Busy Day!

Woke up around 8am. Got up and ready, out by about 8.40 am. Headed into the city for my conference. Spent around seven hours finding out what has to be done by 14 June ... quite a lot, it seems! But fortunately I might be on my way there - although I'll have to use my week off wisely! Lots to do!

Left around 3.30pm or so and came back home. We had already decided to go and see Indiana Jones and the whatever, so I sat and read half of my recently purchased book, before heading out towards the O2.

When we got there, H thought it would be a good idea to see if there were any tickets left for the Chris Rock gig. He had tried to get them on the internet, but to no avail. There were! And they were in the third row. So off we went into the Arena.

Chicken nuggets, cheeseburger and chips all went down well, and the people on either side of us in the arena were friendly. Since the last time we were in the arena was on the back row of the gods for the Prince concert, this was a little different! Front row seats for the record breaking comic. We were there until around 10.15pm or so. Rock was funny, funnier in some places than others. His observations on the difference between jobs and careers were, for me, the high point of his act. The relationship bit is funny if a bit on the crude side, but his observations on language and politically correctness weren't so hot. So a bit up and down, although we all laughed a lot.

We had paid for our Indy ticket on the internet, so H thought it would be worthwhile to see if we could exchange it. I didn't hold out much hope, but thought it wouldn't hurt to try. So we went and asked, and there was a show on at 11.30pm. So we had an ice cream and waited until we could get in.

Well. The music is still great, and it's nice to see Harrison Ford as Indy. However, it was all quite daft! I mean, aliens and flying saucers. The supernatural is one thing, but this was something else entirely! And a couple of the subplots were a bit silly too. Anyway, it was all fun - and it was nice to see the glow of the ark of the covenant in an early warehouse scene - but not as great as I had hoped.

On the way out, the square outside the O2 had been filled up with barriers. We wondered what sort of queue would necessitate that type of organised system, so we asked - the X Factor auditions. Some people were already there, waiting in the rain! Madness. On the way home we had to wait in another queue, this time of traffic, to go through the Blackwall Tunnel, which was closed in one direction. Glad to be finally home; very tired!

Bit better today ...

Apart from the fact that the coaches didn't arrive, the Year 11s didn't do much work, the Year 9s were loud and two of them shouted at me in detention, the Year 8s were so noisy another teacher came in to see what was going on, the Year 10s were videoing each other happy slapping each other, and the arrangements for tomorrow have been changed so I'll be the longest teaching teacher in the Sixth Form conference at the end of the day ... apart from all that, it's been a much better day! I think I'm perhaps even more positive under adversity ... Or maybe its the prayers of the sisters at church! Tomorrow is another big day, with the conference, an inspector in school and a Year 7 school trip (of which 19 out of 40 students have so far been given permission to go), so I wonder how that will go ... I think I need my sleep ... I'm sure I've forgotten something!

Back again ...

Well, I'm hoping that normal service can sort of be resumed now we're in December! I managed just over 20,000 words during NaNoWriMo. Not quite 50,000 words, but an interesting experiment nonetheless! Also managed to hand in my dissertation, attend a marking feedback course, give a successful presentation at a conference, entertain Mum and Dad while they were down in London for the weekend, prepare a video for our Sixth Form conference, and prepare and teach a few lessons.

Unfortunately the past week has been one of hardest I've faced for a long time. Not so much in terms of what has happened during the lessons, just in terms of general morale; it's partly because of poor pupil behaviour, but more a sense of feeling that there's not much I can do about it. I've been generally uninspired. In turn, that has made me put less effort into my preparation, which has probably then caused the lessons to be less successful. However, even when I've put in lots of preparation that has been sort of thrown back in my face, which is depressing.

So a tough week ... I hope next week is better! Hope you all have a good week too!

French Philosopher

What an interesting day today. In the morning I did three hour-long slots of marking as part of my research and my pupils' GCSE revision. Then my AS students arrived, with lunch, for some Utilitarianism revision. Then I came home, got changed, and we headed to the British Library to listen to Alain Badiou, the leading living French philosopher. The talk was held in the very comfortable conference centre, and the combination of this, Alain's soporific voice, and my lack of knowledge and understanding of the topic, meant that I had a very cosy 20 minutes or so snooze. Since this came after a very clear introduction, and before a fairly clear summary, I managed to catch the gist of the message, which was that existence is appearing to be, in a place. I think. The question session afterwards was not so clear, but perhaps that was because I was reading the "What's on" guide. Lots of interesting talks as part of their "Sacred" exhibition throughout April and May. I think we'll be back. But hopefully to something that I understand more!

Two days to go ...

The conference was great, but it means I still haven't planned my lessons.

Had a horrendously busy today, meeting with a very nice, helpful man to discuss the progress of the Year 11s, sent six Year 7s to the Referral Room within about ten minutes of starting the lesson because they got involved in a scramble, the Year 11a were quite horrible and I was being observed, and the Year 10s all acted as if they were drunk.

And it snowed. Much more interesting than learning anything.

Hope they've calmed down by Wednesday ...

I'm feeling quite nervous, anxious and panicky. Must plan those lessons.

Quiet Friday

Had that Y11 class again, the one that ended up badly on Monday. A bit better today ... I've got three pupils who will be getting letters home.

We didn't quite get as much done with the Y10s as I'd hoped, but not too bad. At least the behaviour was improved.

The other Y11 class was not great because the computer suddenly decided not to do what it has always done before! But at least we could do some modelling of an exam answer ...

I was at a conference in the afternoon. Very interesting ... especially since I've been approached about taking part in a pilot scheme involving new technologies in the classroom. Special notepads and iPods were mentioned - watch this space!

Nocturnal annoyances

I've been away on a two day conference for Heads of Department. It was really interesting - I learnt a lot about the different exam boards, funding, and the new 14-19 curriculum. It was great meeting other people and being able to share ideas with them.

I woke up around 5.15am and decided to get up. Thought to myself that I didn't want to get locked out, so, feeling very pleased with myself for remembering, I picked up my key. As I pulled the door closed and it clicked, I looked in my hand - and saw, not my key, but my hair clasp!

I couldn't find anyone to let me back in my room, so I spent the next couple of hours sleeping on a cushion on a bench, with my cardigan wrapped around my head to block out the light (I'd fortunately put it on in order to keep myself more covered up - I hadn't taken my dressing gown with me). At around 7.15am I headed to the dining room, where they were getting ready for breakfast. The dinner lady gave me some coffee and cereal while I waited for the man with the keys to arrive.

Shame - it was actually quite a comfy bed and I'd been sleeping well before I woke up!

Conference

Drove to the East Midlands last night, with another colleague from another school in the LEA, to take part in a conference looking at the Black Pupils' Achievement Project. A fine drive - we talked non-stop - and we arrived just in time for a delicious dinner: sundried tomatoes and artichoke salad, cannon of lamb with fondant potatoes, caramelised betroot and fresh veg with a jus d'orange, chocolate brownie with banana ice cream, and coffee with tablet and mini chocolate fondant filled meringues. Delicious! We had time to briefly run through our presentation, then I sat up chatting until 1am with the leader of our project and presentation and a friend of hers.

We were first on this morning, and I was glad of a tasty, filling and not too greasy cooked breakfast beforehand. The presentation, which included a couple of models of teaching methods ("articulate" and visuals/oracy/questions model), was well received. There were three main parts - an overview and explanation of the course, given by the course leader, leading the conference in an interactive activity modelling the teaching idea, "articulate", led by my colleague, and my brief presentation of my research, explaining how the course leads into working on a Masters. I had to rush my section, unfortunately, because the first two sections went on a bit too long! However, I managed to demonstrate one effective strategy, and a couple of people afterwards said that it was helpful and they are going to use it.

Good discussions afterwards about the BPAP strategy in our individual schools. Very interesting to hear what other schools are doing. I think it would be good if we could start a teaching and learning group at our school, with members of each department, so ideas and strategies could be shared with all members of staff on a subject-specific basis, although still with a cross-curricular emphasis (eg on literacy, or BPAP).

Another issue that was raised is the paucity of good, relevant images on the web of black people, and other ethnic minorities, for example in Catholic churches. There are images of black people in Pentecostal churches, for example, but very few in Catholic churches. Someone suggested that I write to parents to see if they have photos they would be willing for us to use in lessons, so that our visuals could become more representative of the communities that our pupils come from. I'm planning on following that up.

Right. I think I'll head to bed and get some rest before tomorrow - when I have a parents' evening with my form!

Back to school!

I'm allowed to go to the Conference! So that's Tuesday night and Wednesday sorted ... although I must remember to leave the worl for Wednesday's classes!

It's funny how you can have loads of time to prepare and yet you still end up rushing just before your lesson ... It was an early start, getting up at 6am again ... I had woken up a few times in the night, but had managed to rest and not get up, so I was fine at school. Got a bit tired towards the end of the day though ... anyway, I had two non-contacts this morning, and did some filing and a few admin bits and pieces. Should have marked the year 10 tests though ... After assembly (which went well, I thought ... it was about fireworks, reminding pupils that it is now illegal to have them, and that they will be arrested and permanently excluded if they are found with fireworks ... lots of gory stories about fireworks getting caught in people's wrists and exploding ...), it was time for my duty. Fortunately the upper corridor was quiet, so I was able to nab my line manager and plan a meeting later this week. I then rushed to my room to try and set up the lesson ... and I couldn't switch the computer on!

Well, I tried four times before desperately calling for one of the technicians. When he arrived, I said, "Look, this is what's it's doing," clicked the button again ... and, lo and behold, it started working! Felt like a bit of an idiot! Anyway, good to have it working again. So I set up the lesson ... and watched it all fall apart around me as the class arrived.

Ties not on, shirts not tucked in, hats and jackets on and not being removed, trainers, never mind the lack of blazers. I spent a good few minutes trying to tidy them up before we started. One pupil who has been absent recently was in, on an attendance report. Good that he was punctual ... shame about the behaviour. It affected a couple of others, and the lesson ended up boring me because I spent half of it trying to stop three pupils telling each other stories about Borat.

Before lunch I had a fairly productive meeting with our NQT. She is really impressing me with her determination and the fact that she'll try lots of different teaching methods to motivate the pupils. I'm going to observe her next week.

Lunch - a cupasoup - was followed by a short voluntary departmental meeting - really to plan what we'll get for the baby! Flowers, a card, and perhaps a small gift?

My year 7s wouldn't be quiet. There are a few of them that just won't stop ... I had a couple of moments of peace during the lesson. All they had to do was copy out the key words, but some of them were talking and messing around, and whenever I changed the word, they started complaining - hardly realising that if they copied, and got their heads down, they would manage to keep up. But that would require them to stop talking for a moment or two ...

Year 10s were doing their end of unit assessment. Weren't too happy to have that on their first week back ... Eventually had to send one girl to the Sanctuary who was incredibly rude. I can't remember why now! I think I asked her to remove her jacket ...

Straight from the lesson to a Head of Department meeting ... boring! ... and then off to a meeting with the Chief Consultant who has invited me to take part in the presentation. We've planned what we're going to do on Wednesday now.

I've now got to go and write a reference letter, phone another colleague at another school whom I am driving north tomorrow, mark two sets of assessments, make sure I have the work left for Wednesday, and check my emails. And pack. Just as well we've already had our pot noodle and chicken!