Days 98-99: Nice

Wednesday went past pretty quickly. I had lots of observations today, which were all pretty interesting, and it was nice to see some active learning in the year 8 lesson in the morning (an activity I might try myself too.)

I was mortified that I nearly fell asleep in one of the lessons, because I just feel so exhausted. I suppose coming to the end of half term and being utterly ground down has finally caught up with me, and being in such a relaxed environment meant that my body is switching off.

After school I, once again, skipped back to my school, although this time for year 11 parents' evening. As it turned out, none of my kids turned up. I did therefore have time to sort out a few things, including cover, although I was disappointed to miss K and his sister. I did actually bump into them as we left the building, but never mind. I ended the day the only way I know how: in the pub. This would turn out to be a mistake, but at the time I just wanted to catch up with my colleagues, and it was nice to hang out with some of the lovely Teachy Firsties in my school.

On Thursday, as I sat on the slowest bus known to man, crawling through the rush hour traffic on my way to The Outstanding School, I passed my school and felt a pang. Not from the ulcer which has surely developed from the stress of oversleeping and being late, or the headache from the midweek drink-induced hangover, but from seeing dozens of 'my' kids dragging themselves through the school gates. I actually missed them.

Of course, this could have been because I was going to teach a lesson today and I was dreading it, or because observing three lessons a day, no matter how relaxing, is actually quite dull. It reminded me of the feeling I had when we took the year 11s to see An Inspector Calls, and they were so well behaved and gawky I felt rather proud of them.

I shook this feeling off and returned to my bacon sandwich, willing the bus to hurry the hell up as I was already late, and eventually got in, 15 minutes later than planned. I panicked immediately when I made my way to the HOD's form room and saw they weren't there, and realised that I had less than two hours to prepare for the lesson I would be teaching and had no Internet access. It was OK though; I sat in the staff room on my laptop which I had cleverly brought with me and made a little power point and decided to go with my original idea for the lesson - relating the Lord of the Flies to The Bacchae. Eventually the HOD turned up, and after embarrassingly admitting that I wasn't ready to teach it so I'd be missing my first observation, then asking his advice when he had a lesson, I set to work on finishing it off.

The time flew by, and he came to collect me after break to take me off to his class. I started doing that infuriating thing I do when I'm nervous: over thinking. I questioned him on how I should present the questions to the group, and he politely advised me, although I felt he must have been growing tired of me by now. We came into the classroom and the kids all looked up expectantly. He set up the computer, did the register, then introduced me.

And off I went. I was so incredibly nervous, my voice was jumpy to begin with, and I set them the tasks awkwardly and gave them a time limit. Luckily they all got on with it and I went around asking them what they thought. Despite my admittedly confusing instructions they all seemed to grasp what I wanted them to do, and thankfully were doing it! I warmed up a bit, then had a rather stilted feedback session where I prodded them with extra questions, which at times were a tad embarrassing, but the kids seemed to humour me.

I launched into the second part of the lesson - The Bacchae, and it seemed to go down OK. The kids read through the scene I gave them and then I asked them some more slightly awkwardly put questions about it. Some of them seemed to get where I was coming from, and with 15 minutes to spare I set them the task of staging the death of Simon from the book. I'm not sure why... One group even agreed to perform it, although it was a little awkward, and I was thankful that they did.

The lesson was over pretty soon (1 hour 20 mins lasts a lot less than I thought it would) and I was treated to lunch by the HOD. We sat with a member of SLT who asked me how I was getting on. I said the school and the staff were really nice.
"NICE? Surely you can do better than that?"
"Er, OK... the school is amazing and the staff are wonderful."
What a strange man.
After the stress of teaching faded, I felt much better, and was able to relax for the afternoon, before watching a Latin lesson in the last period. Although it was a little lecture-y, it was actually a fantastic lesson and I really enjoyed it. It was also nice to see that there were some naughtier kids in the school (names were written on the board and everything!)

I ended up leaving pretty early, without really saying goodbye, because I was so exhausted. I'm looking forward to half term more than I can say, although really this week has been a real treat. I must remember to buy a card and chocolates for the lovely staff though.