Day 35: Half Term

What can I say? It's half-bloody term! I never knew how sweet a week off could be.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.