Triathlon Continued

As I mentioned in my previous post I started racing again and enjoyed it more than I thought I would! This continued to the point that I opted to update my 10 year old Trek for a stunning Liv Envie Advance 1 on sale at the end of the bike season with 40%. It's a far more stunning bike than I deserve. A crazy amount of aero design features, deeper set rims than I've ever had, carbon, carbon, carbon, skinny handle bars and adjustable brake leavers which are making a huge difference as I've never been able to reach my brakes easily before. The bike is a dream and I now actually enjoy cycling. 

We were already signed up for Laguna Phuket triathlon as a team with me doing the swim, my husband the bike and my HoD the run. The swim was fine, until I hit the lagoon. The lagoon is disgusting. I don't know what is in the water, but there is a thick layer of slime that you are swimming through that swirls around, smells bad and seems to hold the heat more than the ocean. It wasn't pleasant at all, but on finishing the swim and handing over the timing chip to my husband I was rather sad that I wasn't doing the whole race. I did however remember that Nai Thon hills are in the bike race and as these scare me so much there is not chance I would have made it around the bike anyway. 

The race went well. We all supported each other and had a lot of fun knowing we could just go hard and not worry about the other sections. It was nerve racking waiting for each other and checking the timing tracker for progress updates only to discover they had eliminated some of the tracking points, but left them on the online system. It was a great morning and we all had a great time.

The following week it was the Ironman 70.3 in Phuket. A race that is currently beyond me in the distance and again those Nai Thon hills. The Ironman corporation had put a sprint race on at the same time and I entered with some friends so that I could race again. Easy distance, easy course and an overcast day. 

The day before I checked out the swim and got surrounded by jellyfish with no way out. I have never seen so many and this made me incredibly nervous. On race day itself the swim went really well with me being the 3rd woman out of the water. The bike went well for me, despite the wet roads, but as I am still cautious on the bike I dropped back in the field a lot. The run is my worst leg and it showed. Slowest 5km I've ever run. The silver lining was that I completed the race in the time I had set for myself and managed to get 3rd in my age group.

2017 has been a great triathlon year for me, well a great 5 months of triathlon! Currently I am supporting my  husband with his Ironman training in the sessions I can keep up and letting him go on his own when I know my presence would hold him back. Let's see what 2018 brings for triathlon.

Back to Triathlon

I have always been a music geek. Always. Sports activities clashed with rehearsal and I certainly didn't feel inclined to spend any extra time with the PE teachers either. I did discover the gym and running when on study leave for my GCSE's. The only problem was this led to me needing surgery on both knees at the age of 18 and the surgeon told me running, cycling and high heels were now a thing of the past.

Swimming was all I could during recovery and it has always been something I actually enjoy and have some aptitude for. I didn't actually listen to the surgeon as much as I should and did start running and cycling. The idea of me doing triathlon came from my husband back when we had just started dating as he is an Ironman and very dedicated triathlete. I did race and it was ok. I wasn't in love with it as I am a diabolical runner and at the time I was riding the wrong type of bike.

Living in NZ I did continue until I got too scared on the roads, my husband was injured and I had no one to train with and I was forced into proper bike shoes that just freaked me out. China was no better as the roads were even scarier. Phuket roads scare me too, but there are country roads so I should have got back a lot sooner. What pushed me back in? Free entrance to a race that was being hosted in Trang for the first time. 

The race was 1 month after returning from our Summer holiday in the UK and Russia. Essentially this meant I had to get race ready in 1 month. I did a few sessions before we went on holiday and knew the swim would be easy. Managed the bike distance prior to the holiday, but it was slow and pushed the running. Thankfully my husband was willing to slow down and train with me at my pace to make sure I was ready.

When it came to the actual race the swim was an issue as there wasn't enough water to actually swim in. Most people waded round and others did dolphin dives to save their legs. The course didn't have proper buoys and there were ropes across where you needed to go. Thankfully the bike course was great. Some hills, none too big, and the absolute luxury of not having speed bumps everywhere as we do here in Phuket. I loved the bike. I took 30 minutes of my training time too. The run was fine, but something I'll always struggle with and the sand in my shoes was not helpful. 

One of the best things for me was finishing and not feeling achey and as exhausted as I had in the past. Even better was knowing so many people in the race so when we saw each other we could cheer each other on. Everyone I knew looked so happy to see me and I know I surprised quite a few people as they knew how little training I'd done and how petrified I normally am of cycling.

There were a coupe of downsides to the race. Although it was free there was prize money for age groups and overall. I wasn't expecting to win anything at all until I saw that I was the only person in the female overall and foreigner category. It turned out that there were 2 of us in this category on the day which was fine by me. What wasn't so nice was that no foreigners were allowed to race in their age group and that everyone else racing was eligible for our foreign category despite being registered in age group. The rules kept changing and the foreigners were constantly being made to feel like we shouldn't be there by the officials. All foreign males were told they had to start with the pro field regardless of age and swim time. Foreign females were changed from wave 1 to 3 at the last minute and we were even segregated in transition, although this didn't stop someone racking their bike in my spot and getting sand all over my towel that was to help clean my feet for the run. It was a shame when everyone you raced with was lovely and many of the foreigners racing have lived in Thailand for a long time.

Despite everything I really did have a great race and now I want to be back racing.

Masters in Education Distance Learning First Year Reflection.

I have just come to the end of my first year working full time in an International School as a Performing Arts Teacher and completing my MA part time online. The year has certainly had its moments and it has changed my perspective on some areas of eucation as well as my time management and approach to life in general.

On commencing my MA I opted to do 2 units in the first instance. I asked for advice on units and whether or not the ones I was considering taking were the right choices. Of course I was told it was up to me whether I did 1 or 2 units and when I asked if Research Methods in Education (RME) was a good unit to start with I was told that should be fine. RME's unit description states that at the end of unit students will understand different knowledge forms, concepts in educational research and ethical implications among a number of other points. I clearly should read between the lines and realised that this unit was a direct lead in for the dissertation at the end of the course. It turns out I am not the only student who made this error as I have seen numerous other posts on the Facebook group for the course stating that they too have started with this unt. I truly wish someone had told me that ths was the unit where you did the groundwork for your dissertation and doing it first might not be the' best idea.

Doing 2 units at once was not my wisest idea. I did manage and amazingly got distinctions for both essays, but I decided very quickly that doing one unit at a time was far better. 

I also discoverd that despite trying to be a diligent students and completing the set reading and activities online they did not always feed into my essay. Often the readings were very old. Sometimes  the links were broken and you couldn't even access the materials you were being asked to read. The activities where you were expected to respond were generally ignored by students. I certainly began to ignore them as comments were years old and recent comments non-existent. In most courses the tutor wasn't regularly present online and so you didn't feel encouraged to participate.

My most recent course was Technology For Learning (TeFL) the tutor was certainly more responsive in this unit, but there was moments of irony. The unit explored what is considered 'good' or 'best' practice for online learning and in previuos units this did not occur. Sadly this set up my opinion for this unit and I was reluctant to engage. The courses need greater maintenance and time given by staff as we are paying vast amounts of momey for this without perhaps getting what we really should be.

Something that really sticks out to me as I study that many schools and educators are not keeping abreast of the latest research and applying it to their practice. I am as guilty as anyone else. When you are teaching you don't have time to research and begin to plan a way to implement what you have found into your teaching. If teachers and schools are to remain up to date then greater time needs to be given to Professional Development. This obviously costs money as covering classes to allow teachers to work in this way takes considerable time.

As a classroom teacher you should be able to take suggestions, research and ideas to management. Whether or not these get applied and utilised is another matter. Can we really provide students with the best if we continue under the current conditions for educators?

Koh Phayam

It seems funny to need a holiday when you live in Phuket, by the beach in a beautiful area. However getting away is more than the location. I need to be away from commitments, chores and anything else that I should do and could do as I'm at home. Songkran follows the Secondary Production and I really do need a holiday when it hits this time. 

We book 6 nights on Koh Phayam, also spelt Ko Payam or Ko Phayam or Koh Payam. A friend of ours recommended the island and they visit every year. Must accommodation doesn't have electricity until the evening and it is often supplied by a generator. If you can't live without AC you will struggle as places either don't have it or charge 600 - 1500baht per night for use of AC. The roads are small concrete slab covered tracks if you are lucky and are generally in major need of repair. If you haven't ridden a motorbike before you will have to start if you want to go anywhere and you need to love reggae to survive.

Driving from Phuket to Ranong should have taken under 4 hours. It didn't as there were multiple police checks along the route and we did stop for coffee. The speedboat ferry cost 350baht and takes about 40 minutes. Despite what you read online there are multiple operators that run at all times and you can just turn up. There are slow ferries twice a day that take 2 hours and cost about 200baht. We got the speedboat out and on arrival panic set in for most of us as the boat pulled up next to the pier and we were required to step onto the edge of the boat, stretch a foot up onto a tyre hanging from the pier and then to a metal ladder that it turns out was not actually attached the pier properly at all. Climbing up these 3 or 4 metres was actually rather worrying and most the passengers were experiencing the same feelings of fear, terror and panic at the prospect. We did all survive and no bags were dropped into the ocean. Hurray!

Getting to our hotel we had to take motorbike taxis. Not my favourite experience ever and I was definitely thrilled when we arrived at the resort. 

Whilst staying on Koh Phayam we relaxed, went to the beach, relaxed, went to another beach, ate, went to another beach, drank cocktails, relaxed etc. The beaches are beautiful and it was close to surf season. Sadly the waves weren't quite tall enough or breaking far enough away from shore to ride. We saw a flock of Hornbills amongst the trees, multiple eagles, climbing perch and monitor lizards. It was amazing. I was creative and calm, but I was ready to go home after my 4th night and it was the right decision.

The vegetarian food on the island was amazing. Cha Chai is incredible and I only wished that I would had been able to eat my way through more of the menu. Homemade bread was everywhere on the island and fresh healthy food was a staple requirement of all menus. Baan Nam Chaa is another great vegetarian restaurant. The only problem is that you can wait anywhere from 30mins - 2hrs for your food and even your drink.

You can't miss Hippy Bar with its odd driftwood structure that is reminiscent of a ship. Its presence completely transforms Buffalo Bay and it is ridiculously cool, quirky and the place to be. The recycled decorations and structure really make the place what it is.

Koh Phayam is ideal for a break from the world to recharge your batteries, be creative, eat and drink. 

Long absence, locked out, busy, excuses.

For some unknown reason my blog was no longer connected to my account for a few months. It feels likes it has taken forecer to be allowed back in and then I wasn't sure what I really wanted to write about.

I am about to submit my essays for the two units I have been studying for my Masters. It is the first time I have ever received feedback on an essay before submitting it. This is definitely a great move on the University's part as I have been adjusting to Harvard referencing from MLA and a long absence from academic writing. It has been a lot tougher than I thought to work full time, do extracurricular activities and study two units. Really tough. The essays were constantly on my mind and the way in which the course is run with information on several diffeent platforms had me confused, lost and sometimes going in the wrong direction. 

Life has been nice, different, quiet and marginally less stressful for a few weeks whilst I awaited feedback. Is doing an MA a mistake? Who knows.

More interesting blog posts soon....hopefully!

Assessment and Bias

In my previous post I mentioned the issue of proof in assessment and education. From previous experience of teaching the MYP students pass or fail based on coursework that a sample is selected for external moderation. There are no externally set exams and as long as teachers provide an opportunity to be assessed in the specified areas the correct number of times it is unlikely in my experience that a student won't pass. A huge problem for me was that due to us having so much choice and the Music course where I taught not requiring students to play an instrument meant that we ended up altering what we would normally teach to cater for these students. Our perceptions as Music teachers changed entirely and we struggled to make peace with the fact perhaps we weren't producing students that were of the standard as Y11 students taught using other curriculums. The learning experience in the MYP can vary so much that you do question whether it is fair

Teaching MYP was hard, but it is incredibly flexible. It was a learning curve that had some great highs and some almighty lows. The majority of MYP assessments are performance based assessments and this can offer different ways for students to present and communicate their knowledge. Group work is a feature of MYP and one thing that C. Gipps points out in "What do we mean by equity in relation to assessment." is that girls have a tendency to be bossier. This is a problem when it comes to group work. Students do learn valuable skills in working as a group, however it is questionable as to whether group work provides equal opportunities for all students and is really a fair form of assessment.

The idea of equal opportunities in assessment is interesting to me. Bilingual students are a feature of all education systems and the language of learning is often actually the second language. This can pose an issue for some bilingual students in being able to have the same access to the assessment material. Colloquial terms can be problematic and exclusive. 

Questions that use a situation have to consider if the reference point is something that would be familiar for all students or just some. Scenarios and subject matter that has a gender bias can also alter the way in which a student approaches a question. Personally I dislike the idea that questions have a gender bias, because this idea suggests that subjects, topics and hobbies are gender specific.

As a teacher you strive to offer your students the best learning experience that you can. You endeavour to provide opportunities for all students to reach the same heights. Providing a level playing field is idealistic and a wonderful aim, but whether it can be provided in reality I'm not sure.

Assessment and Peanuts

Continuing on the quest to develop my own understanding and perception of assessment I have diligently been working through all of the steps on the 6 year old Wiki page provided. The one thing that has stuck with me most was a monologue from the cartoon strip Peanuts, 1972.

Peanuts 1972

This really ties into the question I am aiming to create and answer for my 5500 word essay. As an Arts teacher I really do have to question how I am qualified to mark performances, compositions and other original works. If I was asked to mark John Cage on his composition "4:33" what would I have awarded him? Personally I'm still struggling to come to terms with a mark I received for a drawing of a trainer nearly 18 years ago.

Can anyone mark fairly? Can a fair assessment be created? What stops an assessment from being fair? Do we design the assessment or the teaching sequence first? Does the curriculum create the assessment or vice versa?

One enormous problem from my own perspective is that we have all of these wonderful researchers and innovative educators who question what we are doing, conduct research, present their findings and then we can't quite seem to make it fit. Schools often engage in a school improvement plan that focuses on raising student achievement. The problems encountered could be that the staff are just not on board with the changes or in most cases we are trying to do something so different that it just doesn't fit society's needs and preconceived notions about assessment. Proof, evidence, grades, certificates, ranking, national standards etc.

Written are used internationally because they can be controlled in terms of environment, resources and time. Consequently we are generally happy to consider this type of assessment as fair. When preparing students for timed examinations you end up spending a portion of your time teaching them how to sit the exam. Time management is important, but being able to use information to solve problems and or create something is surely more so. These timed assessments cannot help but have a bias towards recall and speed. Whether we like it or not we are assessing a student's ability to memorise facts and how fast they can write legibly. 

An interesting anecdote about some research into questions in assessment created a Science test for 11, 13 and 15 year old students. The 15 year old students out performed the younger students when questions were presented in a context that was familiar to them. However, when a question appeared that put what they had been taught in an unfamiliar setting the older students did not attain the highest results and the gap between the ages was lessened. This sort of question does give a real opportunity to show their cognitive ability and process.

Assessing cognitive ability may appear nigh on impossible as we can only assess what we can see. This unfortunately then puts us back towards traditional testing methods that I am starting to like less and less. Having said this if a test is marked externally and or moderated we should get a fair mark. Should being the operative word here.

This weekend has led me to reconsider what and how I assess and to question where I am starting from. It is also difficult to detach from your own personal experience of assessment. Perceptions cloud our judgement no matter how hard we try to avoid prejudice and be open minded.