Well done Year 12s!

Last night I had the honour and pleasure of saying goodbye to the latest batch of Year 12 students from my school. I think this bunch of kids have done a great job of growing up - they're confident, driven and have rock-solid character.

To all those people who worry for the future when they look at Gen Y, don't. The future is in good hands - probably better than yours.

Do these guys want to have fun? Absolutely. But why not? Life is meant to be experienced (within boundaries) and these young adults (at least the ones from my school) are doing a great job of balancing fun and responsibility.

Thanks 2009 - I'll miss you ... a little :)
Have fun, take care, and stand firm in the faith God has given you.

An IPT blog - finally.

I've finally bitten the bullet and created Teaching IPT - a blog of all things IPT related. Unlike one of my earlier blogs, this will actually be updated fairly regularly. I'm aiming to use it as an additional resource for my kiddies at school.
I'll have links to interesting things (like BumpTop OS, or GoogleOS) and extra lesson stuff for my classes (like revision sheets). In short, it will be a one stop shop. Plus - one day I might be able to update it and embed a Wave in it... Amanda, Michael et. al.

Sorry my peeps from Year 12. This is a little too late for you, but I hope you'll help contribute as time goes on. Please?

Speaking of Year 12s, there's only 1 week to go. I'm already tearing up and that's not from the stress of trying to make it an enjoyable and memorable last week for them. Hmmm. Maybe I need to drink more coffee. Yep. The answer to all ills. :)

IPT - revision available

Sorry - was at the SU support dinner. Great night!

Anyway, the pdf of the revision sheet is here: http://www.christlife.org.au/images/stories/IPT/2009_IPT OT2 Revision with asnwers.pdf

Listed on the front page of Google - kind of

Hi all,

I wrote a long time ago about being on the 6th page of google's search results when searching for myself. Now, I can proudly state that I feature on the first (yes, friends and countrymen people - the FIRST) page of google's results.

I need to state, to remain at least partly honest, that it is not my content, nor my luminary intellectual wit and writings which has brought about this phenomenon, rather it is the fantastic profile picture which one of my fantastic students put together, featured on the Joomla! extension K2 community page. That was quite a ramble.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so:

Take a look for yourself... that's me!

enjoy my goatee!

They've gone!

Year 12s from all over Queensland graduated today, and my school was no different. We had a fantastic ceremony and it was poignant and beautiful. I loved every minute of it - except for the bits where I had to talk (I MCed the event).

I wish all the Graduates of 2008 well - especially those of Christian Outreach College Toowoomba. You've done well to get where you have and I pray that you'll all follow God's will and your heart, because then you'll be a success, regardless of what life throws at you.

All the best and God's blessings. We'll miss you here.

Why teach Shakespeare?

As you might already know, I teach English at the Year 10 - 12 level and as a part of that, teach Shakespeare.

I love Shakespeare, I really love Shakespeare - his plays are the stuff of dreams, madness, love, romance, hate, good, evil - actually, pretty much any human trait you can think of has been modelled in one of Shakey Bill's plays.

In one of my classes today (we're studying Macbeth) a student asked why we study Shakespeare, and not one of the more modern "classics" like Vantage Point. I answered that it is because of the themes and issues which Shakespeare address, timeless and to the point. But it got me thinking and I had a look around the wonderful webiverse and found 'Why Teach Shakespeare' at Englicious. I haven't read it all, but it looks like it might be shaping up to something beautiful.

If you like using the English language in anything approaching a decent manner, then it is well worth a look.