Tuesday, March 18, 2014

We shall, we shall not be moved!

Well, I have to say that today's political furore took me completely by surprise, but I think it was educational gold and I ran with it as far as I could!

For those who came in late - As part of their leadership program, senior students formed groups to perform various leadership based activities. Several students have taken on fundraising as one of their activities. The last fundraiser was to fight Ovarian Cancer, and went off quietly as per usual.

However today, students had decided that raising money to fight factory farming was a worthy issue, and before we knew it, we had protestors on both sides putting forth their own point of view. I stepped between two opposing groups when things looked like they were taking a negative turn, but aside from that, I was following the directives of Frederick Douglas - "Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!" I even pointed out to a group that a united chant was more effective than individual voices, and they immediately began speaking with one voice. The opposing camp quickly came up with a chant of their own, and of course, it rhymed!

I didn't really see this conflict coming because I am one who is in the middle of this issue, without strong opinions one way or the other. But with my teacher's hat on, we discussed a whole raft of related issues, from effective forms of protest, to whaling, Buddhism, the difference between facts and opinion, and why teachers are careful not to reveal their opinions even though there is nothing nicer than a medium rare scotch fillet topped with prawns and covered with garlic sauce...

But I digress. Ms Collopy will today address this issue as it relates to the school, and our impartiality or the perception of it. I'm happy to discuss my own teaching with any parent at any spare moment, and if you have any concerns I would love to hear them. Until then, I would urge both sides to Maintain the Rage!

Is that politically incorrect? 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

East Narrogin Footy Tipping Competition

Good day folks,

Just a quick advert on behalf of our school footy tipping competition.

Every year I run this competition, and funds raised are used to help pay for senior school activities. In the past, we have used some of this money to subsidise the cost of the graduation shirts, bus fare to the end of year water excursion as well as the graduation lunch.

This year, we will have twice as many graduates, and so your support for activities like footy tipping and the chocolate drive is now more important than ever.

The cost for entry is only $30, and we give away around $600 in prizes. Please check with your parents, brothers and even your auntie's sister's cousin to see if they would like to play. We hope that we can count on your support...