staff and office staff, was treated to a whole day with a broad programme of workshops from salsa to pilates, well woman/man to meditation. (We had previously made a choice of 8 from which we were allocated to 4.) We were given a healthy and appetising lunch and given time to browse a "market place" of health promoting stalls.

The keynote speaker, Andy McKechnie was very entertaining as well as motivating.

I feel energised by the sessions I attended: salsa, posture and fitness, massage and "health in the eye of the storm". I had my cholesterol and blood pressure properly checked by a doctor at the drop-in (both reassuringly fine) and had a brief but very helpful chat with her.

I am hopeful. This is a new approach for our target-driven hierarchy, supporting with action the idea that treating people as people instead of numbers or statistics will benefit everyone. Don Ledingham, Director of a neighbouring Authority has written about his take on mental health and wellbeing. Our own Director spoke in a very personal way about managing stress and the importance of balance. I remembered Ian Smith of Learning Unlimited at SLF08 saying that a teacher needs the skills of a tightrope walker - not, as you might think, safely balanced, but being able to cope with being a bit off balance.

And it's interesting to observe the positive effect of finishing at 3.15, chatting with other teachers who had enjoyed the day, and no tedious plenary to sit through at the end.

Roll call

Alan’s blogpost ps about words brought to mind an entertaining diversion we indulged in at orchestra rehearsal one night.

The conductor raised his baton and we suddenly realised that crucial players had still to come back from washing up the tea cups.So we noted an an absence of bassoons...and while we waited, began devising group names for some of our comrades-at-arms. Those I can remember were:

an arrogance of first violins

a fluster of second violins

an enclosure of violas

an ostentation of cellos

a struggle of double basses

an outcry of oboes

What I wonder is the group name for Bloggers? Quite a few blogs consider this. This blog list of other collective nouns and also suggests a” of bloggers. And this one has assembled many suggestions including a "roll"

Maybe though it should be a solitude of bloggers reflecting the individual and yet communal nature of blogging?

Thinking on holiday

On holiday, I realised that the Curriculum for Excellence isn't going to be like this:











(That's Moses getting the ten commandments)

But more like this:







Perhaps ending up like this?











Who knows where I was on holiday?

Too much Glow

Some people whose blogs I read have embedded the absolutely excellent Glow Games in a post.

Is it just me being a grumpy old woman or is the muzak very very annoying? I could mute my speakers but if I want to view a video clip they've inserted in another post, I can't hear anything above the Glowing chanting.

I notice Andrew, being the first that I saw to put it up, now just has a link. Ahhh...peace....

slf08

Now that the dust has settled a little from my exciting two days at the SLF08, (thank you to my bosses and colleagues for facilitating this) I am reflecting on the messages I have taken from the experience. Before I went, someone said to me that he wasn’t motivated to go to SLF this year, as it seemed to hold less attraction for him, year on year. I think he would have been inspired by the Teachmeet unconference.










He would have liked Derek’s demo of the Virtual Art Gallery for kids project. He would have enjoyed the opportunity to chat to colleagues from other areas there and in the Glow Lounge. He would certainly have been impressed by the guitar heroes strutting their stuff!

The speakers I went to hear ranged from inspiring (Ewan McIntosh) through thought-provoking (Ruth Sutton, Charles Leadbeater, Frank Crawford) to disappointing (sorry, Gill Robinson on Next steps with ACE). The sessions I enjoyed most were those where the speaker left time for questions at the end. This I think is a symptom of the extent to which many of us are becoming used to and expecting more participation and dialogue. I hope this happens more in future SLFs. It takes a brave speaker to open up to this, but also, don’t forget, a brave teacher to step up to the microphone with a question.


I was impressed by Fiona Hyslop’s courage in this respect, and thought she came over very well in response to a good few bloggers (Neil, David, Adam and more) and others who posed questions. Unfortunately, her answer to most things seemed to be that she agreed with the teacher view, but Local Authorities were not under her control, and could do as they liked with the extra money/teachers/class size capacity she was giving them.



The common theme throughout the conference was personalisation, and relationships, and how the way in which these are built up is crucial to learning. From my point of view, being at most sessions on my own, allowed me to engage in brief conversations with teachers from all over Scotland, and beyond. Meeting people face-to-face with whom I normally interact online also adds an important perspective to my understanding.

It was even worth negotiating both Glasgow's and Edinburgh's rush hours for.







What am I going to do next?
Investigate some things like Google Sketchup and Alan McLean’s motivation work. (Should have known about both of these but didn’t)
Take a deep breath and volunteer for the next Teachmeet.
Keep my own guitar hero attempts strictly private.