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.