"Because I'm Happy"

I was recently asked to be involved in the making of a motivational video for a young girl in the US that suffers a very rare medical condition.

Of course, being able to do something that makes someone happy made me jump at the chance. As a result, with the help of Bec Spink we got my year 3 class to make a video so that we

Where are we going?

It's Easter Sunday and i'm half way through the school holidays. I am sitting in front of my computer just thinking of something to write about with the hope that inspiration will come along and smack me in the face. Of course, it's never that simple but I like to believe that it will.

It's a peculiar Easter because it is the first one since I moved to Melbourne and my kids have gone home to their mums for the school break. It is oddly silent in the house and I am finding that I don't actually know what to do with myself.

I get itchy feet staying at home all day - I don't like it. I like to get

Little Victories

It is so heartening to see your students making big strides in their learning.

Today, during a writing task I stopped to check over one students work. This student is not the best speller and is quite messy, so I have been giving him little pointers over the past few weeks on ways he might be able to improve. His work has been so bad that I cannot read it at all and he even struggles to interpret for me when reading aloud.

My first goal for him a few weeks ago was to

Meet the Parents

Recently, I had my first 'meet the teacher' evening at school. I was rather surprised that, as a graduate teacher I was not briefed on what to expect and left much to my own devices to feel my way through the evening. Each parent was only assigned ten minutes to discuss their child so I figured it couldn't be too bad and was happy to just 'go with the flow'.

For the benefit of any new teachers out there I can say that it is vital that your

Tweet Dreams

I was given a great opportunity last week when the multi-talented Bec Spink offered to help me introduce Twitter to my grade 3 class. I had initially spoken to her and other teachers about ways to introduce it and how best to link it to their learning but felt a little unsure of myself. 

It is no longer ok for teachers to

The Moment?

This weeks #YourEdustory challenge is; "What was the defining moment you decided to be a teacher?". Being that I was the one that decided on the topic, I thought it best that I actually write about it. 

Affirmation: "I believe in my ability to change the world with the work that I do."- Louise Hay

I remember when I was younger, standing in

Great Expectations

It's really nice to hear your students tell you that you are the best teacher they have ever had. I mean, who doesn't love to be told they are tops? We are only in our third full week of the school year, so have I given them false expectations of what the rest of the year will be like? I certainly hope not. 

The first couple of weeks of a school year is all about

Best Behaviour

In the flash of an eye I am now officially two weeks into the teaching year. What's even more surprising about it is that I actually don't feel stressed. Sure enough I have been busy with a multitude of different tasks, but I feel good. I think that before I started

iLearn

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” 

― Albert Einstein

I recently signed up to an online blogging challenge called #YourEdustory 2015. It is a challenge for educators everywhere to share thoughts and ideas on certain topics. This weeks challenge (which I am almost late in submitting) is to define "learning" in 100 words or less. An almost impossible task but i'll give it a shot.

Learning happens everywhere

Learning is the

Blank Space

I spent the majority of today (plus two days last week) prepping my first ever classroom for my Grade 3's that start on Friday. I spent hours cutting, laminating, moving, blu-taccing and googling all to end up feeling as though I have nowhere near enough to start the school year. 

Still looks too bare to me

I am quite fortunate in that I have a decent sized classroom to play with so maybe that adds to that 'empty' feeling. It is probably no help that