Rotku's Deranged Ramblings #1 - A beginning

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I have discovered the blogs here! Yes, after years (so Tal has kindly informed me) of complete unobservantness, I have at last seen them. In a lecture just this morning (fittingly enough), we were told that a good way to keep sane over the coming year is to keep a record of one's activities - it also serves as a great way of seeing patterns and learning more about... things. More on that just a bit down there. So I guess that's what I'm going to attempt to do.

Will try and get something up every few days, under one of three or four general catagories that tend to define my life at the moment.

(1) Cooking. I enjoy cooking. I've always loved cooking. Figure it may be fun to share some failures and successes here.

(2) Hydroponics. Early last year I started my first veggie garden, only to have it blasted by strong winds just after Christmas (so much for summer). After doing a bit of research I decided to mvoe my garden inside, and give hydroponics a go. I've been meaning to set up a way to keep track of things, purely for my own interest in seeing how things change, so this must be a good place as any.

(3) Teaching. I've just started my final year in university (for a few years, at least - this will be Year number 6, if my counting is up to scratch... or maybe 5?), doing a post-grad course in education. It's meant to be three years of under-grad squashed into one, and they've made it very very clear, during the last four weeks of classes, that the year is going to be one big ball of stress and work. We've been told keeping a journal is a way that some people are able to better manage things*.

(4) Politics/Religion/Philosophy. Politics has to be my number one fascination in life, since I was probably about 11 years old. I guess things like religion and philosophy also come around this catagory somewhere, so they'll do just fine here.

(6) Everything else. Sure, there are always things that one wishes to rave about that don't tend to fit anywhere else. You know, those small little thoughts that you can't get rid of, that just have to be expressed somewhere. Like how that person standing in the line at the shop the other day had a funny looking nose, or how the neighbours cat keeps meowing outside my window. Those real fun things in life.

So with some rough idea of a bit of order and system in mind, I'm going to leave with a short story about journals that we were told today (you know that one I mentioned way up the top there).

Last lecture of this particular paper (EPSY301 - Learner in Content (they always impress me with those boring, generalized names they give courses)), the lecturer was talking about using data to help your teaching. He told us a story of a teacher he knew, who ever day kept a journal about the important things that happened during the day. At one stage she noticed that she was often mentioning this one boy in class, and how he seemed to be very tired and lethargic - something that wasn't normal for this usually lively child. She checked back through her past notes and worked out that it was only the last month or two that it started to happen. She was a bit concerned that this might be affecting his learning, so approached the kid one day and asked him if everything was alright. You know they type of questions : "Everything alright at home, John?" "You're not going to bed too late?" THose sort of things. Anyway, the boy infomred the teacher that everything was grand - no big changes from ordinary routine.

Still concerned about this she approached the principal and pointed out the trend to him. The principal asked who the kid was, then gave a thoughful nod. "Ah yes, I know the family." The older brother and sister and recently passed through the school and it seems the principal didn't have too high opinions of the family - lots of late nights, parents having parties keeping the kids awake. Not surprising that this boy is tired. Still, the teacher persisted and asked the principal if they could get the Public Health Nurse to come into the school and check him ovre. The principal agreed, so long as the parents gave their consent.

So the teacher called the parents. They weren't all too happy. Who the hell was this teacher to pry into their personal lives - the school had already made it clear what they thought of the elder brother and sister, and now they were trying to mess with the youngest boy. The mother told the teacher where she could go and hung up. The teacher still called the nurse in to check the boy over, who reached a similar conclusion - something seemed to be up, and the boy should see the doctor. Ringing up the parents to get their permission, the nurse met with the same treatment as the teacher had. But still, the teacher plotted and managed to get the child into see a doctor behind the parents back.

Turned out the boy had a growth in his brain. A quick operation fixed it and made the boy as good as new. The conclusion the lecturer drew from this was that because the teacher (a) kept a simple record of data from the day to day classroom activities she was able to note this discrepancy and save the boys life; and (b) she cared for the individual students and trusted her data, rather than just taking the "*shurg shoulders* It's that family again" attitude, she was able to make a difference.

How accurate those conclusions are, I don't really care. It made an interesting story at the time - better than the load of theories that we are loaded with most days.

So there we have it. Post Numero Uno. Let us see how long it takes me to give up. Bets are now open.

 

I'm sure it was meant to mean something - but now I don't have a clue. That's the problem with writing off the cuff of your head and not editing properly. I put it down to laziness.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read it - really don't expect anyone too, so don't feel obligated. More just a place for me to keep record.