I was going to lesson plan but I really wanted to ramble on my blog first so here I am.
A good first day back, mainly because my head of department came and shouted at my Y10s again and then they were good (albeit perhaps for one lesson only) meaning that we actually did some work and I didn't have to shout over them and thus the rest of the day was good. Disappointingly I had to move my classroom tables from the group work formation they were in back into rows of desks so that I could split up the kids and hopefully stop them talking a bit. I also had to go back to seating them in alphabetical order. Two kids just wouldn't conform to the new set up and so truanted, while one was kicked out twice. Thus I spent some time calling parents today, but that was ok.
In other news the general incompetence of the people in charge of internal exams meant that the maths exams for Y7 and Y8 didn't happen today after all, and so we had to teach them. My impromptu lessons were ok though, I am pleased and I managed to write up one set of Y7 class reports, meaning only one more class to go there, yay!
Most of the day was spent thinking random thoughts that I wanted to post up. Firstly R, one of my colleagues, told me about WWOOF, which is this cool organisation whereby volunteers go and work on organic farms and gardens in return for food and accommodation. She went to Norfolk over the half-term and had an awesome time, so I am thinking maybe I will get a bit more self-sufficient by learning some of this stuff myself this summer. Secondly she told me about a book called "Grow It Eat It" about fruit and veg growing and recipes to cook with, which was a lovely book (made for kids!) and really captured my imagination.
I also spent some time contemplating how relaxed my holiday has made me in that things that normally stress me out haven't (and hopefully won't). For example I was called up in assembly today to give out merit certificates for my tutor group and accidentally had the clip on my trousers undone and the kids pointed it out to me, which should have been mortifying, but was actually quite funny. Also facebook keeps messing up when I try and load my Malta photos, but that's ok, I can do it another day. Also my little brother is running for the Cambridge Union, meaning he is now officially a hack, yuck, but oh well, whatever makes him happy.
Going back to assembly, it was on the environment and the UN World Environment Day. In an exciting move forward our school is finally going to get its recycling sorted, yay! The assembly itself was pretty inspiring and carried the message "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" which I am going to try hard to do. I made my first big step today by switching my credit card, bank account and mobile phone bills all to digital versions, meaning less paper posted to me.
The last thing I was thinking about was how much drama there is with football managers at the moment, what with Mourinho going to Inter and Sven formally getting the boot and maybe being replaced by Mark Hughes, and also how great it is that we have the Euro tournament to tide us over until halfway through August when the Premiership kicks off again. Football is so dramatic and ridiculous sometimes. I mean, can you believe that the Glazers would potentially turn down £70m from Real for Ronaldo, even if he refuses to play for Man Utd, and instead just force him to sit on the bench just cos they can?! Talk about trying to prove a point.
I had a nap at 7pm today after dinner, against my usual belief that 7pm is too late if you still wanna go to bed at a decent time, and am feeling mighty refreshed from it. There was an article in the Metro about sleep spas and how 39% of people surveyed said that they felt so tired at least one day a week that they just wanted to go home from work. There was also this woman that lost 3 stone over a year simply by taking power naps. I knew naps were good for the soul.
Right I really should get back to my lesson planning if I want to read any of the books I am browsing through at the moment. I currently have three and picked up a fourth today that I want, so I think maybe I will put the other three aside and read this new one, and then come back to them. Hmmm, but perhaps that is the mistake I made each of the other times? Perhaps I should just focus on one.
Oh and finally, I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but please make sure you see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just because it is so awful it's funny. And if you're still bored after reading all of this you can text 'JOKE' to 118118 today for free to get a nice joke from them, hahaha!
A good first day back, mainly because my head of department came and shouted at my Y10s again and then they were good (albeit perhaps for one lesson only) meaning that we actually did some work and I didn't have to shout over them and thus the rest of the day was good. Disappointingly I had to move my classroom tables from the group work formation they were in back into rows of desks so that I could split up the kids and hopefully stop them talking a bit. I also had to go back to seating them in alphabetical order. Two kids just wouldn't conform to the new set up and so truanted, while one was kicked out twice. Thus I spent some time calling parents today, but that was ok.
In other news the general incompetence of the people in charge of internal exams meant that the maths exams for Y7 and Y8 didn't happen today after all, and so we had to teach them. My impromptu lessons were ok though, I am pleased and I managed to write up one set of Y7 class reports, meaning only one more class to go there, yay!
Most of the day was spent thinking random thoughts that I wanted to post up. Firstly R, one of my colleagues, told me about WWOOF, which is this cool organisation whereby volunteers go and work on organic farms and gardens in return for food and accommodation. She went to Norfolk over the half-term and had an awesome time, so I am thinking maybe I will get a bit more self-sufficient by learning some of this stuff myself this summer. Secondly she told me about a book called "Grow It Eat It" about fruit and veg growing and recipes to cook with, which was a lovely book (made for kids!) and really captured my imagination.
I also spent some time contemplating how relaxed my holiday has made me in that things that normally stress me out haven't (and hopefully won't). For example I was called up in assembly today to give out merit certificates for my tutor group and accidentally had the clip on my trousers undone and the kids pointed it out to me, which should have been mortifying, but was actually quite funny. Also facebook keeps messing up when I try and load my Malta photos, but that's ok, I can do it another day. Also my little brother is running for the Cambridge Union, meaning he is now officially a hack, yuck, but oh well, whatever makes him happy.
Going back to assembly, it was on the environment and the UN World Environment Day. In an exciting move forward our school is finally going to get its recycling sorted, yay! The assembly itself was pretty inspiring and carried the message "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" which I am going to try hard to do. I made my first big step today by switching my credit card, bank account and mobile phone bills all to digital versions, meaning less paper posted to me.
The last thing I was thinking about was how much drama there is with football managers at the moment, what with Mourinho going to Inter and Sven formally getting the boot and maybe being replaced by Mark Hughes, and also how great it is that we have the Euro tournament to tide us over until halfway through August when the Premiership kicks off again. Football is so dramatic and ridiculous sometimes. I mean, can you believe that the Glazers would potentially turn down £70m from Real for Ronaldo, even if he refuses to play for Man Utd, and instead just force him to sit on the bench just cos they can?! Talk about trying to prove a point.
I had a nap at 7pm today after dinner, against my usual belief that 7pm is too late if you still wanna go to bed at a decent time, and am feeling mighty refreshed from it. There was an article in the Metro about sleep spas and how 39% of people surveyed said that they felt so tired at least one day a week that they just wanted to go home from work. There was also this woman that lost 3 stone over a year simply by taking power naps. I knew naps were good for the soul.
Right I really should get back to my lesson planning if I want to read any of the books I am browsing through at the moment. I currently have three and picked up a fourth today that I want, so I think maybe I will put the other three aside and read this new one, and then come back to them. Hmmm, but perhaps that is the mistake I made each of the other times? Perhaps I should just focus on one.
Oh and finally, I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but please make sure you see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just because it is so awful it's funny. And if you're still bored after reading all of this you can text 'JOKE' to 118118 today for free to get a nice joke from them, hahaha!
