OK, so for the first time, I've decided that at the parents evening, I'll be totally ICT based (which as an ICT teacher isn't too bad really, lead from the front and all that).
So isn't it Sods Law (as one parent put it) that ICT decides to fail me on the night.
The plan was oh so simple. All the report where on the laptop, and the kids work was on a VLE (virtual learning environment for those who have a life and don't live online). The idea, I bring up the student report, and then access the kids area of the VLE so the parents can (a) see the VLE working, and (b) see the work that their child has done.
So, the reports, nice and easy. They were on the laptop, and easy to bring up. The VLE, well the school's wireless just about extended into the canteen where I was based, so that was fine. However for some reason I could only access the VLE front page and not any of the kids works. All my plans lay in tatters.
To be fair the parents were fine, and in the end, there were probably quite a few students showing their parents how it all works when they got home. (That was my suggestion anyway).
If you look at it this way, it will turn into a nice learning experience for both pupil and parent. In some respects I've managed to set a homework without either party realising it!
So, not a total disaster after all.
Chris
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Thursday, April 20, 2006
University Challenge
Ok, bit of a rant again (not intentional), but was absolutely fuming after a chat I had with a good friend.
We all know about university fees being introduced and like it or not, they are currently here for the payment (in part) for tuition and other university stuff. However I think that we have the real situation that some universities are going to be using this idea as a real money making scheme.
Now before we start thinking about fees being raised above the £1000 mark, this is about something totally different.
Many courses have a workplacement year. Good idea, totally for it. Give students an experience of the real work environment, plus the posibility of employment after they finish thier final year. During this year the students work at the company, get paid a nominal amount, but have their accomadation and some other stuff paid for. However, there's very little, if any, input from the university during this year.
So, that being the case, why do they feel that they have the right to charge tuition fees for that year. OK, they are cutting the fees in half, but that's still £500 for actually doing nothing. Multiply that up by all the students doing placement years on all the courses and suddenly that's a lot of money for doing nothing.
I suppose at least the directors will be able to take their pay without crippling the university now.
Hopefuly something less rantful next time.
Chris
We all know about university fees being introduced and like it or not, they are currently here for the payment (in part) for tuition and other university stuff. However I think that we have the real situation that some universities are going to be using this idea as a real money making scheme.
Now before we start thinking about fees being raised above the £1000 mark, this is about something totally different.
Many courses have a workplacement year. Good idea, totally for it. Give students an experience of the real work environment, plus the posibility of employment after they finish thier final year. During this year the students work at the company, get paid a nominal amount, but have their accomadation and some other stuff paid for. However, there's very little, if any, input from the university during this year.
So, that being the case, why do they feel that they have the right to charge tuition fees for that year. OK, they are cutting the fees in half, but that's still £500 for actually doing nothing. Multiply that up by all the students doing placement years on all the courses and suddenly that's a lot of money for doing nothing.
I suppose at least the directors will be able to take their pay without crippling the university now.
Hopefuly something less rantful next time.
Chris
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Council Inconvenience
OK, so it's spring time and that means doing stuff in the garden so that it's ready for the summer. Everyone know this. Apparently not the council.
Due to various bits of garden work that I've done over the last couple of years, I basically need to replace some of the turf in the garden. Far too many weeds and moss for a treatment to be able to cope with and about 20 bits of turf isn't going to break the bank, and is the easiest way for me to solve the problem.
However that means that I need to dig out and dump the old turf. This counts as soil (especially given the lack of grass involved). This is where I have encountered my problems. My council (or the contractors) have decided that they will only take 6 bags of soil a month. My registration has been taken, so I can't take any more down for another month. That works out at about 2sq meters a month. That's a lot of bags on the driveway (good job it's long!).
What's really annoying is that one of the neighboring councils (sadly too far to drive) is willing to let people dump as much soil as possible.
Obviously flytipping is illegal and I won't be doing that, but they are hardly doing a lot to prevent people from straying down that path.
At least I'm getting the garden looking nice I suppose, even if the council are doing their best to stop me!
Due to various bits of garden work that I've done over the last couple of years, I basically need to replace some of the turf in the garden. Far too many weeds and moss for a treatment to be able to cope with and about 20 bits of turf isn't going to break the bank, and is the easiest way for me to solve the problem.
However that means that I need to dig out and dump the old turf. This counts as soil (especially given the lack of grass involved). This is where I have encountered my problems. My council (or the contractors) have decided that they will only take 6 bags of soil a month. My registration has been taken, so I can't take any more down for another month. That works out at about 2sq meters a month. That's a lot of bags on the driveway (good job it's long!).
What's really annoying is that one of the neighboring councils (sadly too far to drive) is willing to let people dump as much soil as possible.
Obviously flytipping is illegal and I won't be doing that, but they are hardly doing a lot to prevent people from straying down that path.
At least I'm getting the garden looking nice I suppose, even if the council are doing their best to stop me!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Making Friends
OK, so slightly later in the day than I had planned, but hey I've been busy.
As promised, a thought or two about friends and how we make them. I've just got back from a ski holiday where there were about 60 of us in total. Now I went with just one mate, but after the week have felt like I've left behind (because they are scattered around the country) a load of good friends, despite having known them for only a week.
Now it might be that I was just very lucky and we had a group of about 60 were everyone really got on well with each other, which meant the group gelled really well.
But what is it that has turned us all into friends in the space of a week. I feel sure that part of it is the sort of living together under one roof thing. But it must be more than that as I've been on other similar holidays and not felt the desire to stay in touch with others on the trip.
What was also interesting is that it wasn't really a holiday where there were lots of little cliques. Yeah people has others they would sit with for breakfast or dinner, but it wasn't a permanent arrangement and people often moved tables and sat with others.
So, why do some large groups just work whereas others clearly don't. Was the time thing enough for people to get to know each other without knowing each others faults too much to stop the friendships developing.
I suspect that there are some clever people out there who will be able to put a scientific term to all of this, or will invent one. I just find it interesting that I feel far more attached to this group of people than I did with those from previous years. Certainly hope to be keeping in contact with a load of them.
OK, two posts in two days, I suspect that some may be feeling like I'm going for the overkill.
May add tomorrow as well, depends on whether.
Till next time,
Chris
As promised, a thought or two about friends and how we make them. I've just got back from a ski holiday where there were about 60 of us in total. Now I went with just one mate, but after the week have felt like I've left behind (because they are scattered around the country) a load of good friends, despite having known them for only a week.
Now it might be that I was just very lucky and we had a group of about 60 were everyone really got on well with each other, which meant the group gelled really well.
But what is it that has turned us all into friends in the space of a week. I feel sure that part of it is the sort of living together under one roof thing. But it must be more than that as I've been on other similar holidays and not felt the desire to stay in touch with others on the trip.
What was also interesting is that it wasn't really a holiday where there were lots of little cliques. Yeah people has others they would sit with for breakfast or dinner, but it wasn't a permanent arrangement and people often moved tables and sat with others.
So, why do some large groups just work whereas others clearly don't. Was the time thing enough for people to get to know each other without knowing each others faults too much to stop the friendships developing.
I suspect that there are some clever people out there who will be able to put a scientific term to all of this, or will invent one. I just find it interesting that I feel far more attached to this group of people than I did with those from previous years. Certainly hope to be keeping in contact with a load of them.
OK, two posts in two days, I suspect that some may be feeling like I'm going for the overkill.
May add tomorrow as well, depends on whether.
Till next time,
Chris
Monday, April 10, 2006
How Time Flies
OK, so it's been a bit of a time since my last entry. All I can say it that it's amazing how quickly time disappears.
Between getting stuff sorted for the end of term and then going away skiing I think I just didn't realise where the time had gone.
Still I'm back now. Time flying by quite quickly again though as I'm half way through the school holidays and I'm wondering whether I'm going to get some rest. Still have a load of work that needs to be done, and want to try to work in the garden as well.
Anyway, I'm fairly tired so I'll sign off for now and will blog again tomorrow when I'm a bit fresher (I think it's meant to be raining tomorrow as well so I'm less likely to be working on the garden in that case). Think that I'll talk about getting to know people, based on the fact that I'm just back from a holiday with people I didn't know before hand.
Catch you all on the other side.
Chris
Between getting stuff sorted for the end of term and then going away skiing I think I just didn't realise where the time had gone.
Still I'm back now. Time flying by quite quickly again though as I'm half way through the school holidays and I'm wondering whether I'm going to get some rest. Still have a load of work that needs to be done, and want to try to work in the garden as well.
Anyway, I'm fairly tired so I'll sign off for now and will blog again tomorrow when I'm a bit fresher (I think it's meant to be raining tomorrow as well so I'm less likely to be working on the garden in that case). Think that I'll talk about getting to know people, based on the fact that I'm just back from a holiday with people I didn't know before hand.
Catch you all on the other side.
Chris
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