Out of the frying pan?

Having escaped from the horrors of the new Dunoon Grammar School, we found ourselves this evening rehearsing in the building which is possibly one of the best small concert halls in the West of Scotland - Kirn Church Centre. We felt better, we sang better, we sounded better. And yet we discover that this building too is about to disappear, thanks to dry rot, high maintenance costs and dwindling numbers of people prepared to spend the necessary cash on such places. We could feel jinxed - but no. We'll just hope the weather treats the building kindly so that we are not ejected prematurely.

And now I'm off again for a few days - missing this year's
Teach Meet
by an oversight. I hope it goes well, and that there will be interesting blogging to catch up on. To anyone who feels it's my turn to buy them a drink - it'll have to wait till next time!

Get a life!

Why I'm blogging instead of getting tore into the olives and bread that have just arrived on the table, I don't know - other than because Neil has his mac and I'm at the kind of happening when people do this sort of thing. We're in Centotre, a lovely Italian restaurant on George Street in Edinburgh, and it has wifi and it seems a shame not to use it.

Anyway, this is TeachMeet07, and it took me 4 hours to get here, and people are pouring in to join us and if I don't stop soon and eat and olive I'll miss out. And if I try to blog after eating olives Neil will never let me near his Mac again, so better not. The wine is red, the conversation wired, and dinner has been ordered.

Cheers!

TeachMeet07

TeachMeet07
Originally uploaded by Edublogger.

I'm taking myself off to Edinburgh to socialise with a bunch of people, mostly male, mostly far younger than I am, all still working, who know far more about Web 2.0 technology than I'll ever know. Why do I bother?

Mainly because they appear still to be alive, that's why. In my last years at work I became depressed by the lack of enthusiasm for teaching displayed by relatively young colleagues, and the growing cynicism which made the expression of enthusiasm unlikely unless you were old and conceited. Like me.

I may or may not learn anything at this gig. But I shall find something of interest, meet up with some new people as well as others whom I really only know online, and feel reassured that there are some areas of teaching which are alive and well and firing on all cylinders. AB feels this will be a day of preaching to the converted - but it's important for the converted to have the chance to confirm one another in what they do. The unwired wilderness is still quite a big country.

Besides, the food part looks promising ...