Planning, that might help

Week 3.
A friday which made me think I shouldn't have gotten out of bed was made remarkably better after an active and engaging SCP tutorial. Attending an early tutorial also made it possible for me to be involved in the Duke of Edinburgh weekend with a few Canberra College.

Having already packed the truck and bought all the dehydrated food packs that would be needed I headed to one of the Colleges to assist with packing the support vehicles and students on to the busses before heading out, admittedly an hour behind schedule. The drive took us past Coma, beyond Adaminaby and into the Kosciuszko National Park. Arriving after dark made the experience of getting 46 students organised enough to set up camp a little more difficult then normal, most knew what they where doing, luckily. There where two students whom it appeared hadn't bothered to ever set up their tent before and so as a result the crumpled mess which I approached didn't much resemble a tent. After some helpful comments be older students of abandoning the tent and just climbing in with anyone else, we managed to work out where they had gone wrong (tying the guy-ropes to the tent poles) and set up.

Coolamine Homested (But wetter)- Kosciuszko Huts Association

A super early start was needed to get through the Nav and mud maps, which meant I got to run around camp at 6:30AM screaming "ZOMBIE INVASION!!" I'm sure the students appreciated it. Ensuring each hike group knew the bearings they would be following, terrain they would be covering and knew the emergency procedures should anything go wrong we released them into the wild.
With the senior students running the show and the hike well under way I proceeded to sweep after the last group with a number of other adults. Surprisingly none of the groups where drawn in by Devils Influx and they toughed threw the tea-tree, making it to the second checkpoint roughly on time. We cut back to main camp and then proceeded down to the gully, which should of provided no real problems to the groups, two hours latter and no one had reached checkpoint three... awkward.

It hasn't been on the news so needless to say we found them roughly 3Km off track and quickly turned them around. Eventually all the groups arrived at our second camp site for the night. After debriefing the groups there was more then enough time for a quick walk down to the water holes for a chill out and bit of a cave exploring. I have two more days of hiking and student misdirection which I could continue to talk about. Yet the weekend as a whole worked in nicely with the week three topic, Planning Programs.

Mainly because myself and several of the other adults expressed our disappointment to the Teacher in charge at the lack of planning and participation which was present during the weekend. We felt under used and more like a check off the insurance list. A lesson, excursion or weekend away can be made a much easier and more effective process with planning. Not only are many issues and problems solved before they actually affect the learning environment, but this allows teachers to have a reference point to look back on and work off.

Plans don't mean nothing will go wrong or that everything in the plan is right, but a plan allows us as educators to take a step back from what we are teaching, to view the lesson which we wish to impart and then take a look at the students which are in our care and tailor the programs to better suit the individual learning needs of our students. Teacher Education, provides a great look at why planning is so important for teachers and the difference it can make in the classroom- Effective Planning.


Reference List;

Kosciuszko Huts Association

Coolamine Homestead

Kosciuszko Huts Association (2013). Coolamine Homestead. [image online] Available at: http://khuts.org/khuts-photography.org/ [Accessed: 26 Feb 2013].

Burton, J.

Effective Planning

Burton, J. (2007, 12 January). Effective Planning. Teacher Education, [web log] Retrieved from: http://educ-reality.com/effective-planning/ [Accessed: 22nd Feb 2012].

Creative Commons Licencing

All Photographs on this website are published under the Creative Commons - Non-Commercial  - Share Alike Licence.

SMART Goals, Big Doubts.

Week Two.
So after skipping week one I admit to feeling a little nervous about attending the lecture and lab. Despite these reservations I made sure I was in the lecture theatre early, which was a great idea until this tall guy sat in front of me, thanks jerk.
So leaning ever so obviously to one side I engaged in the lecture and was interested in the concepts being discussed and the use of IT! This Keith guy proved that just because people are a certain age (young or old) doesn't mean you can pigeon hole their technical knowledge and skills. The only problem was not being able to write as fast as he was flicking through the slides, which never seamed to pause on what I needed but always on what I didn't.
Covering the goals, I was reminded of the S.M.A.R.T goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timed) and how useful and encouraging making both long and short term goals can be, when made SMART.
As a result I reevaluated some of my own goals;
1) Go Skydiving. Well, I have paid for a jump already! So halfway there.
2)Travel More. No money and The University of Canberra have messed this one up for the near future.
3)World Domination. This is advancing very nicely.
4)Dominate Uni. Behind in readings already, this one is a need to do!
5)......


I came away from the lecture in a much better mood, but still hesitant. Was this just going to be ANOTHER shit coaching class which made no real effort to link the discussions to the teaching cohort which was present. Would this be another case of "oh yeah you can totally use video analysis on year sevens" BULLSHIT. And would the nationally specific guidelines of PE teachers having to cover dance and gymnastics FINALLY be covered.
Well it's only Week two, so we shall see.

Entering the Lab I was initially totally confused by the concept of blogging in this class. Yes I've blogged before, yes I understood blogging and what it normally was accompanied by but no I didn't understand the links to the class. Ohh an e-portfolio, a concept covered in 'Education Foundations' and 'Learning With Technology'. The concept bought out something frightening, no paper CV's in the future, bosses following your virtual footprint and a range of other ideas. Who's to say what will happen, all I know is that I can blog and I can reflect, so hopefully I'll pass. :)

So I skipped the first week, big deal

Week One.
Decisions appear in life every single day. To get out of bed, what to wear, how to behaviour, who to interact with, what lesson to teach, what students to assist, which students to punish discipline, what to eat, how we are going to engage students. Whether we realise it or not these decisions shape the person and teacher which we are.

Reflecting on Week One means I have to own the fact that I did not attend the first week of SCP, this was a decision, baised on my lease ending on the Saturday of week one and the huge effort which cleaning up after three boys is. While I know that I placed my education in second string, this was an informed and highly considered option. Without the sacrifise of my time and energy the impact may easly have cost me my bond money or worse my housemates respect and friendship.

So while I regret every impact which real life has on my learning experiance, real life IS learning. BOOM.