Sometimes nature puts up quite a show.
This morning, 7:34am, view to the east:
Less than twenty minutes later, view to the west:
There was a complete double rainbow, but sadly my camera has neither enough of a wide angle nor the sensor to capture the whole beauty of it. Here’s a closeup of the Southern end:
What a way to start the day, right? Even strange weather like heavy rains at a temperature of 22°C (72°F) has its upsides.
Twelve years, baby!
The Economist: German schools: The Gymnasium revolt. “Parents fret over how long children should stay in school.”
Of the 16 states in Germany, five had G8 (Gymnasium, 8 years following 4 years of elementary school) all along. They are the states that used to belong to the former GDR. Of the other eleven, ten have transitioned from G9 to G8 in recent years. Now, some states are thinking about switching back or offering both systems.
Rhineland-Palatinate, the state in which I teach, is the one small village of indomitable Gauls that has neither G8 nor G9, but has had G8.75 since 1999, meaning that the last year is shortened so the students get their Abitur in time for the easter holidays, thereby enabling them to start university one semester earlier. When the whole G8 frenzy started I was afraid that Rhineland-Palatinate would switch hastily as well, but fortunately they held out for a few years. By then it was becoming apparent that the switch didn’t work out very well in other states, so we stuck to our system. For exceptionally gifted students some Gymnasien (mine is among them) offer a “fast track” which compresses years 7 to 10 into three years, thereby shortening Gymnasium to 7.75 years.
Sometimes I think that our school system with two to three different secondary schools, in addition to comprehensive schools which exist in most if not all states as well, and 16 different systems in 16 states must look downright silly to outsiders…
Unter den Gewinnern des BVKJ-Medienpreises 2014 (BVKJ: Berufsverband der Kinder- und Jugendärzte) ist dieser Filmbeitrag, der am 22. August 2013 im ARD-Magazin “Panorama” ausgestrahlt wurde:
Anja Reschke und Birgit Wärnke: Lehrer am Limit.
Im Film wird der Berufsalltag der Lehrer an einer Schule in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg gezeigt, die in einer 6. Klasse mit 22 Schülern (davon sechs mit besonderem Förderungsbedarf) unterrichten.
Auch wenn meine Schulklassen sich doch deutlich von der gezeigten unterscheiden, erkenne ich viele Parallelen, und wie sicherlich fast jeder Lehrer, der diesen Beitrag angeschaut hat, musste ich oft nicken und denken: “Ja, genau so ist es, das kenne ich auch.”
Der Film gibt einen Einblick in (m)einen Beruf, den viele zu kennen meinen (hat doch jeder selbst die Schulbank gedrückt), und erklärt, warum über 60 Prozent der Lehrer, die ja von einigen als “faule Säcke” gesehen werden, zur Risikogruppe für Burnout gehören.
Once again I missed this weblog’s anniversary. Fourteen years ago, on January 25th 2000, I “flipped the page” on my Manila weblog for the first time.
Past anniversaries: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.
And by the way, this past weekend marked my ten-year anniversary as a teacher. Time does fly when you’re having fun!
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