I ain't dead !!

I haven't been blogging in ages and for different reasons. Some reasons are personal (family life), health issues and some reasons are much more simple, like I needed a break to assess where I was.

As I  have found myself again, I feel ready to write once more. Although, I haven't been writing for 2
years now, it does not mean that I haven't been thinking for the last couple of years. Actually, I have been thinking a lot, in every directions and maybe it is why it has been difficult for me to write. Not only I have found myself again but I seem to know where I am going now so it seems much easier to channel my thoughts. The last 3 years have felt like a "ride on a horse with no name". Although the desert can be harsh, it can also liberate us from unwanted stuff....I feel invigorated and ready to tackle a lot of things and maybe even bring down some mountains. I feel like a strong teacher scared of nothing.

Let's recap where we are up to in August 2015. I am still teaching French in a rural school in New Zealand and I still love it like on my first day. In February, I have been given 4 hours a Cycle - we have a 6 day timetable- to do some Future Focused Learning at our school. I have also been involved in the Kia Eke Panuku Team- how to raise Maori achievement.

In other words, since Feb, I have been very busy and I have been very challenged. The most challenging thing for me has been to learn how to work with teachers. Indeed, I thought it would have been easier to deal with teachers than teenagers but it turns out that it is much the same and the challenges are actually quite similar. But I think this is a topic for another post =)

As I am typing on my keyboard, I am tying to think what is my priority today regarding my thoughts. Funnily enough, I think I want to rant a bit ! This is not very surprising for a French though! I am angry to see that schools in NZ are seen as a place where students come to get ready for a job.

I believe that if we were sending our kids to secondary schools for the only purpose of getting a job then they will be no point of doing so. At the end of Intermediate School (age= 12 y old), students should then learn how to become a baker or a builder as their primary and fundamental education is (or should be) finished.

WRONG !!!

Students should be sent to secondary school to be challenged, to be shown how to become a critical thinker and learn how to make informed decision. A student in high school should be taught how to find information and critique this information, in other words a student should be taught how to evaluate all the information available at his finger tips and not become a sheep!

Secondary school is not only a place of knowledge as content but also a place of critical thinking !!