My work was challenging and my work with rewarding. For every negative, there were nine positives.
A challenge within the paperwork and the administration.
The joy was in working with people, knowing students, appreciating staff, and having an understanding of my community.
The joy started when I became a redundant farmer and a training Teacher. How blessed I was to be able to work in the field of education in so many different places and for so many years.
The joy these days is probably reflecting and partly in writing and sharing with others.
The call to jail those who bash police should extend to include those who physically deal with paramedics, nurses, teachers, bus and taxi drivers.
People providing essential services have a right to feel safe and confident in their occupations.
There is a lot of worry among those serving our community that they might be physically dealt with and abused. Protections are needed for those who are occupationally vulnerable.
And it is time that courts actioned the law in terms of the penalties available. Mitigating circumstances and excuses for offenders should be disallowed and not discounted by the judiciary.
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.
By far and away the most difficult in the most challenging phase of my life that I had to call Time upon, was my teaching and educational career. That stretched from 1968 until January 2012.
I was 22 when I went to teachers’ college, and just short of 66 when I retired.
The emotions within me and my love of the job together with appreciation of people with whom I connected made this a hard choice – to retire is so final!
However, sense and sensibility had to prevail. I had to realise and accept that my physical energies were no longer as boundless as they used to be and that my mental acuity and work no longer appreciated my working for 18 hours a day at certain times, on tasks associated with my school.
It was wise for me to retire while I was at the top of my profession. I would have hated to begin declining on the job.
12 years on I look back on my career with fond memories and appreciation. Although I did not want to go, I’m glad I did.
I was so proud to have been principal of this school for the last 20 years of my career. It had its many challenges, but these sat in the shadow of the joy and celebrations that wa all experienced as a school and community.
We still live just on one kilometre from the school. I don’t go visiting or interferring because that should never be the way past leaders impose on present leaders and staff.
I hear from past stidents and staff – from time to time – and donate several hundred dollars each year to the school for expenditure on end-of-school year awards.
It is a way of giving back to a school and community that gave so much to me.
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
If I could be somebody else for just one day, I would like to be Vladimir Putin’s alter ego.
Within the day I would try to right the wrongs committed against Ukraine. I would withdraw all my troops, and initiate peace and reparation talks with President Zelenski.
I will put in place plans to reconstruct those areas of Ukraine my troops have laid desolate and waste.
I would withdraw from all occupied territories associated with Ukraine including the Crimean Peninsular.
I would expedite reconstruction by designating engineers, construction firms, and at least 25,000 personnel to go in and start rebuilding all that had been wrecked.
I would require my defence forces to locate them to remove all minds that had been laid.
I would employ Russian earthmoving companies to make good the terrain devastated by trenches and upheaval.
I would authorise a payment equivalent to 10,000 American dollars to each Ukrainian displaced by the unjust war I created.
I would support Ukraine in joining NATO. I would also withdraw Russia from membership of the Security Council because we have sold that institution short.
Together with my generals and other key decision-makers supporting my commands, I would petition that we appear before the International Court of Justice, pre-empting that appearance by pleading guilty to heinous crimes.
My final act would be to dissolve the Russian Government, stepping down as leader and asking the United Nations to instigate procedures to turn Russia’s autocratic power into an elected democracy.
On that day I would try to make good all that has been so wrong in the way I have acted in the past.
I wanted to let you know that these reflections, shared during the past few days, were written in 2013 – eleven years ago.
When reviewing them recently and before publication, it seemed they were still relevant, possibly more pertinent, or deeply embedded than in 2013.
With the passing of the last decade, I feel other concerns have joined these observations. From time to time, and over the next few weeks, I will add to the list.
Thank you for reading my blog entries and the comments offered from time to time.
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.
I can garden, do housework, write, tell stories, use my imagination, sing, drive a car, grow pawpaws, communicate with others, stick to a timetable, help my grandkids, remember birthdays, and join in with the successes of others.
But there is one thing that I am totally and utterly hopeless and that is“Do it yourself” tasks.
I am utterly useless when it comes to construction, maintaining a car engine, building furniture, plumbing tasks, putting in irrigation systems, fixing electrics, assembling purchased appliances – and the list goes on.
Do it yourself, I am hopeless and lost on this front. No DIY task is too big because they are all too big.
The blessing our country offers palls more than a little because of taxation regimes.
Pay as you earn (PAYE) people contribute, in proportionate terms, a lot more than their due.
Those who make up corporate Australia and the very wealthy know all the tricks for legitimately minimising their tax liabilities. Their tax accountants serve them well.
Opportunities for tax deductions are not flagged publicly. One has to ‘find out’ about concessions, therefore being disadvantaged by lack of knowledge.
This is not fair or equitable and leaves a very sour taste in the mouths of many of Australia’s less well-off.
We counter the blessings Australia could offer by selling our natural resources with an almost wanton abandon.
Natural gas is an example. Selling virtually all our gas by long-term contract negotiation onto the overseas futures market means we are destitute in terms of our own domestic needs.
While future sales are necessary to secure the capital investment in establishing extraction and refining facilities, we have hardly been smart by going the ‘sell all’ route.
Australians often abrogate their responsibilities in real life because of their addiction to entertainment. It is a case of escaping from reality and the responsibilities of life at all costs.
In every large city and provincial city, our citizens drink and carouse for all hours of the late night and early morning. How can they possibly come up for work the next day?
We live from one holiday to the next, in between times, whittling time idly and spending plenty on the alcohol and social drugs we take into our systems.
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?
“I“!!
It is a selfish word. It is the most misplaced word. It is a suffocating word, smothering the notion of “we“ and “us“. It is a proud word, forever upholding individuals over the collective.
I was born a baby boomer. Then came the X and Y generations, the Millennials and the Z generation.
Going back over time the focus always used to be on “we“ in terms of the way we put others before ourselves and valued the community above ourselves.
Now that’s all gone! People think only of themselves, and what they want, and to hell with the rest!
Too many politicians are in politics for themselves and not other people. Too many CEOs of retailing and manufacturing companies are in their positions for their good, and what they want comes first. Too many people in government departments are more concerned about themselves and what they can get out of their jobs than they are about the jobs they do and the people they serve.
Service for others used to be heart service. These days it is lip service. It is not genuine but rather pretends. People who put others before themselves are a distinct minority.
Yes, the word “I” is the word I would most like to banish into extinction.
Not only do we sell down our companies to overseas ownership, but our country has gone from being heavyweight to lightweight.
We sell millions of tonnes of ‘Australia’ offshore each year – then buy back as manufactured products.
Never would we put that resource through local manufacturing processes.
We mine gas and commit almost all (WA excepted) to fulfilling overseas contracts. We sell it in the futures market, leaving our domestic situation short and compensating by charging hugely for energy consumption on the home front.
People in high places, continue a decades long practice of selling Government-owned assets, using money to commit to infrastructure, which will depreciate over time.
So, we are going toward short-term gain for long-term pain.
When growing up, I was taught by my parents that my life was ‘not for myself alone’. I should be there to support and help others and be aware of social obligations. I needed to consider the ‘we’ when interacting with others.
Sadly, this wise historical approach has largely gone by the board in our modern times. Advertising and attitude ingrained into young and old is that life is about ‘I’. ‘I’ am all important, and nothing else matters.
This attitude, if practised, tears at the heart of our social fabric, reducing it to tatters.
Birthdays seem to count for less and less the older one becomes.
Vulnerabilities increase and relevance diminishes.
NDIS providers and old peoples home owners, regard the chronologically enhanced as being cash cows.
Governments think of old ones as being bloody nuisances and are interested only in any financial benefit they can wring from the ancients.
Politicans pay homage and express appreciation to my generation through lip service, but their hearts tell a different story.
Sadly, some septuagenarians, like Putin are full of manipulative bastardry.
Others like Trump weave insidious mind pictures into the psyche of the mob, turning them into zombie like rats who followed the Pied Piper to perdition and hell.
There are not too many oldsters who are good leaders.
For mine, Israel’s Netanyahu is one of the very worst, using a war (which Hamas were bloody stupid to start) to stave off corruption charges looming large on his personal horizon.
And today is day one of the start of year three of the Russian war against Ukraine.
Listen to your parents, and aim to be a good and responsible parent when it’s your turn.
Always speak properly and clearly and have the confidence to look at the person with whom you are speaking. Remember the importance of eye contact.
Recognise and support senior citizens. Respect and learn from their wisdom and don’t lampoon them because they are old.
Avoid getting into unnecessary debt and save to buy purchases without having to go the line of interest repayments.
Be temperate in all things. Avoid cigarettes and Vaping like poison. Don’t do drugs and don’t waste your money on betting and wagering.
Accept the advice that people give you to help you advance in your chosen career. And when you retire appreciate those who helped you, by supporting others who are growing into the career path that you have exited.
Teen Henry could be offered more advice but that will do.
Advice offered by Old Henry, 78 years of age tomorrow, February 24, 2024.
The taxation systems under which we labour are no blessing. I loathe how small and medium-income earners are robbed by a system that allows many ‘outs’ for those earning much more than the small-wage earner. I feel it grossly unfair for the taxation systems to be so convoluted and unstraightforward. Those who want to do things honestly are often left ignorant of legitimate deductions because the knowledge they need to effect those deductions is shrouded and unclear. On the other hand, magnates, huge companies, and CEOs who earn hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars are able to find their way around the system through the astuteness of tax accountants. Tax rules running to thousands of pages impact those who earn far less – and who, through lack of knowledge and understanding, pay far more than the rich.
The example set by politicians within our parliaments is often a little short of disgraceful. A shrug of the shoulders justifies question times, the abhorrent exhibition of manners and lack of courteousness. Those involved seem to regard this period of parliamentary time as one when ‘anything goes’. Sadly, this period draws most people into public galleries, including schoolchildren. It is small wonder that teachers and parents are challenged by children’s verbal and listening behaviour when they see this sad display of manners and courtesy so publicly manifest.
Politicians’ behaviour is a major detractor from the image Australia seeks to portray. Our country, its states and territories are ‘put down’ and ‘sold short’ by this behaviour.
The personal touch and familiarity that used to exist between people has largely evaporated. We have become remote, focused on work, and withdrawn into ourselves. Verbal exchange has largely been replaced by emailing and other more impersonal forms of dialogue.
There are distinct threats to personal safety, meaning that guard dogs, fences, security systems, locked gates and blacked-out fences have reinforced this balkanisation to the extent of conferring a fortress mentality upon us all. We care less about others and share less. The sweetness of the Australian personality has soured
Too often, our agenda is set by a vigorous and raucous minority who make sufficient noise to convince authorities that they speak for far more people than is the case.
The majority are ‘middle of the road’ people but not given to responding – instead, they remain silent and apathetic. So, interest groups influence agendas in an unfortunate manner because authorities react to their suggestions to pacify their vociferousness.
The fact that we allow these myriad splinter groups to influence our country is ripping away at the blessings this country should offer.
Many Australians are so into the giddy world of social engagement that they have little time for the real world. It often seems we are in a whirlpool of giddy recreational pursuits that hides the real world. We don’t want to know about the serious side of life. Escapism is the order of the day – every day.
Unless and until we are prepared to confront the real world, denial and an ostrich-like stance will continue to afflict us. We need recreation, but carrying this to excess is destroying our country, culture, and us as a people.
At the Government and private levels, Australia is so wrong to be in the game of selling off assets and putting companies into overseas control. We used to be a country identified as ‘Australia’ regarding asset ownership and management. No longer. Increasingly, we have sold segments of our birthright for cash advantage. Sadly, that cash is soon wasted, generally squandered on some ‘quick fix’ and wholly unsustainable project. We keep selling, and we keep wasting.
Increasingly, we Australians are now tenants in a country owned and controlled by overseas principals. We have allowed ourselves to become bankrupt yet continue to sell off whatever bits of the farm remain.
55 days ago I was diagnosed with diabetes level two. Until that time and that day I have always loved drinking soft drinks, my favourite being Fanta.
On February 22, 2012, I gave up alcohol. From there, it was soft drink until my recent diagnosis.
So from there on my favourite drink has become soda water, and I’ll stick to that probably for the rest of my life. I like the effervescence and the sparkly nature of soda water, so going onto it hasn’t been a problem. Neither has given up eating sweet things.
My way to the future will be via the soda water stream.
We are blessed to live in Australia, but I suspect we are somewhat profligate with regard to our birthright. Over the next few entries I thought to outline what we might do differently and better. This does not come from an expert, rather from an aging Australian born and raised citizen, whose next ‘major’ birthday centenary will take me to the threescore and ten – getting closer by the year.
Old people see things differently, possibly more reflectively than the young. We have experienced what is yet to unfold for them albeit in a different world. The constant is that we all have youth, then grow older.
I worry about this country and will share some thoughts over the next few days.
My thoughts on Australian Education – but maybe applicable elsewhere
January 24 2024 was UNESCO’s ‘International Education Day’.
It is also the day after some 215 teachers and principals completed their orientation to teaching in the NT before heading to appointments in city, town, community and remote settings.
Sadly, a shortfall of 134 teachers remains, partially offset by the re-deployment of 80 registered teachers working in school support areas. Their re-assignment and a relief teacher pool may lessen classroom teacher vacancies. However, that will considerably weaken the student support services section – and for how long no one knows.
I taught in the Territory from mid-1975 until retiring in January 2012. During those years, there was always a constant challenge of ensuring the retention of good, practical, student-learning-focused teachers in all situations. That priority became ever more critical with the passing of years, for teaching became a ‘turn-off’ profession.
Sadly, the situation has only worsened in the years following my retirement. There was once a joy in teaching, but that satisfaction for many has become elusive. Student Teaching, instead, has been replaced by accountability and responsibility requirements. Teachers are evaluated on how well they meet the system’s data-driven demands.
That expectation is coupled with demands that teachers accept challenging, disruptive and non-compliant student behaviours in increasing situations. It is no wonder that many who enter the profession with richly positive intentions find that reality sours their ambitions. Teachers are quitting their careers in large numbers, and I can’t see that changing soon.
The people I most like to be around and who I most like being around me are the members of our nuclear family.
My wife, our children, their partners, and our grandchildren.
We are separated by distance.
From time to time when we get together, that reunion is great. However although we are one hundreds, and in another case thousands of kilometres apart, we share messages and keep in touch with each other.
I believe that in essence, we are never far from those with him we most love and appreciate.
One of the blessings of living where we live in an ever more congested suburban Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, is the common across the road.
This peaceful and quiet are is also bountifully green during the wet season.
May this area always remain an undeveloped space.
Across the road from our front drive.Panorama of the common.
There are some who say that attention the spelling is old hat and the discipline of being able to spell accurately and correctly is not really necessary anymore.
In an age of computer technology, they argue that the computer, iPads and similar gadgets provide students with correct spelling options through “spellcheck” and other text refining devices. Therefore it is not necessary to know how to spell words by heart any longer.
Others argue that in terms of priority spelling is a basic that no longer needs to be taught. There are other teaching and learning priorities.
Maybe “experts” believe that spelling skills will be aquired by osmosis. Some people genuinely believe that spelling accuracy isn’t important because corrections for both spelling and grammar can be provided by checks built into attachments for word documents and others. I believe that is the lazy way out.
I once had a teacher say to me “I don’t teach spelling because I don’t like it.” Teaching basics is apparently boring and quite stifling for some people. This overlooks the fact that teaching important basic understanding this is repetitious and not all learning is tinsel and glitter. However, there is a way of engaging children with spelling that makes it quite exciting and a looked forward to activity. There are numerous spelling games available that can be adapted for classroom use. These can be developed to support and reinforce graduated learning where the specific spelling word building an extension program is being followed.
Spelling and word appreciation games up also available and this is one area where computer or iPad use can be reinforcing. My contention however is that spelling is an area that requires basic teaching. It can’t all be left to children working on devices and acquiring the understanding they need without teaching going into the program.
An example of one game are used with spelling was to ask children within their minds to configure words broken into syllables attached to a piece of elastic. There is the word. As you stretch the elastic within your minds eye, the word breaks into syllables. The study of the breaks enables one to follow the patterning of the word. When the word had been “examined” the stretched elastic is relaxed, the word comes back together and is spelled orally as an intact unit. I found this method worked particularly well especially if it was built into a game including competition between children for accuracy and recall.
There are plenty of other games that can make spelling a fun learning experience. They are helped by teacher engagement and involvement in the process.
I believe we neglect spelling at our peril ad to the eternal loss of students
The Door and Hinge remembrances sit in my home office.Karama’s Door – I exited this great school after a five year Principalship.Leanyer’s Hinge – it reminds me of the 20 years of challenging but rewarding leadership at Leanyer School.
These gifts of remembrances were made by the property maintenance officers at the two schools, Karama (1987-1991) and Leanyer (1992- January 2012)
They are forever reminders of my educational journey in Darwin.
I always work on the principle of having money to buy and having money to save.
Savings are important. They are enhanced by budgetting to meet expenses.
In budgeting, I ensure that splurging is avoided. Money is not treated in a miserly or penny-pinching manner. It is spent sensibly and saved prudently.
Budgeting is important and accountability critical. I would not have it any other way.
People are invited to bring their deck chairs and an esky of drinks. The performance of the fairy tale drama, “The Princess and the Pea”will start at 7.00 pm
We live in a world that is becoming increasingly Clandestien and insecure.
There was a time when the general population – in Australia at least – enjoyed personal anonymity and privacy.
You could be your own person.
Enter the age of technology and the plague of social media. Along with this consider the government interference and organisational requirements that make it compulsory for people to reveal more and more about themselves.
The age of privacy is fast fading.
Privacy has been stolen by social media, with people sadly surrendering so much detail of their lives willingly. That can turn around to bind them.
A sad phenomenon on social media is how people are scarified by trolls and abuses. That is to the point where far too many people‘s lives are made totally miserable and even to the point of suicide.
There are far more curses than blessings about social media.
In an age when all is revealed and our privacy in real terms no longer exists, with everybody knowing everything about everybody, the last bastion of privacy are the thoughts that happen within your head.
I feel that it will not be long before some invention somewhere is cranked up in a way that will enable the thoughts of people to be read by others.
I remember reading 1984 by George Orwell when I was young, thinking that that type of revelation about people could never happen. I thought that all well was overstating things.
How wrong I was. The intrusion into the lives of people these days is more incisive than Orwell ever imagined.
Australia is so wrong, at the government and private levels, to be in the game of selling off assets and companies into overseas control.
We used to be a country that was identifiable as ‘Australia’ in terms of asset ownership and management. No longer. Increasingly, we have sold segments of our birthright for cash advantage. Sadly, that cash is soon wasted, generally squandered on some ‘quick fix’ and wholly unsustainable project. We keep selling, and we keep wasting.
Increasingly, we Australians are tenants in a country owned and controlled by overseas principals. We have allowed ourselves to become bankrupt yet continue to sell off whatever bits of the farm are still left.
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
I was brought up to believe we were blessed to live in Australia, but I suspect we are somewhat extravagant about our birthright.
As a child, teenager, young man, and a person going into my 30s 40s and early 50s, I felt strong patriotism toward our country and the way that it was.
I had faith and confidence in government, institutions and the way we were generally travelling.
My feelings of certainty about our country began to waver as I went through my 50s, my 60s and my septuagenarian years
In a few days, I will be 78.
The country into which I was born, was far more simple and straightforward than the country in which I find myself in old age.
When I was born, Australia’s population was approaching 7 million. Nearing my 80s, our country’s population has gone through 27 million, and that was 30 years before it was predicted to happen.
I used to know what an Australian was – the definition was obvious through daily living.
Now I am not sure if in contemporary terms I understand the Australian personality and characteristics.
This does not come from an expert, but instead from an aging Australian-born and raised citizen, whose next birthday will leave him two years shy of octogenarianship.
Old people see things differently, possibly more reflectively than the young. We have experienced what is yet to unfold for them, albeit in a different world.
I worry about this country and will share some thoughts over the next few days.
Yes, I remain patriotic but to a country that has become a kaleidoscope of confusion.
Surely the ultimate unhappiness for a teacher, particularly male teachers happens if they are falsely accused of wrongdoing in relation to students.
Those who wrong children deserve punishment. However at times reporting of inappropriate conduct is mischevious and deliberate.
While the matters after investigation may resolve and be found to have no substance, allegations have a huge impact the accused, so much so that the accused becomes the victim of the piece.
Whatever the reason for the reporting mischief, it has a deadly impact upon the psyche, inner feelings and wellbeing of the person against whom accusation is made.
This impacts on the accused, affecting feelings of physical wellbeing and mental equilibrium.
Although not guilty of sin the accused would feel like an abomination because these sorts of allegations cut very deeply.
False allegations leave permanent scars, a deep unhappiness that may follow so accused educators beyond their retirement and into their graves.
Anything to do with conflict and aggravation between the sexes is all one way. Everything that goes wrong, goes wrong because of the sins of the male gender.
In specific terms:
• Girls and women never ever give boys or men the come on.
• Females never throw themselves at male sportsmen.
• Girls never access social media looking for male ‘companionship’ that goes wrong.
• Women never ever ingratiate themselves on male counterparts in the hope of promotion within organisations.
• Women never ever contact men on social media with invitations to view improper photographs that are akin to soliciting contact.
• Prostitution is a trade repelled by women and encouraged only by men.
• In terms of attitudes to intimacy, women are enlightened and men are blighted by their selfish desires for physical fulfilment.
• vAll women are faithful to relationships they establish. It is only men who e3ver go wrong.
• 100% of all domestic violence is attributable to men. They are so wrong in what they do.
• All gender based bullying behaviour is attributable to boys and men. None of this behaviour is born of the actions of women and girls.
• All teasing is done by those of the male gender and all victims are females.
• Every wrong in the world is attributable to men.
Listening was an important attribute instilled as an attribute enhancing comprehension and understanding.
Handwriting was taught and legibility was encouraged.
Children learn about words through phonetic study.
Oral reading to the teacher and within groups leads to fluency when sharing text. Discussion within groups and shared conversation built understanding about the meaning of the written word.
Children learned tables and mathematical formulae. They developed the ability to carry out mental computation and were dexterous without the need for calculator assistance.
Grammar was studied. Rules relating to the English language and usage were studied and understood.
Spelling was an essential subject. Words and their usage were an important part of the study.
Manners and deportment which were developed by parents speaking with and modelling to their students, were reinforced and consolidated while children were at school.
I did not know or realise I had been blogging for so long. Blogging was a communications option that was blind to me before retiring. Thanks to everyone with whom I am connected because of blogging.
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
I have given a fair bit of thought to what the biography about myself might be called. Titles are all important but they should be reflected in this case of the person within the text.
I’ve always put a great deal of stock in the importance of thinking and the role in life That imagination should play.
As a teacher dealing with primary school age students in the upper years are used to say to them remember always that you have three eyes, your left eye, your right eye and your mind’s eye.
That said I was the “imagination Eye”.
It seems to me that the creativity and the imagination inherent within children and young ages begin to whether, die, and pass into personal history the older they get.
I used to say to children, that whatever they did they should never lose touch with their imagination. they should never allow it to die.
I have tried to live that and to keep my fertile imagination ablaze through all that I do and through the things I say.
One of the nicest compliments ever paid to me was from a Year Six child in class. She said to me, “Mr Gray, you have the body of a man in the mind of a child.“
I’ve tried to make sure that my imagination has always remained productive, creative, and directed positively.
Many wildfires are not random, and they do not start accidentally.
Those pinged for arson should have the book thrown at them big time. There are no excuses or extenuating circumstances for those who deliberately light fires to create chaos and mayhem.
Arson is a major crime, and the retribution of law should require, among other things, that the arsonist’s earnings are heavily garnished until all damage is made good.
Loss of life through arson has to be first-degree murder.
Please, there is more to life than fishing for fish.
Want a good fishing story? Years ago, when we lived at Numbulwar and our youngest was a smidgen, he whirled his line to cast it.
Into the air went the line, catching a seagull flying past by the leg. He hauled it in, and despite its vigorous flapping protests, we managed to release the bird.
This scenario was an instant hit with the folk who witnessed what happened.
Social media contributes hugely to our community in both positive and negative terms. As an old one, I am glad it is around, for in many respects, it has added a dimension to our communications capacities. However, irresponsible and, at times, nefarious use does nothing but detract. We often play ‘catch up’ with those who abuse communication avenues. Penalties for hacking and misuse are minimal, and abusers are often accorded quasi-hero status.
My parents were very secretive about their ages. They never told me how old they were. Imagine my horror when sneaking through my Father’s private papers, I discovered him to be at least 15 years older than I thought him to be. He looked so much younger than his years. Our children have always known their parent’s ages. I am a few days away from turning 78. At that age, both my parents had retired to a small country town, after having sold the family farm. I too am retired but live in Darwin the capital city of the Northern Territory. It’s not as quiet by any stretch of the imagination, as it would have been for my parents and their retirement.
It kind of reminds me of the fact that there are four phases to life. You get born. You grow up. You become old. You go dead. Like my parents, I spent quite a short time young and I am in the midst of a long time old.
These are only my thoughts, based on my experience, but with possible applicability elsewhere.
For years before and post-retirement, I have been fascinated by how educational development seems to be predicated by fashions and trends.
It often seems that systems and their schools hop like frogs from the ideas inherent in one lilypad of thought to the next.
Systems and their schools seem to quickly tire of particular practices – often before they have had the chance to consolidate and confirm their benefits to student learning.
They prefer, instead, to play the game of “out with the -not so- old and in with the new”.
Education is about ‘fashions’ or ‘hobbyhorses’, and students become the guinea pigs who lose out.
If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?
In the Northern Territory of Australia, we don’t presently have a law of entitlement to Voluntary Assisted Dying.
We had a law in 1997 that was passed by the Northern Territory Assembly giving people the right to die. That was the first law of its kind to be passed anywhere in Australia.
Because the Northern Territory is a territory, the right-to-die law was rescinded by the Federal Parliament. Very few people had accessed its provisions.
How the worm turns! Now in Australia, every state and the Australian Capital Territory have voluntary assisted dying laws – the exception being the Northern Territory. We now have a right to develop a law, but our Labour Government is being very tardy on the subject.
We may well get there at some time but at the moment a whole process of inquiry going on about the matter.
When it happens, if it happens, the Northern Territory which was first, will be last with such a law in place.
We NEED a law allowing the right to die. We need it soon. That is my beef.
With our three young children we went to Bali in the mid 1970’s. No tourist specials but full fares with Mepati Airlines.
We were we were among the first tourist group to be taken to Nusa Penida, an island off the east coast. We were an inquisitive attraction to the residents of the island’s main town, Sanpalan.
I remember some of the locals ( children) running and hiding when they saw us – so “stranger danger” had kicked in.
We stayed for two weeks, one in Sanur and the second in Kuta and toured the island thoroughly
I am 77 and find the whole issue of aged care frightening. Euthanasia is a much preferred option to committal to what is tantamount to imprisonment, in places where the only thing that seems to count is profit for private owners.
Aged care should not be an ‘industry’ supporting rich owners lining their pockets with profits derived from those in care. They too often pay the most for the least and are held to ransom by ‘agreements’ with fine print clauses and exceptions.
My dream home, it’s where we live. Our house, our home, is the sensible, realistic, comfortable, lived-in, clean, renovated, well-maintained, and pleasantly atmospheric place of residence.
I would hate to live in a high-rise, fancy apartment, a penthouse, or some other place of opulent proportions. In those appointments, occupiers would be beholden to the dwelling.
My dream home is our real home, we have lived here since 1987. During that time we upgraded our place, with renovations coming after paying it off as quickly as we could. Mortgages make shudder and in Australia, house purchasers get lumped with variable-rate interest loans.
Our renovations and improvements have always been paid for in cash, for I abhor borrowing money.
From time to time, I have thought about how I would like to email our leaders with some suggestions and thoughts about how they might do things differently regarding what they say and how they present.
As an older citizen, I have studied these things over the years and tried to model best practices when speaking and delivering messages. That was part of my job. However, be it personal weakness or cop-out, I have never bothered because essential leaders seem to be surrounded by a bevy of people who should be doing that sort of thing anyway.
Old people like me see things, but we also know or believe that our leaders, years and years younger with advisers years and years younger, don’t want to know.
Notwithstanding, there are things about seniors that go to the perception that our younger leaders might well apply to their advantage.
Would I be doing the right thing, or would it be downright stupid, impetuous, or foolish to email or contact our leaders? Do they get constituent messages, or do minders siphon off these?
To me, however, there is often a major disconnect between Canberra and Australia beyond its famed parliamentary halls.
Grog was a number one then, and that is still the case
Bouncers bounced for not bouncing (let the fight go on and did not intervene)
We don’t need bouncers.
We need these places of sin and wicked excess to be closed, or at least curtailed, to closure by midnight. Drinking, carousing, fighting and acting in a base and dehumanistic manner is something we do not need.
The fact that hundreds of people spend long hours on so many nights per week drinking to excess and getting, in many instances, blotto is not a good look for our city.
Call me a prude, but there is no way I could entertain going to the CBD at night
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
In early December 2023, I was advised by the Governor General Office and Canberra, that I was to be the recipient of an Order of Australia Medal for services to Education. The award was to be announced on the Australia Day on January 26, 2023. The conferral will take place sometime in May 2023.
It was a requirement of this notification that I kept absolute secrecy and allowed no information to pass my lips to anyone.
I made one exception – my wife. She is probably better at keeping secrets than myself, but I had to share with her, especially because of the fact we have been together for so very long, 54 years. (We married in January 1969).
When the announcement was made on January 26 2023, It was news to our three children.
It was wonderful to celebrate and I appreciated the many messages I received and congratulating me on the award.
When advised of my being endorsed for the metal, I replied to the secretary of the Governor General’s office. attached is a copy of what I wrote.
“Dear Mr Singer
Thank you for this advice and please know that I feel both pride and humility in being recognised as an OAM recipient to be announced on January 26. I appreciate whoever nominated me and have to tell you that your email has made my day. I will value this honour highly and appreciate all who have been a part of deciding this conferral.
I gave up the possible inheritance of a family farm to enter teacher’s college as a mature-age student in 1968, this being the beginning of a very satisfying and fulfilling career.
Might I please share with you my statement of mission, developed during a leadership program in 1983, which became the ethos and the underpinning driver of my life.
“ To fulfil and be fulfilled in organisational terms, family, work and recreation.
To acquit my responsibilities with integrity.
To work (I later changed ‘work’ to ‘live’) with a smile in my heart.”
Again, thank you for your advice and an inner feeling of uplift engendered within my being.”
In the 1970s, I was the Principal (then called headmaster) of Warburton Ranges School in remote Western Australia. The funding we received was minuscule to the point of being peanuts.
When I, admittedly as a young and quite neophytic school leader, sought additional support from the WA Education Authority, I was more or less peremptorily dismissed (from conversation, not the school, at least not at that time).
We were funded with a few dollars for each child every year. With the help of supporters, we started a ‘donate clothing to Warburton’ program.
Donations of second hand clothing were sent to us, carried gratis by TNT. With staff help, the clothing was sorted, and every fortnight, we would hold a second-hand clothing sale.
Four classrooms were used, one for ladies, one for men, one for girls, and one for boys. At each end of a connecting corridor was a receptacle for money collection and supervision.
As people left, they contributed 20 cents for each clothing item. Over a year, we earned several thousand dollars appropriated to purchase school resources.
From this base, we graduated some children who went on to do well as leaders in life.
Memories.
Working with students to make a wall and ceiling dictionary in 1974.
Everyone at my school, turned up in a sea of pink – my favourite colour. This picture was in the Northern Territory Newspaper.This likeness was gifted to me by one of the parents of a student at the school.
Are there any activities or hobbies you’ve outgrown or lost interest in over time?
For many decades I collected Phantom comics including every Phantom issue that came out with a plastic cover. I kept at least one copy of every plastic cover of The Phantom without ever opening the cover to read the comic. The first Phantom comic that I ever bought with the plastic cover that was put away, I have been reliably told would now fetch around AU$1200. I had everyone from the issue right the way through – together with a lot of comics I had read.
Several years ago at the age of about 74, I decided that these were best sent to one of my children. Phantom and I parted company.
For many years I had a collection of stuffed toys that grew in number to about 120. Include it was a wonderful spider multicoloured, that used to sing “My Friend the Witchdoctor“. All of them had unique characteristics. I used to use them for all sorts of purposes including as props for storytelling when I was at work.
It got to the point where something needed to happen. So when I retired, I gave them to a children’s charity. I’m sure they brought and may still be bringing great joy to others.
For me, it suffices that I have happy memories of both those collections – which I grew out of as I aged to become what I am now – a very old man.
In these modern times, it is easy to replace traditional reading approaches with device supported alternatives. The proof of this change is confirmed by the number of bookshops that have been relocated away from the Northern Territory, changed business focus or closed. Among these are the ABC Bookshop, Dymocks and Angus & Robertson. While newsagents carry text material, dedicated bookshops are in decline.
Tablets and electronic books are becoming ever more popular, replacing what was a preference for books and traditional texts. Newspapers and some magazines have skyrocketing numbers of online readers, but subscriptions to hardcopy and paper formats are declining.
Electronic reading is an individualised alternative. The interaction is between the reader and the device. Text sharing and discussion does not take place because this reading method is not a group activity. Reading from devices does little to promote text sharing and companionship between readers.
Jackie Sinnerton made this point in a recent column about what should be an important sharing between parents and children. She suggests that “… parents should stick with old fashioned storybooks when reading to their children and ditch the electronic devices … reading from a device or e-book fails to engage children in the same way as a storybook. Parents and children verbalise and interact more when story and pictures are in print.” (Reading more special when it’s in print, NT News, 27 March 2019)
Traditional reading offers interactive opportunities for parents and children. Quoting from a prominent paediatrician Dr Tiffany Munzer, Sinnerton explains that the tradition of parents and children reading together offers “ … interactions, including warmth, closeness and enthusiasm during reading (which) create positive associations with reading (that) will likely stick with children as they get older.” (Op cit).
Although not stated, this benefit will in all likelihood be carried forward and become a habit that today’s children will practice as tomorrow’s parents.
Traditional reading promotes family togetherness. It also supports children in their acquiring of reading, conversational and comprehension skills.
The NT News and other papers belonging to the Murdock stable recognise the importance of shared readings in the family context. From time to time, sets of books which can be purchased by families reading newspapers, are offered for sale at most reasonable prices. This is a positive and practical initiative.
Access to traditional books and sharing quality time focussing on written text, adds value to family life. Children from homes where shared reading and discussion is a family habit, stand to gain a head start in reading, discussion and social sharing which are elements of formal schooling.
In Darwin Next door to the NT’s biggest shopping shopping centre and 1.5 kilometres from the Casuarina Campus of the Charles Darwin University in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Regarding candy and sweet things, “Oh woe is me, I am undone”.
I like all lollies. caramel lollies, strawberry lollies, flavours of all kinds lollies.
I love caramel straps, licorice straps, allsorts, Daryl Lee licorice, and chocolate bullets.
I love Picnics, Mars Bars, Honeycomb Crunch, KitKat, and all other chocolate-type bars with or without nuts.
I love peppermint chocolate, caramel chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, and all chocolates in all shapes and sizes.
I love Lindop chocolates, Cadbury’s Roses chocolates and all specially packaged chocolates.
There is nothing in the confectionery line that I do not dislike. I am partial to them all. They are all my favourites.
But, alas, of the lack!
It’s now a case of “look but don’t touch“. I have been diagnosed with type two diabetes and have to swear off sweet things. The secondary reason for my resistance to eating anything sweet in the confectionery line (now 36 days after the abstinence started) is that I am too fat. I need to manage my diabetes and have medications. I also have to manage my weight and lose it little by little by little by little.
How I wish my metabolism was not so expansive when it comes to food intake.
Spectators get off on violence associated with contact sport.They love it and want it as part of the spectacle of the game.
Physical clashes are what offer the ‘wow’ factor. If it was about pure skill rather than the fierce clashing that goes on, football crowds would be a lot less.
This of course goes with all sport for it is the underside (clashing, sledging and put downs) that are excitement drivers. That is because top level sport is not sport – it’s a business and ‘bang for buck’ counts.
Oh, to God, we could be ‘together as one’, cooperating and being together in harmonious oneness. Race, colour and creed should not come into the reckoning. Tolerance, give and take, respecting and being respected are parts of that equation.
Those of us who are Christian believe God created us as equals, and we should all adhere to that standard of equality and appreciation. In some ways, we have come a long way toward understanding each other – it takes empathy and understanding to work.
The way people carry on about material resource needs for schools gets up my nose. What is needed are children and students who go to school from family backgrounds, which feature parents who care and who take time to help with the development of their children.
Schools need teachers who are not swamped, indeed drowned, in administrative and paperwork obligations.
Teachers have told me forever that they want the chance to teach and develop children – not be swamped by compliance and obligation requirements dreamed up by governments. Far too many people in high places (those in schools call it carpet) know nothing about schools and the pressures under which teachers operate.
Governments love to provide material resources because they look nice and allow boastfulness about ‘is this not a great edifice which I have built.’ Schools need extra people (people resources) to help with the development of children, who more and more come to school with no background at all in life and living.
Teachers will tell you they have to bring children up, providing the basic rudiments of development that should come from the home.
My Dad was a wise man and a citizen of this country (Australia) back in the olden days when money and prudence seemed to mean more than it does in this day and age. He never spent beyond his means but was not miserly or frugal in any sense of spartan deprivation. Dad’s advice to me as his growing up son over 70 years ago was simply, “Henry, save it to spend it”.
Now I have been criticised by many a person for that rather unimaginative philosophy but thank God, it is one I have stuck to as unswervingly as possible. Dad used to say not to spend what wasn’t yours in outright ownership terms. He was for many years a member of a Roads Board in Western Australia and a major contributor to local government.
As a student of government, he always told me that Australian Federal Labor Governments were famous for two things. Firstly, they were dead set keen on centralising authority and wresting decentralised power unto themselves in Canberra. Secondly, if they inherited a decent set of treasury figures and savings, they got to and dissipated that largesse as quickly as possible. He said that coalition governments built country through savings, all too short term because Labour Governments were not happy until the treasury was bare.
I have always been fascinated by the year of my birth. I was born on 24 February 1946. With the baby boom era beginning on 1 January 1946, that makes me one of the very oldest baby boomers in the world.
Imagine my surprise and discovering what was invented In the year of my birth.
Here are 10 important things that were invented in 1946:
1. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC): ENIAC was one of the earliest general-purpose electronic computers that were developed at the University of Pennsylvania. It represented a significant advancement in computing technology.
2. Bikini: The bikini, a two-piece swimsuit, was introduced by French engineer Louis Réard. It revolutionized swimwear fashion and became a symbol of women’s liberation.
3. Microwave Oven: The first commercial microwave oven, called the “Radarange,” was introduced by Raytheon. It marked the beginning of a new era in cooking technology and convenience.
4. Polaroid Camera: Edwin Land introduced the Polaroid instant camera, allowing users to develop and view photographs almost instantly. It greatly simplified the process of capturing and sharing photos.
5. Transistor: Transistors, invented by John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley at Bell Laboratories, revolutionized the field of electronics. They replaced bulky vacuum tubes and paved the way for modern electronic devices.
6. Nylon Stockings: Nylon stockings were introduced by DuPont, replacing silk stockings. They quickly gained popularity and became a staple in women’s fashion.
7. Jet Engine: The British engineer Frank Whittle patented the jet engine, which significantly improved aircraft propulsion. Jet engines revolutionized aviation and made air travel faster and more efficient.
8. Tupperware: Earl Tupper invented Tupperware, airtight plastic containers used for storing food. It revolutionized food storage and preservation methods.
9. Sony Corporation: In 1946, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita founded the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, which later became the Sony Corporation. Sony became a global leader in electronics and entertainment.
10. Television Remote Control: The first practical television remote control, called the “Lazy Bones,” was invented by Zenith Electronics Corporation. It allowed viewers to change channels and adjust the volume without getting up from their seats.
These inventions from 1946 had a significant impact on various aspects of technology, fashion, and everyday life.
For me, the number one on that list would be transistors, for how they have shaped communication and changed the shape of the world through adaptation and just so many different devices.
While this relates to where I live in Australia, the essence has universal applicability
I would welcome the opportunity to talk soon. Not to one individual but the whole of the Northern Territory Government Cabinet. I would also like to include our Department of Education’s Chief Executive Officer together with the heads of sub-departments.
Sadly, that conversation will never become a reality and will remain a wish to happen in my head.
The reason I would like to talk with these people is to ask them to reflect upon the past. Look in the rear vision mirror where the Northern Territory Government and Education have come from.
Life and organisation are all about the past, the present, and the future. I do believe that informing what happens in “the President” should take into account what has happened in “the past”. However, they do sell them the case.
Policies and processes defined as “new“are often far from that. They are, in essence, revisiting what has happened in previous years, been implemented and then discarded because of problems. A lot of the new policies coming into vogue (and this has happened over time) are simply revisitations of what has been trialled and then discarded.
This on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again, on-again is tantamount to revisiting the wheel with organisations including the government, going around in circles. I’m not saying that we don’t need to move forward – we do! But in moving forward we need to take account of what has gone before.
I would very much like to talk with the people nominated, in order to point out numerous instances of revisitation based upon the above methodologies since the 1970s the 1990s.
But as I said, that conversation will never take place because nobody in high places is interested in thinking about past successes and failures: Through trial and error they would prefer to find out for themselves.
I was a school principal for over 40 years and worked in all sorts of circumstances in both WA (briefly) then the Northern Territory. One of the things that has worried me over the years and one that has time and again proven to be true, is that models of operation replacing (superseding) earlier models always seem to be inferior to what is being replaced.
Now you may accuse me of viewing things through rose coloured glasses but I do remember the challenges of now historical circumstances. What has changes over the years is that faith and trust along with appreciation placed in teachers and school leaders has largely dissipated.
Where there was appreciation there is now expectation.
Where trust was placed in the judgement of teachers, there is now suspicion.
What used to be accepted as anecdotal confirmation of progress is no longer acceptable ; everything has to be deeply, externally and empirically tested and teacher judgements are treated with suspicious disbelief.
There used to be joy in teaching and the profession was one people wanted to join. These days there is an increasing reluctance and teachers are largely wan, overtired, overworked and altogether dispirited.
Attached is an item in the NT News from Monday, February 5, 2024.
The Emergency Department at Royal Darwin Hospital is a place where those presenting are often traumatised by the behaviour of a selection of patients.
My periodic visits to the ED of RDH helped me understand why the ‘bolting down’ action is being taken.
I have read an account written by a person who was in the ED of RDH for an emergency issue just this weekend past. The history of the experience is such that it makes one’s blood curdle.
The group who are 95% of the issue cannot be identified because any identification would be racist. Suffice it to say the behaviours and the disturbance they create are allowed, and no standard of conduct is required or enforced.
The legal limitations on security guards mean they are more about dressage than meaningful countering action.
It is also true that ED staff, both administrative and medical, bend over backwards to treat this group in an understanding and supplicatory manner.
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?
For the whole of my adult life, I have always been interested in world affairs and tried to keep an eye on just how things are going globally. The area I’ve studied, and one I am concerned about, is how we are heading toward what might become World War Three.
The world is always on edge, and in terms of percentage, it seems that far more countries and regions are involved in conflict in 2024 than in many years prior. Conflict is widening all the time, and I am inclined to think that what’s happening in the Middle East is very much toward Armageddon.
Within our region of Australia, we have China threatening Taiwan and a lot of instability in many countries of Southeast Asia. It would not surprise me at all if, by 2030, China is making a team, possibly militarily, to subjugate Taiwan. What’s going on in Europe with Russia in Ukraine seems to be spreading.
I read an article in the Weekend Australian just yesterday. Written by Greg Sheridan, it analyses the situation in which we find ourselves and are on the brink.
Australia is not helped by the fact that our Navy is outdated, our air force is limited, and a lack of equipment rather hamstrings our army. We also have a ludicrous situation where Berry is for gates, and other things cannot be crude because there was insufficient personnel to keep these boats at sea. An increasing number of them are going into drydock.
The other thing is that we do not have any drones or mobile equipment that could be used in the event of an attack on Australia.
Living in Darwin on Australia’s north coast, I am particularly concerned because a position puts Soares first in the firing line if anything untoward happens.
I am not confident about the future and cannot think positively and optimistically about what will happen as we go forward in time.
A comment I had published eleven years ago – and still on the mark of what needs to be done.
Sure, funding is important and the need for good facilities paramount. However, for a long, long time now the country has been missing the boat – and continues to overlook the thing most important. Our teacher training programs are in need of overhaul. The selection of people to teach is something that has –needed attention for the last thirty years.
The fact that there is ‘open quota’ on universities’ meaning they can take in as many people as they like regardless of their adequateness to teach is a blight upon Government for allowing this. Nothing changes. Many years ago when my son was in Year 11, a group of career advisers from the Commonwealth Dept of Education visited and counselled with students about what level of Year 12 TER they would need for particular professions. “Ninety nine will get you dentistry, 96 doctoring, 94 engineering ……. ” and so on. The count-down finished at 60, good enough for someone to train as a chartered accountant. “Oh”, one of the advisers to these students said, “If you get less than sixty, there is always teaching.”
Sadly, we have not learned. As a recently retired Principal, I can tell you a big job was teaching teachers to teach
Oh to God that we could be ‘together as one’, cooperating and being together in harmonious oneness. race, colour and creed should not come into the reckoning.
Tolerance, give and take, respecting and being respected is a part of that equation. Those of us who are Christian, believe God created us as equals, and it to that standard of equality and appreciation we should all adhere.
In some ways, we have come a long way toward understanding each other – it takes empathy and understanding to work.
Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.
I often feel so slack There is always a lot to do and sadly so much that I leave undone. “Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow”, seems to be the way it goes. Sadly, tomorrow never comes.
My ‘to-do’ list never grows any shorter. What I have to do …
The issue of violent threats in their various forms is one I believe needing careful address. It’s the matter of “issue” rather than “individual incident” that needs careful consideration. The matter is not new – but rather has been ongoing over time.
From time to time the system and various support professional organisations including our Association have looked at the matter and considered process that might be taken into account when reacting to matters of threat. That to me is part of the problem; our system is “reactive” rather than taking a proactive role in engaging the matter.
Threat in its various forms is not new. However, responding to the matter seems to be one that causes embarrassment. Often Principals and staff members feel that to air issues occurring within the school organisations is tantamount to a profession of weakness. There seems to be a preference to manage within, making sure that word about problemsdoes not get out. Over time there have been assaults levied against Principals and staff members where it seems that departmental management is to mute the issue almost in some sort of “we are guilty because it happened” fashion.
I think that issues of this nature have to be put right out into the public domain and addressed with responsible but justified professional aggression. “How dare they” ought to apply. The response being developed needs to have full system support and it ought not to be that recommendations on process point and direct the whole matter back to schools at the individual level to manage.
Members of student and parent communities do not have the right to inflict themselves upon teachers and other staff members in a violent, threatening or intimidating manner. Staff and principals deserve full departmental support against this sort of behaviour all the way to action through court processes. An “under the carpet” response is not acceptable.
Maybe during my time as a school educator I was lucky in not having these sorts of things thrust against me personally. I can promise that assaults directed toward my staff or myself would have been most vigorously pursued through courts.
No, I would not have felt weak all guilty about taking these actions because staff members and school principals deserve to be respected and protected.
I would hope that the issue going forward is addressed in an appropriate responsive and responsible manner.
Much is said and written about the obligation of universities toward students. Often, students feel empowered to complain about lecturers and organisations if things do not go their way. But there is a counterviewpoint, and that is the responsibility that students should have toward their studies and commitment to university education. If students absent themselves from lectures, tutorials, discussion boards and online sessions, then they can hardly turn around and criticise universities for their failure. Commitment is a two-way process. To gain the most from their education, students have to approach their tertiary studies and training with due diligence. The university is not a cakewalk.
Reports on educational trends, directions, and how they should be are rarely ending. We would be foolish to ‘jump’ at every movement. We need an education that is steady, predictable and reassuring.
THINK OF STUDENT WHEN ASSESSING
When assessing student work, I try to think of myself as the student. How would/will I ‘feel’ when checking the assigned grade? Will I be pleased, happy, relieved, disbelieving or despairing?
PRINCIPALS NEED TEAMS
Principals are vital educational leaders, and the people most strongly identified with their schools. However, they are limited in their capacities to lead and progress their schools without a good team.
PRIME FOCUS
May children and the fact that ‘education is for children’ always be front and centre in our thinking. We can get too involved with structure and scaffolding, which takes our focus away from students.
My first ever encounter with a computer happened in 1983. I had just been appointed as Principal at Nhulunbuy Primary School.
Nhulunbuy was a mining town and I was invited by the mining company Nabalco, to visit their facilities.
Nabalco had recently installed a computer to assist with product analysis.
It was incredible. It was made up of interconnected metal cabinets that whirred and clicked incessantly. The huge room, full with these units had the memory and operational capacity of a Commodore 64 computer.
Such a massive machine with a capacity many times less than this 6S mobile phone.
That day, I was so very impressed by what was a huge experience.
The company believed theirs was the first computer to be set up and operated in the NT.
That day was an experience in appreciating computer technology never to be forgotten.
In the end, there was no evidence that Toadstool Town had ever existed. It had completely disappeared and been consumed by the landscape which it had once shaped. In time, it may become an archaeological discovery. The beasties in the soil may feed upon what it once was.
Direct Instruction and face-to-face teaching and learning between teacher(s) and student(s) are the best possible educational and teaching methodologies. Direct education is caring education.
MISSION STATEMENT
I was challenged to develop a statement of mission or purpose in 1983. Reports asked of us by Deakin University’s (Geelong Australia) Dr Colin Moyle asked that we create an account of 25 words or less, which would be our precept and guide in the future. I spent a great deal of time in developing the following focus:
” To fulfil and be fulfilled in organisational mode: Family, work, recreation; To acquit my responsibilities with integrity; To work with a smile in my heart.” This guide is one I reflect upon regularly and have on the reverse side of my business card. It has been of incredible help, focussing value to me over the years. Do others have statements or mottos that reflect the principles shaping their actions? Would you be prepared to share?
KNOWING WHAT’S GOING ON
We should take a few minutes each day to make ourselves aware of initiatives being contemplated and changes being mooted on the educational front. Awareness prevents us from being wrong-footed on change.
ALWAYS A LEARNER
No matter how ‘new’ we are or how long we have been in the field of education, there is never an end to learning. Are you like me, a person learning something new every day? We should always learn.
Absence from school creates many learning difficulties. One is personal learning loss for the absentee. Another is time lost for regular students who must mark time while the absentee is caught up.
MARK STUDENTS WORK WITH CARE
When marking assignments, take care to moderate for the sake of consistency. Mark a few papers at a time and take regular, head-clearing breaks. Come back refreshed to each marking stint.
THE JOY OF MARKING WORK UNDERPINNED BY PRIDE IN PRESENTATION
When marking, it is an absolute joy to encounter the work of students who take time and care to meet presentation requirements. Carefully referenced work is also a pleasure to read and assess.
LET THE CHILDREN PLAY
Children are often forced to grow up too quickly. Education plays some part in this demand by demands placed on them by schools and systems. Children need the chance to enjoy their few years of play.
CHILDREN DESERVE HAPPINESS
We must be conscious of the need to keep children buoyed and optimistic in a world where distress is often highlighted
EDUCATION, A LIFE FORCE BBB 