Miss Art of Teaching

I will be spending today marking and doing reports but I am already  excited for next week. Events coming up: -Wednesday 17th May: Parent teacher night for Year 7, 11 and 12. -Thursday 18th May: My birthday!! Turning 28. -Friday 19th May: Birthday dinner with my girls. -Saturday 20th May: Birthday outing with partner. -Sunday 21st May: Million Paws Walk with partner and my fluffy Shih Tzu. I just registered for the RSPCA walk as the funds help fight animal cruelty (domestic violence victims, the homeless, the elderly and the socially isolated). RSPCA receives less than 2% support from the government and relies on the goodwill of the community. I am happy to take part of this meaningful event and let my fluffball get a day out. Use the code 'PAWS' to get 40% off the tickets. I am planning to buy some merchandise on the day for my Shih Tzu and get her a wash as well. All proceeds go back to RSPCA. Above: All registered! Above: Normal prices without using...

Being a high school teacher, Year 7 Adviser, Facebook admin, rewards program runner keeps me busy. The thing about this job is that our 'work' brain never switches off. We are constantly thinking of our students, our workload and our relationships with people (staff and parents/carers). I regularly maintain my school's Facebook page to promote what we are doing to the wider community. I am one of the five admins. On the Facebook page, you will find important notices for upcoming events, photos of students inside and outside of the classroom (photos taken with permission), prizes that we have up on the school Vivo rewards shop and general information. Parents and carers can like posts, leave comments or give us a private message.  Being an admin has its perks. It works hand in hand with the school Vivo rewards program as I can make announcements of the prizes available and take photos of the prize recipients. Being a Year Adviser, I try to share photos of the Year 7 stud...

I might be overly excited about getting ready for work. I was shopping in Kmart today and saw a number of parents getting their children ready for school. My aim today was to visit Kmart and grab as many gold coins as possible from the party section. The gold coins are sold as a packet of 36 for $2. I was not after the typical plastic coins with the dollar sign, I was after a particular coin set with the words 'I was caught being good!' I am planning to use them as part of my positive behaviour learning strategy. It will be my own reward system in the Art classroom. I envision that every time a student works well, I will give them a gold coin. The coin does not leave the classroom, but contributes to the class jar. There will be little prizes along the way, but when the jar is full, a bigger reward will be provided. This new reward system is something I want to do personally for my students. It is a system on top of my whole school 'Vivo' reward system. The s...

Hi  everyone This is my first post. I decided to create a blog to document the many happy memories and challenges that happen inside and outside of my Art classroom. Over the past years, I have really developed a passion for teaching and started to understand the true workload of a teacher. A small background about myself: I am a New Scheme Teacher who graduated in mid 2012 and did not start my full load teaching until the beginning of 2013. I graduated with a double degree in Bachelor of Art Education and Bachelor of Design and have been approved to teach all Visual Arts subjects as well as some Technological and Applied Studies subjects. I have taught in two schools, one being an all girls demographic school and the other being my current co-ed demographic school. Last year, I became actively involved in our school's Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL) team. I am a strong advocator for our 'Vivo' rewards program at my school and network with the school and the loc...