The Dad Regime | Internet for dads

Scarcity

Demand and supply is a basic concept of economics. High demand and low supply equals higher prices. For a manufacturer there can be nothing better than a perception of scarcity about a product they are making; a limited edition, short time only, one off deal. Better get it while you can. Elite private schools use this perception of scarcity to their advantage too. Hell, their entire business model is built around their clients desire be part of an exclusive club. They limit t

Retro Blog: Autism has a place in the classroom

This article made me angry. It asks a simple question, ‘Does autism have a place in the mainstream classroom?’ It made me angry because the answer is obvious - yes. It made me angry for paying lip service to how complicated that ‘yes’ is, and it made me angry because it glossed over the most important factor relating to the question. Through no fault of their own many Autistic children are placed into classrooms entirely incapable of meeting their needs. Through no fault of t

Retro Blog: I'm worth more than chicken nuggets

Those of you who know me personally know I’ve lost some weight over the last year. I’ve been thinking about about writing about that but, I don’t want to get ahead of myself as I still have some distance to go. Through the process, however, I have developed a new addiction: blue berry, raspberry, milk and cocoa shakes in our Nutribullet. They’re bloody awesome and I needed one today. I’ve been buying the berries at the local farmers’ market. I ran out his week and had to buy

Must be so good

Have you ever noticed that the more prestigious the school the higher the admissions scores and fees are? Pretty obvious observation, I guess. It should be hard to get into an elite school, right? If these schools are so good, they ought to be able to teach anyone, shouldn’t they? Their teachers, programs and facilities must be so good, that any student would be be able to go in and achieve success. Why then, do they need admissions tests at all? Or behaviour reports? Or NAPL

It's elementary ...

A report, commissioned by the NSW Education and Standards Authority, has found no improvement in maths and reading among students in a decade and the results of disadvantaged students have declined sharply … No shit, Sherlock! … and now there are calls for the NAPLAN process to be reviewed … Um, educators, the people tasked with the actual teaching of the children, have been asking for it to be reviewed FOR 10 YEARS! I love Alfie Kohn’s rule of thumb: The individual’s enthusi

Badges, Rewards, and Barking Dogs

Badges are a new thing in education at the moment. Read about them here. They seem a harmless, if not motivational, way to assist learning in the classroom; much like old-fashioned sticker charts, smiley faces and stamps. The idea being that scouts seem to be motivated to achieve badges, gamers seek achievement badges in games, and it’s an alternative to traditional grades. Why not include these ideas in classrooms? I’ve never liked the idea of students playing the role of Pa

Never too late ...

Occasionally, I’m forced to defend my position on homework. It’s rarely to another educator these days, but the odd parent raises their concern. And I get it – these new fangled ideas about education are vastly different to the views expressed by teachers when we were at school. We worry that if our children aren’t treated as we were, then they might be negatively impacted. Those of you unsure of where you stand on the homework debate should read the following excerpt from Sc

TDR Podcast 2017 Ep5: Don't say that! Don't you ever say that!

Our very first guest!! Film maker Gabor Kukucska joins us to discuss why on Earth anyone would want to make a documentary about Chris. The crew discuss 'passion projects' in high schools. And more. Pretty Jesus returns to close the show with their track 'Time Machine'. What did we talk about this week? - Visit Gabor Kukucska's site: Inspireflix - Read more about 'Passion Projects' here. - Our sponsor: - Pretty Jesus - Time Machine: #podcast #dadregime #dadregime #school #educ

A Minecraft Classroom

We've been using Minecraft in my Year 6 classroom for a couple of week to great effect. Here I've outlined some of the main activiti

Canaries On The Spectrum

We aren't Finland

Watch the video. No homework and a 20-hour school week? Sounds awesome, sign me up. That’s right in my philosophical wheelhouse; less is more; dispense with the unnecessary. So, why do I cringe when I see these clips turn up in my social media feeds? I have the belief that as educators we tend to overvalue the effectiveness of our pedagogy to teach things that don’t matter. We adopt practices and models, we change strategies and explore taxonomies, all with the intention of i

Hey! Things change.

War historians have pointed out that for most of human existence war did not change much - not in its techniques, nor equipment. Alexander’s defeat of the Persians in 329 BC may not have looked dramatically different to the Mongol’s invasions of China 1218 CE. In fact, Napoleon’s victory of the Third Coalition in 1805 would have been on an eerily similar battlefield (fancy French uniforms aside). Armies lining up, archers or riflemen ready, cavalry charge – have at it! Not u

I'm worth more than chicken nuggets

Do it! NO WAIT!

When a former student asked me for advice about leaving high school before she graduates and entering the workforce at the end of Year 11 my instinct was to tell her: “Do it. JUMP! Your high school education is overrated and has little bearing of on your future success. Your work ethic and your passion is what will drive you.” She had a plan, both for short term employment and future education. She has a Certificate III in Retail, thanks to her high school. She has the backin

This is my art

Seth Godin suggests there are three vital elements to making Art: Art is made by a human being. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art. He concludes by suggesting that most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work. I never know if what I’m making is a mas

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"THEDADREGIME"

We're all making this up as we go along