You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it for himself.

Galileo Galilei

Two get ups left, almost the end of the longest stretch of work I've ever done. So, what have I learned on the far side of the world?



- Minus 10 is not as cold as I thought



- I enjoy working with older students. Will I miss it when I get home?



- I have really enjoyed the challenging subject matter. Maths at this level is just harder than I've been used to and it's refreshing to give those mental muscles a work out and find that they still function pretty well.



- In general, young people respond well to being given more responsibility for their own learning. I believe that you can lead a class to learning, but you cannot make them think. The more we do to make it easy and interesting for people to learn stuff they don't inherently care about, the more we will have to do to keep their interest. At some point you have to say "work or don't work, but choose what is important to you and live by that choice." At what age do we begin trusting people to make their own choices? How do we train them to choose well? Thoughts please.



- Ofsted culture and the perpetual cycle of observation in the UK; good thing bad thing? It's been nice and a bit odd to go through half a school year without being observed once. I believe British schools do a good job holding themselves accountable for high standards in teaching and learning. I believe you can judge a teacher by their results to some extent. I believe good management of a school, a staff and an individual teacher must start from an honest and informed position arrived at through detailed data analysis and lesson observation. The constant drive for improvement in standards has worked; things are getting better and young people are learning more. That being said, there is none of that here and it all seems to work fine. Teachers here are professionals who can be relied upon to do their job well and do not need micromanaging. Has the UK gone too far? Has Canada gone far enough? Is it simply the case that both systems work well within their own culture and there is no universal model of 'best practice'?

- The whole road system works best if we are all generous drivers. If we all let each other on and off roads everything flows smoothly and driving would be stress free and much more effective.

- Spending time with my wife is a joy, and she is so relaxed not being at work. It's nice to have dinner cooked for me and a smile to welcome me home.

- Working with older students: most of them are lovely, some of them get on my nerves. Pretty much in the same ratio as younger pupils at home. And grown ups in the real world. Most people are lovely, a minority are gits. I guess this starts early.

- Skiing is fun, and perseverance is well worth it.

- Chuck Norris facts are fun, and almost certainly true. Check out www.chucknorrisfacts.com My favorites:

Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the head. That horse's descendants are now known as Giraffes

Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero

Chuck Norris CAN believe it's not butter

- Chocolate milk and root beer should be available in British restaurants, and there should be o shame in adults ordering them.

- Canadians think Aussies, Kiwis and all British people (including Geordie, Scots, Welsh etc) all sound the same.

-Canadians sound like Americans to me. Sorry, I still can't tell. Unless someone says "Moose" a lot or ends all of their sentences with "Eh?" Or they have a giant Canadian flag on their backpack.

- Alberta AAA beef is the best I have ever had. Period. They really care about their beef here. They have names for parts of a cow I had never heard of before.The pinnacle of Medium-Rare meaty goodness is a New York cut striploin. Which part of a cow this is I do not know, and how they all get butchered in New York is beyond me, but it is so good. Tasty, tender and still dark pink in the middle. I am moving towards the conclusion that when Ol' Blue Eyes sand with such passion about New York New York he meant the steak. Come fry with me...

I feel I maybe on the verge of descending into waffle, so I'll post this and wish you all a happy Christmas; who knows when I will get chance to post again. Fingers crossed we'll be skiing and going to Vegas over the hols. Be well, and God Bless, wherever you are.