The title of the article basically gives you an idea of what it's about, but it's important to read what drowning DOES look like because - here's a surprise - someone could be drowning RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU and you don't even realize it.]]>http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/rss-comments-entry-33017080.xmlBuffaloEducationEnglishGrammarGThu, 21 Feb 2013 20:22:28 +0000http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/2013/2/22/buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo.html787578:10772445:32857968I learned something random last night while watching Dr. Who with my friend Stuart. It's not uncommon for weird things to come up with Dr. Who - I will forever have moving mannequins, a plastic-faced Noel Clarke, and a theater of some of the most bizarre aliens I've ever seen (Lady Cassandra, anyone?) gathered to witness the rather surreal death of Earth - and Stuart busting out the most random tidbits of knowledge ever is pretty standard, so while neither of us particularly enjoy show per se, it may turn out to be a useful springboard for my continuing world education in its own strange way. 

This particular...um..."life lesson", if you will, came in the form of some world-saving password being "Buffalo" on last night's episode. When Mickey (Noel Clarke back in non-plastic form) asks the doctor for a password again, the doctor tells him to just repeat it every time. This made Stuart - an English as a Second Language teacher - chime in with, "Did you know that "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence? 

What?]]>http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/rss-comments-entry-32857968.xmlBig BangEducationEinsteinParticle AcceleratorScienceScienceRichard ShrubbSat, 24 Sep 2011 08:47:52 +0000http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/2011/9/24/e-mc-squared-baloney.html787578:10772445:12967231 

A 'Law of Physics' is only so if it cannot be disproven. In the 1920's Einstein came up with the Theory of Relativity which has stood its ground for nearly 100 years. Scientists in Switzerland's CERN nuclear laboratory seem to have made particles smaller than atoms travel faster than light... or have they?

Einstein pronounced the apparently unshakeable law that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in the 1920’s. The Theory of Relativity was pronounced a ‘Law of Physics’ and was held as a major law of how the universe works. Science is about proof, and if you can disprove something you lose its certainty.

 The particle accelerators at CERN in Switzerland are basically huge circular tubes round which particles smaller than an atom are fired. Particles called Neutrinos were fired around it and they travelled faster than the speed of light. According to Einstein this would be impossible]]>http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/rss-comments-entry-12967231.xmlEducationEducationViewscurriculumlearningschoolstudentteacherHalley MetcalfeWed, 07 Sep 2011 04:02:43 +0000http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/2011/9/7/the-power-and-the-passion.html787578:10772445:12757024I’ve found over the last five years of being in the teaching game, that teaching has a lot to do with red tape and impossibly high expectations from teachers AND students and very little to do with open communication. Let me explain. There are amazing teachers out there. I’m proud to say I’m friends with several of them. They are passionate, dedicated, knowledgeable, personable and kind. They know their students, they know their subject area and they know their job. Unfortunately, with every new school year comes a new scheme. A new curriculum. A new way to mark work. A new way to write reports. A new way of doing things. Rarely are we given the opportunity to fully develop a unit of work before it is changed or ‘tweaked’ to fit a new expectation or standard of the Department of Education or the school itself.]]>http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/rss-comments-entry-12757024.xmlEducationdutyjoboccupationteacherteenagersyardHalley MetcalfeWed, 06 Jul 2011 07:35:16 +0000http://www.thesimpleton.com.au/education/2011/7/6/darwins-theory-of-yard-duty.html787578:10772445:12021440How many of you, on a beautiful Spring day (or any day, for that matter), whilst sitting at your desk doing whatever it is you do, have played this game:

‘I’m not a window cleaner in a lap dance room... I’m not a child labourer in Asia... I’m not a coal miner in 1862... I’m not Naomi Campbell’s Personal Assistant...’

So frequently we find ourselves unhappy with our choice of occupation or, more specifically, unhappy with particular parts of our choice of occupation.

We cheeky humans can never be fully satisfied no matter how good we’ve got it, and even though I’m grateful to be a teacher and I enjoy my job (most of the time), there are still elements that grate and cause me to play a round or two of ‘I’m Not A...’ every now and again.