Last Chance to See

I know I'm a bit late but I've just discovered this fantastic BBC site dedicated to animals on the brink of extinction. With the gallant Stephen Fry as host, there is a wonderful collection of blogs, video posts and archive radio to pick through and enjoy. I don't remember the original radio series of 20 years ago but I love the way the blogs and video diaries have been used as a work in progress, allowing viewers to get excited by and be remotely part of the programme team. I think this is a great model which shows simply and clearly how blogs could be used to record a project that a class are studying. More importantly than that, it's lots of fun!!

a sort of homecoming...

After 9 months AWOL in the wilderness, it comes as no surprise that my return to the classroom at the beginning of January was a severe jolt to the mind and body. It's been very dark, very wet and the whole world seems very depressed. Woolies is also a distant memory. The winter monotony of waking up in darkness, returning home in darkness and never bothering to open your curtains is a stark contrast to 9 months of adventure and excitement. 'Credit crunch' is as common a topic of news amongst the kids in my class as the usual Old Firm nonsense. (As a lifelong Aberdeen fan, it'll always be a constant thorn). Thankfully, I have one faithful Partick Thistle supporter brightening the gloom amongst the faded greens and blues. And another of my kids has brilliantly rebranded the credit crisis as the 'MONEY MUNCH!' You gotta love that.

So what's new in education? Not much it seems. ACE is now CfE. GLOW is making slow but careful progress. The influx of new teachers of the Bebo generation in my school, who have decimated the average age of the staff, seem completely unphased by GLOW. Which is great. The email is rubbish, though.

And after weeks of feeling rusty as hell, lost at sea and about as effective in the classroom as a chocolate fireguard; I'm beginning to settle back into the normal way of things. Lucky to have a job. I know. Some of my pupils' parents have sadly been made unemployed; a sobering thought.
Still, it's impossible not to stop the mind sailing blissfully off to foreign shores at 3.05pm on another dreich Wednesday afternoon. Truth is, I'm not alone. After their third full day of wet breaks some of the children in my class were on pressure gauge setting, 'EXPLODE!' Friday nights are once again working their therapeutic magic through the twin turb0 combo of LOUD 80s/90s music and HOT curries. Nostalgia and spice in served equal measure.

We did have that one weekend of amazing powdered snow. Husker Du? At 9pm, on the Sunday night, a gang of us charged to Kelvingrove park armed only with Sainsbury's plastic bags. Skidding and charging our way down every hill of virgin snow we could claim, we met a lovely couple at the top of the largest hill armed with a classic wooden Rolls Royce of a sledge. The masked pair were well hidden under woolly hats and scarves. They were also kind and gracious enough to gie us a wee shottie on the demon machine. The voice of the man was really familiar. He was dead small too. After a couple of shots, the couple departed with full speed and grace down the hill. It was then that the voice and face clicked. The wee man was none other than Gordon Strachan! What a good guy. And he was a brilliant player for Aberdeen back in the day. Perhaps the Old Firm are not so bad after all.

Steady... that's maybe pushing my optimism a bit too far.

The Incredibles' jourrney...

It has been a while since I last posted. Been very busy. In 4 days time I will be setting of with my partner, Kathy, for a nine month life of grime traveling the globe. Very exciting. For those of you who want to follow our journey (staff and pupils) please surf to our travel blog, and keep us updated with any top tips and comments while we roam around. http://furry-boots.blogspot.com/

My P6 class have enjoyed experimenting with their own blog. We've had a great 3 terms together, and it's nice to look back at it as a sort of online yearbook. None of it would have been possible without all their creative ideas, enthusiasm and sense of fun. They are an incredible bunch of kids. It has been a joy.

I wonder what changes will take place in education while I'm away? It will be interesting to find out where Curriculum for Excellence and Glow will be nine months from now. My biggest gripe with Glow has always been the cost (£44 million I'm led to believe) and that it takes a while to get used to. But I can definitely see its huge potential and there are lots of very talented teachers who will make it a success despite this. And maybe I'm just used to getting things for free on the net. How much does a Gmail account or Facebook account cost in real terms? These people earn millions in advertising.

Most of all, I can't wait to take a rest from education. I spend so much of my time thinking about lessons, resources and individuals that right up to this point I am still running around trying to do a million things at once. Come Saturday, I can leave that behind and live life a little differently. This trip is something we have both been planning for some time. I have no idea what it is really going to be like but I can't wait to find out...

Mr M has left the building.