English, Workshop, Biology

1.English Games. I do love a good wordgame. This site has a whole heap of brilliant wordgames and quizzes to keep you amused for hours on end!

 

With the huge myriad of things I am a bit shit at, it’s nice to have something I am (modestly) freaking awesome at!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-games

 

2.Take something apart. Once when I was about 7 or 8 I got the idea to take a length of electrical cord and cut it so that the plug was still on it, then wire that into an old speaker that we had in the garage.

If you can sense this is not going to end well, you are correct.

I thought that I would be able to ‘hear’ electricity as it came through the speaker after I plugged my monstrosity into the mains power. (I think I mentioned once before that I have very little common sense) Anyway, I plugged it in, flicked the ‘on’ switch and the next thing I remember I was sitting on my bum with my ears ringing and the power had been completely blown to the entire house. Needless to see my Mother was furious, and my Father remained confused about this no-commonsense cuckoo in his nest.

This site would have appealed to my desire to take things apart and it would have allowed me to do it somewhat safely!

https://www.takeitapart.com/

 

3.Biology – interactive human brain! Brain surgery is a fickle trade….this site may make it more accessible.

http://www.finr.net/files/brain/index.htm

 

 

History/Film, Health/Home Economics, Chemistry

1.History and Film…nice. This reminds me of a film I watched during the last set of holidays. It was a Russian film, English subtitles of course, filmed entirely in black and white, and it was over 3 hours long. “Hard to be a God” is a film I would struggle to recommend, but here’s a youtube trailer just in case it is your cup of tea.

In a nutshell it examines how someone with a small amount of future technology is indistinguishable from a God.

 

http://www.filmstory.org/

 

2.Healthy eating made simple! I am going to try and eat healthier and lose 5kg over the next 5 months. I feel the weight of a term of Thursday form time feasts!

https://www.eatthismuch.com/

 

3. Pimp the periodic table of elements! I find this kind of website almost hypnotic. And the depth of information is amazing!

and a youtube demo because this beast is complex!

http://ptable.com/

History, Biology/PE, Mathematics

1.History. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, History has some of the BEST websites that I find. They are immersive and uber-interesting!

http://www.zoompast.org/

 

2.Bio or PE. I had a lot of fun with this. I christened my guy KineKevin. The range of motion was cool to see. It also made 127 Hours movie make more sense.

https://www.kineman.com/new/webapp/index.php

 

3.Mathematics. As the name suggests, it’s kind of hard to describe this blog with words. Each post is illustrated with photos of a whiteboard with rudimentary drawings (stick figures with giant heads and cartoon text bubbles) but together with the content it somehow becomes something quite delightful.

Ways to Answer the Question “Will This Be on the Test?”

Rainforest, Grammar, General Knowledge

1.Rainforest

It’s a bit advertorial but I was fascinated by this look into the Rainforest.

http://rainforest.arkivert.no/#kart

2.Grammar

For anyone who has as dull of a life as I do I just typed up the opening sentence to Paradise Lost Book 9. It explains why all of my class struggles to know what the hell is going on with grammar. Even the website struggled with this one.

“No more of talk where God or angel guest with man, as with his friend, familiar used to sit indulgent, and with him partake rural repast, permitting him the while venial discourse unblamed: I now must change those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach disloyal on the part of man, revolt and disobedience: on the part of Heav’n now alienated, distance and distaste, anger and just rebuke, and judgement given, that brought into this world a world of woe, Sin and her her shadow Death, and Misery Death’s harbinger: sad task, yet argument not less but more heroic than the wrath of stern Achilles on his for pursued thrice fugitive about Troy wall; or rage of Turnus for Lavinia disespoused, or Neptune’s ire or Juno’s, that so long perplexed the Greek and Cytherea’s son; if answerable style I can obtain of my celestial patroness, who deigns her nightly visitation unimplored, and dictates to me slumbering, or inspires easy my unpremeditated verse: since first this subject for heroic song pleased me long choosing, and beginning late; not sedulous by nature to indite wars, hitherto the only argument heroic deemed, chief mastery to dissect with long and tedious havoc fabled knights in battles feigned; the better fortitude of patience and heroic martyrdom unsung; or to describe races and games, or tilting furniture, emblazoned shields, impresses quaint, caparisons and steeds; bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights at joust and tournament; then marshalled feast served up in hall with sewers, and seneschals; the skill of artifice or office mean, not that which justly gives heroic name to person or to poem.”

 

https://foxtype.com/sentence-tree

3.General Knowledge

Pretty safe quizzes and general fun for when the Dominion isn’t delivered and you just gotta have your quiz ‘fix’ for the day!

http://www.sporcle.com/

 

 

Math, Chemistry, General Science

On Monday after school we had a compulsory training session on the new Health and Safety legislation and how it applies to us as a school and as teachers.

 

My main take-away was that you cannot legislate against stupidity, and that’s my main concern about the new act because I am an inherently stupid person. By which I mean, I lack common-sense. WAY too many times I have been doing an onerous task round home and a trady (that’s a kiwi expression for a tradesman) mate has turned up and said, ‘why don’t you do it like this’, eliminating a huge amount of time and effort in a simple stroke. (My embarrassment at their observing me doing something in a way that is so obviously stupid to them is tempered by the fact that I don’t use the ‘f’ word in every sentence as they do, yes, I’m talking about YOU especially Troy) So, although I feel comfortable in the classroom I am very aware that if I had to do anything else I am consciously incompetent.

And it was laboured to us that we do not want to be a ‘test case.” This, therefore, can produce a paralysis of action. Why would I take someone else’s Science class if there is a danger of chemicals? Why would I take a trip away if I have to take a student with a nut allergy? Why take a football team if I have to drive a mini-van full of rowdy students, and all the attendant risks that brings?

The answer for me is that I just have to do the best I can. I behave with competence in my class. And if I get asked to do something outside my class I approach it with my best effort and a huge dose of commonsense and care of thought. If that somehow leads to an accident then I can’t really control that. That is the definition of an accident. I can’t worry about EVERYTHING that might happen. I’m not going to catastrophize situations and be checking ceiling fans for rust in the screws, or light switches for electric surges before I touch them, or stray bags for terrorist threats. I’m just going to go about my business as sensibly as I can and I believe that if an accident happens it will be seen as just that – an accident.

Anyway….corny jokes to lighten the rest of this……

Math: Why do they never serve beer at a mathematics party?

Because you can’t drink and derive.

https://mathigon.org/

Chemistry: If you can’t helium, and you can’t curium, you might as well barium.

http://chemistryset.chemheritage.org/

General Science: A photon checks into a hotel and is asked if he needs any help with his luggage. He says, “Nope, I’m traveling light.”

https://wonderville.org/