Aren’t you a little old to be watching Disney XD?

Yes. Yes I am.

But I love Phineas and Ferb. What’s not to love? Doofenschmirtz Evil Incorporated and his nemesis Perry the Platpus; Phineas and Ferb’s insanely massive summer holiday schemes (making a hit single, running a chariot race, discovering Atlantis and creating a piste at the back of their house, complete with mountains); a string of catchphrases; an elder sister who can never persuade her parents to see what her brothers are up to “Mom, Phineas and Ferb have built a giant enormous ferris wheel in the back yard!”

This is a strange saying isn’t it? How can the course of history be changed? It’s not history until it happens – or is it?

Is the story always meant to be this way? Is it meant at all or does it just happen.

To quote my terrible student translation of The Wanderer (my favourite Old English poem),  “Fate is unalterable”. But is Fate only Fate once it’s History?

I learned a new bit of history from current audiobook ‘And did those feet’, namely the story of Gwenllian, the last Welsh Princess. She was only a year old when her father was killed and she was removed by Edward I to Sempringham Priory in Lincolnshire, where she became a nun and lived out the remainder of her life. A sad, sad story I’d never heard before, and one that’s worth telling further.

An interesting incident at work today when a girl came over to another in her group and told her that the group didn’t need any more information and she should stop searching. This was just half an hour into their research, and it appeared to be a unilateral decision made on behalf of the other three in the group.

I suggested that they should use all the time available to gather as much material as possible and then make a group decision about what they wanted to use and whether anything was missing.

I got a blank look: did I mean that they couldn’t start their work?

No, I mean that you should all talk about it. Enthusiasm is great, but this is a team exercise.

I don’t think she understood why I was making a fuss, but at least all four got their heads together.

I can’t stand it when someone is left out and assumed that their contribution will be negligible. It’s a form of bullying so subtle that often people don’t realise that it is bullying, but believe they’re actually being kind. So subtle, but it can still cut deep.

A common expression from pupils trying to research is the plaintive wail of  “I can’t find anything about …” Feel free to insert the topic of your choice, because it’s always the same. The usual translation is: ‘I’m looking for a website which has the same words in its title as what I’m looking for and there aren’t any, so the information can’t exist’.

The main problems are:

• lack of understanding (vocabulary usually)
• not listening to instructions
• lack of lateral thinking and brainstorming for alternative terminology

It can be quickly sorted, but it crops up over and over and over again. And now I’m wondering whether it’s also a symptom of ‘right answer’ syndrome i.e. somewhere there is a single correct answer as opposed to a range of possible answers.

I had hoped that the first Vikings lesson in the LRC had helped them with brainstorming and possible answers but it obviously didn’t work well enough. Maybe we could use some Viking case studies: Iona, Jarlshof, Iceland, Greenland, Vinland, Jorvik, Dublin, Hedeby. They could spend a period exploring each Viking location and then report back. It’s more restrictive, but it might provide better results to lead into the second, more open part.

We could also have a simplified version of the Romans worksheets: use specific artefacts and illustrations and ask the class to tour them and identify how they could be used as evidence for Viking activity. After all, that’s more like the process we expect them to follow when they’re collecting for their own investigation.

I would also like to see the whole unit expanded. I appreciate that an integrated Social Studies course doesn’t need to hit history, geography and modern studies targets simultaneously, but it’s so easy with the Vikings, that it seems silly not to.

• What was the climate and environment like in the Viking homelands? Was it a factor for the start of the Viking raids and later settlement in the British Isles?
• What was special about the longships and where did they travel to? What would Vikings maps show?
• Did the Vikings have a government? Who was in charge?

And so on. So while it’s fun doing the posters, and the class are enjoying themselves, I think we could create something that would really open their eyes to the impact of the Vikings on Scotland and Britain, and really get them thinking.

I just need more time to think about it myself…

Had a great time with 1st year making Viking posters. We started yesterday by identifying evidence for various kinds of Viking activity (as opposed to just copying from the books).

Today each group took one topic each and after a quick discussion, went off to raid the resources. Six groups, six posters: Raiders, Traders, Farmers, Explorers, Craftsmen and Religious People. A lot of hard work later and we’ve the beginnings of some really interesting work with a lot of runes, longboats and swords on display. Also a couple of horned helmet, but I went a bit crazy and they’ve promised not to do it again.

Just one period left to see what they end up with.

Interesting programme on’t radio coming home, called Metaphor for healing.

Most people will use metaphors in their daily language, but many patients are unfortunately on the receiving end of highly negative diagnoses: crumbling spine, toxic radiation and so on. The power of such language on the brain means that patients can actually start feeling worse, but often doctirs are unaware of this effect because medicine tends to focus on hard science.

Lesson for the day and not just the medical profession: don’t put words in people’s mouths, let them explain in their own language.

Satellite view of the Uffington White Horse. Photo in public domain by NASA.

Finished it overnight, and it was as magical as I remembered the television programme to be.  I remember being quite frightened watching it at the time (I’d have been about 9 years old, I think).

I was interested to see what specifics stuck in my mind: the toad skeleton, the horse magic, the Celtic goddess Epona, and of course, the White Horse of Uffington. I also remembered more generally the sense of pagan power, of great evil and danger. I had no memory whatsoever of the story linking with Arthur and Merlin, or Wayland’s Smithy.

What I can’t decide though, is whether I was already aware of archaeology, prehistory and the Uffington Horse before I saw this programme or whether this was the catalyst for later enthusiasms.

East Kilbride on the 1864 OS map, showing the bump in the road

I was looking at the NLS maps site to figure out the route of an old road in East Kilbride when I noticed a bump in an otherwise straight road. When I compared it to Google maps, I realised that the line of this road matched that of Morrishall Road in Calderwood.

More interesting, although Morrishall Road ends at St Leonards Road, the bump coincided with a clump of trees. When I looked at Google Street View, there was only a slightly raised bit of open ground with three trees on top.

So why did the road go around it? What was causing the bump? Very curious.

Plus, Husband pointed out that behind the modern houses, the landscape dips quite steeply, so maybe the road was altering to avoid it. However, when we looked at the map again, we noticed that although the road would drop down the hill, there was what appears to be another lane or path passing right through the middle of the bump. This second path still exists nowadays and leads towards Calderglen. Strangely, the lane seems to pass through the middle of some fields.

Just beyond the bump, the original road turns sharply left. If this is correct, then the road seems to end nowhere. Was it just following a boundary? Is the bump or circle the place it was leading to? Another mystery.

Hurray for Maurice Sendak!!!

“The night Max wore his wolf suit” he was a Holy Terror. He chased the dog with a fork. He shouted at his mum. And then he travelled to the island of the Wild Things, and terrified them to the extent that he becomes their king. And then he storms round the island doing all the things that he wants to do at home, until he wants to go back “to where someone loved him best”.

The Wild Things are dangerous, scary, beasties. They roar, they have terrible teeth, terrible eyes and claws. They are NOT cuddly. The Wild Things are WILD!!! For people to complain that the Wild Things are scary is frankly ridiculous. If you think they’re soft and sweet, then you’re reading the book wrong.

P7 Open Night last night. I love it. A chance to meet new pupils. A chance to show what the LRC does. What this Librarian does. A great opportunity to help the pupils feel like high school can’t be too scary if that library wumman works there.

And it was fun… but

I can’t help feeling a little disappointed about the numbers who peered around the doors, told their kids, “It’s just a library” and walked away. I would love to have stayed at the front, meeting and greeting everyone, but then, that’s not humanly possible when you’re trying to explain what the library is about to parents who still expect SSSHHH!!!!!

This year, there was research on display from Science and History, plus I could direct parents to the Reading Trail display in the English corridor; Comic Life was running on a few computers, with a wonderful Library Assistant to help out;  the thinking games that still have most of their pieces were out, with Airport and Blokus proving popular as usual (really think I should run a Blokus tournament at some point);  funky music playing from the computer at the door; new books, plus our small collection of Polish and Scots titles available for anyone interested to see; the school website, including the school blog;  the mindmaps beside the jigsaw brain; and a display of S2 posters where we asked people to vote for their favourites.

On the walls on the way in there were displays of recent school events and examples from last year’s S1 Rebus puzzles, with answer sheets provided for anyone who wanted a peek. There was plenty to have a look at and demonstrate the value of this place.

Many people went away with good vibes, but being dismissed as “just a library” niggles a bit.