http://sduncan.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/18822
For this each class has been allocated a country and is required to run an activity based on that country.

I have been allocated Canada - and knowing the huge population of Canadians online here at TIG was hoping that somebody might be able to give me a quick and easy activity that I might be able to do with about 25 Grade 3/4 (8-10 year olds) kids !

Any/all suggestions greatly apprecaited !!!
]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2004 02:20:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/18822 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/17964
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Canadians answer sperm call
By Paula Beauchamp
July 9, 2004

CANADIAN students could fly into Australia on sperm donor "holidays" and pocket a trip worth $7000 for their trouble.

Authorities have given a green light to the plan after a six-month investigation, in a bid to overcome a domestic sperm drought.

Reproductive Medicine Albury advertised the two-week trips downunder through a University of Calgary newspaper in December.

Under the plan, students would donate sperm every second day while enjoying a Murray River holiday in Albury-Wodonga.

The holiday package, valued at $7000, includes return airfares, accommodation for two weeks and a daily allowance of $150.


Source: http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10083004%255E13762,00.html?name=otherside]]> Fri, 09 Jul 2004 00:49:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/17964 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/14535
(Apologises for not going into much detail, but you never know who might be reading this stuff !!!)

School stuff aside, I went to an awesome meeting last week on Thursday. They have (finally) appointed someone to oversee the implimentation of the Youth Strategy we have been working on forever and I got to meet her for the first time last week. She seems really switched on and in tune with what we are all wanting to get out of the group. Hopefully amazing things will develop as a result.

]]> Sat, 28 Feb 2004 23:22:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/14535 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/13836
Spent the week before school started scrubbing the classroom and making it all nice and pretty. I've already rearranged the tables a few times and no doubt will continue to do so until I work out an arrangment that works best.

My goal for the day was to end the day breathing, with a pulse, all limbs intact and senses functioning.... Anything else was a bonus ! Only injury was my voice is a little sore; been told already I have to go and get voice PD from one of the other staff ! Got a few kids that are going to be "challenging", but the vast majority seem really nice - just need to work on establishing a bit more control in working towards how I want things to be.

Teaching wise I feel very out of practice and feel really aquard - the words aren't quite coming out the way that I want them to. Be glad when specialists start next week - everyday I've got time set aside for specialists so be nice to have a break from the stand up side of teaching and work on the organisation side of things. Hopefully I'll get myself (and the kids) into a good routine and all will fall into place by the end of next week.

Till the next exciting installment....


P.S: The photo is of my desk - I've got another photo of my actually teaching, but I need to get a copy of it scanned. Watch this space !!!



]]> Thu, 29 Jan 2004 02:58:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/13836 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/13163 Concerns are increasing for TIG staff member, Nick Moraitis who is rumored to be incommunicado.

Recent sightings indicate that he has returned to his hometown of Melbourne, Australia following the WSIS conference to spend time with his family over the Christmas period

Questions are also being raised in regards to his survival given that he is believed to be without his laptop and mobile telephone.

TIGgers across the world are urged to keep their eyes out for and to post any details of his whereabouts via the TIG website.

Should you see Nick, act with caution, as he is thought to be in a dangerous state whilst disconnected.

The team behind the search will bring you more news as it comes to hand.

TIG Emergency Reliefs Service (TIGERS)]]> Tue, 30 Dec 2003 00:51:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/13163 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/13125
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I trecked into the city on 12th November for the YouthGAS gathering, which was connected with the PLAN conference - I would have loved to have gone to the PLAN conference, however working full time plus the fact that I couldn't justify the +$100 registeration fee prevented me from attending. (I didn't qualify for any of the concesssions and nobody wanted to give me the money to go)

Having learnt from my previous train travel experience, I decided to hang the expense and just catch the train from the station near my house and walk what felt like a billion blocks down Elizabeth Street till I got to the Hotel Y where the meeting was being hosted.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the chance to meet some new people, catch up with some old people, put faces to names that I'd only read about and here about some new and exciting projects people are working on. I left that session on a high -- something I hadn't felt for a really long time with a new list of contacts and initatives to follow up (that still sits somewhere on my desk at home ! - I'll get to it.... eventually !!!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Having become rather bored since finishing Uni and quitting McDonald's, I received an interesting e-mail from the lady who co-ordinates community safety at local council asking if I was interested in doing some paid work for them over the summer. Given that my bank balance was quickly deminishing and there's only so many times you can clean and re-arrange your bedroom, I agreed to take it on.

My official title is "Community Safety Assistant", however I prefer the "Jack of all trades" title, given that I've been doing quite a variety of different jobs that include:

- Running wheelchair sports activities with local primary school children for International Celebration of Ability Day

- Helping to co-ordinate activities (Santa visits, animal farms, face painting) and performances for our "Celebrate a Safe Christmas" program.

- Helping co-ordinate the Safer City Centre's 1st Birthday celebrations and launch the new directional signage within the Central Activites District [see photo]

- Calling and taking phone calls from residents who are complaining about properties that have long grass and therefore pose a fire risk.

- Assist in developing items to be included in our showbag for new drivers.

- Recording locations of graffiti and reporting it to the relevant authorities for it to be removed.

However, my primary responsibility is... (wait for it....) to conduct audits of all of the public toilets in the City of Frankston !!!! - Yes, it sounds like a crappy job (pun intended :P ) but believe it or not, it is rather interesting. The purpose of collecting all this information is to develop a local toilet strategy for the construction of new public toilets and for the maintence or demolition of existing public toilets.

As a result, I've had to do some reading into a number of approaches different places have used. Two interesting (if you can call it that) things that I have learnt is that Australia has a online public toilet map and that there is also World Toilet Seminar !!!

The amount of data too that people are interested in knowing is amazing - For example some of the items I have to check for include....

- Are syringe bins fitted ? Do they conform to Australian Standard height ?
(Syringe bins must be fitted to a height of 1.6m)

- Do the toilet doors open inwards, outwards or in both directions ?
(Apparently this is to do with disability access or in the event that someone needs to
be rescued from inside the toilet by emergency services)

The exciting thing about it is that I get a IPaq to record all the data on and use this very funky application that uses GPS to map all the toilets and tell me where I am. I'm secretly hoping that they'll let me keep the IPaq when I finish, but I seriously doubt it !

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Caught up with Adam too a few weeks ago - He's now working for Southern Metro. Region of the Department of Education and Training in the area of Student Wellbeing. What that all means I still don't know, but he tells me interesting developments are in the planning stages and that further information will follow. All sounds good in theory and I'm looking for a new challenge....

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Arrangements for school are going well. I've found out that I'm teaching Grade 3/4 next year which is just what I wanted. Went in towards the end of term to do some planning and get some information about what we'd be doing next year and also to meet my class and see what room I'd be in. The room I have is really nice, bit small - but all classrooms in my opinion are too small. I've got 4 computers plus a TV so I'm sure they'll come in very handy. Trying to work on getting a pool of resources to decorate the room with, but the downside of this is that I can't get in to my classroom till mid January (school starts back on the 27th Jan) so my bedroom is growing smaller as the collection gets bigger.

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Thus concluding the ever interesting and always exciting (NOT !) update of yours truly !!!!

May 2004 bring all of your dreams into reality.

Until the next exciting installment......





]]> Sun, 28 Dec 2003 22:14:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/13125 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/11819
=====================================================================
Mid semester break was spent at uni co-ordinating the musical. Monday and Tuesday I spent 8 hours each day with Eleanor (my co-producer) building props. musical rehearsals. We managed some pretty cool stuff - two palm trees with real palm tree leaves, a goat with detachable limbs (it had to be sacrificed - velco is a wonderful invention), 4 pillers with hyroglyphics on them (each of the drawings has a title - some of them very ammusing - we considered them to be works of art; so much so, we thought about auctioning them on e-bay after the performance, however second thoughts made us change our mind - must have been the paint fumes !)

However, the most exciting thing we constructed would have been the pyramid. Made out of 56 french fry boxes (thanks McDonalds!) which we had to turn inside out so that the printing on them wouldn't show (we only had cheap and nasty paint to use - it was donated to us) and hot glue gun them back together. We then had to work out a system that enabled us to pull the whole thing apart, transfer it to the theatre and assemble it back together - this resulted in us creating something resembeling a game of Tetris. Click here to take a look at the props rehearsals

With props constructed, Wednesday through to Friday was spent in rehearsals. A very slow and painstacking process given that Eleanor and I have never directed a production before and were only going on notes we had written in terms of who should be where and what we wanted things to look like. So, after three days of all singing, all dancing, we managed to get through the whole thing without a hitch.

A week later we had our performance; apart from a few sound problems (like the microphones cutting in and out) on the first night, things all went very smoothly afterwards. At the end of it all I felt on such a high; working with such a wonderful group of people, and seeing how far people had come since we first started was a very rewarding feeling.

So, somewhere in between all of that I managed to get about 6 assignments done (don't ask me how I did it - I'm yet to get the marks back for them - I sure the results will be interesting !); one of them being a task we had to do for Computer Art. Working in groups, we had to use a set to create an image relating to one of the articles from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (www. that will form part of a picture book. I've uploaded my picture to the Global Gallery (www.) if anyone wants to take a look.

With the musical all over and done with and all my assingments done, I finally finished uni for the year...and also completed me degree (pending the results of my assignments and exams !). It was a weird feeling - I know such much more about teaching and education and that I did when I started, but at the same time I still feel like there's so much more I need to know... I guess experience will bring be the extra knowledge I'm hoping for.

The faculty threw us a small farewell party on the last day of classes which was a good chance to catch up with everyone - lecturers and other students. Most of the conversation was focused around job hunting - who had applied where, who had interviews and who had positions already lined up.

Whilst all this was going on - I received a phone call on my mobile from Aldercourt Primary School who wanted me to come in for an interview at the school on Monday. I agreed to the interview and hun up the phone thinking "I've got so much work to do for this.". I spent the weekend updating my CV and working on my teaching portfolio (a book demonstrating some of the teaching experiences you've had) to bring it up to standard. I met with the principal and two other members of staff on the Monday and we spoke about a range of things I'd been invovled with, skills I could bring to the school etc..etc.. I was told that they would get back to me regardig the position later that evening and left after talking to them for an hour to head out for lunch with some other people from uni. In the time that it took me to drive from the interview to where we were having lunch (about 30 mins), the school had called me back and offered me the position - I was suprised at first at just how quickly everything had happened that the rest of the conversation was a bit of blur. I accepted the offer, received the paperwork a few days later and finalised it all today. Still yet to find out what grade I'll be teaching, but am excited about it all and look forward to the challenges that will lie ahead.

So, with a job lined up for next year, I hung up my spatula and said goodbye to McDonalds after 6 years - Whilst I was in no way disapointed to be leaving the job, I was sad to be saying goodbye to all my friends. I'm being thrown a farewell party but things there are pretty hectic there at the moment, so it's been delayed a few weeks until things die down.

=====================================================================

So, there you go another exciting update in the life of yours truly.


...till the next exciting installment...


]]> Mon, 03 Nov 2003 00:30:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/11819 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/11292
Check it out at: www.adamsmith.com.au (The link is also under my favourites under "Directing Potential"


]]> Thu, 02 Oct 2003 04:56:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/11292 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/11160


Teaching rounds are now all finished up and I had an absolute blast. My unit on "time" went really well, I made a very basic computer game on powerpoint for the kiddies to use which they (and all the other teachers across the junior grades) thought was wondeful. I also lugged in my keyboard for a few days and kept the kids entertained with a few songs; "Toffee Apple" by Peter Coombe being their favourite. Fingers crossed that they will be advertising later for a full-time teaching position next year....

Last week was a bit of a blur with so much going on. Mossy is heading off to Germany with Uni and had another trivia night to raise some funds, so headed along to help out but mainly to catch up with him before he heads off. So, drove from after-school care in Parkdale over to his place, caught the train (yes - me on public transport again...) and met him there. Another good night and learnt a number of new things like "dreamt" is the only word in the English language that ends with "-amt". As I was working the next day at the Royal Melbourne Show, I thought rather that drive home and come back into the city tomorrow, I'd crash at Simon's place for the night and drive directly from his place to the showgrounds. That was all well and good until I realised that I had left my Melways (street directorymap) at home. So here I am driving around suburbs that I have no idea of trying to work out where I should be going...to cut a long story short, I ended up there an hour late...

So, arriving a little frazzled, I spent the next 6hrs at the Working With Wood acivity that the Education Faculty at Uni has run since 1976. To quote from the fact sheet, the idea behind the activity is to allow "chidren to explore their natural desire to contrust something." So I spent the day with little kids building things out of wood ranging from cars to houses to dinosaurs to theme parks to car washes (As an aside, last year, one kid built the World Trade Centre and an aeroplane to go with it). Given that the weather wasn't all the great and school holidays hadn't started yet, numbers were down from the other years that I had helped out.

From the showgrounds I then raced back home (not without getting lost again of course!) to Frankston to head off to Adam's farewell party at a winery in Mount Eliza. Adam's heading off to New York for a few months as a UN Youth Rep. for Australia. The function at the winery went till 7pm but as a few people didn't rock up till late (me included) we heading on to a cafe in Mornington to continue the party. We spent hours engaged in deep conversation that it was hard to believe it was well after midnight when we left.

...and now only 3 more weeks until I finish Uni forever...that of course doesn't include mid-semester break which will be spent at Uni building props and organising rehearsals for the musical which is only 2 weeks away. These rehearsals mid semester break will make or break the performance, so fingers crossed all goes well....


Till the next exciting installment....


]]> Wed, 24 Sep 2003 17:20:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/11160 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10708
First Day we did P.D (Professional Development). The first session of the morning we reviewed the schools well-being policy which was interesting learning about the different programs that the school had in operation. The afternoon was a lunch out in the Dandenongs. Good chance to get to mingle with some of the other teaching staff - Great diversity in ages; some graduates fresh out of college and others who'd been in education for ages.

Second Day was an excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens [see photo]. Although we did get a little wet (OK - so it hailed) racing back to the bus, the kids (and even the teachers) had a fantastic day. Our education officertour guide had an amazing knowledge about the gardens and the way she interacted and explained things to the kids was fantastic.

Day Three actually involved some teaching (and I was beginning to think teaching was all about lunches and excursions !) so I took the kids for a "modelled writing" session. Basically, we wrote a story together on the board about our excursion the previous day...

Went to a P.D. (Professional Development) last night at the Herald Sun on how to use Newspapers in the classroom with some other friends from uni. Fantastic evening (and it was free !) - walked away with a bag full of goodies and heaps of exciting ideas I'm dying to try out ! We were also lucky enough to have a tour of the areas where the photographers and the journalists work which was absoloutly amazing. We got to see how all the photos now get developed and transfered to the computer and then see how they manipulate them all. (I was very impressed with their computers and how fast everything worked !). The newsroom was just as amazing. It was like a gigantic open space with about 10 huge TV's hanging from the roof with all the different TV channels. There were clocks everywhere with the differnt times across the world and the largest world map I'd ever seen. (I was thinking how nice an office it would be for TIG !!) There were computers and desks piled with papers - I have NEVER seen so much paper !!! This one office was stacked from floor to ceiling with papers that the only space was from him to get from the door to his desk...however the lady who took us on the tour was saying that if you ask this guy to find something for you, he'll know exactally where it is.

....and today is my allocated day off. Had a council meeting this morning for Community Safety which was really interesting; the entire agenda was focused on youth issues so had heaps to talk about and contribue to the discussions.

First Round Graduate Teaching offers also came out today. Not a great deal on offer, but there's one or two I might look into a bit further...

Planning units of work this afternoon - looking at introducting "Time" in maths either tomorrow or early next week; I love planning the entire unit of work as it gives you great scope to do whatever you like and allows you to be creative with what you want to teach, rather than having someone say "OK, here's what I want you to teach, do it exactally like this.". I think I'm going to have heaps of fun developing this... Will keep you posted !!!

Till the next exciting installment....

]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2003 22:30:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10708 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10649

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I managed to survive the excursion to Scienceworks with what ended up being 67 Grade Two children. Gemma, a friend from Uni who's a year ahead of me and is already out teaching, had the misfortune of two other teachers in her year level both getting sick the week of the excursion, so was desperately seeking the services of anybody who would help out. Only by pure fluke I happened to have that day free, so made myself available.

So, off we trekked with our day packed full of activity. First stop was the education centre at Scienceworks where we learnt all about different basic machines (levers, pulleys, wedges, planes etc…). I use the term "learnt" quite loosely as the education officer taking the session seemed to be teaching at a Year 11 Physics level, so as you can imagine most the kids (and teachers) tunned out quite quickly… He did try to rescue the situation with what was the worst attempt at humour I'd ever seen; going well over the kids heads and only made the adults in attendance groan

Next stop was this household display where we learnt all about science in our kitchen; focusing on how different food items in the kitchen were acids or bases The lady who took this session was far more interesting

Finally, as the rain began to fall, we raced from Scienceworks down to the Yarra River for our river cruse back to the train station. The kids and the adults both enjoyed the experience - looking at landmarks such as the WestGate Bolte Bridge as well as all the ships and the docks and different industries along the river.

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8th August was the Ronald McDonald House Charities Annual Gala Ball so I and a team of people from work headed off to the Palladium Room at Crown Casino to volunteer for the night. For the past three years, this is something that I've volunteered for and had a fantastic time each year.

Last year I got lost driving to the Casino…and managed to do the same thing again this year !

We were assigned the task of selling raffle tickets this year, which involved us wondering around to designated tables and asking people if they would like to buy a ticket. We managed to sell just under 3 books, which was quite a good effort when you consider the fact that each ticket is $25.00 each.

Being ticket sellers we were lucky enough to be inside the actually ball and be close to all the action. Vanessa Amorisi was the entertainment for the evening so were privileged enough to hear her belt out a few numbers. Very impressive…

In return for our services, we were given free admission to the nightclubs within the casino, so when the ball wound up around just after midnight, we all wondered down there for a few drinks before heading home….

….however, Melbourne Winter Sleep out was on that night also, so after driving back from the Casino to Frankston I dropped into the Youth Resource Centre to catch up with the team who were crashing there for the night. A few cups of coffee and a movie later, I managed to stumble into bed sometime around 5:00am.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Uni Open Day was on the 2nd August so I made my services available for tours of the campus and information regarding education courses (and with the free beanie, t-shirt and excellent pay rate they were offering, who wouldn't ?!?). It was very interesting seeing the diversity of people who came through the doors interested about education and teaching and general. Lots of interesting questions about what the course involved, how much teaching experience was offered, what the lecturestutorialscampus was like…etc..etc.. which were quite easy to answer, however the more challenging questions like international mature age students with various degrees already completed wanting to complete the course at a different campus with components via correspondence were quickly palmed off to the professionals.

We also setup a small cake stall to raise money to pay for the musical. A very impressive selection of baked goodies were prepared by the numerous people involved, with most of the items selling out in a just a few hours…leaving us with a nice small sum of money !

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Nick Moraitis was in Melbourne this week and I had the privileged pleasure of meeting up with him on Friday.

We agreed to meet at the steps of Flinders Street. We walked over to Federation Square and caught up. I just had a coffee whilst Nick hadn't eaten for the good part of the day, grabbed a coffee and soup. He only realised after he ordered that he didn't like coffee anymore (hopefully that dispels the Starbucks rumour !) and ended up getting and orange juice. So, we sat and Nick filled me in on the work he'd been doing with the UN and also back with TIG in Toronto...and also gave me some very funky TIG stickers !

We had only begin to get into the conversation when Nick realised he had another appointment at 3:30pm. Nick extended an invitation for me to tag along to the next meeting he had with a girl called Charlotte who was looking at doing some further research for a degree she was undertaking at uni relating to information technology and how she might be able to use aspects of TakingITGlobal to investigate. We met up with her just after 3:30pm at a building on Swanson Street called Curtain House and headed inside to a very trendy restaurantbar and spent the next 2½ hours talking about all things TIGgy. Nick kept us both mesmerised with stories and information about TIG and whipped out his laptop showing us various powerpoint presentations and documents on a range of topics. The conversation was so interesting that I had become totally oblivious to the fact that the entire place was now full of people !

We parted company just after 6:30pm and I left with this warm, good feeling inside; the kind of feeling that makes you think you can take on the world. I'd always imagined what it would be like to meet this amazing person who has achieved so much - and yet is still the same age as me. I left with my thoughts affirmed and also that that this person who never seems to stop working does have a very real human component to him.

There is an interesting story associated with me travelling to the city to catch up with Nick. I live in Frankston which is about 40km (25 miles) SE of Melbourne. I have driven in the city once or twice before but it isn't something I am extremely comfortable about doing, so decided to take a train to the city. Whilst I am a student, in order to obtain a student concession ticket, you need to purchase a concession card. For the amount of times I travel on public transport in a year, it's hardly worth it. Melbourne's public transport system is divided up into three different zones; Zone 1 being the closest to the city, whilst Zone 3 being furthest away. Frankston is situated in Zone 3, meaning that you have to pay the highest price ($11.40) if you want to travel to the city. However, if you drive to Carrum, which is about 5 minutes away, you are in Zone 2, which costs $8.50 meaning you save just under $3.00 on your ticket. Being the poor university student that I am, the idea of saving even $3.00 was quite attractive, so I chose to drive that extra 5 minutes and save my pennies. Buying a ticket is now an automated process and if you have no idea what your doing (like I did), selecting the appropriate ticket can be a bit of a challenge. Silly me ended up buying a ticket as if I was travelling backwards to Frankston (Zone 2 3); not towards the city (Zone 1 2) like I wanted. So imagine my embarrassment when I arrive at the barricades at Flinders Street Station, wondering why the display screen was stating that my ticket was invalid. Heading over the official at the barricades, I informed him of my situation, who kindly let me through to purchase another ticket. Seeing I already had a ticket for the other 3 zones, I figured I would just buy a 2 hour ticket for Zone 1 (the zone I wasn't covered for) for $2.70 and buy another one on the way home.

Now, you'd think after all of that my problems would be over....but you'd be mistaken...

After 6pm, a 2 hour ticket is valid until the end of that day, so the ticket that I had earlier purchased would have been valid for me to travel home. However, I didn't realise this until I had already purchased another ticket for the ride home. Another unnecessary $2.70 gone.

So, what was supposed to cost $8.50 cost me $13.90. So, my simple attempt to save $3.00 ended up costing me an $5.40 (that's assuming I've done my maths right) Maybe next time if I want to save money I should walk.

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Till the next exciting installment....



P.S: Photos of the above events coming soon...as soon as I finish and develop the film !!!
]]> Sun, 24 Aug 2003 06:30:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10649 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10324
Week Two - Semester Two. Don't feel like I've ever worked so hard since I began Uni - only 11 weeks to go until I finish my course. Very exciting but kinda scary. Did Open Day on Saturday [I'll upload a photo to go with this update when I get home] which was good fun (and good pay too !). Got to show people all around campus and give them information relating to education courses at Monash. I also discovered on the day that I've been quoted in one of the new brochures promoting the courses on offer. Something else to pop on the C.V. for upcoming job applications.

Muscial is going well - rehearsals have started (finally) and are progressing well. We've knocked off about 4 songs so far, so I guess that's better than none. Just need to get my act together (no pun intended) and organise things like sets and costumes... another task for the to-do list.

I actually was laying awawke last night thinking about what comes next in life ? For me, teaching has always been this long term life goal that I've set out to acheive and now that I've just about acheived that goal, I've got nothing new to focus on -it's I've reached the desitnation, but now what to do that I'm here ?

I've been convinced to go and assist with a school excursion on Wednesday with a friend who graduate last year. We're heading off to Scienceworks with a group of Grade 2 children - how many exactally, I'm still to be informed of...

I've joined a new local education group; the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Local Learning and Employment Network (FMPLLEN). A friend of mine recommended it to me so thought I'd jump onboard. So far I've received a few brochures in the mail about upcoming conferences and seminars on education; some interesting - most not... Will keep you posted on any I head off to.

Went to Simon's triva night for GASS - Check his updates for my response...

Apart from that, just trying to knock off those annyoing tasks that seem to accumlate so eaisly. Gotta get my tax return done, need to clean my room so I can find stuff, gotta organise my CV and job applications, gotta wash my car (which is going to be hard with stage 2 water restrictions now in force), gotta organise my money (or lack there of !), gotta organise a presentation I'm doing for work, gotta think of something fun to do with the kids for after-school care this week (it's been raining the past few days so I'm prediciting that we'll be inside again tomorrow) and somewhere in between all that gotta find time to eat and sleep and if I'm really lucky have time for a life !!!

Gotta dash - class is starting in 5..

Till the next exciting installment.....



]]> Mon, 04 Aug 2003 00:41:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10324 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10037
I passed all my subjects from last semester so I'm happy about that. 2 HD's and 1 C. The C was for Child Development which I didn't really like and had a number of issues about the ethics behind on of the assignments, but still..I passed...

Musical...hmm....we are still awaiting the music from Sydney. Nobody ever seems to work in the office where we are ordering it from as they never answer the phone.

Work is good at the moment. My store one a head office competition for customer service and so we all got very drunk at this party they threw last Tuesday.

I've also been pretty sick the past few weeks...might go back the the doctors on Tuesday and tell him I ain't no better.

Well...gotta run. I think that this entry would have to qualify as the worst written update ever. Might come back and edit it later (time permitting)

]]> Fri, 18 Jul 2003 01:41:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/10037 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9760


Frankston City Council have developed a series of digital postcards showing various scenes from the city of Frankston.





Have a look at where I live !
]]> Wed, 02 Jul 2003 20:24:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9760 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9594 YouthGAS from the Foundation of Young Australians that I thought I might share with you all...

The Foundation for Young Australians has released Sharing a New Story: Young People in Decision Making. This report was commissioned by The Foundation from the Australian Youth Research Centre at The University of Melbourne. The report covers:

* What "young people in decision making" is and why it is
important;
* What has been happening in the area;
* What helps and what gets in the way; and
* Reflective tools.

To go directly to the report, Click Here
=====================================================================

I've only skimmed over it quickly this morning, but anyone who's ever been involved in youth participation I think will find it a good read (and certainly will be able to relate to some of the experiences mentioned !)
]]> Mon, 23 Jun 2003 22:06:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9594 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9555

* Based on Nick's Review of "One Day, All Children" I have ordered a copy of it. I ended up ordering it online (my first online purchase) from amazon.com along with this other teaching handbook that I've been trying to find over here for ages... Hopefully it will arrive in the next few days...

* Maccas (aka McDonalds) also took us out for drinks last week for working over Easter. Originally our stores were going to be open over Easter, however new state government legistlation meant that we had to close, however in an 11th hour decision, they decided again to reopen the stores; so in a matter of hours we had to organise staff to work for the 3 days we were originally going to be closed. I ended up being the only person who went from our store, but managed to catch up with heaps of other people from other stores that I work at from time to time. Had a good night...(when you're not paying for the drinks it's always a good night !)

* Just finished reviewing the second version of the local council's youth strategy on Thursday. I was also asked to review the first version and it was pleasing to see that a number of the suggestionscomments I had made had been acted upon. Hopefully council will accept the final document soon and the priorities will begin turn to action.

* Went to a seminar the other day run by the Department of Justice look at young people and consumer issues. Was a really intersting session in that they had a very diverse group of young people attending. We spent the morning talking about major purchases we had made, problems we had encountered as consumers and knowledge we as young people would like to have as consumers. The information from the discussion is being used to develop an education packagae for young people. We also got this very cool goodie back with stickers and brochures and CD Roms -- combined with a very impressive morning tea and lunch, it made getting up early in the morning to go worthwhile !

* We finally finished casting for the musical and hope to get rehersals underway at the beginning on next semester...if all goes to plan. We have organised though a catch-upsocialising session during the mid-semseter break so the cast can get to know each other and also to organise a few other key dates for things to happen (build props, program design, ticket sales etc...) - Lots of work ahead...

* Heading out for dinner tonight with some mates from Uni, which should be a good night. Since they've all started teaching (they were all in the year above me at Uni - I'm still there) we don't get to catch up all that often, so tonight has been something that's been on the calendar months in advance. It's hard to believe that this same time last year we were all overseas in the Cook Islands teaching...how time flies (insert reflective sigh here)

* Catching up with my mate Adam next week over coffee - He's been appointed as a youth rep. to the U.N. so be interesting to hear what stuff he's been up to.

* I've got my first (and last) exam on Tuesday. I'm quite lucky in my course in that we don't have many exams - all my friends in other courses are telling me how they've got 5-7 exams to study for, whilst I'd be lucky to have done 5-7 exams thoughout my entire course let alone in 1 exam period.

So, that's it.

'till the next exciting installment.....





]]> Sat, 21 Jun 2003 01:36:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9555 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9366
In the meantime, on holidays now....6 weeks (apart from 1 exam in the middle). Woo---hooo. Hopefully a chance to get all those tasks that keep getting put off done...]]> Sat, 07 Jun 2003 22:21:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9366 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9124 till the end of semester ????

7 assignments due all next week....AAGGGGHhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!

Fingers crossed I survive....

...to be continued....watch this space...

P.S: Good Luck to everyone else out there snowed under with schoolwork at the moment !
]]> Sat, 24 May 2003 01:49:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/9124 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/8936
There were a few moments though when things were a bit chaotic - particuarly when one of the fire trucks we had on display decided to reverse over a tap we had outside which in turn caused a leak to our water mains resulting is us not having any soft drinks for about a hour on what's one of the busiest days our store has !!!

But, on a more positive note, we found out that our store came 3rd in selling the most Big Macs in our state region and,off the top of my head, I think we came 16th in Australia... that's a lotta burgers !!!!
]]> Sun, 11 May 2003 04:58:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/8936 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/8712
- I managed getting the After-School Care position I applied for. I work one night a week at a school in Parkdale looking after kids who's parents work. It's good fun and I'm sure will be excellent in developing skills before I start teaching full time.

- As a result of getting the After-School Care job, I wasn't able to help out with Youth Week this year, however I did manage to get along to the Youth Expo the team had organised. The Youth Resource Centre also launched its ever so funky new youth bus (although it's more of a semi-trailer). Titled "WHAT ?", the youth centre on wheels provides support, recreational activities, events and outreach services for young people in the area. I happened to be in the right place at the right time talking to the right people and was lucky enough to get a tour inside. I couldn't get over how big it was and how much they had crammed in - a theatrette, a kitchen, a toiletbathroom, a small meeting room and about 4 PC's setup with internet access ! From the quality of the finished product, it is clear that council and the other key stakeholders have invested a great deal financially towards the project, illustrating council's commitment to supporting the needs of young people living within the City of Frankston. This, combined with the level of planning, research and design involved in developing the facility will not only ensure its success, but will make it a program that I am certain other municipalities will be wanting to replicate.

- In other Youth Week news, the team behind the project created a vox pop (I think that's what you call it) asking young people a range of questions about issues such as transport, entertainment, youth participation, etc.... in Frankston. Hope to get a copy of it in the not so distant future and take a look - particularly at the section exploring Community Safety - might get some interesting responses...something I can follow up on.....

- Whilst I'm talking about Community Safety, I went to the launch of the CAR SAFE sticker the day after the Youth Expo. Similar to the Victorian Drive Right initiative, drivers in Frankston who display a CAR SAFE sticker on their car and have taken action to park their car safely and securely will have their rego. recorded and will go in to a drawer to win great prizes for their car.

- The musical is progressing....slowly. We've finished auditions last week and in the process of casting people to various roles. Unfortunately, we didn't have many guys audition and Joseph has quite a few male lead roles so we're tearing out hair out at the moment working out what we're going to do....I'll keep you posted.....

- Work...hmm...let's just say that it's not my favourite place at the moment - those of you I communicate with on here will know what I'm going on about.....I think I'll leave it at that….

- Met up with Simon the other day and chatted about TIG and the project he's working on, the IPISI Magazine He even managed to convince me to write an article (I'm a terrible writer) on Jesse Martin and the problems the Journey of Kijana is facing. Keep your eyes out for it in the pilot edition !

- I have made my first "real" creation with PhotoShop the other day - I designed a new cover for my teaching portfolio; reflecting my beliefs of what I think teaching is all about. Might upload it to the Global Gallery so you can have a look. My next task is to design a new funky header for my updates page.... Given how long it's taken me to write this update, who only knows how long it will be before I get that task done !

- Got a 21st this weekend, which should be good. Gotta work before hand till 10pm, so will be rocking up quite late. Seem to be going through the 21st birthday phase at the moment....and am running out of ideas for gifts....so.....if anyone's got good ideas of what to get as presents (and is within the budget of a poor uni student !)....let me know - all ideas appreciated !!!

Well....that's it....until the next exciting update in the life of yours truly......take care of yourself....and each other.....
]]> Fri, 25 Apr 2003 07:10:00 EDT http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/8712 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7953
Just thought I'd throw the idea up for discussion....

]]> Tue, 04 Mar 2003 21:53:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7953 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7952
- Talked to first year students about life at Uni and passed on some advice based on my experiences throughout my course. I did have to laugh though when one of the girls asked me if I would be taking any lecturers or tutorials...

- I have an interview tomorrow for an after-school care assistant position a mate from Uni lined up for me. The money isn't great, but the experience of working with kids before I start teaching will no doubt be fantastic. Fingers crossed that goes well....

- The musical is progressing - Posters are on display around the campus and people are beginning to talk about it. Information Sessions are next week - let's just hope that people turn up !

- Went and saw "Swimming Upstream" at the movies last Friday night. Most people I know bag Australian Films, but I thought this was really good - highly recommend it to anyone...

- Have to goto a seminar this afternoon for McDonald's at Head Office on Customer Service. Apparently, we're changing the way we serve people from the robotic format of asking everyone if they would like fries with their order to a more personal and individual format... At least I'm getting paid to go....

- I've been asked to facilitate a group of young people who want to organise an event in Frankston for National Youth Week. As to what it is I'm still awaiting more news....

- I've had a play with Photoshop the other day and boughtborrowed a few books on it. Just need to time and the creative inspiration now to come up with something.

- AND...I've still managed to keep up my session at the gym.

So, there you go, another exciting installment in the life of yours truly !

...to be continued....]]> Tue, 04 Mar 2003 21:50:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7952 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7375
Kinda makes you think about what kind of a world we are creating for children of the future...

Scott.

====================================================================

Congratulations are in order if you lived as a child in the 60's, 70's or even early 80's. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a ute on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof
lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in
the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before dinner time. No one was able to reach us all day. No mobile phones. Unthinkable.

We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soft drink but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared
one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on pay TV, video tape movies, surround sound, personal mobile phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and
knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We played footy down the park and not everyone got picked to play. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat
the same grade.....Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own.

Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
]]> Tue, 21 Jan 2003 22:07:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7375 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7311 real update on here. Here's some of the things that I've been up to recently…

- Had a telephone interview for the UNESCO Journal about the Growing up in Cities project in Frankston earlier this week. It's been ages since I've done any work with that so I was surprised to hear about it all of a sudden. Hoping to get a copy of the article in the next few days e-mailed to me.

- Did a photo shoot this morning outside the new Safer City Centre in Frankston for the article with the police and a few other people from local council. We were in the middle of taking these photos when out of the blue, Christine Nixon; the Chief Commissioner for Victoria Police walks on past, so naturally we grabbed her and managed to get her in a few shots.

- Had coffee with a mate of mine, Adam, who works at Skills Plus; a group does a range of things with young people. He's looking at doing some work on boys in education which seems really interesting. Things are still in the planning stages at the moment, so I'm looking forward to hearing more about it.

- Finalised my review of the draft Frankston Youth Strategy yesterday. Hopefully they will take some of my comments on board.

- Borrowed "Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat" the other day on video. I've been asked to co-direct this year's education faculty musical so figured I should borrow it and get some idea of what it’s all about. Really need to get organised with that and start making some arrangements…

- Bought Adobe Photoshop the other day… Just gotta learn how to use it now…

- I joined a gym ! Been a few times, just alternating between weights and cardio. I've been good so far, managed to get about 4 sessions in each week…although I wonder how long that will last once Uni heads back…

…and somewhere in between all that I also managed to have my 21st birthday. What a ripper of a night that was. (Did you know that TIG sends you this funky e-mail card thing on your birthday ??? I thought that rocked !!!)

So…long overdue…but an update never the less….

…to be continued……
]]> Wed, 15 Jan 2003 21:08:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7311 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667 http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7041 happened in my life of late, however I have two small problems:

1) I wanted to know how I can add a URL link into my update (and into my profile for that matter)
and after searching around on the site, couldn't find anything that told me how, so
hopefully by posting this here, someone may respond and tell me how to do this !!!

2) Work have just called me and asked if I can go in early so now what was going to time spent
writing is now going to be time spent asking people "if they would like fries with that ?"


...to be continued....


]]> Wed, 18 Dec 2002 18:16:00 EST http://sduncan.tigblog.org/post/7041 -37.8166667 144.9666667-37.8166667144.9666667