Kookaburra kookaburra, kookaburraaaa

Today I gave Year 7 their clay theory and demonstration. They did SO well. I was worried since it was a pretty long lecture, but they were focused and engaged the whole time. Started to loose them a bit towards the end, but if they managed to stay focused for the majority of an 80 minute class, I'm happy!

During sport today, I had a really great conversation with the Japanese teacher, Christine. It started off discussing the differences between American and Australian sport/PE, then we began to dig into some deeper ideas like the culture of the school. I asked if Byron Bay was a really good school, average, or low, compared to other schools. She said she couldn't really comment because she had gone to private schools and did her practicum at Byron Bay, so she has not experienced other high schools, but she did mention that she felt the students are quite rude. I agreed. We talked about how we don't think they mean to be disrespectful, but rather, they don't know how to behave in a classroom. She also said she noticed a majority of students are unwillingly to do more than the bare minimum, it's socially looked down upon to be academically successful or recognized for your success. So in other words, the school culture created by the students is one that looks down on academic success. I explained how my last practicum was at a school that highly valued academic success and it was very competitive to be the best. Christine said that's how she's imagined schools in America: competitive. I explained it's not the case for every school, but it was for mine. What's interesting is that both Byron Bay and Fishers are wealthy communities and a majority of the students come from wealthy families so it's interesting that in Byron Bay it's produced lazy, entitled students while at Fishers it's produced competitive, excelling students (recognizing that statement is a generalization). Tarryn and I further discussed the school body's attitude. Tarryn also felt that Aussie culture has this sarcastic whit and humor and that it affects the ways students treat teachers.

This was all while we walked to Wategos Lookout!

Later during the walk, students got some chips and there happened to be a kookaburra looking for its next meal. It swooped down and grabbed a chip right from a students' hand! They have the funniest appearance and call. I explained it sounded like a monkey to one of the teachers and she said that's because they use kookaburra recordings in movies for jungle scenes even though they don't live in the jungle.

Then later, after school, I was reading on the beach and noticed I had a little companion!