Day 96: So that's how the other half live...

I didn't sleep much last night. I've got to admit, I was pretty nervous about going to The Outstanding School. I impressed myself by getting out of bed on time and not only getting myself breakfast before I left, but also getting a sandwich made too.

I had to get to my school in the morning to sort out the day's cover that I'd neglected to do on Friday. I regretted this decision as soon as I got in, although I remember feeling like I wanted to die last week so really this was the best option.

I got it all done by 8am and ran out the door, stopping off to say hello to the friendly smokers on the way. It felt pretty weird walking away from school, especially when I had so many lessons to miss today, but I ploughed on. I ran into one of my more challenging year 8s, W, on the way.
"Where are you going Miss?"
"To The Outstanding School for the week. What happened to you? Why the crutches?"
"They're my friend's."
(No friend to be seen.)
"O....K... have a nice week."

I managed to get there just before half past, and signed myself in at reception and waited for the head of department to arrive. He bustled in merrily, and led me off to get a cup of coffee then made small talk whilst introducing me to the rest of the department, including the young male teacher I'd met on Wednesday, and who I'd be observing later. I followed the HoD to his form group, who were a largely bored selection of sixth formers. (No vertical tutoring here.)

I had first period free, so was set up in the English stock cupboard, searching through the department's resources and deciding what to steal (decided: everything.) I was then collected by the lovely HoD who took me up to his classroom to watch his year 12s. They were discussing poetry, and I found it rather interesting, although I'd been up for so long that I was feeling rather sleepy, embarrassingly enough.

After the brief break I watched the young teacher with his year 9s. They were writing poetry, and although a couple were a little chatty (one was even moved) the kids did work in silence. For a long time. I was so taken aback, I was practically speechless after the lesson. No answering back, no confusion or argument over the task, no teeth kissing. I had to stifle a laugh when the kids were doing their work and all I could think of was one of my own year 9s, when asked to write on her white board what genre of film Rambo was, wrote "ROCK".
Nothing like that here: the kids wrote some amazing poetry with relatively little guidance other than a few poems for inspiration.

I had a great chat with that teacher on the way to lunch, and was even treated to a free meal. The school itself is housed in an old building set around a relatively dilapidated quad, with myriad posters advertising the various societies run by the students (gardenology club caught my eye in particular) but the otherwise nondescript lunch hall was separate. As I walked around the school, I noticed something. Just being around the corridors was a weird experience in relation to my school. Of course, the kids were hardly from the Village of the Damned, but there was so much less aggression that you could feel it.

I had another free after lunch, so spent it shamelessly downloading their resources onto my USB.

After that, I was summoned to the last lesson - another group of year 9s, who were doing Richard III. The group was a bit livelier but were still willing to write paragraphs on verbal irony with five minutes to go. The teacher was really fun and spirited, and perfectly comfortable with the group, who were all on task, as far as I could tell.

I was fairly embarrassed that, as I was so tired, I didn't really get up and walk around, or talk to the kids, which I should have been doing. I hope they didn't think I was some sack of crap.

I ran off as soon as the bell went, so I could get back to my school to set my cover for the next day. Not ideal, but had to be done. Plus it means I get a slight lie-in tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week, I really hope I'll learn a lot from them.