Education and Schools.

Education and Schools.

!994/5 I trained in Visual Arts and then taught in New Zealand till 1998. I then returned to teach in the Australian deserts. The first school was at Kintore, right in the heart of Australia, as remote as can be, where the Mail plane flies in over some very empty land, before returning back to Alice Springs. That was in 1998 when I also taught at Areyonga, 350kms southeast of Alice Springs. Areyonga was ruggedly beautiful, with fossils and wildflowers, and free donkeys wandering around. In 1999 I became Principal of Haasts Bluff, where the desert rose was in full bloom, where I started a school garden and went on bush tucker trips and ran community barbecues and Film Evenings. Here the football team beat all the other schools that year..1999...including the bigger schools. That is one special story. My school nearly got to run with the Olympic torch..and thats another story too. I moved to Halls Creek in WA, because my cousin was teaching there. I transferred across from NT. This was when I discovered another world. In 2001 was transferred to Jigalong, where I developed the Art in the school and the community, and also taught Computers at TAFE. The isolation and the experience of being a single woman in an indigenous community was an interesting one. The following year I was transferred to the indigenous school at Kalgoorlie. I taught Art with the whole school,and worked with the kindergarten, which was another very, very different experience. After advertising on the Internet, I was offered a position teaching English at an University in China, and putting my belongings into storage, accepted this position as Lecturer at Wuhan University, extending my ESL skills and knowledge. These students are now at various universities in Australia and NZ continuing their post Graduate studies. http://M-carstairs.com/eslteachinginchina In 2003 I returned to teach, first at Geraldton, and then in the South West. The South-West is cold and picturesque. The Community is wonderful, I have joined International Lions, and the Garden Club, and exhibited my Art at Ding Up House during the Garden Week Home Opens. I have been a member of ACE since 1979, joining the WA Branch in 1998, and my studies and interests have always been in ways to stimulate and motivate learners and create learning environments where learning occurs, using the latest of technology and development where possible, and innovating to simulate and motivate. I am competent in utililising the web and computers for maximum usage. http://M-carstairs.com The world and technology is developing fast, and every year life gets better and more exciting, and the resources available to teachers get even better, and ultimately, Teaching and Learning will also reach dimensions that will offer many opportunities for the Learner. Education is a very exciting industry to be a part of.