Why I love living in Dunedin

 

There might come a day when I want to move on from this lovely city, but at the moment, my heart belongs to Dunedin.  And it has for 13 years.  I'm from Christchurch, I've lived a year in Tolaga Bay/Uawa (north of Gisborne) and have travelled a wee bit (but not much and certainly not as much as I want to). Dunedin has something special.  It's a city, but it's small.  It has definite seasons (something I found I loved when living in T-Bay, because there weren't really any). 

Dunedin is ace.  Thanks Adrienne for documenting the things I love about this place.



http://dunedinisforlovers.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/dunedinite-profile-magical-world-of-lara.html

http://dunedinisforlovers.blogspot.co.nz/?view=magazine

When you win an award for teaching ...

 

 

It is a weird thing indeed. Teachers tend to go about their day to day business trying to engage and stimulate the minds of young people (one would hope we have these lofty goals, anyway!) It was very surprising to apply for and receive one of four New Zealand Spelling Bee Awards for Teachers.

I'm very grateful.  I'm looking forward to exploring what other schools do with curriculum; writing in particular.  I really want to visit John Marsden's schools just out of Melbourne, but I have no idea if that's a goer or just a pie-in-the-sky dream; his secondary school doesn't open until next year.  Both Candlebark and the latter have very different structures than most schools - writing for one will be a core subject at the new arts-focused secondary school.

It was interesting reading one perspective on writing as a core subject here.  I can understand how English teachers see themselves as readers over writers - writing is hard!  Reading is (mostly) all pleasure.  I've always tried to keep writing to model this practice for my students as I agree that teachers should be modelling what they want students to be doing themselves.

How exciting it is to think that school could support a life in arts in this way!

http://www.spellingbee.co.nz/teacher-awards

For those who are interested, here's my application. It's been edited a little bit to take out some names and specifics that are unnecessary in this format.

The Spelling and Language initiative

The English document in the New Zealand Curriculum is surprising, to some, in its expectations.  The first paragraph is headed ‘What is English about?’ and the very first sentence states that the subject is about ‘the study, use and enjoyment of the English language and its literature …’ (italics added).  Enjoyment? At school? In English, no less?  Whilst this is an unusual and hefty ask (English is the only curriculum area that lists ‘enjoyment’ as a criteria) it is this statement that has inspired me in the creation of my English courses.  In this explanation, I will focus particularly on the language initiative that I have developed over the five years I have spent in teaching in Dunedin.  In particular, I will explain what is happening in my Year 9 programme to foster a love of words, and spelling, in my new-to-high-school students.

Students, by nature of age and inclination, want to have fun. Most would endorse the use of the word ‘enjoyment’ in the New Zealand Curriculum.  And yet many find that high school, in particular, starts to stifle a sense of fun that is perhaps still present at primary and intermediate schools.  I think that enjoyment comes from freedom and space to create and be creative.  Even as adults, we flourish when creative freedom is endorsed.  Being allowed the time to create and, critically, evaluate is imperative to a student’s growth of skill and enjoyment in both language use and mechanical understandings – including spelling.

Lara Liesbeth’s initiative – what it involves

Year 9 students at our school have four periods of English a week.  One period is a library period, in which reading and book discussions are prioritised and valued.  Whilst this is not in any way my initiative, it adds to the sense of freedom and enjoyment I am trying to nurture in my Year 9 programme.  The support of the school is crucial. 

For the three periods a week we have together in the classroom, I start every lesson with free writing or reading.  Thus, choice is immediately offered – a crucial aspect of freedom and enjoyment. Generally, 75% of the class will choose to write.  Those that do not are still engaging in ‘the use and enjoyment of the English language’, as stated in the Curriculum.  These readers are involved in the second phase of the initiative.  Approximately 20 minutes is given to this – 10 silently writing and 10 discussing.  This discussion phase is the critical component of the language initiative. 

After 10 minutes writing, students are given the choice to read their work aloud.  At the start of the year, there is a little shyness about this, but after two or three weeks, students learn, through repetition (because this is happening every lesson, without fail) and modelling from other students (ako) that my room is a safe space and sharing is exciting and – that word again – fun.

As students share their work, all other students are actively listening.  I am constantly impressed with how interested and supportive fellow students are of those who share their writing. At the beginning of the year, I am the main commentator on the shared work.  I will pick one, sometimes two, clear and critical decisions or techniques that are enhancing the work.  This may be a language technique, or a choice of vocabulary.  It may be a plot device, or a narrative strand.  It all depends on the writing that is offered up in that moment, in that class.  The students are exposed to this key literacy technique of ‘thinking aloud’, as articulated in Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9-13: a teacher’s guide (81).  In this guide, the strategy of shared reading (reading with and talking with students) is examined in the context of unfamiliar texts.  My initiative is all about the close reading of unfamiliar texts; for when students share their work, other students are immediately exposed to an unfamiliar text.  The beautiful thing is that there is a real sense of ownership from the student who is sharing – they produced the unfamiliar text for the class to evaluate.  Effective Literacy Strategies states that ‘… when students enjoy learning and believe in their own … abilities, they are likely to engage with their texts.’ (55).  Note that, again, fun and enjoyment is discussed as a fundamental touchstone of language and language learning.  To model this, I also write book reviews regularly and blog on the experience of teaching (Liesbeth, “Time to change how we educate”).

As the year progresses, students become braver, and most will eventually share their work.  Not only this, but students also start to critically evaluate other students work in a safe environment.  Evaluation is a crucial thinking skill in Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive processes (“Effective Literacy Strategies” 94). When we ‘read between the lines’, we are ‘using information to make judgments or form opinions; (we) justify, assess, decide; (we ask) what is best …? What do you think …?’ (Ibid) Thus, literacy (including spelling mastery, or at the very least, improvement) is enhanced.

The measurement of the effectiveness of this programme is necessarily enigmatic.  Text and meaning are both co-created in the classroom in each specific lesson.  The ‘magic’ of words and literature and language is shared and co-constructed between student and student, and student and teacher.  Anecdotal evidence and formative assessment that suggests learning is most definitely occurring.  When I see my Year 9 students hotly debating why ‘focussing’ should have one or two s’s; why onomatopoeia is the best technique to use in THAT sentence in THAT piece of writing, I can assess that love of language, words and (through whole learning) spelling is happening.  When students are given real situations in which their work matters, learning and, yes, fun, happens.  And I think, as our Curriculum suggests, that’s what it’s all about.

Lara Liesbeth

Works cited 

Liesbeth, Lara. Time to change how we educate. http://timetochangehowweeducate.blogspot.co.nz/. Web. 1 July 2015.

Ministry of Education. Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9-13: a teacher’s guide. Wellington: Learning Media, 2004. Print.

The New Zealand Curriculum online. Te Kete Ipurangi, http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Learning-areas/English. Web. 1 July 2015.

Part of the Otago Daily Times article on this prize. There are three other national recipients.

Student Survey

I decided to ask students in my city (my son is high school age, so it was easily disseminated!) to comment anonymously on their experience of school.  Two questions asked for comments, and I thought I'd share the voices of these teenagers.  

It's just a snapshot at this stage, and I haven't edited. I think it's a great reminder that, as high school teachers, most of the 20-30 students in front of us every hour of every day have valid views and are able to make astute observations about the way they spend their time at school.

Do you think high school is structured as well as it could be?

Often don't get enough sleep.

I hate it. Six hours is far too long, and one hour per period is not long enough to concentrate.

I think there is too much pressure on students at level 12, and there is no time to actively function as a person, learning for learning's sake. Instead everything is about passing internals and externals. I love to learn, but this year I feel like it is not about learning, it is only about passing.

A break later in the day (earlier lunch and afternoon tea) I feel like that would make students more productive as most people work better in the morning and slump in the afternoon.

I think improvement can be made. Teachers just talking in front of the class is boring and can decrease student's attention span. 

But sometimes the timing can get confusing, like the bell will ring to swap class when in the middle of something important.

It is quite nice to be able to move at least once an hour because if you have to say sitting for longer than that it gets really annoying.

I don't think many classes are structured in an interesting way, more towards the teachers convenience, but saying that some teachers are very good.

I think it's really good to have different classes and move around because that way you aren't stuck in the same class with the same people all week.

The structure is good - 1 hour is a good length of time for each class, not too tiring but I'd rather not have to move too much.

It's good that you have a break in between the classes, where you can wake up.

Sometimes I'm in the zone and then the bell rings, which is a pain.

I think schools should start at a later time. So students can wake up later and be more awake at school as they are currently. Also I think breaks between terms should be 3 weeks long instead of 2 just so students have a longer time to recuperate and be more ready for the next term and give teachers more time to prepare new lessons for students.

HAVING TO WAKE UP EARLY WHEN OUR BODIES ARE PROGRAMMED TO WAKE UP LATER. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT SCREWS UP OUR DEVELOPMENT GOD DAMMIT SCHOOL SYSTEM!!!

I could write a novel about this.

In an ideal world, what would high school look like to you? Some suggestions to consider might include: longer/shorter periods, topics across subject areas that relate to each other, smaller or larger classes, different furniture configurations, comments on styles of teaching that have worked for you.

More conversational style of teaching when the topic is interesting. Which ideally it should be. Tangential discussion is okay, even if it is not directly related to curriculum. High-school should be an opportunity to expand the mind.

So much time is spent learning utterly useless things like film analysis and calculus(unless you actually need it). We should learn more actively appropriate things like car maintenance, basic cooking, and finance. Although it is very important that these topics be varied and spaced out, no one wants to do accounting all day. Ideally, I think school should be five hours, with two periods of two hours separated by one hour lunch break. Homework should be at a minimum, allowing more focus in class. I personally spend more time thinking about my overdue internals than the content being taught. I struggle to care about learning, credits are the sole achievement I seek. I genuinely stop myself from extra curricular learning, thinking that I ought instead to get my reading responses done. Honestly what is the point, I like learning, but I despise school.

School should start later in the winter terms and finish later. I think that we need to promote the ability to manipulate students internal to fit their individual needs: allowing art internals to fit English internals, and English fit into media studies internals. If this is already possible, it should be better known and discussed.

More hands on teaching if possible (handouts don't work as well for me personally to get the message through).

The periods should be shorter and school should start at 10 am because science has proven that the brain isn't fully active until 10 am. Also it would decrease the lateness number significantly and will give students more time to eat a nutritious breakfast to be able to focus more through out the day. The classes that are available to students do not relate to what they will be facing in real life; there is so much pressure put on students academically that it has gotten to the point where it's not students learning any more, it's just student remembering and being stressed out a lot. Science has also proved that the emotional state of a high school student now, is the same as a mentally insane/depressed person in the 1950's. That is messed up. Also the uniforms we have don't allow students the comfort of expressing themselves and if we try to express then we get in trouble.

Small to medium classes where students get lots of feedback from teachers are good. Larger classes where you get fewer comments/longer waiting time for marks back makes it a lot harder to figure out what you need to improve. Organized classes where you know what needs to get done when are also very helpful( aka the year planners we are given are great). As long as the main priority of the teachers and administrators the education the students are receiving it is good. However sometimes it seems like the administrators specifically at this school and occasionally the teachers are worried more about the reputation of the school and prioritize punishment for petty problems without caring about the disruptive effect this has on the students.

Make learning more fun for the students. have more hands-on education.

Make the class sizes more even, going from a class of about 30 to a class of about 17 is odd, and the timings throughout the week could be more even, changing the times is confusing, especially when new to the school, and for relieving teachers.

I think that sometimes there is a bit too much work in some classes as you don't get the chance to understand everything and then you move on to something else. And all the teachers expect you to do work at home but you also have work to do for other classes and most people also have other things after school such as sport. So by the time you have finished all your work from that day it is really late and you don't have time to revise for anything else that you need to especially when the school exams are coming up.

I think having smaller classes makes it easier to learn and engage in a lesson but that is also helped by a teachers ability to control a classroom environment. I think better topics, with better teaching strategies and more interesting in-class work and homework would be good and having a larger range of subjects based on student wants would be beneficial too. I also think that the furniture set up isn't a major factor into learning it is again the activity and the teachers take on a lesson that can either make or break a student's interest.

I think that it would be great if we could have some input as to what teachers we get in our senior years as different teachers have different teaching styles and what teacher you get can really affect how well you do that year in that subject and how much you enjoy it.

Fewer subjects in year 12-13 (as an option) because if you know exactly what you want to do, then typically you should only need a few subjects to fulfill this. If you don't know what to do then more subjects is optimal but I think you should have the option of only taking a few if you want to.

PLAYGROUNDS :D :D :D

The learning would come first, and we wouldn't get in trouble for little uniform issues. Getting in trouble for hair etc just makes me resent school.

More teachers that are passionate about teaching kids rather than just being there to get paid.

NO HOMEWORK LESS CLASSES WITH LONGER PERIODS.

I haven't bothered to suggest anything because I have come to accept that nothing will be changed while I am at high school.

The teachers are mostly fine, it's the education system that is completely broken. We end up learning about things that will never help us later on in our lives. However having a teacher to guide you through different subjects is good. I believe I could learn more online in a week than I could at school in a term therefore I find school somewhat of a waste of time. I honestly cannot wait until I leave school and I'm only staying in it because I have to. I will end up going to NCEA level 2. However, I'm leaving at the end of that.

As my husband says, 'muy interesante!'

Capital Letters 2015

NZATE Conference in Wellington

 

Day 2

Today's line up - Bernard Beckett and then Bernard Beckett.  And in between, food and then food.  Excellent.  I was very pleased that my timetable lacked complexity and appeared to err on the repetitive side ('appeared' being the key word here)for after yesterday's trials and tribulations, simplicity was my heart's truest desire.

The workshop

Call me shallow (I don't mind) but I trust a man in a cardy.  Maybe it's because I'm from the deep South.  Whatever the case, Beckett wore his well; hands in pockets, welcoming us as we entered the room at Wellington Girls' College.  Outraged readers, I ask you not to focus on the superficiality of my wardrobe commentary.  Instead, read this as an assessment of mana.  Cardies represent other c words to me: comfort, casualness and confidence. Beckett's command of the space was all of these things - comfortable, casual (as in relaxed/friendly/unpretentious, not slack!)and confident.  Pretty much everything I would want in a teacher.  Well, throw humour in there, too.  And you can, because Beckett is astutely funny. Laugh-out-loud funny, and in all the right places.  If you saw his keynote, you'll know this, but I'll talk of that soon.

It seems to me that a great teacher is an artist.  I got the sense that Beckett is this - he talked about teaching as being a conversation; an evolving discussion between people.  Inwardly I was fist-pumping - everyone loves an echo chamber (she said cynically).  Jokes aside, I think we can get really cynical about how exposure to theories, views and beliefs that match our own can be a never-ending loop of back-patting. There is real value in the inspiration that can come from those that seem to 'speak your language'.

 

Sorry (not sorry) - bad pun. 

Bernard Beckett's workshop was on narrative.  The blurb read:

Bernard Beckett

Picking apart narrative

As English teachers, we are well used to pulling text apart, to look for themes, revelations, metaphors and connection. Traditionally though, literary criticism has paid less attention to narrative: how it's constructed, what the tricks of the trade are, how the flow of the narrative affect us and why (film criticism, by contrast, pays much closer attention to narrative devices). In this workshop, I intend to come at narrative from a writer's perspective, and using some well known texts, look at how we might go about talking about and teaching the construction of narrative tension.

B22

 

It's true - literary criticism (including us as teachers - ME as a teacher) HAS paid less attention to narrative. In fact, I would posit that the word PLOT is almost a dirty word in English classrooms.  How often have you told students 'stay away from the plot', 'less plot, more opinion', and 'this is a plot summary'(said in a tone that insinuates more is needed)?  I know I feel like I've given that feedback before, in various forms, and I'll tell you now, Beckett has given me the confidence to STOP DISSING PLOT and value its place in the construction and deconstruction of texts. After all, if you don't have the story, what have you got? And, as a fellow teacher at this workshop said to me, plot can be a valuable way in for some students who struggle with theme, character, setting etc.  

Plot, you are hereby renamed NARRATIVE and shall be given the attention you deserve.  I apologise for the neglect you have experienced.

Beckett spoke about the importance of several elements.  They were:

* Building empathy
* Three act structure
* Reincorporation
* Internal coherence
* Endings
 

Beckett's notes on narrative - a conversation via whiteboard!

As I review this, I see the skill with which Beckett structured his workshop.  It all seemed so comfortable, casual and confident it would be easy to think that Beckett had no plan.  Indeed, he spoke of how, as a keynote, he was obliged to present a workshop - but foolish would be those of us who thought this meant a lack of skill and vision.  I felt like I was in the presence of a master teacher, and, as you can see from the focus points above, there was definite structure and flow.  What a remarkable teacher this man must be. How I would have loved to be in his classes!

Storycorps app - allows you to record interviews with people and save and/or upload to a site.

The keynote presentation

After food, Bernard Beckett presented his keynote to a cavernous hall of English educators.  Again, one could have been fooled into thinking that this was an unplanned presentation.  There was nothing but Beckett's name up on the screen.  Again, one would be foolish to think so. This address was an eloquent political commentary on where teaching seems to be heading and Beckett's views on this. I was so inspired by the image he described at the end - that of a teacher-as-assistant to students through a crucial part of their lives as they negotiate what it means to be, well, human. 

I think Bernard Beckett is my new hero.



P.S. I have more to write about Day 2, but am very excited to be going to the launch of Rachel Barrowman's biography of Maurice Gee, a favourite of mine.  And so I must abandon this, to return later tonight.  I'll be back!

Capital Letters 2015

NZATE Conference in Wellington

 

I'm practically falling asleep as I type, but I fear no post will come if I leave it until tomorrow so here goes!  Please excuse any typos, grammatical errors and jokes that aren't funny. I've been up since 4am.

Ah, the English Conference.  Held once a year in the middle of winter.  Last year, Rotorua was the destination; this year, Wellington.  I've been to three NZATE Conferences before - as a first year teacher on an NZATE scholarship (when teaching at Tolaga Bay Area School)in 2010, the Dunedin conference in 2012 and this year (as a teacher of five and a half years!) in Wellington. Whilst perhaps being seen as geographically strategic, in that I have family in Christchurch, I live in Dunedin and I love Wellington, the NZATE Conference is always inspiring.  Sometimes I have been too damn tired to be too inspired, but it's always been worth it, and I've always felt ready to hit the third term (in some ways) because of it.

This year it has truly been epic. And this is why.

Day One really started with Day-One-Minus-One, in that snow was predicted to fall in Dunedin on PRECISELY the day I was supposed to fly out.  Now, my friends know that I am the first to initiate the teacher-snow-dance (perhaps a truly Dunedin phenomenon? Although I suspect teachers in Otago and Southland all practice this), but this time - Noooooo!  I had a plane to catch!  Day-One-Minus-One was really me ruing my decision not to pay that extra night's accommodation and fly up on Tuesday night. 

I thought I was being pretty clever by booking the 6.50am flight.  I'd arrive in Wellington at 8, jump on a bus and be ready to rock up to the registrations at 8.30am. Sweet.

And then, it snowed.  As predicted, for once.  

Our street.  And snow.

Still our street.  And still more snow.

 We are on a hill, so when it looks like this, you're pretty much stuffed as far as any kind of transportation goes.  Except for your own two legs.

I was under strict instructions to call the shuttle company at 4am, and so that's when the alarm went off. Ugh. That's early, even for me.  No shuttles were moving anyone anywhere on the hills, but if I could get down to the Railway Station, well the hallowed shuttle would be waiting for me.  But departing at 5am.  And so I hustled.  

It was beautiful walking in the snow at 4.45am.  That is, equal parts beautiful and manic.  But I made it.

The airport

I was greeted with 'there's ice on the runway and check-in is suspended.' Aghh and ugh. Glenn Colquhoun's keynote and writing workshop were still within the realms of possibililty and hope at this stage - he was one of the reasons (after geography!) that I was attending this conference.

And then we waited.  And waited.  And waited. Five hours in the end.  Enough time to run my phone battery down.  

It looked like this.

Ad nauseam.  This was only 8am.  We took off at 11am.

You are keeping me from Glenn Coulquhoun!!!

Pretty.  Sigh.

The plane.  Five hours of looking at the plane.

Arty

And then ... finally!! At 11am, we were in the air.  I was just hoping to make lunch at this stage; anything else was going to be a boon.  I had lived a lifetime in a morning.  I was the water in the river.

So here is proof I'm here now: it's supposed to snow in Wellington.  It's stalking me; making me pay for all those years of southern snow-dancing (fellow southerners, you KNOW what I'm talking about!)

But more's the point - here's the Beehive.

From the bus.  I really think you can sense my relief in this picture.

I did manage to both arrive for lunch and corner Glenn Coulquhoun to say nothing original and everything cliched: 'you're my favourite poet and I like your poems and I teach your poems and I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW I'VE BEEN SITTING AT DUNEDIN AIRPORT THINKING ABOUT YOU.'  He was very polite, of course, and said he didn't want to add insult to injury, but that the workshop really was very good because English teachers are so receptive.  I recovered from this dagger to the heart by once more blabbing at him about something unmemorable and insignificant.  He was stoked, of course. Jokes. Ah well, the lunch was good, and my triomphe ultime was making it in time to enjoy it.  Small victories, by this stage, were clawed at desperately.

The afternoon workshop went by in a blur - I have lots to ponder and write about at a later date on group work and mixing students up - but I'm seeing double, so not now.  Karen Melhuish-Spencer made some salient points, but I felt pretty comfortable in the fact that I'd considered a lot of what was discussed.  I loved the 'Todaysmeet' stream - this allowed the audience to 'live comment' on the presentation. Cool, except my phone died because of the DAMN airport thing.  More adding of insult to injury: someone called my rapidly-flattening battery a 'rookie mistake' on the live feed.  I nearly stood up to demand they show their face.

www.todaysmeet.com.  Good times, although my phone died.

Righto, that's all for Day One.  Hopefully tomorrow is less epically eventful and more educational.  I'm excited about hearing Bernard Beckett talk about narrative and teaching it - tools I can use.  Excellent.

http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/beckettbernard.html
 

Teacher Only Day

I should be marking (sigh! The lament of teachers everywhere!) but I have been inspired to blog right now.  I have 20 minutes until morning tea, and it's free food, so time restrictions are real.

We started this gift of a day with a session on the Registered Teacher Criteria.  A question was asked 'who knows what the 12 criteria are?'  The girly-swot in me was inwardly cursing - 'damn it!' The poster is in my classroom, too, but with all that marking (sigh!) and teaching (yay!) stopping and meditating on the finer points that make up this document has not been the activity de rigeur.  Never mind!  Here I am now. A SHORT discussion and reflection follows (as my students like to say, and I celebrate because of the ever-evolving nature of language: because - free food!).

My little work corner. Poster top right.

These make sense to me.  Beyond the (necessary? Sigh.) rhetoric, the essence seems sound.
Here is my (15 minute: because - free food!) translation and reflection:

1.  Get on with your colleagues, for the sake of your students.  I know, it can be hard! But you are a professional.  Act professionally.  Find that thing in common (the students!!) and work it.

2.  Show that you care about your students. Humour! Time! Energy! Be open and available (I don't just mean time - we all need down time away from the job etc.  I mean in the class.  Interacting with students.  Be open.  Don't be a barrier to their learning.

3.  Acknowledge that Maori/tangata whenua are equal partners in the make-up of this fine country. SHOW it! Can you include texts from Maori authors? What about visual stuff in your classroom?  Can you visit Matua's class and see what he does?  All it takes is a bit of commitment to this one.

4.  Keep up with the programme, yo! Go to that conference.  Find something about the job, the subject, the profession that you love and believe in (or are curious and interested in).  In my case, if you expect your students to write (for example), write yourself! (That's why I'm committed to posting my book reviews here.  That's why I (HAVE SUCH FUN!) joining in with the writing and reading exercises (I sound like Pollyanna - let me assure you, I'm not.) Your students will be better for it.

5.  Don't just follow - be a leader! Ask provocative questions! Help all minds whir! We all have different perspectives and different things to offer.  Start to have a voice.

6.  Don't just turn up and expect good things to happen - plan. Plan well.  Plan in response to those gorgeous students (and the not-so-gorgeous ones - do they exist? Never!)

7.  Be respectful, motivated and inclusive, and expect the same back. 'Nuff said.

8.  Use that useful stuff from teachers' college and professional learning to help those students learn as best they can.  What works for THIS student in THIS class? (Yes, class sizes.  Yes, time time time and where is it?! Yes, how can anyone do all of this in this job.  But try).

9.  New Zealand is not monocultural - respect and CELEBRATE all cultures in your class. Even better, use it for planning - see #6.

10. Te Reo is beautiful, relevant, necessary.  Use it.  Expect good things from Maori students.

11. Use DATA. Marking (sigh.)  I sigh because of sheer volume, but get the biggest kicks from feedback and forward that makes sense to a student.  That EUREKA moment.  Very satisfying.

12. Read. Talk. Try to understand other points of views.  Look at what you believe in and ask WHY.  Isn't that what we are always asking our students to do, after all? 

So that's a gut response to the document.  For what it's worth.

(Gift of a day = CATCH UP! PLANNING! MEANINGFUL DISCUSSIONS BEYOND 5 FLEETING MINUTES IN THE STAFFROOM!)

Etta and Otto and Russell and James
by Emma Hooper

Dust, water, fish, deer. In the open arms of the wild earth, the elements and God’s creatures move together in a rural dance. Gophers are sacrificed so the land can better support. A daughter will always ‘know where to punch a calf to kill it, if it needs it. And hard enough.’ Prairie Canada seems the same but so very different to the rural experience everywhere else. The same: life and death are but a waltz apart. Different: there is dust, geographic specificity and the Canadian voice – ‘Doesn’t look like Russell’s back yet, hey?’

Although the uniquely Canadian aspects appeal, it is the universal that really draws us in to Hooper’s story. Etta and Otto are both at the curtain-call end of their lives – their life – together. More than 60 years of prairie living have passed in what one assumes is contented and compatible companionship. Except Russell lives next door, and Russell has also been a part of their lives for more than that 60 years of prairie living. The subtlety of their shared story resonates beyond the pages. The tale of Etta and Otto and Russell is centred by two locations; where they meet and when they part. The setting is importantly both of these things – time and place. The reader moves between historical wartime and present day as crucial decisions made almost by accident are relayed and related. ‘Russell waltzed instead of walked’ because of an accident on Otto’s family farm – even here at the start, Otto and Russell’s stories are intertwined.

As is Etta’s. Young Etta is a teacher. She has suffered the loss of her dear sister Alma and turns to teachers’ college, perhaps to stay near to her vulnerable parents. Otto is one of 15 Vogel children, attending the school at which Etta is teaching. When Otto signs up for active duty during wartime, Etta becomes his pen pal. Slowly and with absolute grace, these letters lead to love. Russell, because he ‘waltzes’, is left behind. Such is to be the story of his life.
Letters are present in older age, too. Otto writes to Etta, knowing they may not get to her. He signs these ‘Here, Otto’; a reminder of place and belonging. She has left; ‘I’ve never seen the water, so I’ve gone there’, she writes. But she is ‘Yours (always), Etta.’ Her memory is failing – dementia? Alzheimers? Perhaps just aging, so she carries a piece of paper that reminds her of self, family and others. There is a satisfying symmetry of action here; at the beginning of their story, he leaves her, and at the end, it is Etta’s turn for adventure. Otto remains and channels his grief through cooking Etta’s recipes, and creating papier-mâché creatures that bring him state-wide fame.

Fish are an important trope throughout. Not only because they live in the water Etta is yearning, but also because they provide a tenuous link to her lost sister. ‘They can come back alive when they touch your skin,’ says Alma of fish skulls. Etta wonders if ‘being against the skin of her fingers’ is enough to ‘wake them up, to make them talk.’ Later, as she consumes fish to survive, they whisper Il faut manger – it is necessary to eat. Sacrifice is necessary. ‘One small fish skull’ is one of very few precious belongings that Etta takes on her journey – a reminder that grief may settle but never really leaves.

Russell’s grief is the most heartbreaking. He loves Etta timelessly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she was wonderful?’ he asks of Otto after his first day at school with his new teacher, a young Etta. She falls into his arms but once, when Otto is at war and all seems lost, except dancing. And so they do. As an old man, he is their neighbour, and yet can never share what Otto and Etta have. When Etta leaves to walk 2000 kilometres to the sea, he is frustrated and chases her. Otto wisely realises ‘it’s not what she wants, Russell,’ conveying an intuitive understanding that only one who shares intimacy with a person over decades can.

The magic realist elements in this text are harmoniously woven throughout the story. James is a coyote companion gifted words, although it would seem named, in another nod to the power of grief and memory, after Alma’s stillborn son. He is perhaps there to be looked after, as well as look after, Etta on her journey – a surrogate son or nephew. For Etta and Otto never have children, and little is said about this throughout.

The many evocations of grief and memory sting the reader, too. I felt for Russell, who spends his life pining after what he doesn’t have. He, Etta and Otto are at the end of their lives, and so there is a natural inclination to feel a certain sadness when reading. The book evokes a wistful and nostalgic air reminiscent of good poetry or music, and left me thinking for a long time about the exquisite pain and the exquisite beauty that is to be found in the irretractable rhythm of our lives as we simply and plainly just go about living them.
Reviewed by Lara Liesbeth

Etta and Otto and Russell and James
by Emma Hooper
Published by Fig Tree
ISBN 9780241185865

Originally published: https://booksellersnz.wordpress.com/2015/04/29/book-review-etta-and-otto-and-russell-and-james-by-emma-hooper/