Parents

Tough afternoon. Had a couple of parents in today. Not great lesson - although not as bad as can be! But not great experience, really. Then had extra revision class after school. So late home, very tired, feeling stick on an almost empty stomach, sore head, feeling a bit miserable. Great to be home though - and H has made some delicious chips!

Truancy

I was late leaving school today, having made about seven phone calls to parents to inform them that their son has missed a lesson. Good to talk to the parents. Some were shocked, some resigned. Two are coming in tomorrow ...

However, I may have shot myself in the foot there ... without those pupils, the class was (almost!) as good as gold and we managed to complete twice as much work as normal!

Right. Stew for dinner!

What a day.

Still sore head - off to bed soon - after a day that had some good points (year 9s were not aggressive, and were fairly good natured, although still LOUD!) and many low points ... Year 7s in particular. Throwing paper balls at me. Then being very aggressive when I kept them for detention. So not too happy. But still going. Glad Year 9s were good ...

Putting on the pounds

Today a pupil worked out that I was about the same age (well, a few months younger, but who's counting?) than her Mum. That was a sobering thought.

And another pupil said "Miss, you're putting on the pounds." When he saw that I wasn't exactly overjoyed at that comment, he added, "I'm just letting you know so you can do something about it."

Joy.

Saw myself on a video ... far too much lipstick, all over the place. Embarrassing! Oh dear.

What was that Robert Burns said?

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
An foolish notion:
What airs in dress an gait wad lea'es us,
An ev'n devotion!

What did I do today?

Well, I'm feeling a bit guilty because I haven't done much, and I surely have lots to do. But then I thought ... I have just finished a week of teaching, maybe sometimes it's okay to not do much ...

I woke up, listened to some radio, did the laundry, did the weekly shop, came home, hung up the washing, put away the shopping, did the dishes (H made a delicious chicken in a tomato sauce last night), made some lunch (spatchcock poussin with roast potatoes and veg), read the Review, Family and Sport sections of the Guardian, read last week's Observer Sports Magazine, watched some Teachers' TV videos, played Scramble (like Boggle) on Facebook, browsed the internet a bit, watched Scotland beat England (yeah!!), listened to Barnsley beat Chelsea (yeah!), and here I am, thinking that I haven't done much all day.

But then again, last week I had a meeting after school on Monday, was prepared to do a revision class on Tuesday (no one turned up), had a meeting on Wednesday then met up with a friend, spent the whole of Thursday in a meeting that went on for an hour after school, then helped our new cover teacher plan lessons after school on Friday. I lost out on two PPA periods with meetings and added lessons, and have spent my other frees supporting the cover teachers, so I suppose it's okay to have not done much today! But I still feel as if I should have done more ... Maybe prepared some lessons, planned some homeworks, written some essays ... (what do you mean I haven't got any to do?!) ... tidied up the house more ... made dinner ... finished the dishes ... read some real books ... gone to the shops ... been outside more ... ???

I taught Year 9s today!

Yesterday was a really bad day. Taught all day and couldn't get much done. Year 9s were very bad - no work really achieved. Sat at the end of the day discussing teaching ideas with a colleague. This inspired me.

During one class, I said to one pupil, perhaps I should give up. He said, "Miss, think of Jesus. What would he do? Would he give up?" He then he assured me that he was listening, so I continued, a bit encouraged that at least one person was learning something!

Today I taught the year 9s! They had a sentence, four words long. This sentence had to be expanded, with a prize for the group who could make the longest, grammatically correct, sentence. I had a few good examples - they became quite competitive. Had one with 83 words, and another with over 100 words, but perhaps too many ands!

Felt more positive.

Covent Garden

It was great to see my sister today in London! We had a tasty (hee hee!) three course lunch: I had grilled goats' cheese with salad, duck confit with potatoes and lemon tart with creme fraiche. All delicious.

Interesting to meet her HoD ...

But nicer to wander round the shops talking to her!