Barriers ...

... to blogging and on the Thames!

It's been another busy week in the life of Nzeru Louisa at school. We had a review this week of the department, and fortunately it all went well. We went out for tapas at the Mason de Felipe in Waterloo on Wednesday then watched the football in the pub across the road. Then I was at a course yesterday - very inspiring. Lots of ideas for school in September. Then we visited the Thames Barrier again today. Lovely day - sunny, warm, I put on a dress and enjoyed the heat, and we took loads of pictures of each other. Fun!

And, finally, Doctor Who was very exciting! Can't wait until next week!

So busy!

No time to write a proper post this week ... course on Thursday, followed by late night meeting including presentation, course on Friday, delivering this time, pub quiz on Friday night - fun!, nice lazy day on Saturday spent with H, church then planning today. Still up - had planned to be sleeping by now! I have spent far too long online. But Doctor Who was great!

Parents say the funniest things!

Had a really good parents' type evening tonight. One mother I spoke to ended up talking about orgasms ... Really, it's not what I expected when I stayed late!

Ordination

I was at an ordination of a deacon yesterday. It was a lovely day, and the church was very beautiful. The service was very joyful, particularly the Alleluia before the gospel, and the most moving part was when the wife was asked to present the deacon's vestments to the bishop before some of the other deacons helped him put them on. I felt really honoured to be there. It was a sunny day, too, which was good.

Incorruptible

My Year 7s were as amazed by St Bernadette's incorruptible body as I was ... Lesson went quite well today ...

Origami for Year 8s

So origami can be used to inspire Year 8s to work ... Many members of my class were a page behind in their work, so rather than rushing on, I decided to complete one more page and spend some time making a fortune teller to demonstrate Hindu belief. But they could only get the square paper once the first three pages were complete ... By the end of the lesson, most of the students were up to date and making good progress on their Hinduism widget. Surprisingly, the boys seemed the most keen to make these widgets. Although they then wanted to make ninja stars or something or other.

Alcohol Awareness

It's good to know that the message about pregnant women not drinking alcohol is getting through ... during Communion, the little boy next to me said to his heavily pregnant mother, "Get the baby out, then you can have the wine!" Later he suggested they "get the baby out now". Very sweet!

Life Drawing

I went to my first life drawing class after work today. Well, not exactly a class, but there was a model and a few folk drawing her. It was a bit strange - I hadn't realised the woman was the model at first, and wondered who she was - this was in school - and then I realised that it was Thursday and there is life drawing on a Thursday. (She was dressed at that point!) It was a bit strange at first as she disrobed, because having a naked woman sitting in a classroom is not an everyday occurrence (just a weekly art one!), so I started be sketching the outline of her back and the shape of her legs, and by that time everyone was so intently drawing that I had become used to her nakedness too and it was a very relaxing and enjoyable half an hour or so. I was quite pleased with my finished work, apart from the fact that I had sketched it with the paper on the table at a slight angle to me, and when I lifted it up to look at it, the face in particular was completely different! I will need to remember that for next time! It was like an optical illusion - it looks sort of normal from a certain perspective, but from viewing on a wall perspective it's sort of elongated. (Also, the face is not particularly good anyway, since I'm not a great faces person.) The woman was very striking. She had quite spiky hair, and deeply hooded eyes, thickly covered in blue eyeshadow and black kohl. Her mouth, purposively painted, was set in a calm yet pouting distinctive way. Her eyebrows were black and arched. She wore a purple beaded necklace.

It had been a good day all round. My Year 9s produced some artwork and two of my Year 10 boys, who are on report and often don't turn up at all, took part in some excellent, thoughtful discussion about poverty and wealth. Does money always make you happy? Is it always a bad thing? Can you be happy if you are poor?

Dreams

I did it again! This morning I managed to sleep through the radio alarm for about 20 minutes, and woke up shortly after a bizarre dream about toilets! There were two doors to the toilets, and the queue for the gents' was much shorter (as per usual!) then the women's toilets. It turned out that the men could go straight in, whereas the women had to pay #1 each to go, so it was talking longer because we had to unlock the door by putting the money in, turning the lock etc ...

I've just had a chance to listen to the Today programme to confirm that they were talking about toilets ... and they were! Interesting to listen to the flow ... they were talking about toilets, then talked about toilets being more catered to men, then talked about paying for toilets ... So gradually my dream was formed! This was a good 3-5 mins discussion, all on toilets!

I wonder what will be on the news tomorrow morning ...

To do

Here's the most recent list:

1. Photocopy Hinduism booklet for all classes, and complete answers for other teachers.
   
2. Finish Year 10 reports.
   
3. Mark three sets of Year 9 assessments. (2 and a half down, half to go...)
   
4. Write 3 lesson plans for project. (One planned; two to write, but planned in my head.)
   
5. Write Case Study for project.
6. Send off all project stuff by 14 June.
7. Write essay for other course.
8. Plan inspection lessons.
9. Plan all assessments and lesson plans. (This is done in my head, and will be completed by the end of the week whether I like it or not!)
10. A whole load of KS3 stuff ... write a yearly plan, make sure all books are up to date etc.