There's no one as normal as me (Skyhooks)

Things I've missed by not being in a NZ classroom for three years (a random sample):

Assemblies (yes really) – I've experienced two so far at Woodford House and they have been wonderful: a group of girls performing some theatre sports; an inspirational speech by a Y13 girl (she had her right leg and left foot amputated as a consequence of swine flu in her Y9 year); a performance by a visiting group of percussionists – Ginger Baker eat your heart out!

It's such a relief not having to be responsible for the assembly any more; instead I can enjoy them again from the staff rows.

Staffroom camaraderie – it's a small staffroom for about 50 staff (including all the office and ancillary workers) but everyone has been very welcoming and friendly. A staff quiz happens at 1pm each day (after the staff has visited the staff dining room) and it's a lot of fun.

My own classroom – I have been a peripatetic teacher in my schools since moving to senior management positions (the last place I had my own classroom was as Head of English at Mt Albert Grammar in 1995, then a gap until King John School 2004 to 2006). I can put up posters, arrange the desks as I want and have a home at last.

A desk in the staff workroom – I have had my own office at schools since 1989 (Head of English at Waimea College) so I haven't shared a work space since I was at Maclean's College (and before that at New Plymouth Boys' High School). It's where I am right now as I write this post.

Having an office is fine and dandy but it can also be quite an isolating experience. I've had some doozies over the years – the broom cupboard at King John springs to mind (no windows and a swinging cat would have suffered massive concussion).

A sense of belonging – my pronouns will soon shift from 'they' to 'we' as I begin to understand and embrace the culture of the school. It's been three years since I've felt that. In the Middle East I was an adjunct to Ali bin Abi Taleb school. I was advising and critiquing and all the while I was part of Cognition Education – not a teacher on the staff. Don't get me wrong, I was certainly made to feel a real part of the school but I was still a foreigner and an outsider.

The sense of belonging has been dormant for some time. I certainly didn't have it as a Principal - too isolated and too solitary a position. The last time I truly belonged was The King John School in Essex; a magic staffroom and wonderful people.

Busy and tired at the end of the day – nothing like mental exhaustion to make you sleep all night. I was busy and tired in China but I've not worked in a classroom since the end of January so I feel refreshed and ready to go.

So raise a glass and drink with me. Here's to being Head of English again and here's to normal and here's to stability!

And here's to the teacher profession! Hurrah!!

I'm going to make a brand new start of it in old New York (Frank Sinatra)

This is a companion post to one I did on my Wozza's Place blog (http://www.wozzasplace.blogspot.com/) to farewell my amigos and fellow Cognition Education workers from Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. Contracts come and contracts go and most of the crew is heading off for pastures new or pastures familiar in Nu Zild.

To commemorate/celebrate I decided to head into the archives and chuck down some visuals of an exciting and very fulfilling part of my life. I met some exceptional, inspirational, and often gifted people during my three years working in Qatar and the UAE and I want to wish them good luck - whether they are staying in the Middle Eastern sandpit or making a new start somewhere else.

And to my brothers at Ali bin Abi Taleb School - I certainly miss you guys!

Graysy and Deno looking relieved to have Wozza on the team

Hisham and I try to locate Nu Zild on the big map

The Qatar crew enjoy a late breakfast

CJ doesn't believe Deno and Larry's instructions re the ablutions

Cogs and local Principals (Ally blanks me shock)

At Shakespeare's with the dream team

Hassan the art teacher

Adbulla commands the mic shock!

Nidal with the shy and withdrawn Adbulla

CJ trying and failing to locate the picture of Sheikh Zayed



Mohammed waits for Pete and Maggie to test the food



CJ - fearless leader - boldly samples the cake first

Cognition's failure to supply a desk does not deter Johnny

CJ asking local just where does he think his kandoora is!

Bye y'all - it was real!!

Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me, long as you love me it's alright (The Amen Corner)

There was recently a non hysterical story in the local press (it would have been different in the Nu Zild media) about PISA results and the large gap between boys and girls in the results.

I don't know why there is so much fuss about this each time a measure is released. Boys and girls mature at different rates - it takes us a while to catch up.

I've taught in boys' schools in NZ and I'm the lead advisor in a boys' school (all government schools are single sex throughout the U.A.E.). Boys' schools have a special atmosphere.

Joseph Driessen is something of an expert on boys' education (a cottage industry all to itself). He acknowledges the maturity rate when he suggests that it should be a long term commitment to boys and girls doing equally well. It takes us a while to catch up.

 

I'm happy to let nature take its course and instead concentrate not on the gap but on how to make schools better places for boys to learn in.

Some of our boys being addressed by a recent visitor
used to inspire them to learn and work hard

Here are three simple, common sense, things I've seen at Ali bin Abi Taleb School that other boys' schools in other cultures can easily do.

• Boy friendly teaching - focus on our male strengths, on the things we love to do. That means using things like war, adventure, sport, slugs and snails, discovery, kinaesthetic methods in teaching and learning, and puppy dog tails.
• Have good supportive relationships with boys - the teachers are respected because they are friendly, authoritative, personable, humorous, likeable and caring.
• Strong male role models - all of the teaching staff at this school are male and many are excellent role models for the boys.

It's all pretty simple really - we're not really that hard to work out. Why not play to our strengths...and be patient?

State of love and trust as I busted down the pretext (Pearl Jam)

We’re back!

Holiday breaks are great but it always takes a little while for my brain to re-engage with school routines.

Things that happened three weeks ago, before the holiday break, have been consigned to the back lots of my brain and it always takes me a while to dredge up names and details.

I’m sure I’m not alone.

I was amazed this morning at the first taboor of Trimester Two how happy all the staff looked to be back at school. Genuinely happy.

The rituals of Arabic greetings are especially present after an extended period of being away from each other. Each culture has some slight variations on the greeting ritual too. Jordanians do something slightly different to Egyptians and so on. But, as in Maori culture, everyone greets everyone else.

I often think back to something Dr. Neil Hawkes said at a Principals’ conference I attended in 2008: It was a while ago and I need to paraphrse but in essence he said, In a good school there may be a hierarchy of roles but there is no hierarchy of relationships.

This is very true of Ali bin Abi Taleb School and I was mindful of this as I watched the advisory staff and the school staff (leaders, teachers and support people) exchanging greetings this morning. It was wonderful to see and be a part of again.

Chinese music under banyan trees, here at the dude ranch above the sea (Steely Dan)

Further to my musings on the generally good behaviour at my school from a couple of posts ago – I have recently revisited an excellent little article by Jon Saphier and Mathew King called Good Seeds Grow In Strong Cultures.

They make a couple of good points.

School improvement, they say, emerges from the confluence of FOUR elements

1. The strengthening of teachers’ skills
2. Systematic renovation of the curriculum
3. Improvement of the organisation
4. Involvement of parents and citizens in responsible school-community partnerships.

Underlying all four though is school culture.

It can either energise the four or undermine them.

At Ali bin Abi Taleb School we have a team of advisors from Cognition Education (lead by me) who aim to address the first, third, and fourth ones. The Abu Dhabi Education Council is aiming to address the second one.

But without a positive school culture it’s a house of cards...built on sand...with a howling asefa rum liah (desert dust storm) blowing. You get the idea – school improvement is not going to work without it.

So, back to my little school.

Because of the strong, positive supportive culture here, (according to Saphier/King) improvements in instruction will be significant, continuous, and widespread.

In short – good seeds will grow in a strong culture.

Now that's a comforting thought!

For no apparent reason (Anouar Brahem)

I haven't included many photos of school activities lately so I'll correct that now with a few from this week.

Before taboor with Ahmed, the music teacher.

Mathematics certificates (with Jan and her three maths
teachers on the far right)

Abdulla is the MC, Mohammed is between me and student.



Arabic studies students in the library.

Adbulla has never met a microphone that he doesn't love.

Shaban wraps up the festivities.

Khamis shares a joke with Jan (maths advisor)

Some of the students work at recreating the UAE flag.