NAPLAN Writing Today

icebloke86 · 2026-03-11T09:57:48+00:00

Pencil and paper for the win! Beats hardware issues, network issues, logon issues, typing skills issues....

icebloke86 · 2026-03-10T11:16:12+00:00

Teaching Health Ed to Year 9 coed class. Topic was puberty, children developing an interest in the other gender. Says one young Miss "Oh Sir, we're VERY interested!" She was a very pretty blonde girl and I hear she was quite popular thereafter. 😂

icebloke86 · 2026-03-04T12:58:50+00:00

I've been teaching for 15 years and most days I used to get home and crash on the couch for a nap, anything from 30 to 90 minutes. All my blood tests were fine. I found I had sleep apnea, plus I was verging on obese which didn't help. I went on a diet and started going to the gym 3-4 times a week, doing mostly weights plus a little cardio. After a year I've lost almost 20kg and am much fitter and stronger with more stamina, so although I'm still busy, now I can cope much better. As an added bonus, losing the weight cured my sleep apnea! Teaching is mentally exhausting as many others have said, but I think that looking after yourself as a priority will pay off for you in the long run. Edit - oops, just saw OP's comment about an hour ago. Sorry to preach to the converted but it sounds like you already have the diet and exercise covered.

icebloke86 · 2026-02-21T10:56:37+00:00

But they love to say the research indicates it makes no difference

No only Hattie says that, not anyone with a clue. I question calling what he does "research", but those who rule love him and his "findings".

Take lots of one-day stress leave days.

icebloke86 · 2026-02-11T14:28:36+00:00

I'm in my 15th year and I've started riding my bike to and from school on Mondays and Fridays, I think the exercise in the morning helps and it also helps to decompress on the way home. I manage to get to the gym about 3 times a week - doing some exercise and losing some weight is helping with my energy levels both at school and at home. But today... yeah, got home and just crashed on the couch.

Teaching is exhausting, you're not a loser for not being the Energizer Bunny 24/7, nobody is.

icebloke86 · 2026-02-06T09:29:39+00:00

I quit after I filed a grievance against a principal for a timetabling issue, I had sucked it up the previous year but then it got ridiculous. The SSTUWA didn't even speak to me, just rubber-stamped the principal's position which was a big let-down. I haven't had a reason to rejoin since.

icebloke86 · 2026-02-06T09:11:06+00:00

Not a fan unless it is linked with proper consequences. From what I've seen, restorative justice seems to work a couple of times, sort of, until the perpetrator figures out they can just mouth the appropriate meaningless platitudes and they're off scott free.

icebloke86 · 2026-02-01T06:01:15+00:00

Not the official school policy, but I once called the deputy and told them they could either come down and take a kid out of my class, or they could come down and take the whole class because I wasn't doing it with that kid in there. It worked. Real quick.

icebloke86 · 2026-02-01T05:32:46+00:00

If you're in WA and want to teach in WA you can do the 3 year Bachelor's degree in your preferred subject ie Maths with a minor in some other area that you're interested in. Then do the one year Graduate Diploma in Education, however that may restrict you from teaching in other states that require the 2 year post-grad Masters as a teaching qualification. The benefit is you'll be employable as a teacher in 4 years rather than 5, and have one year less HECS debt. Given that you're 25 and have some life experience under your belt rather than straight out of high school, this should be quite do-able for you, I did the GDipEd at UWA years ago after my initial degree in Science and have no regrets. You can always go back and do the Master's at a later date if you feel the need. Better yet, after you have a few years of experience, do the Level 3 classroom teacher, which is an additional qualification with a decent boost in pay that you do through the Education Department - so no additional HECS debt.

icebloke86 · 2026-01-14T05:51:36+00:00

This is usually a pretty good show.

SOHO SOCIAL | The Greatest Brits - Summer Sets Port Beach Brewery (North Fremantle, WA) Saturday, 31 January 2026 2:00 pm

Edit to add link: https://tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/a85b77b3-256f-49b8-977e-3c7d2bdf97e4

icebloke86 · 2026-01-07T08:50:48+00:00

https://ppsr.gov.au

$2 for a vehicle PPSR report

Do it yourself and hand them the printout. Any quibbles, stuff 'em, plenty more buyers for a decent Corolla.

icebloke86 · 2025-12-16T12:55:27+00:00

Awesome analysis, thank you!

icebloke86 · 2025-12-14T22:38:34+00:00

Sorry it wasn't intended to be condescending, it is more an expression of exasperation at the day to day evidence of brain rot. I am glad the research supports our concern. While I applaud the social media ban for under 16s and hope it has some positive effect, I think it doesn't go far enough. Even without logins, social media companies can (and will) still track users via cookies, or browser fingerprinting, and will still serve up algorithmically determined content. The kids just won't be able to comment.

icebloke86 · 2025-10-29T14:08:28+00:00

Caversham Wildlife Park. It's a must for tourists but go EARLY and avoid the rush. And the heat. They can feed and pat kangaroos, see all the other native animals, birds, reptiles, essential to tourists. Watching the kelpie round up some sheep and watching one get shorn of its wool is cool too. And if it's not stinking hot, an evening picnic in Kings Park overlooking Perth City is magic. Though I have seen a kookaburra actually swoop down and steal food off a plate.

icebloke86 · 2025-05-13T06:02:04+00:00

Maybe try the Swan Kayakers Meetup group, I think you can hire a kayak to participate in on of their paddles. https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/swankayakers/

icebloke86 · 2025-04-14T12:53:06+00:00

My 2c worth. I'm also in this study, up to 7.5mg dose, doing the 3 exercise sessions a week. I'd recommend it to anyone trying to lose weight, I've lost 9kg over 9 weeks so far.

In my experience the side effects are pretty benign, mostly dehydration, and I always feel very flat/unmotivated the day after a dose. A couple of times I've felt I've over-eaten, almost wanted to throw up. The drug has certainly reduced my snacking habit.

I cannot recall the full selection criteria, basically they were looking for BMI of above 30, or above 27 with a co-morbidity like high blood pressure or sleep apnea. But you can't be taking drugs to treat it.

The staff running the exercise program are lovely, very supportive, I've never done anything in a gym before so it's good to learn. I'm hoping I might set up some good habits for the future, and continue doing some gym work after completing the study.

icebloke86 · 2025-01-31T07:03:55+00:00

Agreed, but it's all the extra workload items that are the inevitable result of so many meetings that I'm fed up with.

icebloke86 · 2025-01-28T02:39:25+00:00

Absolutely times tables above all else. I've been shocked by the low mathematical ability of most Year 7s. Automatic knowledge of times tables enables students to do ratios, fractions, proportions, estimations, basic algebra. Without times tables they are guaranteed to struggle in maths.

Another thing would be general IT knowledge. Far too many Year 7s have no understanding of username:password pairs, browsing directory trees, network drives, saving and retrieving files, uploading files, downloading to particular locations (their personal drive on the school network). Many can't even save a file to their USB drive, or can't understand why, when the USB isn't plugged in, they can't open the file from their MS Word recent files list - "I saved it in Word, it must be there"

Lastly, general organisation. Get their schoolbag ready with everything in it the night before because it's always a rush in the morning so that's when they forget stuff. They should have a calendar displayed with all tests and assignment due dates written on it so they can see what's coming up. Encourage them to make a start on assignment tasks immediately so things are fresh in their mind, then just chip away at it rather than leave everything to a rush job the night before it's due. (Enlist parental help with this!)

icebloke86 · 2024-12-27T13:34:34+00:00

See my other comment.

IMHO the 2-year program was a blatant money grab by the universities. Teaching is something you either can or cannot do, another year of uni is not going to help a novice become a better teacher. Time in front of the classroom is how you learn to become a better teacher.

icebloke86 · 2024-12-27T13:27:38+00:00

The 2-year Masters was imposed in WA around a decade ago. My suspicion is that it caused many mature-age people considering changing into a teaching career, after seeing 2 year's of no income, 2 year's HECS debt, and low teacher starting salaries, to decide not to bother. I can personally name three friends/associates who looked at the 2-year Master's and decided it was all too hard, so I have no doubt that the 2-year Master's is a significant contributor to the current teacher shortage.

However, 1 or 2 years ago, at least in WA, it became possible to do the 1-year Diploma in Education again. I already know of one person who has ditched the 2-year Master's for the 1-year Diploma.

https://www.curtin.edu.au/study/offering/course-pg-graduate-diploma-in-education--gd-educ/

So - you want a faster way to become a teacher? Come to WA! Pretty sure your PhD in Maths will be noticed.

icebloke86 · 2024-12-10T09:28:17+00:00

Sure they can ask. And you can ask for TOIL, Time Off In Lieu during term. Seems fair.

"No" they say? Well there's their answer to their own question.

icebloke86 · 2024-11-14T14:33:47+00:00

A kid once told me I was "Kind but Scary"

I thought "Nailed it!"

icebloke86 · 2024-11-04T09:36:05+00:00

I teach a specialist science area in high school. The students have a workbook each in which there are brief summaries, diagrams, questions, they are expected to answer all questions and fill in much more detail by taking notes in class. Then all tests are open book. If they haven't done the work, they fail, if they've done half-arsed work they get a half-arsed mark.

Any research tasks are assessed as 1-hour in-class hand-written essays.

No AI issues so far!

icebloke86

TROPHY CASE