Heading off again...

Well I have been super slack over the Summer holidays, all that time off and hardly anything added!!

I can assure you that will change in the next few weeks as I will be heading off in a week to the UK and Finland for about 4 weeks as I have been lucky enough to have been granted a scholarship to go and explore further some of the things in education that I am more passionate about.

For many years I have loved involving the kids in project based learning (PBL) which is also a big focus in learning in many UK schools. We more or less call it 'Inquiry' here, so if you hear me mentioning one or the other, I'm talking about the same thing.

When I land in London next week I will be heading down to the southeast to Exeter where I will be spending a day at Broadclyst Primary School. This school came highly recommended for its PBL, and a search through its website shows that they involve their children so well in their learning.
They have been fantastic to communicate with, so I'm very excited to be spending time with them.

After going back to London for a few days, and another school visit, I'll be heading north to Sheffield, where I'll be visiting the XP School in Doncaster, and on the next day visiting Hartsholme Academy in Lincoln. Both of these schools were suggested to me by the Innovation Unit in London, an organisation that drives PBL in UK schools.

Back to London for a few days then off to Helsinki where I will be visiting four different schools.
I have had a long term interest in the Finnish school system as they have consistently been the world leader in education, and I align myself strongly to many of their educational beliefs and philosophies.

While visiting these schools will be a lifetime experience, something that I am probably even more excited about will be catching up with our eldest son who works in London. Sam has been there for about 18 months, and looks like he will be there for even longer as he is doing so well in his work and sport. He did pop home for Christmas without telling Jen or I that he was coming, such a brilliant surprise. How his brothers kept it from us was a credit to them.

I did have a little knee surgery late last year, but some complications arose post surgery, so that will slow me down a little bit. A nuisance, but at least my other leg works.
Also, I was meant to have shoulder surgery late last year so that I'd be okay by the time this trip came around. Due to the hassles with my knee and an unplanned dvt in my leg, the shoulder op had to be postponed. I'll now have it done about ten days after I get back, which means I'll be lugging my gear around England and Finland with one bung wing!!
Just like the knee, at least the other shoulder works!! Perhaps the cold weather might be good for me??
Speaking of cold weather, it feels so weird getting out winter clothes, coats, gloves and beanies when we are still having total fire ban days and temps in the high 30's. My mind keeps saying "Why are you getting these clothes out?", but I have to keep reminding myself of what the weather will be like where I am going.

So, the start to the school year has been a bit of a whirlwind as I try and adapt to my new role in Special Ed, and get the things done that have to be done. Thankfully I am surrounded by amazing people who always go out of their way to support each other at all times.
My Co-Deputy Principal has been the best support, and I will really miss her when she takes maternity leave from next term. How lucky has our school been since last year when she joined us, as her knowledge of Inquiry Learning is first class. We seem to be a good team so I look forward to her return.
 I know I am going to see some amazing things at schools overseas, but I will also be sharing the successes that we have at St Francis of the Fields.




Until my next post...

The Bernard Files.: What a surprise!!!

The Bernard Files.: What a surprise!!!: As my readers would know by now, I have been laid up after a knee operation. What was a minor operation was meant to be followed by just a f...

What a surprise!!!

As my readers would know by now, I have been laid up after a knee operation. What was a minor operation was meant to be followed by just a few days rest then recovery would quickly follow.

However,  a week after the operation I developed blood clots in my leg, and so far I have spent 12 days on the couch with my leg up, and obviously off work. I still have at least 4 more days of this.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when the door opened and in walked our eldest boy Sam, who is meant to be in London!!

As it turns out, another son, Will, said he was off to Melbourne for the day with a few of his mates. No big deal, that sounded great.
It turns out that both he and Lachie (other son) knew all about Sam coming home, and the Melbourne trip was to go and collect Sam from the airport. They had been in on it all along!!

So the rest of the day was spent just chilling with Sam, who we hadn't seen for 9 months. His brothers hadn't seen him for 15 months.
It was great to see Jen's reaction when she walked in the door when she got home from work...our family was complete again.

So last night was just the 5 of us again in the lounge and just talking as a family should.

He heads back to London just after Christmas, so his next few weeks will be busy catching up with family and friends.

Today he was off to the gym as he felt crappy after his flights ( and wasn't I impressed with that!!!)
and catching up with his close mates who are all great blokes. He has even snagged a game of indoor soccer tonight with the team he played for, the legendary 'Cool Ridge', which he was really excited about.

It is amazing to know that someone who you thought was on the other side of the world is now just a few minutes away for the next two weeks. No doubt we will be making the most of this time together, and I will also be making some good plans with him for when I head over there in Feb next year.



Sam and Jen just after she got home from work.

Another hurdle...

Hi,
Short and sweet today.
After finally making it to the end of an enforced 4 day rest at home on the couch with my leg up, I didn't really get the news I was after when I went to the doctor today.
While my swelling is going down, the level of pain isn't, so I have been put on further medication and told to stay laying down with my leg up for 6 more days!!

Sitting down and resting has never really been part of my ideal things to do, but given the risks associated with the problem I developed in my leg I am following the doctor's orders to the letter, regardless of how much it bugs me.

So tomorrow one of our boys is going to shoot out to my school and collect end of year reports for me to read through and check ( that will be a blast!!) and also grab the new laptop waiting for me there. It will be good having the time to set it up just the way I want.

One of my fears about spending so much time being inactive is turning into a big blob of lard, but since my hunger has waned completely ( due to the medication, inactivity or both) I feel that it won't be too hard to start getting back into shape again.
Look out when I get the all clear to get on my bike!!
The only hassle will be when it all stops again so that I can get the operation done on my shoulder that was due yesterday.

Still, my hassles are pathetic in the big picture of things. Keep the perspective.

Cheers!!

Bored!!!!!

Well,
Since my last post, things haven't really been able to break the record on the "Excitement Meter" to say the least!!
I had a minor knee op a fortnight ago and was meant to be up and about and off my crutches days ago so that I would be ready for a shoulder operation that I'm due to have tomorrow.

Our youngest, Lachie, had his Year 12 Graduation Dinner last Tuesday, and during the dinner I noticed my leg starting to hurt and tighten up. We left early as a result and when we got home I saw that my lower leg had blown up considerably and felt like it was going to explode. The pain was severe as well.

So I took the next day off work and rested up, then went to work for the next 2 days, but left early on both due to the hassles with my leg.

On Friday I rang my doctor  who said I need to come in and get it checked. Some further checks at the hospital revealed blood clots in my leg that needed to be treated immediately with rest and medication. "Four days at least laying down with your leg up" was the order.
At first I thought this would be great, but the amount of pain involved meant that any enjoyment went straight out the window. Also, after about two hours on the first day I was already off my tree.
How on earth would I get through 4 days (or more) of this??

First of all, I spent a fair whack of Saturday reading through the end of year reports given to me by some teachers. That got me through until about midday, so what else could I do??

There was a bit of work to do collating our testing data from throughout the year, so that took most of yesterday, but now that I have that done I am looking at two days on my back staring at the tv. There have been a few good shows on (thank goodness for Foxtel) but even watching tv can be mind numbing at the best of times.

It hasn't failed to dawn on me that it is now two weeks since I have had any exercise at all and that is bugging me big time. From being accustomed to doing something energetic every day, this forced rest is driving me nuts. Normally I would go off my tree if I missed just one day, this is totally out of my comfort zone, and doesn't look like changing in the near future.

Finally, as I have blood clots and am on medication for them (yet to see it working yet!!) I have had to have my shoulder operation for tomorrow postponed. This is the most annoying as I have been waiting a while to get it done as it does impact on me quite a bit. Hopefully I can get it booked in soon as I need to be up and about by early Feb as I leave soon after for a few weeks overseas on a study trip.
Having a leg and a shoulder in working order are pretty high on the agenda for me!!!

Anyway, that's my gripe for the day, but in saying so, I can't stop thinking about those who have SERIOUS crap going on in their lives. What I am having is pithy compared to what they have to put up with, so the level of guilt is high when I moan about my pathetic little problems.

It's all about perspective.

Until the next post,

Cheers!

My body transformation...

In some earlier posts I mentioned that I had been getting some treatment on a dodgy knee and shoulder.
The advice I was getting in Bendigo was not having any effect, so I went and saw some specialists in Melbourne.
After a couple of MRI's the problems were diagnosed, and yesterday I had the first stage of getting them fixed, hopefully.
I had an arthroscope on my knee yesterday at Epworth Hospital in Richmond. They do it so fast these days. I was in the hospital at 6:30 in the morning, and then back home here in Bendigo at about 2:00  in the afternoon. For my first arthroscope many years ago I was in hospital for three days, which goes to show how good they are at doing them now. This is the 5th one I have had now, and each time they get quicker, it's just like popping in to the dentist for a filling!

Straight onto the couch with ice pack after getting home.

Not a very pretty sight.

The next day, still too swollen to get to work, maybe tomorrow.

And this is why I mentioned in my previous post why it might be difficult to get around the Camping Show in Bendigo on Saturday. Never mind though, regardless, I am determined to be at it as there is so much I want to see there.

Now that the knee has been done, my next part of the rebuild is in two weeks when I head back to Melbourne again for an operation on my shoulder. In one way, I wish I'd had the shoulder done first as it is causing me the most grief, but if I did, and they found something worse than expected it would mean not getting the kneed done as I wouldn't be able to use crutches.

Either way, I think we have stopped the body from falling apart for the time being, and now I just have to be mindful of doing the correct rehab, as I need to get back into shape for my overseas trip early next year.

I bought a......

Yep. We did it.
Just like so many others, We bought a Jeep!!
For many years I have wanted to get one, and when we bought our last new car we test drove one and I thought 'this is it', only to lose the decision for a different car, which although fantastic, it still didn't grab me as much.

Fast forward a few years and our youngest gets his licence, and as we provided a car for the first two, we felt we needed to do the same for Lachie, so he got the car that Jen has been driving around.
I hand over the Subaru to Jen, and we go and get the Jeep. Simple as that!

I know Jen was never really keen on them at all, but after picking it up in Melbourne, it only took an hour or so for her to say how much she liked it.

We now have plans to get away a bit more, especially as all the boys now have their licence. As we drove past a caravan sales place last week she even said to me, "We need to go in there and look at some things". No protest from me on that one!! This Saturday we are off to the Caravan and Camping show here in Bendigo, but only if I can get around. More about that in the next post!

My excitement with the Jeep copped a hiding a few days after we took delivery.

I was driving to school, and already running late when some warning lights came on, then it just stopped dead by the side of the road before I could do anything at all.

After ringing the appropriate people, a tow truck came and he identified the problem in a flash. He popped the bonnet and saw that the battery cable had dislodged. Imagine my embarrassment!!!

To his credit, he wasn't fussed and said that it was a really common problem with new cars, as the mechanics often didn't tighten these cables properly while they were still in the car yard.

It still had to be taken in to the Jeep franchise to have the computer reset, so it was onto the truck and into the dealer.

The story doesn't end there however.

I rang the dealer late in the afternoon to check on the progress, only for them to say that they didn't know whose Jeep it was, or why it was dropped off. It appears that the driver just unloaded it and drove off, so no-one knew what had to be done with it. It was only after I told them what had happened that they were able to fix it.

Luckily all ended up well after that.

Or so I thought....

Two days later I was in a car park and a young bloke reversed out of a bay and straight into the side of me in the Jeep. With the noise it made, I was picturing the side of the car to be a mess, so imagine my surprise when I found only some scratches and scrapes. The panel had popped straight back into shape after impact.

I went and got the usual quotes as I wanted it fixed so that rust wouldn't set in. Some panel beaters are total rogues, as my 3 quotes were $83:00, $221:00 and $1200:00!!

The dearest one was charging for refitting the mats in the boot among other trivial things. I couldn't believe what they were quoting for when it was just a bit of painting and buffing that needed to be done. Also, I couldn't rip this young bloke off for something that was a complete accident.

Thankfully, it has now been fixed, and we hope that is the end of any hassles with this car.

Farewell Tess...

A sad post this time.

For 15 years we have been blessed with the presence of our dog, Tess.
When we moved to Bendigo our three boys were all quite young, so we thought having a pet dog would be a great experience for them, and didn't it prove to be a great decision.

In that time she has been a big part of our lives, and rarely has a day gone by without someone calling out "Has anyone fed Tess yet?"

Each time we walk in from the carport and open the door, we can look across the room and see Tess outside the glass doors that lead out onto our deck. Without fail she would be there waiting for us, or come bolting up from somewhere else in the yard once she knew we were home.

Tess would love to come into the house and just roam around. We rarely needed to vacuum, as she would scoop up anything that had found its way to the floor.

Will and Tess. No matter what time of the day or night, Will would always be with Tess giving her a gentle pat, especially in her last few weeks.

From being a dog who would chase balls everywhere, poor old Tess had really started to slow down over the past few months, to the point where we would take her to the vet to see if 'it was time yet'.

We all knew that as she got older and more frail, the decision to put her to sleep would have to be taken so that she would not be suffering. In her last few weeks she could barely get up on the deck or get up again if she fell over. We knew the time had come, so a booking was made to take her to the vet, and I was the one left to take her on this final trip.

Once the booking was made, a huge cloud of sadness descended over the house as we all came to realise that in 24 hours she would no longer be with us.

So, after I finished school on the Friday I drove home to collect her, all the time with a huge lump in my throat. No-one really wanted to say goodbye to her, so it was straight into the car and off we went. At the vet I could hardly speak as I was getting emotional about what was to happen, and to the vet's credit they understood this, and made the whole experience comfortable, peaceful and supportive.

Tess has now been laid to rest under a big gum tree on our block, on the side where we will most likely build once we subdivide the block. It is already called 'The Tess Tree'.

Tess just about to make her exit from this world.

Life is Changing...

As it has been many weeks since my last post, I felt the need to get myself organised and make some more posts to 'The Bernard Files'.

A lot has happened since my last post, so I'll address different things in no particular chronological order.

First of all, our youngest son turned 18, which means a whole new level of independence for him, and less reliance on us to drive him around as he obtained his driver's licence.

Just seeing Lachie being able to take off whenever he likes is great, and it also enables Jen and I to go to work earlier, or stay later as neither of us is now required to be the 'taxi'. There are times of course when we don't mind doing the pickups, but now that all three boys are independent it is a whole new world for us as we can go away when we want without having to worry about the boys getting to appointments.

Lachie also recently completed his Year 12 exams, so now is the waiting period for his results to come through. We are now finished with schooling for our boys and with one through University, another part way through, and now Lachie looking like heading there next year, they are all on the way towards forging lives of their own.

The Year 12 Graduation Ceremony was fantastic, as has been in other years.

Pretty hard to get a decent shot of Lachie as they entered the Cathedral.

The final song as they head out after the ceremony.

A wonderful sight as the Year 12's walk out with their candles.

Holidays nearly over....

Well I have been slack lately, but there has been a bit going on. That is not an excuse, because we can all make time for whatever we want to do no matter whatever else is going on.

I had mentioned in an earlier post how I hurt my shoulder earlier in the year when I fell and landed on it. It has been getting progressively worse and I have had lots of treatment on it as well as a few cortisone shots, all to no avail.
Last week I went off to see a doctor in Melbourne who has treated me when I ripped the hammy off the bone, and who also treated my osteitis pubis, which was an injury I wouldn't wish on anyone. The treatment for that was nearly worse than the injury itself!!

Anyway, I had an MRI in the morning, then I had an appointment with the Doc (Paul) in the afternoon. I have to mention here that I also had an MRI on my knee which is another story. When I met with Paul later in the day he started with "Well, which one do want fixed first?". I opted for the shoulder, as it has been quite painful to say the least, and he agreed as in his words "there is a lot of anger in there".
After seeing and hearing what was wrong, and he explained it so clearly, he then asked what my plans were for the next few days. I told him that I was on holidays and that my wife and I were spending the night in Melbourne, so he just said "Great, let's go".
Not knowing what was going to happen, he took me into another room that looked like a mini surgery. Off came the shirt and onto the table I went. Next came an anaesthetic, followed by a few needles through my back that felt like they were going to come out the front of me!!
It turns out that I had a lot of fluid in my shoulder and arm, and he was draining it out and putting in something else that would kick in over the next few days. The relief as I left his surgery was immediate, and although I still have a lot of pain and restricted movement, it is heaps better than what it has been. In a few weeks I find out if surgery is needed, touch wood I won't.
As Spring is upon us and there is a lot of growth around our house, it has meant that I haven't had to get out and about as much as I normally would...BINGO!!! The yard will have to wait, but I must confess that I did do a few hours out there a few days ago as it was just bugging me too much. Didn't I suffer for it later that night!!

Now for the knee. I remember giving it a twist earlier in the year when I was shifting our wood pile. It really hurt at the time, but I just ignored it and hoped it would go away. Well, over the course of the year it has progressively deteriorated, to the point where if I sit down for a while then get up to walk, I hobble quite a bit until everything seems to fall back into place. Walking and light running are no problem as it is straight ahead stuff, but anything involving a twist...no way!
Just on Sunday I was out on my bike for a few hours and loving it as I started thing ""Hey, my knee is ok!!"
I thought too soon. As I approached a set of traffic lights, I needed to get my shoe out of the cleats, which involves twisting the knee slightly. As soon as I did this it felt like I had been shot, and I was lucky not to fall over at the lights (which has happened when I first got the cleats-very embarrassing!!). The rest of the ride was fine, but I had to make sure I avoided lights and intersections where I would need to take my shoe out of the cleats.
So, after getting my shoulder treated, Paul then told me about the knee. Apparently I have torn the meniscus (I never knew what these did until then!) and there is some kneecap wear and tear, which requires an operation. This will get done in the next few weeks, which although only minor, is still a pain as it will lay me up for a while which will drive me nuts. (And also everyone else who has to deal with me!!)
Having had quite a few of these operations before, at least I know what is involved and what the rehab is.

The holidays have been spent just lazing about and not doing much in particular, which has been great.
I am going overseas for a few weeks early next year, so I have used the time to finalise my flights, accommodation and school visits and it has been surprising how time consuming this can be. How people did this before the internet made it so easy must have been so frustrating.

My wife is sort of amazed that I have been able to do it all myself, as she has done all of these things for our recent overseas trips and I have just tagged along. This is coming from someone who doesn't even know which week is pay week, or how much he gets paid, so for me to be able to get this done is a huge achievement!!

And finally, my other holiday activity that has taken up most of this week, I have bought a new car!!
Our youngest is due to get his licence in the next few days, and just as we have done with our two older boys, we are handing a car down to him, hence the need to get a replacement.
For years I have always wanted to get a Jeep, although my wife would prefer something smaller.
I just really like SUV's, particularly as they are great for just throwing the bike in the back.
Imagine my surprise when last week she comes out and says that I should start looking for one!!!
Fast forward a week or so and it is at the stage now where I have done all the searching, financing etc myself, much to my wife's amazement/amusement! I even know how much I get paid now, although I still don't know which week is pay week.
After a lot of emails and phone calls, it is now down to the point where we pick it up tomorrow, so there is a bit of excitement to say the least.

Other than that, the holidays are just about over and I'm really looking forward to watching the Grand Final on Saturday. The bittersweet part is that I go nuts for the next 6 months with no football to watch!!

Hopefully there will be a post tomorrow with a photo, where I can say

    "I bought a......."

Cheers!!!

Father's Day

Father's Day

So what does one do on Father's Day?

For me today there was not much choice, but that does not matter at all because I'm being a dad, and that's what the day is about. 

And so is every other day!

After a great dinner last night with our closest friends, it was up early to take our youngest, Lachie, to soccer. 

Hard to believe that in just over a fortnight we might not have to drive him anymore as he'll be going for his licence.

With our different work and school schedules it does get hard at times to sit with the boys, so the times we have spent with them doing their driving practice have been great, although nerve wracking at times!!

Not sure if Lachs is just resting or holding the goal post up!!

I also thought that I could spend time putting together our school weekly Staff Bulletin while watching the soccer, but as I'm now doing it in a new format, I can't access my draft as I need to be online, so there goes that idea.

I'm lucky enough to be heading overseas next March on a study tour so a bit of time planning that has been handy, but once again, no internet!

Don't we just rely on it so much!!

The rest of the day will be relaxing I hope as I have a bung shoulder that is stopping me from doing some of the most basic things. 

A short run, watch some footy and then complete the stuff that I need to do online.

Other than that, Happy Father's Day to all the dads, especially our dad who we lost ten years ago.

Off to Europe again!!!

Not a lot has been happening lately, and I always get the guilts that I am not consistent in adding to this blog, as I do actually enjoy doing it.

A bit over a week ago, I got a phone call from someone at the Catholic Education Office, our governing body.

You see, I had applied for a specific scholarship, one that is designed to enable teachers who have held leadership positions to apply to do something that really interests them, but will also benefit their school and broader educational community.

This could mean anything from taking leave to study something, travel and see other practices in action, visit other schools, whatever. There are limits on expenses and time away which have to be considered in the applications, which is totally fine.

I was very excited with this phone call, because rather than being told "bad luck buddy" ( which has happened in the past) I was actually told that I have been successful with my application.

So, early in 2016 I am planning to head over to Helsinki, Finland, and also to London ( and surrounds) to visit schools and institutions that have a focus on Inquiry and Project Based Learning, passions of mine. In my mind they are one and the same, so it will be an amazing experience to visit Finland in particular, world leaders in educational performance.
Since submitting my application I have also discovered some schools in Germany that are doing significant things in education that are very similar to what I will be going to see in Finland and the UK, so I might try and fit a few visits in there as well.

And possibly the best thing of all, I contacted one of our sons who has been working and holidaying in Europe since September last year and told him of my good news, and he thinks he will still be there when I lob over. How good will that be!!!!!!

The next few weeks will be hectic now as I organise my itinerary and confirm my visits with the schools that have been so welcoming in allowing me to visit.

Some action from school...

As a teacher, I still cringe at the way I taught many years ago.
It was so much of me up the front, kids in front of me answering my questions.
Sure, I know that is the way we were told to teach, but after so many years of experiencing other methods, I remain totally convinced that inquiry learning is the best way to go.
I'm aware that we may have been doing it subtly for quite a while, but until it was painted explicitly for me I wasn't really able to develop greater structure with it.
It does sound strange saying that I needed structure with inquiry, but in my own mind I know what I mean!!

Just the act of questioning with the kids...their own questions and answers to each other can guide and drive a session. It needn't always be directed by the teacher towards pre-determined outcomes.

So, what's the point of this post???

Well, another teacher who I work with is a bit of a gun with inquiry learning, and was helping to plan and implement an inquiry into Minibeasts that our Gr 2's were doing.
I was asked ( make that told!) to join her in dressing up as mad scientists and act out a scenario in front of the Gr 2 classes.
Our 'Mission' was to rid the world of Minibeasts, because we felt that they just got in the way, annoyed us and were generally just pests. The Gr 2 children now have to convince us otherwise.
On the day, Jess and I dressed up as Professors Squirrellsquirt and Snifflepiffer, and created a frothing green potion in front of the children, promising to use it to rid the world of minibeasts!!
The kids were throwing up all sorts of reasons as to why we shouldn't do this, so we gave them a 5 week window of opportunity to present a case for the preservation of them.
In the past week or so, the evil professors have sent a few letters to the classes advising them that we are producing our potion at an alarming rate, but if they can convince us to change our ways we will then use the potion for good rather than evil, as it can easily be changed into minibeast food.

The number of letters we are receiving from the children continues to grow, so over the next two weeks the evil professors will have hopefully changed their ways!!

Professor Snifflepiffer and Professor Squirellsquirt.