| | Kerry Cue has enlivened Education Conferences and PD days for principals, teachers and support staff for over 20 years. Kerry not only brings a energetic and humorous outlook on life into her keynote addresses and workshops, she uses the humour to impart significant insights into topics such as maintaining school-based relationships, improving school-wide communication, escaping the principal/teacher/support staff stereotype, getting the work/life balance happening and more.
Humour writing was not Kerry's first career choice. After pursuing studies in Science/Engineering at Melbourne University, Kerry moved into one of the more explosive branches of science (teaching) and taught maths and chemistry for 10 years in Melbourne's western suburban high schools before successfully turning her hand to writing.
Some books written by Kerry to help students and teachers:
Reading is Kid's Stuff
Maths is Kid's Stuff
Enthusiasm Wanted-Apply Within
Girls Own Guide to Ego Maintenance
Streetwise School Smart
Here's Looking at You Kid
Teaching skills never leave you’ says Kerry. ‘On the one hand this means I still tend to count heads onto buses, but on the other hand I know how to make complex ideas simple and portable so that participants leave the conference with useful ideas. I also know a class, even of 100 principals, needs to be engaged. So my talks and workshops actively involve participants on both humorous and serious levels.’
Recent Keynote Addresses and Workshops IN Education run by Kerry Cue include:
In schools we use meetings, casual and formal conversations along with voice and e-mails to communicate within the school community. Sometimes, however, meetings can be so dull they grid participants down to the least contribution; casual conversations morph into monologues or whingefests; formal conversations turn into official nagging; voice mail becomes, um, ah, you know and e-mails are sent, it seems, to induce a coma in the reader. In this talk I will step you through ways of making meetings more engaging, casual and formal conversations mutually productive and voice and e-mails more relevant. Moreover, the Art of Modern Communication is quite simple. All you have to do is get their attention, get to the point and use your own words. I could e-mail these thoughts to you, but you won’t act on them. You need to be engaged in the concept. So I am going to look you in the eye and, actually, show you how to do it. The perfect work/life balance for me would involve sitting by a pool, sipping a cocktail with a little umbrella in it reading a novel all day. But, unfortunately, ‘No one wants to pay me to do it’.
So off to work we go. Of course, work delivers many benefits, but the average workload for teachers, principals and support staff in schools is not only demanding, but also unseen by others in the broader community and sometimes even within the school. Combined with the stress of constant change, dealing with the bureaucracy, health issues, family and home duties, your job can drain your energy levels until you are dragging yourself through each day.
This workshop is about recharging your batteries. Using a variety of hilarious and insightful activities, I will you how to off load stress, re-energise and laugh out loud. Moreover, when we laugh at our own foibles we see our lives in perspective. This workshop not only reenergises participants it provides the inspiration needed to get the work/life balance happening. From curriculum to reporting to school protocols, many elements in education today have been standardised and for good reasons. But there is one hitch. There is no such thing as a standardised child or parent or teacher. In this keynote address I will show you how the default mode of the brain is to think in stereotypes. We all do it. I use humour to help you lever your thinking out of stereotype boxes to see others as individuals. This is the point when relationships begin. And when you free others, you free yourself. This hilarious and thought provoking address is a celebration of the diversity that defines us. This fun workshop is designed to energise you, to challenge how you classify yourself and others in stereotype boxes and to breakdown rigid thinking processes.
While the workshop addresses the serious issue of diversity, it is the laughter that counts the most for life viewed from a different angle through humour expands your thinking to allow for a more creative approach to work life, love and relationships.
Other keynote addresses and workshops by Kerry Cue include:
Keynote Address: You Have to Go To School. You’re the Principal.
From curriculum to reporting to school protocols, many elements in education today have been standardised and for good reasons. But there is one hitch. There is no such thing as a standardised child or parent or teacher. There is, in fact, no such thing as a standardised School Principal, but the role of the principal today is defined in such detail (Think school charters, mission statements, privacy policy, discipline protocols, Public Private Partnerships etc) the pressure is on every principal to simply act out a role and, in so doing, become a stereotype. Turning yourself into a stereotype is like trying to dance using numbered footprints on the floor. You might get away with it, but your performance will look rigid and you’re likely to trip.
In this humorous and insightful talk, I show resilience comes with feeling comfortable just being yourself and having faith in the individual qualities you bring to the job. Moreover, if diversity is to be celebrated in schools, then we better start celebrating it in ourselves.
In this presentation I explain how the default mode of the brain is to think in stereotypes. We all do it. I use humour to help you lever your thinking out of stereotype boxes to see others as individuals. This is the point when relationships begin. And when you free others, you free yourself. This hilarious and thought provoking workshop is a celebration of the diversity that defines us.
Teacher Talk: You Can’t Teach a Thing if Your Teaching ain’t Got Zing!!!!!
At the core of every teacher is a committed professional who just wants to but the increasing workload and responsibilities of teaching combined with the stress and uncertainty of modern life can weigh you down. When this happens, you find you don’t have enough energy to go around, and teaching becomes just another chore.
I’m a passionate believer in Patch Adams philosophy namely '….adults should look as if they are having fun...to give kids a reason to want to grow up.' This talk is designed to energise you, to help put the zing and razamatazz back into your teaching and everyday life. Don’t postpose enjoying teaching or, for that matter, everyday life. Do it now.
Celebrating the Role of Support Staff: My Job is I Do Everything
I have spoken to support staff around Australia and I am constantly astounded by the different jobs support staff quietly and efficiently do on a day to day basis in schools. From being ‘sniffer dogs’ (someone has to locate the dead possum) to ‘anger management counsellors’ (Angry parents arrive at the office first), support staff fulfil many vital rolls in the school that, all too often, are not even noticed. This talk recognises the extraordinary and often hilarious contribution Support staff make to education. It is a pat on the back and a lot of fun and Who is going to be the Red M&M for the school fete this year???
‘What a great tonic.’
‘Fun, fun, fun – uplifting, inspirational.’
‘She’s real’
‘Haven’t laughed so much in years’
‘Wow!’
‘Entertaining, dynamic speaker- how important is humour?’
‘Thanks for a laughter-filled day. Will keep reading your articles.’
‘Fantastic day’
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