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Girlfriends! connections camaraderie community

We decided to trial a primary version of the Girlfriends! program at GIPS due to the small number of female year 6 students in this particular year. With only a small group of 8 girls, we found their connectiveness to the school, its teachers and the other students was suffering. The girls were tired of spending time confined to such a small social group but were not making any effort to connect with the girls in year 5. As such the younger students were also missing out on the valuable friendships of the year 6 girls. Our first Girlfriends! group consisted of 4 year sixes and 8 year fives. The combination of the group was formed on what the upper school teachers considered to be a ‘needs’ basis. The group allowed some of the more introvert students to have a voice in an environment where they felt safe and supported. The ‘rules’ of the group were decided by the girls and adhered to during all sessions. All the girls had the right to say anything they felt and the responsibility t

Producing a poster for AARE Conference Melbourne

The house is in wedding mode with preparations for the 'little' cousins Pantry Tea (give Kel something you'd like to see in her pantry - possibly Timtams and sprinkles!) so I am attempting to finish all that I can in advance. A poster seemed to be an easier option than a presentation but not so - juggling font sizes, colours and quick bites of info to grab the attention is challenging. Now I know that Courier and Arial are easy to read but so yesterday! Main title about 4 cm, subheadings about 2cm and body about 1 cm.  The audience might be attracted  to the design but if they can't read it, what's the point. This was my first attempt -  readable at A4 but will the writing be too big when it is blown up to A0?  I have 3 more attempts and will upload the final design on 3rd December. I submitted poster and paper in the hope one would be accepted and both were - so now I need to start writing.

Rosalie's Reward, a fairytale in a gold rush town setting

This is  a gem,' said the librarian at the State Library as she hands it to me ... and I am inclined to agree. ‘ Rosalie’s Reward’ begins with a poetic description of Ballaarat that evokes both mood and time. The house that the impoverished mother and child come to live in stands in ‘ gloomy silence’ while the sounds of mining are clear and eerily evocative.   ‘Shrill whistle heard so clearly in the silence that called the miners to midnight toil.’ The resurrected English style cottage garden is the perfect place for a group of fairies that the reader doesn't meet until page six of the story.  There is an energetic discussion by the fairy folk about what is prized more as a reward: beauty or gold. Not surprisingly, in a gold mining town, it is gold. Rosalie’s reward for her kindness to the fairies is being left a fortune by the dying gold miner who owns the cottage. He fortunately arrives at the cottage hours before his death to bestow on Rosalie a golden future in Melbo

Sister Agnes: Fairytales told in the Bush.

A warm sunny day, the Special Collections room has the fans humming and is a room with a view - of the grounds of Uni Melbourne. This room is quiet and serene and has a special aura. The past is revered and the lucky can take a look back. I came to hold a copy of Fairytales told in the Bush to see if Sister Agnes built on Ernst's narrative structure. Suggestions that Sister Agnes was inspired by Ernst are hard to believe. Her settings are not descriptive and most of the stories are those remembered from her childhood. She describes herself as a lover of fairies. They belong to her past and are not invented Australian fairytales. She claims two were told to her by King Barak, one days before he died. She paints Barak , variously called King William, last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe' or 'Beruk (white grub in gum tree) belonging to the Wurundjeri  whose country lay along the Yarra and Plenty Rivers, as a man who will tell a story for the right price, usually a coin. She

Mr. Bunyip - an early Aussie children's book 'character'!

It has been suggested that the jokey humour of ‘Mr. Bunyip’ set the tone for the description of bunyips in later books.  To an eager Mary Somerville who has strayed from the path in a ‘Red Riding Hood like’ ramble Mr. Bunyip is not a monster who wants to eat her but is a kind hearted chap giving her some social and historical pointers. The Murray River and Melbourne contrast with the magic of the talking beast and references to the old country (England). Mary has all the qualities needed to be the 'perfect' Colonial chick. She is a good scholar, winning school prizes, obeying her father, is trustworthy, neat, prayful and rises early. The disparity between her goodness with Mr. Bunyip’s admission of alcoholism and wife beating is thought provoking. Mr. Bunyip is forgiven by his wife for this lapse into the unacceptable practice of thrashing one’s wife as he was under the influence of the evil alcohol.   However, the fish in the river who become silly and meander stunned and daz

A PhD! What's in it for me?

To be honest it won’t further my career, add an extra dollar or two to my salary and in fact, most of those I meet wonder why I would waste my holiday reading on topic related books rather than the latest Nick Hornby. Inquiry-based curriculum develops deeper understandings around concepts. Watching students develop critical and creative thinking skills is one of the pleasures of teaching. A PhD is the ultimate inquiry requiring flexible thinking, persistence and when working full time – exemplary time management!  Luckily, the nature of my topic lends itself to holiday ventures into State Libraries and Public Records Offices and I do small amounts of reading and writing during the term – just chipping away rather than spending hours. Embarking on a PhD is a chance to ‘ practise what I preach’ and model depthful inquiry to students. Besides, the opportunity to be a historian as well as a researcher is there and finding that small piece of necessary evidence is both rewarding and f

An Australian Prince

The 'princes' of Australian fairytales were often miners and stockmen glorifying the bushman character. Reflecting the appeal and allure of the outback male we find that i n  Australian Fairytales  (Frank Atha Westbury, 1897:35) the 'prince' is a shy youth called Nugget with an appealing bush toughness and lack of social graces. He rescues a princess whose hand in marriage is well above his station and is quite 'smitten.'                                                                                 ' It  was  amusing  to  see  the  attention  the  Nugget  bestowed  upon  the  fair  young  creature  by  his  side,  and  to  note  the  tell-tale  blushes  which  ever  and  anon  suffused  her  face  as  their  eyes or  their  hands  chanced  to  meet.' This princess is transported home, not on a magic carpet or coach but on a means of transport common in the colonies - a donkey! Rather than castles, Australian palaces were more likely to be a mans