Ditching the lab-coat for the common good

This week I ditched the lab coat and dexter glasses to attend the NSTF plennary meeting. Our school had 2 finalists in the 2009 awards list. We were led to believe that in order to be considered in the process further the finalists or a representative (me) needed to be at the meeting to collect their certificates. Turns out this was not the case.

Someone wise I know once mentioned that even at seemingly unimportant meetings its a useful strategy to find a take home message. I learnt 3 things at the meeting:
- Afrikaans is still alive! I am mostly exposed to English and to hear Afrikaans in this setting seemed unusual. Of course it's still alive, first language Afrikaans speakers are passionate about their language.
- Academics are friends of technology. I felt out of place being one of the few audience members who wasn't concurrently working on my laptop and attending the meeting.
- The seating arrangements reminded me of students filling a lecture hall, where they fill seats from the back and on towards the front. Do we match our students behaviour or are they matching ours? A similar pattern is also evident in church on Sunday mornings.