Y6 induction day; even newer teachers than me!

Life is still tough. My HoD has once again suggested to me that I take some time off. Humph. I think my generally surly demeanour is warranting attention. I really need to find my smile again. I'm sure it's in my pile of teaching paraphernalia somewhere.

Portfolio still doesn't exist, crumbs! On the plus side, my Y7 and my Y8 books are now marked up to scratch, only 2 hours of work! Also have evaluated my submitting units of work, caught up on the journal, and written up all my observed lesson evaluations. Gosh, look at all that paperwork - is that what we got into this for? Well, rather the paperwork than the politics (I think two more people have been asked to leave/have resigned in the last week, it's awful).

Y6 induction day today. Some lovely and very bright ones; also some rather boisterous and potentially very challenging ones. Heard a rumour that one turned up in a jumpsuit and hoodie with matching diamante earring. Said boy had a freak out during an English lesson - told his English teacher to "f*ck off", hurled a chair across the room and then stormed out. Nice. I look forward to it. Maybe I'm lucky not to have a tutor group after all.

Last CFG (Critical Friends Group) was tonight. Met most of the '07s from our area. Can't believe how young and innocent they all are. Actually, more like I can't believe how old and wise I sound. They're all desperate to hear advice on teaching, which is understandable - you hear so many scare stories that you cling to anything that might help. Tried to reassure them, and also secretly felt quite proud at how far we've all come. One of the other '06s in my school has just become second in department in science - props to her indeed :) In truth though, as much as other people's tips can help, it's not until you're in your school with your own classes that you can really start to develop as a teacher.

In other news, thought I'd give you a health update. Hair still not being washed with product; it's thicker and wilder than ever. Needs a trim actually. Have definitely gone down a trouser-size and there's some serious flattening of the stomach. Have a shocking sore throat - if I could lop my tonsils out with a spoon I think I would. In preparation for some serious weekend hangover - got some big birthday lashes lined up. Oh and maybe a bit of work for the old final assessment!

And finally, a shout out to Mr Read and his blog - thanks for the name drop and keep up the good work, very entertaining reading! And for the reminder that there's time for fun in all of this madness!

Barriers to actually working

Grrrrr. Trying to get anything at all done at school today was near impossible. The sodding server was still down so you couldn't print anything or save to the server. Emails were really temperamental, as was internet access. One of the photocopiers was broken. There was exams in the maths block, which disrupted lessons. The online registration system and the reporting system were both still playing up. Nothing was working, and so it was near impossible for the teachers to be working. Plus, it was raining.

See how dependent on technology we are? But really, it's so annoying when you're trying to do the most straightforward task, but everything just holds you back. Grrr. Another source of workplace stress.

In other news, I was sent on an errand by two of the members of my department last Friday, to buy chocolates for the Y11s. This errand cost me precisely £32.80. Now, I don't want to seem tight, but I'm not a Y11 tutor and had no real desire to spend what is essentially a week's worth of teaching Y8 on a sugar-fest for some right clowns. The question is, how do I get my money back now? I hate owing people money, but even worse, I hate being owed money. But I don't wanna be hassling them for the cash, but then again, if I leave it too long, it'll be too hard to ask for it back. Ho-hum, what an exciting dilemma. Not.

Oooh and a quick update on my wild mane of hair. I think it's almost 3 months since I last washed it with shampoo, and it feels pretty good. Washing with just water seems to work, even with horrid smokey hair or sweaty gym hair. It has a kinda natural oil feel to it, which isn't too bad, plus I swear it's stronger and thicker. So yes, going strong on that front.

Nothing else of note to say except that I have so much paperwork to generate for my "portfolio" for OFSTED that I'm just not gonna do any of it. Mwahahaahaha.

Behaviour Policy

Before I launch into a mini-rant about behaviour at my beloved Academy, some updates:

Hair: it's now been 25 days since I washed it with shampoo and I swear it's cleaning itself! I mean, I still thoroughly wash it with just water, but it's nowhere near as greasy as it was at the start. Plus, it feels thicker (although this could just be me following the spin). I do miss the smell of shampoo and given that I've been off serious sport for this whole time, it's not been properly tested yet. So far so good though.

Piano: I have now had 10 lessons and am thoroughly enjoying myself. I actually feel myself getting better every week and my musical theory is miiiiiiiiiles ahead of where it was (no idea how I got my grades before; perhaps evidence that "theory" incorporated into Guildhall exams can be bypassed). It's strange how I have completely forgotten how to read bass clef notes once I stopped playing 'cello and focused on trumpet. Also it's strange how I can now get my hands to do different things at the same time - not as hard as it looks! I have decided that it's definitely an advantage to try and learn something like piano at a young age since it is so mentally challenging (in a good way...as opposed to some of my little angels at school!) so if my future kiddies are up for it, I'll be smiling.

Anyway, onto the "drivel" as my blog has so offensively been described. My school is due to implement a brand new behaviour policy next term. The SLT attempted to give us some kinda input into what we were going to do at the start of the term, but we've not heard anything about it since. I'm guessing they will suddenly bombard us with new rules and guidelines and we'll be just as clueless as the kids.

Now, I'm all for a behaviour policy and will do my best to apply it as well as I can, but something like a behaviour policy requires every member of staff to follow through with it. Our school is so full of "old staff" who say they've seen these things fail time and time again that I don't think I'd be far off the mark if they didn't even try to implement it (or, fingers crossed they don't, but they could even sabotage it). This obviously won't be a good start, but a good start is crucial to the success of the policy.

Speaking of sabotage then, the whole SLT have been increasingly distinctly AWOL this half of term. Consequently behaviour has slipped dramatically to an almost unbearable level.

Take today, lesson 4, Y10 maths. Usually the maths department enjoys greater respect and better behaviour than most of the rest of the school; perhaps because most members of maths are "institutions" and the kids know not to mess. However, today, 10 minutes into the start of the lesson and there were at least 12 Y10s hanging around outside the block, and a further 5 who had already been kicked out of their lessons. Kids are just walking outta lessons and lounging around and refusing to go back. The group I team-teach were absolutely off the wall due to a cover teacher being present. Thankfully the Head of Department stepped in to give them a rollicking at the end of the session, but in other classes kids are getting away with it. Where's the SLT or Head of Year to come and sort them out? Nowhere to be seen. So the kids know they can get away with it and push it a little further each day.

I don't wanna be cynical or conspiracy theory about this, but I'm convinced the SLT are deliberately letting things slide with regards to behaviour so that next term when the new policies are introduced and behaviour improves, they can give all the credit to the marvellous new policy. In truth though, for the most part things will be better because they are finally doing their jobs again.

I guess I don't really care what eventually causes behaviour to improve as long as it does, but I can see things getting worse before they get better.

In other news, I'm singing in assembly on Friday - yes, dodgy I know, hahaha, but we'll see how we get on....

First Day Back...

...was alright. Pretty good in fact. The kids said they'd missed me and that the cover teachers "were rubbish" :) Felt guilty for not marking most of their cover work, but there's aaaaacres of it. With Y11 some things that made me laugh:

Me: Pick a number between 1 and 5.
N: 10.
Rest of class: Derrrrrr, between 1 and 5 you thicko, etc....
Me: Everyone makes mistakes.

Later in the same lesson:
Me: So then we multiply 0 by 5, which gives us 5.
Class: No it doesn't, derrrrrrr, it's 0. It's always 0.
Me: Aaah yes, that was a deliberate trick question.
Class: Teachers always say that when they mess up.

Despite minimum planning, lessons went really rather well. Have been inspired to make my lessons more creative, hence tonight have done lots of planning. Looking forward to Friday with Y7 where I'm teaching "multiplication from around the world" (with crazy techniques from China, Russia, Egypt and the Western world). Also made pretty ActivStudio flipcharts. Am slowly becoming addicted to ActivStudio, very baaaad. There's always more you can do to your flipcharts (kinda like powerpoint presentations, but on software that works with Prometheon whiteboards), but I have decided to cut myself off for the night. Besides, there's only so many pretty animations and sounds you can throw in to keep the kids on task; it's like anything else in economics - every additional unit has marginally less impact.

What else? Contemplated setting up an Ultimate Frisbee club at school in the summer term. Made dinner (an exceptional circumstance for me since my folks tend to coooooooook away meaning I don't have to!) - a random concoction of bacon and leeks in a cheesy roux with spaghetti. Yummy. Feel like hair is unbearably greasy, although am sure it's really not. Still love my "new" room, and dancing around to Nathan. Spoke to Berts about Venice, sounds very promising, am looking forward to it mightily.

Just figured out why my wrists hurt when I played the piano earlier - think I've given myself RSI. Time to stop. Mmmm bed.

Updates

I particularly like the thought I've put up today, very relevant. Babs often used to say "if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail". Yes. So I guess my lessons tomorrow are going to be a write-off. Oh well.

So the updates...

The lurgy: Is better, much better. Thursday and Friday went a bit downhill since I developed a delightful sneezy nostril/eye watering combo, which wasn't great, but a necessary stage through the lurgy. Now I am only slightly coughy and pale-looking, but I feel good. In fact, despite thinking it was irresponsible, I put in an appearance at Ginger's birthday drinks last night, and felt ok there (and hopefully didn't pass the lurgy on). Ginger was in fine form; highlights including falling off and over her chair numerous times, shouting rude words around the pub, and replacing the padding in her bra with the little table number triangle stands. Good stuff.

The house: The stairs to the loft are in! They are such beautiful stairs as well. One of my mother's victorian cupboards has moved back to their room and so my room has been completely reshuffled. I think it has been very positively feng shui-ed, and as a plus point I can now dance around the middle of the room again, excellent.

School: I haven't thought about it too much, and have decided not to think about it until tomorrow when I am actually there. Hence the failing of the lessons.

Easter: Flights are booked to Venice! Woo hoo, very excited!

My hair: This isn't really an update since I haven't mentioned it before, but I have decided to stop washing my hair with products. Gross I hear you say. Well, so far, not so bad actually. A little more greasy, but doesn't feel too awful. That said, all I've been doing is lounging around. The real test is morning-after-sweating-all-nite-at-the-club hair. Shudder. My brother stopped washing his luscious locks with products about a year ago and his hair is still amazing (even though he did lop his dreads off and now has a closely shaven "mop"). Supposedly after three months it'll become fully self-cleaning. Great, three months, woo! So yes, will keep you posted on that one.

Dreams: Had a coupla weird ones. In one my whole family really lived in another house, but it was my uncle's house so we had to keep hiding so that they wouldn't notice we lived there too. In another (and I've had this one twice) my subject mentor at school tells me I won't get QTS because I am failing all the standards. Then she suggests that there is a way that I can pass - if I buy her lots of stuff. During the dream she slowly evolves into wearing a fortune-teller/gypsy woman type garb, very strange. And in the second version of the dream, instead of me having to buy her stuff, I have to teach her very crazy offspring in my year 7 set 2 group in return for getting QTS. The third dream involves me having to teach at another school, and I have a group of about 50 year 10s and they all ignore me so every time it's their lesson I go to the pub instead, but then I get caught. I also had a nightmare yesterday morning, but that is too scary to relive on here.

In other news, how annoying was the Spurs-Chelsea game this afternoon? Why can we never hold onto a lead when it matters? I hate defensive play at the best of times, but why doesn't Jol realise this doesn't work for us? On the plus side, at least we drew so there's a home replay. I watched the game in the living room with lots of middle-aged Tamil women since my mother was holding a committee meeting (she's President of her old school's girls' association). It was pretty fun since some of them knew quite a lot about football, plus I love hearing people shout at the TV in Tamil.

I wonder if there's an old pupils' association at my school...?
Have a lovely week!