Off work, ill.

I hate colds. This is the first time I've been off ill this year, and the first time in ages. Blowing my nose constantly, head feels woozy, and I'm not going in tomorrow either. So there. Still not managing to get any marking done, unfortunately. Too tired, lethargic. Haven't done much other than mope around. Must have another lemsip.

The end of the week ... the start of a new one

Well, it's been quite an eventful week. Some of the problems that we read and hear about in the news occasionally find their way into school, and today was one of those weeks. A bit close for comfort, but other nice things make up for the bad ones.

A couple of colleagues were off on Monday, so I was trying to hold the fort as well as stop fighting from beaking out in my own class too. Fortunately the supply teacher is excellent and settling in well, building up a good reputation for taking no nonsense and teaching good lessons, so that's one less thing to worry about.

Had Open Evening this weekend. Always fun - the room looks nice filled with candles and with sacred music playing in the background. We leave the lights off and it's very calming. Had some sixth formers there this year to help out - they were great!

There's a friendly little girl in one of my Year 7 classes that stays behind at the end of the lesson and tidies up the class for me. On Thursday, as I wrote her a thank you card to take home for her helpfulness, she said she was going to sing one song. So that was my surreal moment of the week, me sitting on the desk, her standing at the end of it, singing "You've got a friend" - a song she learnt at primary school. Very sweet! There's another little boy in my other year 7 class who is always so friendly and polite. He says thank you, Miss, at the end of each lesson and gives me a beaming smile when I tell him he has done well. These sort of moments are the moments that make teaching very worthwhile and enjoyable.

I have almost finished my third set of books that I brought home to mark this weekend. Spent the whole of yesterday marking and planning for the upcoming week. Didn't manage to do any of my literature review though. Oh dear. I have to give a presentation in just over a week ...

Came home on Friday feeling very ill and went to bed just after 8pm. Was woken up by H with a big plate of delicious Lebanese food. He'd gone out to get some, and the lamb and okra stew was just what I needed (I hadn't eaten - or cooked - any dinner because I felt so horrible). Woke up around 8am on Saturday, did the washing and shopping, then worked all day - in between blowing my nose, drinking lemsips and vit V juice and generally feeling yucky - and went to bed at around 10pm. Didn't go to church this morning - used that time to rest in bed and to try and get better. Don't want to spread my germs too much. Trying to get better for tomorrow. Have eaten grapefruit, and bought kiwi fruits.

Disappointment of the weekend? Biught some of those strawberry iced buns from childhood as a treat. Very dry. Won't make that mistake again.

Year 10 Work Experience ...

... How I love it! Two days with no Year 10s, and my Year 8 class yesterday and Year 7 class today were sitting exams, so I have been invigilating instead. Other than Year 7s on Monday it's been a good couple of days so far! Still have an annoying cold, though, that means my nose is still buried in a tissue for most of the day. I'm sure there were other things I wanted to say, but I'm too tired and a bit dehydrated now!

Bank Holiday Weekend Cold

It's always nice to have a long weekend, even if (especially if?) you don't have to do much! We spent a fine few days mostly at home, H working through a few artistic ideas, me mostly messing around on the computer. I came down with a cold, though, suffering from a sore throat for most of the weekend, and it's now a full blown lurgy, with me walking around the school holding onto not a handy pack of tissues, but a full box of them. Fortunately I've not had too many large classes today, which is just as well since I spend half my time talking into the tissues!

One of things I did over the weekend was to make last Friday's recording of my Year 8s into a movie. I showed a couple of them today, and they seemed to love it: "That's sick, Miss!" - no, that's "sick Miss", but I think they meant it as a compliment anyway, and not a comment on my health.

The Year 7s were not quite so productive, although some of them have worked away at the task and seemed to enjoy it. However, most seemed to be on the same bright green game, or the Simpsons. Not a happy bunny about that. Why are the sites that can actually be useful blocked, yet they can all access these non educational and time wasting games?!!

Back to my lemsip.