The Treehorn Express
Prepared and presented by Phil Cullen,
proud anti-NAPLAN geriactivist thinking of kids.
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Treehorn story? http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/print.asp?article=11697
The Treehorn Express Theme song: ‘Care for Kids’
Politicians : When the Parliamentary Budget Office tells Wayne Swan what NAPLAN costs, will you tell us? Billions, right? Waste, right?
bannaplanbannaplanbannaplanbannaplanbannaplanbannaplanbannaplanbannaplanbannaplan
N.A.P.L.A.N.
Never Allow Pupils Learn Anything Necessary
Yes. The view that NAPLAN improves schooling and that pupils learn better because of it, is a political hoax. The damage that NAPLAN does to learning is everlasting. Wise, cautious and concerned parents would withdraw their children from any attachment to NAPLAN asap….and from the doing of practice tests. NAPLAN is a cruel and immoral device instituted to line the pockets of profiteering publishers; and has no relationship whatsoever to the fair-dinkum exercise of fair-dinkum teaching and learning acts. To follow the Kleinist belief that ‘the linking of consequences and rewards to essentials in improvement’ is a stand-out hoax. Every decent teacher knows that.
Previous acronyms supplied to The Treehorn Express have included National Assessment of Politicians’ Lassitude And Neglect [or Laziness and Nonchalence]. It has certainly exposed all Australian federal and state pollies infected by all four of these traits. Not a word of support for children at school from any known politician in Australia [although Q’ld’s Paul Langboek went close once]. One can be sure that NAPLAN will be up there in election-2013 issues.
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Parent Wrongly Advised
Today’s Comment from SAVE OUR SCHOOLS contains a cogent argument for all parents to opt-out of the blanket testing routines….especially Year 3 little-ies. NAPLAN is at odds with the personal learning based schooling that this Mum wants for her Year 3 child. She was told that the nearby private school demanded NAPLAN results as part of their enrolment procedures; that withdrawal of her daughter from the Year 3 test would make it harder for her to contest the Year 5 tests; that she was giving the wrong message to her daughter as all the other kids will be talking about her; that NAPLAN testing is ‘just something we all do’. How weak and feeble can such reasons get? What leadership! Read her comments from the attachment above or check http://www.saveourschools.com.au
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Teachers: Try to Be Happy
Teachers. This is a tough time for you, having to undertake unethical conduct because the federal government wants you to do so; and it has ordered you to perform the professionally distasteful under threat.
Sing along in http://soundcloud.com/barrylane55 with Barry Lane, down-to-earth classroom teacher, author, child advocate, anti-test singer. If you can’t access it easily, try googling ‘barry lane sound cloud’. I do hope that it cheers you up…you have friends. Proper teachers have kid-care teachers all around the world.
There is a number of great parodies of songs on the sheet that you will know. They follow each other without any effort, so you can just ‘go with the flow” if you wish.
My favourites were Teaching Halleluyah, a song about teaching pride and a plea for learning properly; I Got Hubris assesses the State, which sets the test, itself; Filling Bubbles is a little depressing when it talks about flunking; Stand By Me, Principal is the normal plea…ethically this time; I Read Good is good. I really liked Stand By Your Plan Some times after you night planning and hard work, your pupils get treated as ‘they are just test scores, all the one size’, so you have to show that you do better than ‘ a test or textbook’ can. I know that you will enjoy the songs and their messages.
If, as a parent you feel sad about how your little one is being treated, it might be comforting to know that you have friends. Try the most recent Treehorn song again: http://www.notonthetest.com
AND all of us can sing CARE FOR KIDS all the time. It’s been up at the top of this newsletter for ages. I love this ditty. Do you?
Please tell as many parents as you can to “Say NO to NAPLAN”
The screws are being applied to kids next week and you can withdraw your child right up to the test day itself…even during the tests, if you feel that your child is too distressed.
Do it now. Don’t dilly-dally.
Think of your kids.
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Maintained by outstanding NZ educator, Allan Alach
Phil Cullen
41 Cominan Avenue
Banora Point
Australia 2486
07 5524 6443
The Treehorn Express 