Think B-I-G

Teacher only day today.  Interesting presenter for 2.5 hours - Joseph Driessen.  The boys' achievement issue is a real one but one that indicates we've flipped education on it's head.  When I was at school the thrust was 'girls can do anything', a thrust that was seen to be needed as boys out achieved girls in many aspects of schooling and in (western) society at large.  I could spend a long time exploring how (and maybe why) things have changed but at the end of the day, we know our boys aren't performing as well as our girls today.  The challenge has been laid down - as teachers, how will we engage our boys more effectively in our classrooms?  It seems more than a  little odd to me that we were provided with some very practical things we can do in our classrooms to connect with our boys more, but at no point was it considered that what we teach them may have an impact on their achievement too.  I suspect that simple, single faceted solutions will not address the issue as adequately as a much wider, more comprehensive, multi-faceted approach could....

Don't get me started!

When I left for work this morning I noticed LB sitting on the shed roof.  Bene used to do this, and occasionally Pudz.  It used to look like they were Emperors surveying their empires from on high.  More recently I have noticed a neighbours cat up there.  I think LB is asserting himself in (what is actually) his territory - he seems to have developed more confidence whilst I've been at home over the holidays shoo-ing the neighbours cat away.  When I arrived home at the end of the day LB was pretty happy to see me after a full day alone in his empire.

Despite having just returned to work, we have a long weekend ahead before the 'real' start to the year on Tuesday - the last hurrah.