So, I’ve had this blog parked for a little while now, waiting till I had time to get around to actually starting it!! I can tell the teachers who are reading it are laughing right now at the idea of “time”, right? So, I figured I’d start off with an opening post …. a little bit of a blurb about me as a teacher, why I love what I do, and why I keep coming back for more, even after a bad day/week/month/term (and they do happen sometimes!)

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, for as long as I can remember. Apart from a brief flirtation with an alternate career (I enrolled in Commerce/Law at uni in my first year because I thought Marketing sounded cool!!) English has always been my passion. Those Gen Yer’s might not remember it, but the Challenger launch in 1986 had civilian members of the crew. One of those, Christa MacAuliffe, was an English teacher, and as an 11year old, I was a bit entranced by the idea of going into space (who hasn’t been sometimes?) so I watched her story with interest. Well, Challenger blew up. On her tombstone, Christa has inscribed a quote which has kind of been my teaching motto – “I touch the future – I teach.” I believe that what we do as teachers has almost incalculable impact on the future, in so many ways, and I feel priveleged to be a part of a profession that is so important, and so valuable.

So, what are my passions as a teacher? My classroom is a special place – for me, definitely, but also, I hope, for my students! I’m obsessed with pop-culture. I believe that every text on the HSC prescriptions list has a Simpsons episode which could be used as a related text. (Happy to do the research on this, if someone wants to pay for it!) I’m what a yr10 student of mine calls a “functional nerd” – I might not know exactly what the specs are, but I know what I want it to do, and I’m obsessed with new shiny gadgets, and how I can use them in my classroom. I also love to read. OLD SKOOL though …. I don’t yet own a kindle or e-reader, and am coveting an iPad, but when I do get one, my first love for reading will still be paper. Books are a huge part of my life, and I have been known to launch into extended rants about certain novels which shall remain nameless (cough **sparkly vampires** cough) and why they should NOT be considered literature. I love finding new ways for students to engage with the textual world around them, and am convinced that there is as much value in studying Eminem or COD as there is in analysing Blake or Chaucer.

I’m a social networking addict. I jumped at the chance to run our school social media presence, mostly because I’m on facebook a lot anyway, I might as well make it work for me! I think that mobile phones in the classroom are a massively underused tool, and I’m pushing bigtime for there to be more recognition and use of the tech skills that kids carry around in their pockets. (I must confess, part of this comes from my own mobile phone addiction – my long-awaited iPhone 4 is one of my most prized possessions. Apple haters need not comment on this!) I tweet. I youtube. I blog (well derr – you’re reading it! but I have a personal, long-running, ocassionally neglected blog too). I text sometimes more than I talk, much to the dismay of my mother, but I text using correct spelling and punctuation, much to the horror of my students!

So, that’s me. And this is my Room. I don’t really have a vision for where this blog is going, but the unknown nature of the journey is part of the fun, right? Thanks for visiting!