Thinking about teachers and learners....

We are facing another poorly thought through idea about how to improve the teaching and learning in our schools  - the suggestion is to reward our best teachers with more pay. Great.....that is just like giving the best  kids in the school a big shiny badge that says 'prefect' so all the other kids can work out very easily who they have to thump when they are waiting in line at the canteen.

Improving the outcomes of students in our government schools is a really tricky business for all school leaders.
The idea of paying our best teachers more money will create a two tiered, us and them pay system.
Which I believe will be detrimental to the collegiate and supportive educational systems we are trying to achieve within our schools.


Who are the best teachers in our schools? How will they be identified? Are they teachers who work well with the disengaged and disenfranchised youths who are now enrolled compulsorily into our systems until they reach 17? Or are they the teachers whose examinations results are consistently high? Are they teachers whose students rank in the top achievers of the state and are selected into the new scholarship schools for the gifted and talented? Are they the teachers who build important safe learning environments for our student who have been drug addicted, abused and neglected? Are they teachers who work in remote and hard to staff schools year after year without seeing much change or improvement amongst their students who are often indigenous, or who work in low social economic communities, with newly arrived, traumatised refugees who may speak two or three languages, none of which are standard Australian English?


Answers to these questions should help to establish what school's really value - and help to decide who are Our high quality teachers.

The proposal to pay excellent teachers more money also suggests that there will be a group of more lowly paid, middling to poor teachers - this group may become more economically  viable for some Principals to employ, particularly in some regions where the financial constraints on a schools resources are such that teachers who are middling to poor quality will be a better use of already stretched resources. These regions can have more of those kind of teachers for less or about the same amount of money as having just one or two top quality teachers ...  .... tempting if you are, in a remote area, have difficult to manage students or are in need of a new roof or classroom instead of a quality teacher. 


I see this as segregating a profession - the middling to poor teachers perhaps can have the middling to poor students? Or they can teach students who are not destined for university programmes? Or have the students who are not as intelligent as .....hmmm all sounding a bit uncomfortable now...!  


Will the two tiered pay system really have an effect on providing quality teaching?



Shira Leibowitz recently commented on an article that appeared in the 'connected principal' website. I found her comment really interesting , she asked us to consider a brief reflective activity - originally proposed in a book by Palmer, they are questions about who we consider to be teachers who made a difference to us through our educational experience.

(Connected Principals ) 
 Have a go at doing this activity now

1. Remember a teacher who made a difference in your education / life.
2. Consider what it was about that teacher that made the difference for you.
3. Now consider what it was about yourself that made it possible for this teacher to make a difference.


I liked the idea that defining what made the teachers able to make a difference to us was in fact something held within us, the learner, not external to us, as in within the teacher!


So by rewarding teachers externally (with more pay- if you are a good one) it is really only rewarding a person for something that they are only partially involved in creating - the learner is really responsible for creating the 'space' inside themselves to learn ....

 - as they say in facebook;     Like.

The Oats Factory - Carlise - giving emerging artists a red hot go!

Melody Smith is running a great new gallery space just near the Carlise train station and over the road from the poly technic west campus on Oats St  ...and who'd have thought 25 years ago there would be anything like this along the railway line out to Armadale! All so close to my beloved East Victoria Park - how exciting!

So I was thrilled to attend an art exhibition opening at the gallery space on Friday 3rd June, of paintings by Roxanne Cox, an emerging Perth artist.

On arrival offered a decent red and provided a detailed artist statement about what the exhibition was aiming to achieve and a price list of the paintings. But that is where I was left .....hanging....so to speak..... in an art space on a Friday night .....and it is not such a comfortable situation to be in. Don't get me wrong, Melody Smith is a smooth operator, talented artist in her own right, and she is running a serious contender for the "great new gallery space near Jacsbac's house" award  -so it is a boon for the artistically inclined in the local area. But I was left hanging waiting for the "Art exhibition opening night speech?.

I love those speeches! Let me hear the journey, let me hear about the paintings from the artist (or nominated patron)

If I am going to part with some of my hard earned art investment dollars - (as I have been known to do.... much to the fear and puzzlement of the beanie-wearing defacto-ed one; "you bought what? For how much?") then I feel I need to hear about the exhibition from the mouth of the creative artist themselves (or a nominated patron as I keep saying - that is fine too - I don't want to force any artist who is greatly daunted about speaking publicly to do so) - but as a live event, I want an opening night  exhibition speech! I want to hear about the artworks on the night - particularly as this was Cox's first exhibition - who is she? Why should I care about her paintings? give me an insight that I can't get simply by looking at  the paintings on-line? Talk to me about your special brand of creativity!

An opening night art exhibition speech also is important to set the opening of an exhibition apart from any other of the exhibition dates. I realised fairly quickly into the Friday night gathering, that without an opening night speech, I could have stayed at home under the feather doona and visited the gallery - sans wine and nibbles - on-line! Which I like to do too - but sometimes the need to see and attend to the works in real space, is also vital to their appreciation.

An opening demands a separation from the rest of the exhibition run - and I think this is done via an opening speech for the exhibition!

Whilst we were treated to a lovely array of nibbles and wine - all enjoyed while surrounded by other guests, including gender blurring artist Mathew  Jackson, dressed as a cross between the flying nun and an aging Balinese hawker - I really hope for his exhibition opening he finds a better outfit! Call me, Mathew - lets do lunch - we can go pick outfits together afterwards. He seriously needs some good girlfren' advise!


Anyway....all I am saying is that I think the exhibition needed a good opening night speech - something to bring the gathered together, something for us to ruminate over and perhaps bond with the paintings through, all wrapped up in the shared intimacy of a Friday night art exhibition opening event.

....so apart from the lack of a rousing speech or even a proud friend's enthusiastic words at the opening  - everything else felt like a real art exhibition opening. I hope to make a few more exhibition openings at the very swish Oatsfactory - just next time I will not expect a talk, from anyone
 - just some serious post-modern milling about!

Dwellingup Retreat and Arts Weekend

We had a really lovely escape to the forest fringes of Dwellingup-thank you Kathy and Steve for the accommodation and opportunity to relax in comfortable surroundings - with red wine in hand and pot belly roaring our weekend of printmaking, drawing and all things artsy was off to a classic 'arts weekend' start.


Why it means so much to me to have a space to draw..... 
Many years ago I had a small cabin in the forest near Margaret River and I had always said I would do art weekends workshops down there - it was a really lovely spot. There was so much to see, photograph, draw and get inspired by down there, well, the relationship ended and along with it so did the cabin in the forest and the opportunity to draw trees and bushland and sky  - so I had to rethink my space for art weekends and I have been looking for some years to hopefully find another bushland cabin! And just last weekend at Dwellingup I felt I had found it - it was so comfortable and fun it was like I had always thought my Margaret River weekend workshops would be! (its only taken 20 years to move on - don't want to rush these things!).
So thank you Kathy and Steve too - for making your home feel so comfortable and me so welcome that it feels just right to get down there and create my sketches, paintings and prints - I am very privileged to be so welcome in your holiday home in the forest- and I didn't spill any paint on the new carpet!

Anyway,  I love being able to be down there - talking with good friends, meeting and making some new ones too and creating some drawings and art works - it's my meditation time really!

Here are a few of my sketches and prints from my times at D.R.A.W,  (Dwellingup Retreat and Arts Weekend!)   

 

 
   
ink pen sketch - forest gully

 

Pencil and charcoal  sketch of gum leaves

                                                                                                  

 Tall Timbers, lino- cut, hand water-coloured

 Dam and Far Treeline. Lino-cut, hand water coloured. 


 I am really looking forward to the next D.R.A.W. gathering in Spring time perhaps?

Dwellingup Dreaming.............

Just getting the last of the supplies in the duffel bag then I am off to the nearest big forest - for a weekend of art, open fires, red wine, drawing and print making ..... nothing I like better!

There is something about the rain arriving and the temperature dropping to 6 degrees (2 degrees in Dwellingup for sure!) that makes me extra pleased to be heading down south to the big green!
I love the bush with rain , actually most of the time I just love the bush - rain, shine or even just a bit overcast is fine with me. 


I get together with a group of friends who all enjoy a scribble and a dabble with all things artsy. 
This photo shows one of a pair of paintings I finished from the last Dwellingup Gathering!
 

Time warp - its just a jump to left ........

I am unsure if we should be really, really scared and cautious of Facebook and the likes, or if it is just a new form of the old Friday night Police and Citizen's youth groups, so popular with myself and my teen friends in the late 70s to mid 80s.

I mean there was all that unmediated contact with the opposite sex - just like on Facebook, except a lot more up close and personal. Lots of playing games, basket ball, ping-pong and spin the bottle were all favourites of the youths of the various groups I attended - some of our games where obviously better at beating obesity than others ....just like the digital ones the teens play today!  In the 80's some of the games might have even led to a form of temporary weight gain ....for 9 months anyway - yep - that up close and personal!

We had friends act as 'lookouts' posted at the doors of the youth group, and we would all be called down to witness other packs of teens as they cruised by in their spruced up Sandman panel vans and we would either 'friend'  them or not....we usually didn't choose to 'friend' them by shouting after the disappearing panel van such things as "Rack of Normie - you and your mates!"  or other choice words that  have now become immortalised in various song lyrics of the time. "Jump in my car" by Australian band the Ted 'Mulray Gang comes to mind straight away, I am sure he must have attended one of the same youth groups I went to.
 
We had pecking orders within the groups and experienced heated exchanges with others that could make or break your social status for the following week , month , year.- Just like on Facebook  - and believe me not only at the youth group would the 'socially' be ostracised  - but at the beach, school, deli, local park and the drive-ins....at least of Facebook once you've been 'defriended' you can close the computer and walk to the  fridge and eat something, or hang out in lounge with the olds or tidy your sock drawer ...no such luck in the days of the 'reality' youth group, we had to wait until youth group ended and we could catch the bus home or our parents would collect us!  

Today, with the innovation of digital media and twitter-book-face-tubes, etc. we all seem particularly terrified of any unmediated time teens spend digitally, or incidents of cyberbullying, (whilst we continue to ignore 'realtime' real life bullying in the work place, school and our homes.  Is Facebook and the likes such a new threat for our young people? In the past we could share our teen years with a group of similar teens from similar backgrounds with similar homes in a similar suburb, but now - my teens can actually talk with other teens from anywhere in the world - global - viral, however they need to also be connected via google and this huge filter tends to attract teens with similar homes, in similar suburbs in similar social economic situations.........like I say is it really that different?

Are we frightened of something we do on-line going viral? I remember fronting up fully dressed in skimpy outfits to the local cinema in dingy downtown during the 1980s to watch the Rocky Horror picture show at midnight several Saturday nights in a row - waiting for the moment we could all storm the stage and do the time warp with thousands (OK, 100 tops) of similar zany, scantily dressed young people - wasn't that pretty damn viral? it is the only way I can explain my ability to sing and speak most of the lyrics to the time warp - it must have been a virus I caught !

Is it the fear of the unknown? Cyberworlds are not as known to my generation, we have not had digital texts as a constant in our lives. Teens today have.  If it is unknown to us, is it necessarily dangerous or any worse than what we did as teens? 

I think we have to let teens be teens - yes they will be exposed forever in some cyberworld data bank that will allow instant downloads of what they did at 14 to be endlessly played in some sort of horrific video loop well into their 50s and 60s. But what is the actual harm of seeing footage of teens in shorty shorts, sporting a tattoo of a small colourful dragon and with enough piercings to double as a kitchen colander actually going to do to the reputation of the head of the world bank in 2030? And will anyone care as long as she is running the bank well - besides most of her clients will be friended on Facebook back in the good ol' days, with possibly even more horrifyingly embarrassing footage to suppress - not! 

I still have friends from my youth group days who I know have Kodak Instamatic images of me that they like to pin up every tine we get together for a Saturday night bar-b-cue so we can all gather around the photo board and  point and laugh at the various teen antics we 'wild things' used to get up to, this usually happens just before someone lumbers off to home early due to their bunions, and or arthritis and or the need to get an early night before the kids wake up and we have to run them to gym or soccer.
So how delicious is it to view the photos and slumber away with refreshed memories of what we all used to look like and do in our youth- bliss - I really did have quite a nice bum - just didn't need to expose it towards the camera in the crotchet bikini quite as often as did. But considering what has happened to it now - I am thrilled I have the photographic proof that I too was once young, beautiful and buoyant of bottom! 

I believe my friends are able to laugh and acknowledge that today, in my role as Head of World Bank (Domestic branch) I have moved on - the crotchet bikini is not such a huge embarrassment to me in the board room. However, getting caught up in yet another global financial crisis due to willy-nilly consumerism, might be. I am now expected to know better. Does anyone seriously think that what I wore and did at Friday night youth group has any bearing on what I do and think now?  Will tweeting on Facebook really have any bearing to what our teens will do in their futures? 

....oh....I do know one worrying aspect of my personality that was shaped from those youth group days and perhaps does serve as a warning to our teens today .....I can still dance the time warp  - and usually do so at any opportunity .......its just a jump to left ... and a step to the righ - righ- righ- rightttt .......

Totally Fairbridged Out

Fairbridge is over for another year - it was a great festival with some stand out acts and great dance bands and hoot-nannying into the wee hours, as per my expectations.

I found myself enjoying the band The Brow Horn Orchestra just a bit too much - I am probably not the right demographic they are hoping to attract! They are an unreal mix of Cat Empire meets Hip Hop Rap and the lead singer is a virtuoso on the microphone - rapping his heart out with great diction and lyrics.
They combine a big band sound with a dance beat of Hip Hop- and when they released the inflated beach balls into the crowd we just all felt so loved! Great crowd participation!I liked them a lot and have already seen them at several of their Freo gigs last year - but so happy they were picked up by the Fairbridge Festival selection team!
Had the rare chance to sit in the lovely Fairbridge Chapel for an hour of vocal power with the Good Lovelies from Canada -what a talented trio of beautiful young women - with such gifted voices and mandolin, guitar, harmonica playing skills - all mixed with a bit of cheek and irreverence! Good show in an intimate setting which I think they really suited.
 
Also loved the one man band - 'wall of sound' - Kim Churchill.....very 'James Blunt' but in a good way....with more funked up bluesy beats to set him apart from being a clever lyric writing pop crooner. Loved his work - the venue for his final show at Fairbridge at Ruby's Wine Bar just didn't do him justice he needed a final fling with his admiring people in one of the big tents where everyone could dance and totally bliss out to his huge sound - he maxed out the speakers and broke a guitar string in his show of pure sound + power.
He is on at a few Fremantle gigs in WA and I hope to see him again - loads of talent. when he draws breath and backs of some of the sound wall I think he will be even better - with experience (he is only 21!) I think he will manage to vary his delivery to more suit the venue and not loose his ability to wow audiences - just needed to come down a notch or two from his thumping sound levels and know that he already had our full attention - fantastic. I loved seeing  someone using looped recordings live on stage  - I have not seen that since a concert in NZ some time ago when the very talented Hinemoana Baker recorded her self singing/speaking and playing an instrument, then played it back on a loop and sang live over her own vocals to create a hauntingly beautiful vocal track - all laid down in front of the audience - like seeing a magician's trick exposed but instead of destroying the magic it just makes you more aware of their awesomeness!



A final mention goes to Red Juliet - great to hear Liz Frencham - still going from strength to strength - love her vocals and bass playing. Really enjoyed the venue and atmosphere at Ruby's on the Sunday morning - good timing for such a gig - I kicked back and rested my dancing knees (yes, sore knees this year....must be the cooler nights and the camping - could not possibly be my advancing age combined with the mosh pit participation of Friday and Saturday night). In aide of my recovery - I enjoyed a decent Devonshire tea and the company of the twangy and talented Red Juliet band - it made for a great Sunday morning coming down to earth, and start to my end of the Fairbridge festival day........












 



 

Just about time to folk and roll at Fairbridge !

Its nearly Fairbridge time again  - five more sleeps to the big dance town, music fest fun weekend of my year. wee hoo!


My partner and I have been going to Fairbridge Folk Festival, whenever we can over the past 14 years with our daughter, Tess and various friends and their children. We usually make every second year and we love the weekend. The local musicians, big bands and international guests are always top quality and with various activities, workshops and venues there is always something going on for everyone. I especially like the atmosphere as I am a wannabe singer - Oh how I wish I could sing...I was just not given that particular talent - so I will have to settle for the lesser known inner humming and tapping talent that I do possess, and can get quite a song up in my own head - especially if i get in touch with my inner voice and keep it inside, way , way inside, then the weekend will be a success. Sharing my singing has always been the issue, for others mainly, I am unusually OK with it, audiences on the other hand are usually just not ready for what emerges as tonal squeaking and unpitched bellowing, the grazing animals that have been moved on from the fields at Fairbridge to make way for the camping, usually get it and I have heard them reply to my midnight songs but relax not this year I will keep my inner voice silenced.

Anyway it is always a great atmosphere and we plan another great weekend at Perth's premier Folk Music Festival this coming weekend! Although this year I have become a bit concerned as they have announced that the organisers plan to incorporate a dress up parade in honour of the royal wedding and I think they have misjudged the Fairbridge festival goers, I thought of all the places the Fairbridge Festival would keep away from celebrating such a deeply royalist event, I thought I danced among friends, that we were all 'agin' the kin', anti-royalists. Now I feel I may be shamed into having to stand alongside revellers who will wave a union jack and dance about into the wee hours in a strange outdated colonial Wills and Kate hootenanny.

I am afraid, I don't want any part of it. perhaps instead I dress up in gum tree and sing and tap against the tall jarrahs of the bush and give and inward song to the ancestral people of the Pinjarra land, in celebration of a place before the Fairbridge farms came, before the tall ships and the royal monarchs. I feel no celebration is required, even if I was to get an invite to the Wedding, all white and sharp edged in gilt with royal coats and arms (and that is the guests not the paper invitation) - I wouldn't go.

I'm going to slink off and choose instead to corroborree, elsewhere, down near the river, near the ghost gums, just until the I do part is over, because, I don't.