Sunday 25 October 2009
Day 35: Half Term
What can I say? It's half-bloody term! I never knew how sweet a week off could be.
Thursday 22 October 2009
Day 34: So near, and yet so far...
If I was starting to wind down yesterday, today I was picking myself off the floor. I guess it gets to the end of term and everyone is just pushing themselves to make it to the final whistle.
I managed to oversleep again today (it's like being back in uni) and didn't therefore manage to get in at 7 like I'd planned so I could mark my year 10 work. I got in with enough time to sort out my year 9 lesson and have a banana.
Year 9s piled in and I was surprised to be presented with a full class for the first time. My plan for the lesson was pretty lame: finish the book and watch the end of the film. To cut a long story short, we only managed the latter (we were 3 pages away...) but it was successful in as much as the kids managed to stay in the room, and even little A read out loud. Bless him. He is trying so so hard to be good, so I'm determined to encourage him positively as much as I can. I called his mum's mobile (eventually) and left a message about how pleased I am with his effort.
Straight after year 9 was year 10, and I was a little stressed by the neediness. I had to give them a speech at the start about NOT copying from the internet, as two of them had already attempted. I basically gave them the hour to work at their coursework, and for the most part they did, with constant chimes of "MISS!"... "MISS!"... "MISS CAN YOU READ THIS...?"
I was delighted to read two pieces which were definitely A* material, or very close to it, which was fabulous to read. Go team! ("Miss, who's Gotim?")
I was free until last period, and spent most of that time going over year 10 coursework and prepping for year 7.
My year 10s turned up at lunchtime but I'd dilly-dallied and hadn't marked their work so had to do it and find them in their next lesson. Oops.
Year 7 were last, and they were being given an assessment, which was nice and peaceful. After they finished we played "STOP THE BUS!" which was fun, and another excuse to give them chocolate. Hurrah!
And so one day left to the end of half term. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORAY!
Unfortunately I just remembered that I'm being observed tomorrow for my year 7 class, so I should perhaps do something a little more original than just follow the lesson plan. Oh well.
I managed to oversleep again today (it's like being back in uni) and didn't therefore manage to get in at 7 like I'd planned so I could mark my year 10 work. I got in with enough time to sort out my year 9 lesson and have a banana.
Year 9s piled in and I was surprised to be presented with a full class for the first time. My plan for the lesson was pretty lame: finish the book and watch the end of the film. To cut a long story short, we only managed the latter (we were 3 pages away...) but it was successful in as much as the kids managed to stay in the room, and even little A read out loud. Bless him. He is trying so so hard to be good, so I'm determined to encourage him positively as much as I can. I called his mum's mobile (eventually) and left a message about how pleased I am with his effort.
Straight after year 9 was year 10, and I was a little stressed by the neediness. I had to give them a speech at the start about NOT copying from the internet, as two of them had already attempted. I basically gave them the hour to work at their coursework, and for the most part they did, with constant chimes of "MISS!"... "MISS!"... "MISS CAN YOU READ THIS...?"
I was delighted to read two pieces which were definitely A* material, or very close to it, which was fabulous to read. Go team! ("Miss, who's Gotim?")
I was free until last period, and spent most of that time going over year 10 coursework and prepping for year 7.
My year 10s turned up at lunchtime but I'd dilly-dallied and hadn't marked their work so had to do it and find them in their next lesson. Oops.
Year 7 were last, and they were being given an assessment, which was nice and peaceful. After they finished we played "STOP THE BUS!" which was fun, and another excuse to give them chocolate. Hurrah!
And so one day left to the end of half term. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORAY!
Unfortunately I just remembered that I'm being observed tomorrow for my year 7 class, so I should perhaps do something a little more original than just follow the lesson plan. Oh well.
Wednesday 21 October 2009
Day 33: It's not Friday yet...
...although my brain is having difficulty accepting that.
I've begun to mentally and physically shut down. I'm so close to the end that I don't really care much about the rest of the week. 2 days. 5 lessons. Then a whole, beautiful week off. Oh lordy, it will be fabulous!
SO the day. Well, goes without saying that it was ridiculously hard to get out of bed this morning; I rely heavily on my snooze alarm which makes it far too easy to oversleep. I'm going to go to bed reeeeally early today to make up for it.
Anyway, got to work, and was presented with year 9 first thing. I had brought in my bag of fun sized chocolate bars and used them (successfully, I might add) as a bribing tool to get the kids through the MILLION pages we had to read today. They got pretty restless towards the end, which was a shame, but they got into the questions I asked them as there were chocolatey rewards.
After year 9 were year 11, and I really buggered up that lesson. I was giving them the paper 2, with the hope that they could have a go at the first question (unseen non-fiction) but to be honest, they had no idea. I should have gone through it, exactly how I would have answered it, and done it as a group. I didn't, I read through the questions and left it to them, and it was a bit of a washout. I will need to think carefully about how to do it again next term.
I was free until year 10 last lesson, so sorted out various things, including that lesson, and had to babysit a year 7 who was sent out his lesson. Year 10 turned up, and I ran through a lesson on irony. The kids were SO needy it was crazy. I had a constant barrage of "MISS!" and queues of them asking me to mark their work. I'll be glad when the work is in. The bell caught me off guard; the kids were in the middle of writing, and they all packed up and left, although a few stayed to ask me about a few questions.
I'm so happy tomorrow is Thursday, because then it's nearly Friday. I CANNOT wait for Friday.
I've begun to mentally and physically shut down. I'm so close to the end that I don't really care much about the rest of the week. 2 days. 5 lessons. Then a whole, beautiful week off. Oh lordy, it will be fabulous!
SO the day. Well, goes without saying that it was ridiculously hard to get out of bed this morning; I rely heavily on my snooze alarm which makes it far too easy to oversleep. I'm going to go to bed reeeeally early today to make up for it.
Anyway, got to work, and was presented with year 9 first thing. I had brought in my bag of fun sized chocolate bars and used them (successfully, I might add) as a bribing tool to get the kids through the MILLION pages we had to read today. They got pretty restless towards the end, which was a shame, but they got into the questions I asked them as there were chocolatey rewards.
After year 9 were year 11, and I really buggered up that lesson. I was giving them the paper 2, with the hope that they could have a go at the first question (unseen non-fiction) but to be honest, they had no idea. I should have gone through it, exactly how I would have answered it, and done it as a group. I didn't, I read through the questions and left it to them, and it was a bit of a washout. I will need to think carefully about how to do it again next term.
I was free until year 10 last lesson, so sorted out various things, including that lesson, and had to babysit a year 7 who was sent out his lesson. Year 10 turned up, and I ran through a lesson on irony. The kids were SO needy it was crazy. I had a constant barrage of "MISS!" and queues of them asking me to mark their work. I'll be glad when the work is in. The bell caught me off guard; the kids were in the middle of writing, and they all packed up and left, although a few stayed to ask me about a few questions.
I'm so happy tomorrow is Thursday, because then it's nearly Friday. I CANNOT wait for Friday.
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Day 32: What would Plato have to say about this?
What a day. I'm pretty exhausted right now; I've been home for an hour or so and I'm considering going straight to bed. Even Gok Wan can't keep me up right now.
Anyway, one of the reasons I came back to the house late was because we had a special meeting after school. All the staff were invited to go, including admin and other non-teaching staff, and the head had not given away any reason. Mysterious. I will explain the reason later, but suffice to say there was speculation floating around the department as to the exact nature of the secret meeting.
Last night I couldn't sleep. In fact, it was the worst night's sleep I'd had since the start of term. I was thinking through all the lessons I'd be having today (4) and what to do about them. I also couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was being observed by someone from London Challenge with my year 11s.
Anyway, I overslept but managed to get on a bus and get in by 8.15 which wasn't too bad, and had first lesson off to sort myself out. The nerves were beginning to get to me, which I hate! Year 11 came, and I'd set up the lesson, which plenty of AFL (or so I thought) and a bit of Lilac-inspired active learning. Of course, that didn't really work out, but the guys got into their groups and I explained what was going to happen. As the inspector/observer guy turned up I started watching the groups perform one at a time. The first boys were actually great. They really got into it, and I'll be sure to give them some good marks tomorrow when I get around to sorting out the scores. The observer gave me feedback, which was constructive and mostly positive, so I was quite pleased.
After break I had year 9, and I was a little worried, although I'd planned to just do a quick starter and then watch the film. Behaviour was... interesting. The boys (and it is always the boys) took ages to settle down, although I eventually got the film on which I didn't finish, and I had to pause it at one point to yell at a couple of boys whom I kept behind to tell off. I also confiscated a bag, a can of Charlie Pink spray and a mobile phone. Meh.
Then after lunch was year 10. I basically set them the coursework to do, and let them get on with it, while I marked and checked various pieces of work. I was in a bit of a state when a boy handed me a 5-page piece which was almost entirely plagiarised. I read it several times, then took him outside to ask him about it. I ended up telling him to rewrite the whole thing from the start. What a shame. There had been some sort of fight (not in my classroom) and one of the girls turned up late with an icepack on her head. I didn't ask.
I was a little fed up with that class, but was more worried about year 8, who were next. My colleague waited in the corridor as they came in, presumably because I took so long to bring them in as I was sorting out the room from year 10, and they took aaages to settle. I read them three chapters, doing some ridiculous maid-from-Tom-and-Jerry voices to spice it up a bit, and then we watched the film. Their behaviour was still pretty rubbish. meh.
I went for a quick cigarette with colleagues and we speculated about the meeting we'd be having at half 3. We'd received a mysterious email from the head, which didn't detail the reason for the all-staff meeting. Several theories were passed around, and it was interesting to look back and think someone was right.
As it turned out, we had to wait 20 minutes for the "guest" to arrive, who was a bloke from the council. Their was another governor too, and with the head they proceeded to tell us that the school is, to cut a VERY long story short, going to become an academy.
Not a shock, really, as the school is quite a way away from government's 30% target for A-C grades, and it had been mentioned before. It would seem that the school is trying to keep ahead of the game, which is pretty clever, but I've got to say, I don't like the whole idea of academies: I've yet to see one, other than the original, that has genuinely succeeded, but the government still insists on throwing them around everywhere. Anyway, maybe I just don't know enough about it. Maybe I'm just tired. Probably that one.
Anyway, one of the reasons I came back to the house late was because we had a special meeting after school. All the staff were invited to go, including admin and other non-teaching staff, and the head had not given away any reason. Mysterious. I will explain the reason later, but suffice to say there was speculation floating around the department as to the exact nature of the secret meeting.
Last night I couldn't sleep. In fact, it was the worst night's sleep I'd had since the start of term. I was thinking through all the lessons I'd be having today (4) and what to do about them. I also couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I was being observed by someone from London Challenge with my year 11s.
Anyway, I overslept but managed to get on a bus and get in by 8.15 which wasn't too bad, and had first lesson off to sort myself out. The nerves were beginning to get to me, which I hate! Year 11 came, and I'd set up the lesson, which plenty of AFL (or so I thought) and a bit of Lilac-inspired active learning. Of course, that didn't really work out, but the guys got into their groups and I explained what was going to happen. As the inspector/observer guy turned up I started watching the groups perform one at a time. The first boys were actually great. They really got into it, and I'll be sure to give them some good marks tomorrow when I get around to sorting out the scores. The observer gave me feedback, which was constructive and mostly positive, so I was quite pleased.
After break I had year 9, and I was a little worried, although I'd planned to just do a quick starter and then watch the film. Behaviour was... interesting. The boys (and it is always the boys) took ages to settle down, although I eventually got the film on which I didn't finish, and I had to pause it at one point to yell at a couple of boys whom I kept behind to tell off. I also confiscated a bag, a can of Charlie Pink spray and a mobile phone. Meh.
Then after lunch was year 10. I basically set them the coursework to do, and let them get on with it, while I marked and checked various pieces of work. I was in a bit of a state when a boy handed me a 5-page piece which was almost entirely plagiarised. I read it several times, then took him outside to ask him about it. I ended up telling him to rewrite the whole thing from the start. What a shame. There had been some sort of fight (not in my classroom) and one of the girls turned up late with an icepack on her head. I didn't ask.
I was a little fed up with that class, but was more worried about year 8, who were next. My colleague waited in the corridor as they came in, presumably because I took so long to bring them in as I was sorting out the room from year 10, and they took aaages to settle. I read them three chapters, doing some ridiculous maid-from-Tom-and-Jerry voices to spice it up a bit, and then we watched the film. Their behaviour was still pretty rubbish. meh.
I went for a quick cigarette with colleagues and we speculated about the meeting we'd be having at half 3. We'd received a mysterious email from the head, which didn't detail the reason for the all-staff meeting. Several theories were passed around, and it was interesting to look back and think someone was right.
As it turned out, we had to wait 20 minutes for the "guest" to arrive, who was a bloke from the council. Their was another governor too, and with the head they proceeded to tell us that the school is, to cut a VERY long story short, going to become an academy.
Not a shock, really, as the school is quite a way away from government's 30% target for A-C grades, and it had been mentioned before. It would seem that the school is trying to keep ahead of the game, which is pretty clever, but I've got to say, I don't like the whole idea of academies: I've yet to see one, other than the original, that has genuinely succeeded, but the government still insists on throwing them around everywhere. Anyway, maybe I just don't know enough about it. Maybe I'm just tired. Probably that one.
Monday 19 October 2009
Day 31: 4 days to half term
Monday morning. Once again I ignored my alarm clock for far longer than was sensible, and skulked into work.
Morning briefing, and I still had to print off my stuff for first period. Whoops. I got it all sorted out, and went up to meet year 7. The little darlings. We did a bit of "assessment for learning" whereby I showed them a piece of writing, they analysed it, graded it, and talked about what could be improved. It's impressive to see year 7s grasping concepts that year 9 have difficulty with. I told them that they would be writing a written assessment themselves next lesson and let them plan what they were going to say.
I was then free until year 11 last period. I spent the day preparing their lesson (another speaking and listening task, as they weren't great at the last one) and sorting out other such fun things. I also finally marked the media coursework from the two boys who had stayed after school (one got an E, the other a low D.)
I had my meeting with my mentor in period 4, and was relieved to hear that the advice I had given the year 10s re: finishing their coursework over half term wasn't bad. We also talked at length about Cheryl Cole's performance on X Factor, and eventually the bell went for last period.
Year 11 were somewhat irritating. I set them up in groups for a speaking and listening task based on Carol Ann Duffy's poem Stealing, and hopefully it'll work tomorrow. I'll have to make sure they all speak enough that I can mark them; haven't really worked out how I'll be able to mark them if they're doing it all at once. Anyway, their behaviour was pretty crap. Last lesson is always tricky, especially with this group, and K was being infuriating. I moved him for constantly talking and he was so so insolent to me, eventually running out the door when the bell went. I can't be bothered to detail the crap he was pulling all lesson, but he was being a little bugger and I just couldn't be bothered with him.
I was relieved when the day finished, but now I have only 4 days left - thank god - till half term. HURRAH.
One nice thing that happened was these girls from my year 10 group came to ask me about the coursework - my colleague, who had taught them the year before, asked them if I was good and they were polite enough to say so. How embarrassing. It was sweet though.
Morning briefing, and I still had to print off my stuff for first period. Whoops. I got it all sorted out, and went up to meet year 7. The little darlings. We did a bit of "assessment for learning" whereby I showed them a piece of writing, they analysed it, graded it, and talked about what could be improved. It's impressive to see year 7s grasping concepts that year 9 have difficulty with. I told them that they would be writing a written assessment themselves next lesson and let them plan what they were going to say.
I was then free until year 11 last period. I spent the day preparing their lesson (another speaking and listening task, as they weren't great at the last one) and sorting out other such fun things. I also finally marked the media coursework from the two boys who had stayed after school (one got an E, the other a low D.)
I had my meeting with my mentor in period 4, and was relieved to hear that the advice I had given the year 10s re: finishing their coursework over half term wasn't bad. We also talked at length about Cheryl Cole's performance on X Factor, and eventually the bell went for last period.
Year 11 were somewhat irritating. I set them up in groups for a speaking and listening task based on Carol Ann Duffy's poem Stealing, and hopefully it'll work tomorrow. I'll have to make sure they all speak enough that I can mark them; haven't really worked out how I'll be able to mark them if they're doing it all at once. Anyway, their behaviour was pretty crap. Last lesson is always tricky, especially with this group, and K was being infuriating. I moved him for constantly talking and he was so so insolent to me, eventually running out the door when the bell went. I can't be bothered to detail the crap he was pulling all lesson, but he was being a little bugger and I just couldn't be bothered with him.
I was relieved when the day finished, but now I have only 4 days left - thank god - till half term. HURRAH.
One nice thing that happened was these girls from my year 10 group came to ask me about the coursework - my colleague, who had taught them the year before, asked them if I was good and they were polite enough to say so. How embarrassing. It was sweet though.
Saturday 17 October 2009
Day 30: Is this school called St Crock of Shit?
Friday morning started with panic: I had been put down for cover, the reason being "inset". Having had Wednesday off for training I was somewhat perplexed to see I was supposed to be somewhere else, presumably with my HoD who was away for the day. After some frantic questioning of colleagues, texting HoDs and running to speak to the lord of cover, I found out it was a simple mistake. Phew.
After all that excitement I had first lesson off to prepare for my year 10s. I luckily spoke to my colleague who also teaches top set and was talking about research she had set her top students. She sent me the powerpoint and I was relieved that there was something I could give to the kids who were desperate to do as well as possible. I felt guilty when I found out that most of my colleagues who had year 10s had completed their coursework; it would seem the fact that I'd told my guys they could redraft over half term was a big mistake. I'll have to see how well they do this week.
So period 2 rolled around and Year 10 turned up. I'm actually really beginning to like this group. We went through the powerpoint, I'd printed them off a copy so they could take notes if they wanted, and I told them about the sort of things they needed to research and discuss if they wanted to aim for A*. The majority of the kids really got into it, and we had a great discussion about whether or not Juliet was as innocent as we thought she was. I hope I haven't confused them, but some of them were coming out with some great stuff. I actually said to one of the boys, who was being particularly sharp, "I *love* you today - you're so on the ball!" which didn't embarrass him too much. I managed to make a pigs ear of the actual writing part of the lesson, but as I handed out essay plans to them all a lot were planning on writing it over the weekend. I think we'll definitely have some good work. I waved them off at breaktime and started preparing my classroom for year 7, as they would be reading out their little speeched they'd written about an exciting time in their lives. As I was pulling the chairs into a circle, one of the year 10s stayed behind to ask me for help with her essay. I think I gave a few answers away as I realised she was basically asking me what to write so I told her, although I deflected a few questions with "Well, what do you think?"
A couple of my year 7s turned up early and eagerly volunteered to help set up the room, which I was grateful for. Year 10 girl skipped off with a paper full of notes and the year 7s filed in excitedly; there's nothing like a change of furniture arrangements to thrill a year 7 child! We started with a warm up: they had to swap seats with others with "E" in their names etc. I managed to make this last longer than it should have done (I took time to explain the homework before we started so I wouldn't forget at the end) and I ended up having them stand in the middle and "pretend to be a tree!", "pretend to be a blizzard!" That's always fun.
We finally got to the speeches, although they all just read their books out, which wasn't the idea, but I suppose that was my fault for not modelling and also not really asking them to practice. Oops. A couple of the girls got a bit giggly and I sent one out for laughing when the sweet Polish boy was struggling through his speech about setting fire to a tree. I think she was laughing at something else but I was really annoyed with her and told her off in the corridor. She was up next to read out which was a bit of a shame as I knocked her off kilter a bit, but she did alright. I got a bit bored with the speeches, to be honest, but they were over eventually and we spent the last 10 minutes rearranging the furniture. There was a particularly wide aisle left on one side of the room so a couple of them told me to "do a catwalk" which I did, stopping every few steps to pose. I'm such a show off. The bell went and they went off to lunch. I was finished for the day.
I spent the rest of the afternoon smoking and sorting out paperwork. I was also thinking through what to do with my year 11s speaking and listening. A couple of the kids were so bad at it that I don't want to set that as their marks, so my colleague suggested I spend the last week of half term redoing it with them. I think I will. It doesn't have to be related to the text either, so I'll make something fun up they can do.
After the day finished I was excited to be going to the pub, but I was the only one. My colleague and I got there to find a couple of others, but there was no ritual (my colleague went straight home) and everyone left after one drink. I was pretty gutted, to be honest, so went straight home and was there by 5: the earliest yet.
Luckily when I got home my housemate was there and we had soup, pizza, icecream, wine, and watching movies for the evening. It was a pretty good end to the penultimate week of half term; I can't wait for next Friday.
As I was lying in bed Saturday morning I had an epiphany about smoking. Mainly, the cost. I don't really care too much about the health aspects, what with being sport-free at present, but I realised that if I smoke about 10-15 a day, that's 3-4 packs a week. Which, at £5 a pack, is at least £20 a week. If I plan on getting myself the present I want in March, which is a sizeable investment, I don't see how I can justify spending what I do on fags and booze. I am definitely going to quit at Christmas, if not before (she says before going down for another) because, frankly, what a rip off!
After all that excitement I had first lesson off to prepare for my year 10s. I luckily spoke to my colleague who also teaches top set and was talking about research she had set her top students. She sent me the powerpoint and I was relieved that there was something I could give to the kids who were desperate to do as well as possible. I felt guilty when I found out that most of my colleagues who had year 10s had completed their coursework; it would seem the fact that I'd told my guys they could redraft over half term was a big mistake. I'll have to see how well they do this week.
So period 2 rolled around and Year 10 turned up. I'm actually really beginning to like this group. We went through the powerpoint, I'd printed them off a copy so they could take notes if they wanted, and I told them about the sort of things they needed to research and discuss if they wanted to aim for A*. The majority of the kids really got into it, and we had a great discussion about whether or not Juliet was as innocent as we thought she was. I hope I haven't confused them, but some of them were coming out with some great stuff. I actually said to one of the boys, who was being particularly sharp, "I *love* you today - you're so on the ball!" which didn't embarrass him too much. I managed to make a pigs ear of the actual writing part of the lesson, but as I handed out essay plans to them all a lot were planning on writing it over the weekend. I think we'll definitely have some good work. I waved them off at breaktime and started preparing my classroom for year 7, as they would be reading out their little speeched they'd written about an exciting time in their lives. As I was pulling the chairs into a circle, one of the year 10s stayed behind to ask me for help with her essay. I think I gave a few answers away as I realised she was basically asking me what to write so I told her, although I deflected a few questions with "Well, what do you think?"
A couple of my year 7s turned up early and eagerly volunteered to help set up the room, which I was grateful for. Year 10 girl skipped off with a paper full of notes and the year 7s filed in excitedly; there's nothing like a change of furniture arrangements to thrill a year 7 child! We started with a warm up: they had to swap seats with others with "E" in their names etc. I managed to make this last longer than it should have done (I took time to explain the homework before we started so I wouldn't forget at the end) and I ended up having them stand in the middle and "pretend to be a tree!", "pretend to be a blizzard!" That's always fun.
We finally got to the speeches, although they all just read their books out, which wasn't the idea, but I suppose that was my fault for not modelling and also not really asking them to practice. Oops. A couple of the girls got a bit giggly and I sent one out for laughing when the sweet Polish boy was struggling through his speech about setting fire to a tree. I think she was laughing at something else but I was really annoyed with her and told her off in the corridor. She was up next to read out which was a bit of a shame as I knocked her off kilter a bit, but she did alright. I got a bit bored with the speeches, to be honest, but they were over eventually and we spent the last 10 minutes rearranging the furniture. There was a particularly wide aisle left on one side of the room so a couple of them told me to "do a catwalk" which I did, stopping every few steps to pose. I'm such a show off. The bell went and they went off to lunch. I was finished for the day.
I spent the rest of the afternoon smoking and sorting out paperwork. I was also thinking through what to do with my year 11s speaking and listening. A couple of the kids were so bad at it that I don't want to set that as their marks, so my colleague suggested I spend the last week of half term redoing it with them. I think I will. It doesn't have to be related to the text either, so I'll make something fun up they can do.
After the day finished I was excited to be going to the pub, but I was the only one. My colleague and I got there to find a couple of others, but there was no ritual (my colleague went straight home) and everyone left after one drink. I was pretty gutted, to be honest, so went straight home and was there by 5: the earliest yet.
Luckily when I got home my housemate was there and we had soup, pizza, icecream, wine, and watching movies for the evening. It was a pretty good end to the penultimate week of half term; I can't wait for next Friday.
As I was lying in bed Saturday morning I had an epiphany about smoking. Mainly, the cost. I don't really care too much about the health aspects, what with being sport-free at present, but I realised that if I smoke about 10-15 a day, that's 3-4 packs a week. Which, at £5 a pack, is at least £20 a week. If I plan on getting myself the present I want in March, which is a sizeable investment, I don't see how I can justify spending what I do on fags and booze. I am definitely going to quit at Christmas, if not before (she says before going down for another) because, frankly, what a rip off!
Thursday 15 October 2009
Day 29: I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way...
Kids, eh? Gotta love 'em. I guess that's what this is all about, in the end. The kids. I'll put away my book of cliches and talk about the day.
After yesterday's training which left me cold, for a reason I can't quite fathom, I sloped into school feeling rough and miserable. I felt so tired and blue that I mumbled something non-coherant to all my smoking colleagues aroung The Bin. I realised what it was that was stressing me so: other than the amazing amoung of reading I'm supposed to be doing for my training, I am also supposed to make sure my year 10s have their coursework completed by next week. Not going to happen. Turns out yesterday the cover teacher couldn't find the essay plans I'd left out for them and so most of them did nothing in the lesson. Argh! I was assured by a colleague that lots of people won't get all the work in and I wasn't the only one feeling like that, which made me feel much better. She cheered me up more still by blaring out some X-Factor music during her tutor time and I strutted down the corridor feeling suddenly much better.
I have the first two periods off on a Thursday week 2, so spent them photocopying resources for my year 10s and sorting out my room, and questioning all of my colleagues of the difference between "understanding" and "insight" in relation to GCSE specifications. When period 3 finally arrived I set up the room and welcomed in the year 10s. I apologised to them all for yesterday's debacle, and assured them that we could take longer to do the coursework if needed. Frankly, my inexperience and poor planning shouldn't mean they need to suffer for not meeting the deadline. I just hope my HoD agrees with that sentiment. I bumbled for a bit, as I do, then set them the task: grading three exemplar essays. I photocopied an example of a B and an A* grade to show them. They responded pretty well to the task, and most were able to grade them accurately. Which was good! They were all laughing at the poor quality of the G graded paper (it was pretty tragic) so I took a few minutes to lecture them on being understanding on how difficult some kids find English. Soapbox diatribe over, I assured them we'd be getting to the coursework writing up tomorrow. They seem pretty keen.
I had a free then year 9. I had my colleague in with me, and I'd forgotten that I'd promised the kids we'd watch the movie this afternoon, so they all moaned and bitched. I tried to ignore it, but some of them were being so vile that my colleague took them out to his room to teach them separately. I think they actually enjoyed the attention, which makes me feel a bit crappy, but I appreciate that my lessons are so formulaic because I haven't broken out of the routine yet. I need to work in that active learning somewhere! I had a full house today, A was being a little bit of a shit, although I've decided to take the nice approach with him, as he doesn't respond to confrontation. Maybe this is a mistake, but I want to keep him onside. The TA came up to tell me she'd be meeting with the SENCO to discuss my group: there are too many kids with too many problems - two non-English speakers, four statements and a whole host of problematic behaviour - for me or her to cope with. I need to differentiate better, although I'm getting in the habit now of printing off extra stuff for one of the kids.
Anyway, the lesson ended and after a cigarette we had an "active learning Shakespeare" workshop which was really interesting, and I hope I can use some of the ideas (props!) in my future lessons.
I stayed till 6 and marked some year 7 assessments, then took home my year 10's folders to mark; I assured them I would have it done by tomorrow but it's half 11 now and I've only done 5 of the blasted things.
Oh well, I'll sleep when I'm dead. Thank god it's Friday tomorrow.
After yesterday's training which left me cold, for a reason I can't quite fathom, I sloped into school feeling rough and miserable. I felt so tired and blue that I mumbled something non-coherant to all my smoking colleagues aroung The Bin. I realised what it was that was stressing me so: other than the amazing amoung of reading I'm supposed to be doing for my training, I am also supposed to make sure my year 10s have their coursework completed by next week. Not going to happen. Turns out yesterday the cover teacher couldn't find the essay plans I'd left out for them and so most of them did nothing in the lesson. Argh! I was assured by a colleague that lots of people won't get all the work in and I wasn't the only one feeling like that, which made me feel much better. She cheered me up more still by blaring out some X-Factor music during her tutor time and I strutted down the corridor feeling suddenly much better.
I have the first two periods off on a Thursday week 2, so spent them photocopying resources for my year 10s and sorting out my room, and questioning all of my colleagues of the difference between "understanding" and "insight" in relation to GCSE specifications. When period 3 finally arrived I set up the room and welcomed in the year 10s. I apologised to them all for yesterday's debacle, and assured them that we could take longer to do the coursework if needed. Frankly, my inexperience and poor planning shouldn't mean they need to suffer for not meeting the deadline. I just hope my HoD agrees with that sentiment. I bumbled for a bit, as I do, then set them the task: grading three exemplar essays. I photocopied an example of a B and an A* grade to show them. They responded pretty well to the task, and most were able to grade them accurately. Which was good! They were all laughing at the poor quality of the G graded paper (it was pretty tragic) so I took a few minutes to lecture them on being understanding on how difficult some kids find English. Soapbox diatribe over, I assured them we'd be getting to the coursework writing up tomorrow. They seem pretty keen.
I had a free then year 9. I had my colleague in with me, and I'd forgotten that I'd promised the kids we'd watch the movie this afternoon, so they all moaned and bitched. I tried to ignore it, but some of them were being so vile that my colleague took them out to his room to teach them separately. I think they actually enjoyed the attention, which makes me feel a bit crappy, but I appreciate that my lessons are so formulaic because I haven't broken out of the routine yet. I need to work in that active learning somewhere! I had a full house today, A was being a little bit of a shit, although I've decided to take the nice approach with him, as he doesn't respond to confrontation. Maybe this is a mistake, but I want to keep him onside. The TA came up to tell me she'd be meeting with the SENCO to discuss my group: there are too many kids with too many problems - two non-English speakers, four statements and a whole host of problematic behaviour - for me or her to cope with. I need to differentiate better, although I'm getting in the habit now of printing off extra stuff for one of the kids.
Anyway, the lesson ended and after a cigarette we had an "active learning Shakespeare" workshop which was really interesting, and I hope I can use some of the ideas (props!) in my future lessons.
I stayed till 6 and marked some year 7 assessments, then took home my year 10's folders to mark; I assured them I would have it done by tomorrow but it's half 11 now and I've only done 5 of the blasted things.
Oh well, I'll sleep when I'm dead. Thank god it's Friday tomorrow.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Day 28: Training Day
I spent today in Birkbeck College learning about 'assessment, planning and assignments' and sinking in to a ever deepening pit of despair about the Teachy Firsty aspects of what I'm doing. I'm at home now watching Friends and avoiding prep for tomorrow. I feel like I'm going to cry.
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Day 27: No reason to get excited
I'm not really in the mood to write this tonight; I'm knackered and had a particularly long day. Or so it felt.
The day started with year 7. Love them. LOVE THEM. Apart from my naughty little one who appears to be skiving my lessons. Hmmmm. I did some crappy "teaching" of speaking and listening skills, and asked them to write a little speech, or begin it at least, on a topic like 'The time I was most afraid'. They were as pleasant as always, and I can honestly say that I actually enjoy teaching them.
Next up was a free, which was spent sorting out various things for upcoming lessons. I was pretty nervous about my year 11s, I hadn't really planned what to do, all I knew was that they were going to perform their Jeremy Kyle speaking and listening task.
Breaktime came and went, and I went off to meet year 11. G, one of the boys who stayed behind to do his media coursework, and who I keep seeing at the busstop, turned up first and helped me rearrange the chairs and tables to imitate a chat show. There was that excited feeling when all the boys came in (again, no girl) to see the place laid out differently and I gave them their instructions. We were going to run through the performance once, then do it again. I had assigned parts for all of the boys but two (including H) took exception to being assigned a girl's part. One of them looked most upset, but I decided that as someone had to do it, it might as well have been him. When it came to the run through, he refused to answer any of "Jeremy Kyle"'s questions - probably because he didn't know the play well enough - so I stepped in as Sheila. The run through was fun, although I was a little disappointed that the audience members just read out questions without listening to what was being said or even whether their question had already been asked. Infuriatingly, I don't think I can mark some of them as a result. Anyway, it went quite well; they got into it by the end, and one of the boys wanted to throw a chair in a classic Jeremy-Kyle way, although I refused. Some of the boys were quite eloquent, which was good; I think that for the rest we'll definitely have to do something else, with more preparation, so they can get it right. When we finished, H came up to me and said "Did I do well, Miss?" I had to say, he did. He knew the play pretty well, I was pleased to say. Bless him.
Next up was lunch, and I started feeling nervous about the two groups after: year 9 then year 8. I knew that in my year 9 group I was going to have the notorious M back, as he'd been in an intervention project for the past 4 weeks or so, as well as a new pupil. As it turned out, the new kid, and in fact half the class, didn't come, so it wasn't too bad. The kids that did turn up were rather irritating, and I AGAIN didn't put my foot down enough, even though they were taking the piss. M and even A weren't too bad. U was a little shit.
Anyway, year 8 again afterwards. Not terrible, not great. For fear of repeating myself, the usual suspects were their usual selves, X was PARTICULARLY rude to me. The rest of the class are clearly getting bored with them, and so am I. It's going to be a new start next week. The lesson went mercifully quickly, and I went for a well-deserved cigarette.
I ended up staying quite late to set cover for tomorrow; I have teachy firsty training in central london; and finally put up my GCSE display, which looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I finally got home around 7, put my feet up and relaxed in front of the last season of BSG, as delivered by my darling colleague. It feels a bit weird knowing I haven't got to go to school tomorrow, but still have to be up at the same time. Either way, no planning - hurrah!
The day started with year 7. Love them. LOVE THEM. Apart from my naughty little one who appears to be skiving my lessons. Hmmmm. I did some crappy "teaching" of speaking and listening skills, and asked them to write a little speech, or begin it at least, on a topic like 'The time I was most afraid'. They were as pleasant as always, and I can honestly say that I actually enjoy teaching them.
Next up was a free, which was spent sorting out various things for upcoming lessons. I was pretty nervous about my year 11s, I hadn't really planned what to do, all I knew was that they were going to perform their Jeremy Kyle speaking and listening task.
Breaktime came and went, and I went off to meet year 11. G, one of the boys who stayed behind to do his media coursework, and who I keep seeing at the busstop, turned up first and helped me rearrange the chairs and tables to imitate a chat show. There was that excited feeling when all the boys came in (again, no girl) to see the place laid out differently and I gave them their instructions. We were going to run through the performance once, then do it again. I had assigned parts for all of the boys but two (including H) took exception to being assigned a girl's part. One of them looked most upset, but I decided that as someone had to do it, it might as well have been him. When it came to the run through, he refused to answer any of "Jeremy Kyle"'s questions - probably because he didn't know the play well enough - so I stepped in as Sheila. The run through was fun, although I was a little disappointed that the audience members just read out questions without listening to what was being said or even whether their question had already been asked. Infuriatingly, I don't think I can mark some of them as a result. Anyway, it went quite well; they got into it by the end, and one of the boys wanted to throw a chair in a classic Jeremy-Kyle way, although I refused. Some of the boys were quite eloquent, which was good; I think that for the rest we'll definitely have to do something else, with more preparation, so they can get it right. When we finished, H came up to me and said "Did I do well, Miss?" I had to say, he did. He knew the play pretty well, I was pleased to say. Bless him.
Next up was lunch, and I started feeling nervous about the two groups after: year 9 then year 8. I knew that in my year 9 group I was going to have the notorious M back, as he'd been in an intervention project for the past 4 weeks or so, as well as a new pupil. As it turned out, the new kid, and in fact half the class, didn't come, so it wasn't too bad. The kids that did turn up were rather irritating, and I AGAIN didn't put my foot down enough, even though they were taking the piss. M and even A weren't too bad. U was a little shit.
Anyway, year 8 again afterwards. Not terrible, not great. For fear of repeating myself, the usual suspects were their usual selves, X was PARTICULARLY rude to me. The rest of the class are clearly getting bored with them, and so am I. It's going to be a new start next week. The lesson went mercifully quickly, and I went for a well-deserved cigarette.
I ended up staying quite late to set cover for tomorrow; I have teachy firsty training in central london; and finally put up my GCSE display, which looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I finally got home around 7, put my feet up and relaxed in front of the last season of BSG, as delivered by my darling colleague. It feels a bit weird knowing I haven't got to go to school tomorrow, but still have to be up at the same time. Either way, no planning - hurrah!
Monday 12 October 2009
Day 26: There's gotta be some way out of here...
After my very best impression of a miserable school girl being packed off to boarding school, I reluctantly got on the train and made it back to London.
I did not want to go to school today. Maybe it was my time at home? I don't know. What I do know is that I just couldn't think of anything I'd rather do less than teach some of those classes.
So I got in, earlyish, and after morning all-staff briefing set to work sorting out my first lesson: year 8. God, I hate that group at times. Luckily I'm getting to know the other kids in the group that aren't as annoying as the 6 notorious ones, and I'm getting to like them too. The lesson was ok. We used the mini whiteboards which they enjoyed, but spent too long on the start of the lesson so didn't read as much as we should have. I let the kids read for a change, which they enjoyed, and had a MASSIVE go at the kids that laughed at one boy for mispronouncing something; I hate the way they take the piss out each other. I can't get over how disrespectful some of them are to me, it's obscene the way they answer me back.
Anyway, after that lesson I had year 7, which was quite fun. The kids did an assessment after we had talked about shoplifting and I played them the oompah loompah song (we were reading Roald Dahl's Boy.) Nothing to report.
I had lunch, and took the time to mark my final assessments and get the next lesson ready. Year 9. I was concerned to be having A back in the lesson, but I knew I'd have my colleague in there to support. As it happened, the class was a bit crap. My colleague told me my behaviour management was lacking, which meant that the activity didn't work. I'm still not good at keeping them quiet, mainly because when my colleague is there I fall back on him doing it. I just can't seem to get my head round it; I don't like getting challenged by the kids when I give them a warning and I suppose I try to avoid the confrontation now, which is really bad. I will have to work on this tomorrow.
Last lesson was year 11. They were pretty restless but I split them into character roles and they were supposed to prepare their parts for the speaking and listening activity tomorrow. They're going to be pretending to be the characters from An Inspector Calls on the Jeremy Kyle Show; they were horrified at the idea of being filmed doing it. Two of the boys got lumped with the "girl" roles but someone had to do it. Hopefully it'll work, although we'll see.
So that was the day. I ran out the place for a cigarette then had to go back for Teachy Firsty training. I left after marking my three leftover year 9's assessments then came home to lovely company and the last episode of Battlestar Galactica season 3. I need to prepare for tomorrow so I'm going to do that now. Back to the grind; 9 days to go.
I did not want to go to school today. Maybe it was my time at home? I don't know. What I do know is that I just couldn't think of anything I'd rather do less than teach some of those classes.
So I got in, earlyish, and after morning all-staff briefing set to work sorting out my first lesson: year 8. God, I hate that group at times. Luckily I'm getting to know the other kids in the group that aren't as annoying as the 6 notorious ones, and I'm getting to like them too. The lesson was ok. We used the mini whiteboards which they enjoyed, but spent too long on the start of the lesson so didn't read as much as we should have. I let the kids read for a change, which they enjoyed, and had a MASSIVE go at the kids that laughed at one boy for mispronouncing something; I hate the way they take the piss out each other. I can't get over how disrespectful some of them are to me, it's obscene the way they answer me back.
Anyway, after that lesson I had year 7, which was quite fun. The kids did an assessment after we had talked about shoplifting and I played them the oompah loompah song (we were reading Roald Dahl's Boy.) Nothing to report.
I had lunch, and took the time to mark my final assessments and get the next lesson ready. Year 9. I was concerned to be having A back in the lesson, but I knew I'd have my colleague in there to support. As it happened, the class was a bit crap. My colleague told me my behaviour management was lacking, which meant that the activity didn't work. I'm still not good at keeping them quiet, mainly because when my colleague is there I fall back on him doing it. I just can't seem to get my head round it; I don't like getting challenged by the kids when I give them a warning and I suppose I try to avoid the confrontation now, which is really bad. I will have to work on this tomorrow.
Last lesson was year 11. They were pretty restless but I split them into character roles and they were supposed to prepare their parts for the speaking and listening activity tomorrow. They're going to be pretending to be the characters from An Inspector Calls on the Jeremy Kyle Show; they were horrified at the idea of being filmed doing it. Two of the boys got lumped with the "girl" roles but someone had to do it. Hopefully it'll work, although we'll see.
So that was the day. I ran out the place for a cigarette then had to go back for Teachy Firsty training. I left after marking my three leftover year 9's assessments then came home to lovely company and the last episode of Battlestar Galactica season 3. I need to prepare for tomorrow so I'm going to do that now. Back to the grind; 9 days to go.
Friday 9 October 2009
Day 25: RAPper's delight
Today we had an inset. I don't think I'm the only one who was expecting a relatively easy day, and like many of my colleagues, was shocked to discover that we would be doing quite a lot of work, actually.
For fear of boring you, dear reader, I will give a brief overview of the day's events. We began at half 8 in the theatre, where we were briefed on the reason behind the day's inset: targeting students who need extra help and encouragement in their final year of school. Basically, it's all about targets. What schools like is Cs. Tasty, tasty C grades. Any kid that looks like they could be capable of achieving one is snapped up, targeted and "converted". Or so the theory goes. I felt like I was quite safe with my kids in my year 11 group. Although two or three could, with the right support, time, and most importantly, motivation, they *might* be capable of achieving a C, for the most part the best my kids can hope for is an E.
Anyway, pep talk over, we split up into our faculties and got going on the fun pack of activities laid out for us. These ranged from making sure we know the exam rubric (that is, what coursework/exams etc go towards the GCSEs) to going over the results from last year's GCSEs (fun fact: the kids did twice as well in the exam they didn't have to revise for!) We then had to print off our class lists to see which of our kids in year 11 are on target (of mine, 3 out of 14 are on or above their target grades in their coursework) and devise fun ways to support the kids and get them on target. I've decided to redo all their speaking and listening coursework to make sure they have the best possible chance of doing well.
We broke for lunch, which was provided by the delightful catering students and food tech department; I had chili con carne and a rather dodgy "triffle". After taking a little longer than I should have for lunch, I returned to my room and started getting on with the important part of the day: all of the information was put into a "RAP" (Raising Achievement Plan) which was then passed on to the powers that be. After I completed that, I spent the last hour trying to put up a display to show off aforementioned exam rubric but was less than successful.
Eventually 3.15 rolled around and I escaped to the pub with some colleagues. On the way I came up with the following analogy for the Teach First experience:
Imagine you've entered a dance contest. You like dancing, you're pretty confident in your ability and enjoy doing it a bit in your spare time. However, you turn up to the dance contest and you're given elaborate and complicated choreography steps. Despite what you think you know about dancing, there's way too many steps to remember. You begin to panic, but decide to have a go anyway, it might be fun. You get on to the stage and start to dance. However, the audience is not just watching you politely, they are screaming and throwing missiles at you. Occasionally they pay attention, usually when you try a flashy dance move, but otherwise they turn and the abuse starts again. All the while the judges are sat at their table silently marking you.
That is how it feels.
At the pub I eventually partook in the weekly ritual and here are my week's highlights:
1. Little year 7 boy, after I made him cry, saying at the end of the lesson: "Thanks Miss, it was a fun lesson."
2. My year 10s working up until breaktime on a writing task I set them.
3. My year 11s working on a speaking and listening exercise nicely.
I also loved the blizzard my year 7 group "performed" and the girl who shouted over the top. That was really fun.
Anyway, I finally made it out of the pub, onto a train, a tube, another train and home to my parents' for what I hope will be a relaxing weekend.
For fear of boring you, dear reader, I will give a brief overview of the day's events. We began at half 8 in the theatre, where we were briefed on the reason behind the day's inset: targeting students who need extra help and encouragement in their final year of school. Basically, it's all about targets. What schools like is Cs. Tasty, tasty C grades. Any kid that looks like they could be capable of achieving one is snapped up, targeted and "converted". Or so the theory goes. I felt like I was quite safe with my kids in my year 11 group. Although two or three could, with the right support, time, and most importantly, motivation, they *might* be capable of achieving a C, for the most part the best my kids can hope for is an E.
Anyway, pep talk over, we split up into our faculties and got going on the fun pack of activities laid out for us. These ranged from making sure we know the exam rubric (that is, what coursework/exams etc go towards the GCSEs) to going over the results from last year's GCSEs (fun fact: the kids did twice as well in the exam they didn't have to revise for!) We then had to print off our class lists to see which of our kids in year 11 are on target (of mine, 3 out of 14 are on or above their target grades in their coursework) and devise fun ways to support the kids and get them on target. I've decided to redo all their speaking and listening coursework to make sure they have the best possible chance of doing well.
We broke for lunch, which was provided by the delightful catering students and food tech department; I had chili con carne and a rather dodgy "triffle". After taking a little longer than I should have for lunch, I returned to my room and started getting on with the important part of the day: all of the information was put into a "RAP" (Raising Achievement Plan) which was then passed on to the powers that be. After I completed that, I spent the last hour trying to put up a display to show off aforementioned exam rubric but was less than successful.
Eventually 3.15 rolled around and I escaped to the pub with some colleagues. On the way I came up with the following analogy for the Teach First experience:
Imagine you've entered a dance contest. You like dancing, you're pretty confident in your ability and enjoy doing it a bit in your spare time. However, you turn up to the dance contest and you're given elaborate and complicated choreography steps. Despite what you think you know about dancing, there's way too many steps to remember. You begin to panic, but decide to have a go anyway, it might be fun. You get on to the stage and start to dance. However, the audience is not just watching you politely, they are screaming and throwing missiles at you. Occasionally they pay attention, usually when you try a flashy dance move, but otherwise they turn and the abuse starts again. All the while the judges are sat at their table silently marking you.
That is how it feels.
At the pub I eventually partook in the weekly ritual and here are my week's highlights:
1. Little year 7 boy, after I made him cry, saying at the end of the lesson: "Thanks Miss, it was a fun lesson."
2. My year 10s working up until breaktime on a writing task I set them.
3. My year 11s working on a speaking and listening exercise nicely.
I also loved the blizzard my year 7 group "performed" and the girl who shouted over the top. That was really fun.
Anyway, I finally made it out of the pub, onto a train, a tube, another train and home to my parents' for what I hope will be a relaxing weekend.
Thursday 8 October 2009
Day 24: Sleepless
Not a long day today. I only had 3 lessons and was safe in the knowledge that I have no lessons to prepare for tomorrow.
Today I had Year 9, year 10 and then for last period year 7. My year 10 lesson was observed by my professional/subject tutor. I'd kind of forgotten she was coming, but figured that it's better for me to have her see me and give advice then avoid it altogether. She's also incredibly positive and encouraging which always makes me feel better.
So first things first: year 9. They were in an irritating mood, which means I'm definitely going to have to move the buggers around. Again. My star pupil turned up first and, having argued (although without resistance - they were happy to "save" her) to have her moved up at the staff meeting the night before, I was pleased to be able to tell her that, as of Monday, she would be moving up a set. She gave a little smile, which made me feel good - she's a very bright girl so it's nice to see she's being rewarded for her good work. It was amusing that during the lesson (during which we were focussing on one aspect because I thought it would be tricky "I did this in year 6 man, this is bullshit") several of the kids piped up that they wanted their assessment marks and asked if they would be moved up. I told them they'd get them next week and felt a little guilty knowing that none of them had done brilliantly well. It's a ridiculously mixed group and I still need to be differentiating what I'm doing so that they can all be engaged but it's so hard. The behaviour was infuriating (although the TA assured me they're normally much worse) and I sent out one kid because he and U were making noises, eating gum or something, passing a phone around, playing with stationary (WHY?) and generally being unpleasant throughout. The lesson wasn't interesting enough to keep their attention, so that was my fault. Must try harder, Miss Lee.
Straight after were year 10, and my tutor turned up. One of my little madames, A, asked me in a hushed tone "Who is that lady Miss?" and I said she was my colleague then laughed and said she was here to watch her specifically. I was joking, of course, but A was more than a little alarmed when my tutor took A's book to check her work (what are the chances?!) The lesson went quite well, we read the last scene and as we were running out of time I wanted to skip it but they wanted to finish it so we did, and I showed them the Romeo and Juliet scene out of Hot Fuzz, which they loved. My tutor said I should have ended the lesson there, which I should have, but instead I asked them to have a go at writing a PEE paragraph which, bless them, they did. My tutor pointed out that they are SUPER keen which is really great, and I feel like I'm getting on well with them as a group.
I spent the next hour with my tutor, was debriefed on the lesson, and she assured me that I was doing better. She also gave me some well-needed advice about lesson planning which I need to implement.
Last lesson of the day was year 7. We were reading Captain Scott's diary, and they were in high spirits but otherwise good enough. I asked them to provide sound effects, from teeth chattering to whistling wind, while we read the passage, which built to a crescendo at the end (to impersonate a blizzard!) and the girl reading had to shout over the top. It was pretty fun, although I panicked when they started stomping on the floor - the classroom below probably wasn't too impressed. We got through the passage and with the little time we had left I asked them questions, set them homework, and then introduced them to "rhyme tennis" which they enjoyed. I started with a word ("game") and then picked someone and they had to respond with a rhyme. It was pretty stupid but they got really into it which was fun.
I kept a couple behind for not doing their homework, but let them go with minimal telling off, as I couldn't be bothered. My two naughty boys were late to the lesson:
"I couldn't find my tie, Miss"
"Miss, I had to help him find his tie."
"Does it take both of you to find his tie?"
"It was in his bag Miss." (?)
I told them I'd keep them for the 7 minutes they missed, unless they earned it back, but only kept them for a few to tell them off - although any disciplining I had in mind was overshadowed by the red pen lobbed through the window that narrowly avoided my head. Nice.
I sent them on their merry way, stayed to try to get some marking done, gave up and brought it home, then didn't do it. Oh well. Inset tomorrow - and what else are insets for? In other news, I got two emails today telling me I'm to have two more students in my worst classes. Well, not in so many words. Basically we have a batch of new students and I'm getting two of them in my bottom sets. One of them is from Afghanistan. An "unaccompanied minor". Speaks no English. Should be interesting.
I'm going straight home to my parents' after work tomorrow, and I could not be happier. It'll be nice to be with people who actually like me.
Today I had Year 9, year 10 and then for last period year 7. My year 10 lesson was observed by my professional/subject tutor. I'd kind of forgotten she was coming, but figured that it's better for me to have her see me and give advice then avoid it altogether. She's also incredibly positive and encouraging which always makes me feel better.
So first things first: year 9. They were in an irritating mood, which means I'm definitely going to have to move the buggers around. Again. My star pupil turned up first and, having argued (although without resistance - they were happy to "save" her) to have her moved up at the staff meeting the night before, I was pleased to be able to tell her that, as of Monday, she would be moving up a set. She gave a little smile, which made me feel good - she's a very bright girl so it's nice to see she's being rewarded for her good work. It was amusing that during the lesson (during which we were focussing on one aspect because I thought it would be tricky "I did this in year 6 man, this is bullshit") several of the kids piped up that they wanted their assessment marks and asked if they would be moved up. I told them they'd get them next week and felt a little guilty knowing that none of them had done brilliantly well. It's a ridiculously mixed group and I still need to be differentiating what I'm doing so that they can all be engaged but it's so hard. The behaviour was infuriating (although the TA assured me they're normally much worse) and I sent out one kid because he and U were making noises, eating gum or something, passing a phone around, playing with stationary (WHY?) and generally being unpleasant throughout. The lesson wasn't interesting enough to keep their attention, so that was my fault. Must try harder, Miss Lee.
Straight after were year 10, and my tutor turned up. One of my little madames, A, asked me in a hushed tone "Who is that lady Miss?" and I said she was my colleague then laughed and said she was here to watch her specifically. I was joking, of course, but A was more than a little alarmed when my tutor took A's book to check her work (what are the chances?!) The lesson went quite well, we read the last scene and as we were running out of time I wanted to skip it but they wanted to finish it so we did, and I showed them the Romeo and Juliet scene out of Hot Fuzz, which they loved. My tutor said I should have ended the lesson there, which I should have, but instead I asked them to have a go at writing a PEE paragraph which, bless them, they did. My tutor pointed out that they are SUPER keen which is really great, and I feel like I'm getting on well with them as a group.
I spent the next hour with my tutor, was debriefed on the lesson, and she assured me that I was doing better. She also gave me some well-needed advice about lesson planning which I need to implement.
Last lesson of the day was year 7. We were reading Captain Scott's diary, and they were in high spirits but otherwise good enough. I asked them to provide sound effects, from teeth chattering to whistling wind, while we read the passage, which built to a crescendo at the end (to impersonate a blizzard!) and the girl reading had to shout over the top. It was pretty fun, although I panicked when they started stomping on the floor - the classroom below probably wasn't too impressed. We got through the passage and with the little time we had left I asked them questions, set them homework, and then introduced them to "rhyme tennis" which they enjoyed. I started with a word ("game") and then picked someone and they had to respond with a rhyme. It was pretty stupid but they got really into it which was fun.
I kept a couple behind for not doing their homework, but let them go with minimal telling off, as I couldn't be bothered. My two naughty boys were late to the lesson:
"I couldn't find my tie, Miss"
"Miss, I had to help him find his tie."
"Does it take both of you to find his tie?"
"It was in his bag Miss." (?)
I told them I'd keep them for the 7 minutes they missed, unless they earned it back, but only kept them for a few to tell them off - although any disciplining I had in mind was overshadowed by the red pen lobbed through the window that narrowly avoided my head. Nice.
I sent them on their merry way, stayed to try to get some marking done, gave up and brought it home, then didn't do it. Oh well. Inset tomorrow - and what else are insets for? In other news, I got two emails today telling me I'm to have two more students in my worst classes. Well, not in so many words. Basically we have a batch of new students and I'm getting two of them in my bottom sets. One of them is from Afghanistan. An "unaccompanied minor". Speaks no English. Should be interesting.
I'm going straight home to my parents' after work tomorrow, and I could not be happier. It'll be nice to be with people who actually like me.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Day 23: Snowed Under
Today I've come to the realisation that I am disorganised. Seriously so. My desk is covered in a pile of paperwork, my folders are a mess, and my journal is way behind. I am stressed.
So what am I doing about it? Well, not a lot actually. Something's got to give, and I have a feeling this blog might be the first thing to go, which would be a shame. I need to take some serious time out this weekend to get myself organised.
I still have to prepare my lesson for tomorrow, so I'll breeze through the day:
Lesson 1: Year 9. Was a little stressful as the computers went down in the morning and I hadn't printed off my worksheets the night before. Luckily I had enough time to sort it, and the lesson was ok. We went off on a tangent about slave ships and slavery, and it was interesting to hear how little some of the kids know about it. "How much did they get paid?" "Why didn't they just run away?" "Where did they poo?" (re: transport ships)
Lesson 2 was year 11. They were also ok, we completed the character sheets that I hadn't gotten around to in the last lesson, and watched the end of the play, and managed to try a speaking and listening activity. The boys seemed to do it pretty well, which was nice to see. I'll be doing an assessed one with them next week, so it was good to see them getting into it.
I was then free until last lesson, and busied myself preparing that lesson and trying to mark my year 9 assessments. They day went quickly, and the year 10 lesson was ok. Some of the kids are still not really getting what we're doing, which is frustrating, and I stayed behind with a couple to help them out. One of them said "I really want an A*" which was nice to hear, although I'm worried I may have encouraged them to the point that they'll be really disappointed if they don't get it.
After that we had a departmental meeting, during which we moderated the year 9 assessments. I hadn't managed to mark all of mine, but was pleased as punch that my star pupil in my year 9 group is being moved up. She deserves to be saved from my "shit group" (as someone called it. Ouch.)
I tried to plan for tomorrow but it was late, I was tired, and I decided to have a go at home. I'm not convinced that my year 9 lesson will be much good but I'll have a go at it anyway and we'll see. I just hope I can get through the rest of the paperwork.
So what am I doing about it? Well, not a lot actually. Something's got to give, and I have a feeling this blog might be the first thing to go, which would be a shame. I need to take some serious time out this weekend to get myself organised.
I still have to prepare my lesson for tomorrow, so I'll breeze through the day:
Lesson 1: Year 9. Was a little stressful as the computers went down in the morning and I hadn't printed off my worksheets the night before. Luckily I had enough time to sort it, and the lesson was ok. We went off on a tangent about slave ships and slavery, and it was interesting to hear how little some of the kids know about it. "How much did they get paid?" "Why didn't they just run away?" "Where did they poo?" (re: transport ships)
Lesson 2 was year 11. They were also ok, we completed the character sheets that I hadn't gotten around to in the last lesson, and watched the end of the play, and managed to try a speaking and listening activity. The boys seemed to do it pretty well, which was nice to see. I'll be doing an assessed one with them next week, so it was good to see them getting into it.
I was then free until last lesson, and busied myself preparing that lesson and trying to mark my year 9 assessments. They day went quickly, and the year 10 lesson was ok. Some of the kids are still not really getting what we're doing, which is frustrating, and I stayed behind with a couple to help them out. One of them said "I really want an A*" which was nice to hear, although I'm worried I may have encouraged them to the point that they'll be really disappointed if they don't get it.
After that we had a departmental meeting, during which we moderated the year 9 assessments. I hadn't managed to mark all of mine, but was pleased as punch that my star pupil in my year 9 group is being moved up. She deserves to be saved from my "shit group" (as someone called it. Ouch.)
I tried to plan for tomorrow but it was late, I was tired, and I decided to have a go at home. I'm not convinced that my year 9 lesson will be much good but I'll have a go at it anyway and we'll see. I just hope I can get through the rest of the paperwork.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Day 22: Feelin' Blue
Let's just say the day did not get off to a flying start. I walked in to school in the rain, and was delighted that it only took about 25 minutes door to door. When I got there I decided to quickly watch and mark the speaking and listening DVD we had been given in preparation for the staff training today, and sat with a couple of colleagues to do so. Unfortunately, in the process of which I managed to offend my colleague (by making fun of the kids on the video) and was given a severe telling off. I felt about 2 inches tall. Not a good way to start.
I made it down to the conference room for the training and sulked (and coughed) for the first hour or so. We were given a break and I ran upstairs to check up on my year 11 class (all 4 of my classes today were being covered) and luckily the two students who owe me coursework were there and I was able to tell them they have to come in on Friday to finish it. My colleague stopped me on the way as we were walking up to the department and we talked briefly about the telling off. It was resolved, in a way, and I went about my business then skipped back to the training. Which was looooooong.
We went through our marks for the examples and any that had discrepancies we were discussing. We weren't far off on most of them, when we came to compare our agreed marks with the examiners', but we were definitely too lenient with the lower grades. This is a bit of an issue for me, as my group's marks so far are incredibly low as it is. I didn't realise until today that speaking and listening is worth the same amount as coursework, so I feel pretty bad for my group that their marks are SO bad. I was going to try to squeeze another speaking and listening piece out of them tomorrow but it might be a bit ambitious without serious prior planning.
At the end of a very long day I went back up to the department and called in to my year 8 group in the last 5 minutes. They were all working pretty hard when I got there, and excited to show me how much work they'd done, apart from my group of idiots. Again. I kept behind the ones whose names I had been given and made them stay for 20 minutes to finish the work whilst telling them off. I must remember to email their tutors tomorrow.
After work I got an email through telling me that A, who I had spoken to yesterday, has been excluded for 3 days for disruptive behaviour. Oh dear.
I ended up staying till half 5 to plan for tomorrow; I'm not convinced by what I've sorted out, least of all for the year 10s, but I have time tomorrow to sort that. Although I still need to mark their APP work. BAH!
In other news, I feel proper rough now. Some more Battlestar Galactica then bed, methinks.
I made it down to the conference room for the training and sulked (and coughed) for the first hour or so. We were given a break and I ran upstairs to check up on my year 11 class (all 4 of my classes today were being covered) and luckily the two students who owe me coursework were there and I was able to tell them they have to come in on Friday to finish it. My colleague stopped me on the way as we were walking up to the department and we talked briefly about the telling off. It was resolved, in a way, and I went about my business then skipped back to the training. Which was looooooong.
We went through our marks for the examples and any that had discrepancies we were discussing. We weren't far off on most of them, when we came to compare our agreed marks with the examiners', but we were definitely too lenient with the lower grades. This is a bit of an issue for me, as my group's marks so far are incredibly low as it is. I didn't realise until today that speaking and listening is worth the same amount as coursework, so I feel pretty bad for my group that their marks are SO bad. I was going to try to squeeze another speaking and listening piece out of them tomorrow but it might be a bit ambitious without serious prior planning.
At the end of a very long day I went back up to the department and called in to my year 8 group in the last 5 minutes. They were all working pretty hard when I got there, and excited to show me how much work they'd done, apart from my group of idiots. Again. I kept behind the ones whose names I had been given and made them stay for 20 minutes to finish the work whilst telling them off. I must remember to email their tutors tomorrow.
After work I got an email through telling me that A, who I had spoken to yesterday, has been excluded for 3 days for disruptive behaviour. Oh dear.
I ended up staying till half 5 to plan for tomorrow; I'm not convinced by what I've sorted out, least of all for the year 10s, but I have time tomorrow to sort that. Although I still need to mark their APP work. BAH!
In other news, I feel proper rough now. Some more Battlestar Galactica then bed, methinks.
Monday 5 October 2009
Day 21: Getting Ill
As I write this I am beginning to feel impending illness, in the tingle at the back of my throat, the weight of my chest, and the less-than-attractive hacking cough. In short, I feel run down. Unfortunately, I no longer have the sort of job where I can just call in sick and know that someone else can cover for me; if I don't do the work, the kids will fall behind and it will be my fault. As it happens, we have training tomorrow in the department for speaking and listening marking, so I won't actually have to teach, but I still need to do it. I think the best thing to do is go to bed, so I will quickly write this then retire to bed.
Ah, Monday Monday Monday. It took me a full 45 minutes to get out of bed this morning, and I managed to make it in a little after 8. First lesson was year 7, and I hadn't really prepared more than the basic lesson plan from the scheme. It went ok, except that one kid turned up late and I, wanting to make an example of him, told him to wait outside. When I did he presented me with a note and burst in to tears. The note was from a colleague, stating that the pupil was having trouble adjusting to secondary school and could I excuse him for being late. I felt pretty bad at this point, so gave his arm a comforting pat and told him to wait outside until he was ready to come in. We were reading Captain Scott's extract, then the kids had to write a piece to make their reader feel hot - so I played them "Feeling Hot Hot Hot". Four times in a row. Ha. (I would have chosen a different song but one of the kids had a badly cut hand and couldn't write so I let him tap away on my PC.) As I sent them off to break, I checked on the sad kid to see how he was - he said "Thanks Miss, it was a fun lesson." Bless.
I was free then until last lesson, so busied myself sorting out random crap, planning my last lesson (what a bust) and trying to mark my year 9 assessments. I have to fill out an APP form for each one, and it's rather tedious to say the least. I got through only about three before I gave up; I have until Wednesday to do them.
Finally, it was time for year 11. The lesson was disastrous, although only because I decided to show them the video, which I then couldn't find, so showed them a different one, but played them the bit we'd already seen, so didn't finish it. Bah!
They were in a bit of a stupid mood anyway. Oh well. I need to plan a really good next lesson for them.
After they left, I went to collect my HoD and we went down to meet A and his Mum. I was pretty nervous about this; it would be the first time I'd meet a parent in this context. We eventually found a meeting room and the four of us sat down. Luckily my HoD did most of the talking, basically telling A's mum that he won't be allowed back into English until his behaviour improves. I chipped in every so often, but felt mortified when his mother, in somewhat broken English, talked about him having a problem with his "English Teacher" and asked me if I was new. Oh well. I asked him if he found the work too difficult; apparently he did. He also volunteered that he misbehaves because the other children provoke him - as if I needed any other reason to differentiate and make the work extra engaging for this particular group. I know that they're going to need a lot more work than I currently put in.
I offered to him the chance to see me after school if he has a problem with anything and told his mother I would call her after every lesson to let her know how he is doing. My class with him is being covered tomorrow so I don't know how that'll go.
After the meeting, which ended with handshakes all round, I had a TF meeting with one of the SLT on "engaging parents" or something, which was quite interesting. Then I went upstairs to sort my cover out for tomorrow. My colleague told me off, again, for using the printer in the office for printing a class worth's of worksheets (I was being selfish: that makes the toner run out - it's only for individual things) and I felt like a naughty child and sulked for a bit. I eventually made it home to a warm flat and tasty food. And so I think it's time for bed.
Ah, Monday Monday Monday. It took me a full 45 minutes to get out of bed this morning, and I managed to make it in a little after 8. First lesson was year 7, and I hadn't really prepared more than the basic lesson plan from the scheme. It went ok, except that one kid turned up late and I, wanting to make an example of him, told him to wait outside. When I did he presented me with a note and burst in to tears. The note was from a colleague, stating that the pupil was having trouble adjusting to secondary school and could I excuse him for being late. I felt pretty bad at this point, so gave his arm a comforting pat and told him to wait outside until he was ready to come in. We were reading Captain Scott's extract, then the kids had to write a piece to make their reader feel hot - so I played them "Feeling Hot Hot Hot". Four times in a row. Ha. (I would have chosen a different song but one of the kids had a badly cut hand and couldn't write so I let him tap away on my PC.) As I sent them off to break, I checked on the sad kid to see how he was - he said "Thanks Miss, it was a fun lesson." Bless.
I was free then until last lesson, so busied myself sorting out random crap, planning my last lesson (what a bust) and trying to mark my year 9 assessments. I have to fill out an APP form for each one, and it's rather tedious to say the least. I got through only about three before I gave up; I have until Wednesday to do them.
Finally, it was time for year 11. The lesson was disastrous, although only because I decided to show them the video, which I then couldn't find, so showed them a different one, but played them the bit we'd already seen, so didn't finish it. Bah!
They were in a bit of a stupid mood anyway. Oh well. I need to plan a really good next lesson for them.
After they left, I went to collect my HoD and we went down to meet A and his Mum. I was pretty nervous about this; it would be the first time I'd meet a parent in this context. We eventually found a meeting room and the four of us sat down. Luckily my HoD did most of the talking, basically telling A's mum that he won't be allowed back into English until his behaviour improves. I chipped in every so often, but felt mortified when his mother, in somewhat broken English, talked about him having a problem with his "English Teacher" and asked me if I was new. Oh well. I asked him if he found the work too difficult; apparently he did. He also volunteered that he misbehaves because the other children provoke him - as if I needed any other reason to differentiate and make the work extra engaging for this particular group. I know that they're going to need a lot more work than I currently put in.
I offered to him the chance to see me after school if he has a problem with anything and told his mother I would call her after every lesson to let her know how he is doing. My class with him is being covered tomorrow so I don't know how that'll go.
After the meeting, which ended with handshakes all round, I had a TF meeting with one of the SLT on "engaging parents" or something, which was quite interesting. Then I went upstairs to sort my cover out for tomorrow. My colleague told me off, again, for using the printer in the office for printing a class worth's of worksheets (I was being selfish: that makes the toner run out - it's only for individual things) and I felt like a naughty child and sulked for a bit. I eventually made it home to a warm flat and tasty food. And so I think it's time for bed.
Saturday 3 October 2009
Day 20: Has it really been four weeks?
This is the longest I've taken to write up a daily blog, which may be an indication of things to come. I'll put that to one side for now, and talk about how Friday went.
I can't believe I've been teaching for four weeks already; on Monday it will be exactly a month since the start of term. I'd like to say I've learnt a lot, it's been an emotional journey, etc etc, but I still feel like I have so much more to learn that anything I've picked up so far is insignificant.
The important thing to consider, I suppose, is that it's only three weeks to half term. This is the magical marker that signals the end of what is said to be the longest and most difficult half term. I hope that's the case. It has been tough, there's no doubt, but now I've gotten over the initial shock, I have to concentrate on improving my professional performance and confidence.
This was definitely evident in my performance with Year 10. I decided to work on the written work that I didn't get time for the lesson before, but unfortunately my explanation was terrible when I tried to tell them how to do an activity and they were confused. Luckily they had a go, and one girl got the idea - I read hers out and a sound of "Ooooh..." echoed around the room. Thank you, kid. I set them the introduction to write as homework, with some rushed piece on literary background ("Miss, what's literature?") and sent them on their merry, albeit confused, way.
I was in such a rotten mood following that catastrophe that I greeted my Year 7s in a bit of a strop, prompting a year 12 across the corridor to tell my colleague that I looked "well strict". I was a little shouty, but I did kinda want to remind them that I was boss. The lesson was a little rushed, especially as I took a few minutes to let a couple of them writing with their feet and chalk to mirror Christy Brown (we were reading an excerpt from "My Left Foot") and the lesson was ok. The best part was that I was finished by lunch.
I can't really remember what I did after that, other than observe a colleague's lesson and sort out my classroom.
When 3.30 rolled around I made plans to finish sorting paperwork then head to the pub. I was pleased to see my favourite colleagues waiting with a drink for me, and we took part in what has become a weekly ritual: cold drink (cider for me,) chili peanuts, and our "Highlights of The Week", whereby we each give two or three highlights from the week (obviously.) I was rather pleased to have this very blog mentioned as my colleague's highlight, as apparently he has recently discovered it.
From what I remember, my highlights this week were:
1. Finding out how many people are not just reading my blog, but apparently enjoying it.
2. My year 8 class saying they preferred me to the supply teacher.
3. I can't actually remember. How depressing. I'll give my colleague's other highlight - his year 10 pupil who skipped out of school earlier in the week to get a tattoo. In his school uniform. For free. From a guy who wanted to "establish his reputation." Apparently it's a couple of swords through a heart, with a scroll saying "Nan". Quite sweet, really.
We stayed for a few (too many) drinks and I headed on down to central London for a friend's birthday. The less said about what happened after that, the better, but all in all it was a great way to end a long and tiring week. Let's see how the next month goes.
I can't believe I've been teaching for four weeks already; on Monday it will be exactly a month since the start of term. I'd like to say I've learnt a lot, it's been an emotional journey, etc etc, but I still feel like I have so much more to learn that anything I've picked up so far is insignificant.
The important thing to consider, I suppose, is that it's only three weeks to half term. This is the magical marker that signals the end of what is said to be the longest and most difficult half term. I hope that's the case. It has been tough, there's no doubt, but now I've gotten over the initial shock, I have to concentrate on improving my professional performance and confidence.
This was definitely evident in my performance with Year 10. I decided to work on the written work that I didn't get time for the lesson before, but unfortunately my explanation was terrible when I tried to tell them how to do an activity and they were confused. Luckily they had a go, and one girl got the idea - I read hers out and a sound of "Ooooh..." echoed around the room. Thank you, kid. I set them the introduction to write as homework, with some rushed piece on literary background ("Miss, what's literature?") and sent them on their merry, albeit confused, way.
I was in such a rotten mood following that catastrophe that I greeted my Year 7s in a bit of a strop, prompting a year 12 across the corridor to tell my colleague that I looked "well strict". I was a little shouty, but I did kinda want to remind them that I was boss. The lesson was a little rushed, especially as I took a few minutes to let a couple of them writing with their feet and chalk to mirror Christy Brown (we were reading an excerpt from "My Left Foot") and the lesson was ok. The best part was that I was finished by lunch.
I can't really remember what I did after that, other than observe a colleague's lesson and sort out my classroom.
When 3.30 rolled around I made plans to finish sorting paperwork then head to the pub. I was pleased to see my favourite colleagues waiting with a drink for me, and we took part in what has become a weekly ritual: cold drink (cider for me,) chili peanuts, and our "Highlights of The Week", whereby we each give two or three highlights from the week (obviously.) I was rather pleased to have this very blog mentioned as my colleague's highlight, as apparently he has recently discovered it.
From what I remember, my highlights this week were:
1. Finding out how many people are not just reading my blog, but apparently enjoying it.
2. My year 8 class saying they preferred me to the supply teacher.
3. I can't actually remember. How depressing. I'll give my colleague's other highlight - his year 10 pupil who skipped out of school earlier in the week to get a tattoo. In his school uniform. For free. From a guy who wanted to "establish his reputation." Apparently it's a couple of swords through a heart, with a scroll saying "Nan". Quite sweet, really.
We stayed for a few (too many) drinks and I headed on down to central London for a friend's birthday. The less said about what happened after that, the better, but all in all it was a great way to end a long and tiring week. Let's see how the next month goes.
Thursday 1 October 2009
Day 19: PPPPP
Proper planning prevents piss poor... you get the idea. I allowed myself a break last night from planning, thinking I could do it instead this morning (first 2 periods off.) Bit of a mistake. I managed to get them planned, and resources printed, but was not happy really with what I was supposed to do.
I observed a colleague first thing, as she also teaches top set year 10. It was good to see her in action, as it were, although I was embarrassed that I only asked her 15 minutes before the lesson and she didn't look too impressed by the intrusion. It was even more embarrassing to see that her group have pretty much written their entire coursework and mine have not written anything. I've been reassured by the HoD that this is fine, but everyone else has made a start.
Anyway, so year 10 came and went, and it was a bit crap. They were ok, but I spent too long on the start of the lesson and they didn't get as far as actually writing what they were supposed to. I really need to rein in my pacing so that this doesn't happen again. I ended the lesson telling them they could all get As in some half-assed pep talk which sounded more like a confused drill sergeant than Dead Poet's Society. I hope they got the message.
Lunch after, and I ran out the door for a cigarette, knowing that my year 11 boys were supposed to be coming up to do their coursework. I bumped in to one of them in the corridor and asked him to come back in 5, which of course he didn't. So I had my cigarette and my lunch and prepared myself mentally for year 9, who I'd be having last lesson.
As can be expected, year 9 are never good in the afternoon, so I decided that I'd show them the film to keep them quiet. Of course, they were a nightmare and moaned the whole way through the work, which was infuriating, and A turned up and was taken away again, and caused such a fuss that it took him 35 minutes to calm down. I'm a little concerned that I have exacerbated his behaviour, and I should have had his mother in already but either way I don't want him in my already unsettled class until I know he can behave like a normal person.
So the day ended and I was pleased that my two year 11 boys turned up, as I'd run to their classroom to ask them in person. They stayed for an hour or so, eating my jaffa cakes, and finished their media coursework. I was very pleased with them. Nice boys, too. Apparently one of them was a bit of a nightmare when he was younger but he's quite sweet really.
And there you have it. I was lucky enough to get a lift home from a colleague, which was a nice treat, and then treated myself further to some tasty Battlestar Galactica. I suppose I should get on with my lesson plans for tomorrow. I need to make sure year 10 get lots of writing done tomorrow so I need to be prepared. You know what they say...
I observed a colleague first thing, as she also teaches top set year 10. It was good to see her in action, as it were, although I was embarrassed that I only asked her 15 minutes before the lesson and she didn't look too impressed by the intrusion. It was even more embarrassing to see that her group have pretty much written their entire coursework and mine have not written anything. I've been reassured by the HoD that this is fine, but everyone else has made a start.
Anyway, so year 10 came and went, and it was a bit crap. They were ok, but I spent too long on the start of the lesson and they didn't get as far as actually writing what they were supposed to. I really need to rein in my pacing so that this doesn't happen again. I ended the lesson telling them they could all get As in some half-assed pep talk which sounded more like a confused drill sergeant than Dead Poet's Society. I hope they got the message.
Lunch after, and I ran out the door for a cigarette, knowing that my year 11 boys were supposed to be coming up to do their coursework. I bumped in to one of them in the corridor and asked him to come back in 5, which of course he didn't. So I had my cigarette and my lunch and prepared myself mentally for year 9, who I'd be having last lesson.
As can be expected, year 9 are never good in the afternoon, so I decided that I'd show them the film to keep them quiet. Of course, they were a nightmare and moaned the whole way through the work, which was infuriating, and A turned up and was taken away again, and caused such a fuss that it took him 35 minutes to calm down. I'm a little concerned that I have exacerbated his behaviour, and I should have had his mother in already but either way I don't want him in my already unsettled class until I know he can behave like a normal person.
So the day ended and I was pleased that my two year 11 boys turned up, as I'd run to their classroom to ask them in person. They stayed for an hour or so, eating my jaffa cakes, and finished their media coursework. I was very pleased with them. Nice boys, too. Apparently one of them was a bit of a nightmare when he was younger but he's quite sweet really.
And there you have it. I was lucky enough to get a lift home from a colleague, which was a nice treat, and then treated myself further to some tasty Battlestar Galactica. I suppose I should get on with my lesson plans for tomorrow. I need to make sure year 10 get lots of writing done tomorrow so I need to be prepared. You know what they say...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)