So Much to Learn...So Little Time

Accepting responsibilty

Politicians constantly wonder why people (especially young people) don't "engage" (hate that use of the word) with politics any more.
Is it really any wonder? With all that's been going on in the last few weeks (no make that years) you'd think the morons in charge of political parties would really get a grip...but no. Why should any decent tax paying law abiding citizen pay heed to these incompetent idiots.
Politicians should be models of society and everything they do should stand up as a shining example...but no it all about self. All the spurious expenses they are able to claim, the flagrant flouting of their own laws which when caught in the act they deny like naughty children. Why, when they have done wrong not just say so straight away? I for one would have more respect for that person.
We have come to a point in the political life of this country where there are really no options for those who don't hold extremist views...Labour, Tories, Libdems, SNP all the same just different words.
As teachers are trying to encourage our students to be responsible citizens, unfortunately this country's politicians provide no solid role models for them to follow and they are therefore stuck in the rut of believing in and looking up to the likes of Jordan and Peter Andre.
How can we change this? By not voting? Definitely not the vote is a civil duty that was hard to gain. Maybe voting should be compulsory, ensuring that everyone has a voice and that our leaders must appeal to everyone. Just a thought. I don't know the answer but would like to see something change soon...vain hope!

My Brain

I knew the internet was good for something.

Whilst I'm waiting around for a specialist to get around to checking out my back and giving me a scan at least there are resources on the net I can use. Web 2.0, can't beat it.
Here are the results of my brain scan for all to see. Any prognoses / diagnoses accepted freely (this being the operative word.)

All courtesy of generator blog

Nell Nelson - The Woman who ate Huntly. Huntly Food Trail.

Due to my enforced absence from work (back is still in agony) I have been able to catch up on some film editing.
Here's what happened when Nell Nelson came to eat her way around some of Huntly purveyor's of fine food and drink. Thanks to:
Sinclair's of Rhynie (Bakers)
Forbes Raeburn (Butchers)
Rizzas Ice Cream
Dean's of Huntly (Shortbread)
Duncan Taylor & Co. (Whisky)

PBwiki Tutorial - 2

Welwitschia Tutorial 2 - Editing an Existing Page

Pbwiki tutorials

For some time now I've been meaning to teach myself how to make a screen cast.
Due to my current situation (displaced lumbar disk) I have found myself with time to spare. So to kill 2 birds with one stone I thought I'd put together a series of short tutorials to help our Connecting Classroom partners access and use the wiki I have started to publicise and share our partnership's activities.

Had a few problems to resolve first though:

• I wanted to use Jing because the image quality seems to be excellent, but it kept cutting out after 2 mins, and I found out there is a 200mb limit which isn't all that large.
• Ended up using iShowU which is mac specific and although image quality isn't what I would really like it serves its purpose...(I've now sussed how to improve the picture quality so the video below is a new version)

I also finally got to use mousepose which is a funky presentation tool for macs.
I then imported the film to garageband and added some background music.

Then uploaded to blip.tv and copied the embed code.

Easy peasy really...once you know how.

Huntly Hairst - Farmers Market

A Society of double standards

Why do public service bosses operate in a different world to those they command?

So the call is out to sack incompetent teachers...fine but what is the definition of an incompetent teacher? Just heard a very worrying story from a friend teaching down south who told me that a colleague had his salary docked because his exam results weren't good enough. My initial thoughts were what comparators were used to make this decision...something called the Fischer Family Index was used to assess the results. However the statistics used were fatally flawed as the students who failed to turn up to the exam were included in the equation.

This now begs the question is a good teacher one who teaches kids to pass exams and therefore an incompetent one someone who tries to ensure kids achieve their best whilst encouraging transferable skills they can use in later life? If so then I am incompetent.

Obsession with league tables does no good for students, teachers or parents alike and it has lead to endless form filling and box ticking which have very little effect on the quality of teaching.
At the same time the demand to sack incompetent teachers is around we hear that incompetent public service bosses who fail miserably and very publicly get huge pay offs. WHY? WHY? WHY?
Why do taxpayers have to pay these failures more money. If I fail and get sacked I am out. No one is going to pay me huge wadge and neither am I likely to get further highly paid employment by another public service.
Why can Adam Crozier get an equivalent 26% pay rise whilst he criticises his employees for striking over proposed changes to their pay and conditions (they eventually got 2.9%). Scottish Enterprise (currently £34million in the red) awarded Lena Wilson a 27% rise. Here is a quote from The Scotsman:

But a spokesman for Scottish Enterprise said: "It is important to strike a balance between being able to attract and retain high-calibre individuals - many of whom have come from the private sector - and ensuring value for the public purse.

"We also aim to encourage a culture of reward for strong performance at all levels."

Surely this criterion should apply across the board in the public sector. The public need the best people to teach their children and look after them when sick. To do this their needs to be equality. If the bosses get 26% so should the grunts...this is obviously unrealistic so if the grunts get 2.5% strung out over 2 years so should the bosses...yeah I know I need to wake up but utopia is a great concept.

 

TGStv - the first show

There's a new vodcast in the blogosphere.

Click TGStv and add it to your reader. Here's the first show.

The student involvement in all stages of the process is not quite ther but I am hoping that with time, I will have to do less and less and will operate as a quality control. Good job all the same I think.

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Click To Play

X-Factored Out..

One of the current crop of X-Factor contestants has withdrawn because of happy slapping footage. (Don' t worry it only links to a newspaper article.)

If kids won't believe adults about the need to be cautious about what they post on the internet maybe they will take heed from their peers. 15 year old Emily Nakanda's dream of winning X-factor has now crumbled around her because of teenage silliness (bullying?) posted on the web for all to see.

Please please please let this be a lesson that what ever you place for public view, can and will come back to haunt you.

Let me applaud the reaction of Emily's family who far from trying to defend the indefensible (as often happens in these cases) have publicly stated how disappointed they are in their daughter's behaviour and that it was their decision to withdraw their daughter.

Adam Sutcliffe - maker of films

My supposed filmaking prowess is much in demand at the moment.
This week is Huntly's major festival of the year. Previously it was a Hallowe'en festival but thanks to some prodding from the local churches, who didn't like the pagan aspects of Hallowe'en, I think the organisers metamorphosed it in to a Hallowe'en / Harvest festival known now as Huntly Hairst ("hairst" being doric for harvest.)
Anyway I have been charged with immortalising parts of the event on film...this will include the visit of Nell Nelson (The Woman who Ate Scotland) and my boss taking part in a local version of Ready, Steady Cook. Should be interesting.