Star Wars: Episode 1 – 20 years later

Star Wars: the original fandom; the ultimate geekdom; the cross-generational phenomenon. I don’t really know if it needs more of an introduction than that… Either way, it certainly has a continuously growing and fully committed following! When Star Wars: Episode IV hit the screens in the 1970s, it was hailed as bringing in a new…

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Using VR in the humanities department

Technology can be either one of two things: An extremely powerful tool that improves or enhances situations or circumstances Something completely scary that can be more of a hinderance than a help. In education, the pressure to include technology in the classroom has become so intense that many different people from all walks of industries…

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What are your reasons for strength training?

I was in the gym a little while ago, minding my own business, when a female client asked my husband why he trained. He turned the question back on her and she said that she didn’t know. It seemed to me like she was lost, lacking motivation, and unsure what she was doing. She’d been…

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Four Dead Queens – Scholte

I had seen this book all over Instagram and so when my colleague, Marg, handed me our new copy to read I didn’t think twice; I took it home and started it over the holidays. However, when the first queen died I got such a shock. I then thought to myself “hang on a minute,…

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Conrad Challenge 2018/2019

In October of 2018, 3 students in year 9 at Mount Alvernia College approached me to ask if I’d be their Coach for the Conrad Challenge, 2018/2019. I had no real idea what was involved but I said yes anyway. Since then we have embarked on a very steep learning curve, and I am so…

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The Survival Game – Singer

I picked up The Survival Game by Nicky Singer because the cover and title reminded me of The Hunger Games. As I started reading I realised very quickly that even though this is a dystopian novel about survival, it is very different from The Hunger Games. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in fact, it’s the…

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Actually, I’m a high school teacher

Person: “So, what do you do?”Me: “I’m a teacher.”Person: “Which year level?”Me: “Actually, I’m a high school teacher” … Cue comment AND facial expression that clearly shows either sympathy for my predicament, or distress for what I must have to put up with. What really gets to me, is that people seem to have this…

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2019’s Resolutions

There’s a bit of a stigma around the concept of New Year Resolutions. For example, if your resolution is to get fit then you’re likely to cop some flack about being one of those “revolutioners” that flood the gyms from the 2nd of January to about the 2nd of February and then never show up…

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Feedback can be scary

I recently experienced something in my learning that made me empathise with my students… Absolute confusion around something I was supposed to be learning about, followed by a sense of failure, melancholy, and general woe. How?! Well, I got my first assignment back from uni. Don’t worry, I passed, but just.  Some of you might…

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Looking back at 2018

So, as we come to the end of another year I am continuing the tradition I started last year (with 2017:  What a year!) and looking back at what’s happened and what I’ve achieved.  Once again, the following would not have been possible without the support of my husband, family, gym family, friends, and colleagues…

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