All in a day's work

A mixed bag type of day. My Year 11s were excellent ... they listened attentively, contributed answers, and told any pupils who started talking to be quiet and listen. Maybe we should discuss contraception and STIs every day ...

My final minutes of the school day involved looking in on another class in the department who had a supply teacher. I'm not sure how you would describe what was happening in the classroom, but you wouldn't call it learning. Some pupils were outside, others were throwing paper balls around, one or two were trying to work, a few more were having conversations. My command to stand was largely ignored, at least until I had shouted at a few of them. Eventually I stood in front of the door until everyone in the class had completed some work - for the final few pupils, after a bit of a tantrum, that eventually resulted in the grand total of about six words. But at least it was something. Think I'll need to pop by a bit more often with that class. There are some quite good pupils in that class, but a few tough ones, and as a group they have a bit of a reputation. The worst ones weren't in the lesson that day ...

Scariest moment of the day was when I was talking to a girl in my form who had been out of lessons in the Referral Room because she'd been fighting another girl. At the end of the day I asked her about the incident. Six girls had attacked another girl. Had she thought about what she had done? Yes. And what did she think now? She'd do the same thing again. Well, that scared me. That she still thought it was okay for seven girls to attack one girl over alleged name calling, the names probably being as a retaliation to previous bullying. I thought of the recent murder, in the news a lot at the moment, of Tom Ap Rhys Jones. That the two boys seemed to mug people for fun. Where is the line between one and the other? I hope there is a line, and that she will not cross it. But her attitude at the moment scares me.

Another day ...

I've sent out a few letters today inviting a number of year 7 parents to their child's detention next week. We'll see if that makes any difference to their behaviour ...

Had a good meeting tonight looking at Performance Management but also the difference between leadership and management. I need to try and think of my vision for the (read 'my' in the future ...) department. When I do, I should post it on here ...

Had an early night last night, but have managed to stay up later tonight. Accidentally.

Year 7 headache

Any suggestions as to what to do with my Year 7s?! I had them lined up outside for about 15 minutes ... all they needed to do was to stand in a line, facing the front, without talking, and we would go in. Is that really too much for an eleven or twelve year old to grasp? Really? We went inside, and spent another ten or so minutes waiting for silence so we could read the text. Then most managed to just about start the task before the bell went. And everyone had gone by about 15 minutes after the bell went ... it's hard to keep them for much longer without their parents' knowledge after school.

I'm thinking of inviting all their parents along to school next Tuesday for a whole class meeting, and to draw up a class charter. However, I'm sure the parents of the generally good ones would make the effort to turn up, and the ones whose sons and daughters contribute most to the lack of progress in the class would not be able to come.

I waited for 20 minutes at the end of the day for two parents to come in for a meeting to discuss their children's progress, but to no avail. So it would probably be similar. Ah well.

The Head of Year has been to see them, Assistant Heads have spoken to them, the Head has been in at the start of lessons with them ... and I've never seen another class like it!!!

Ah well, Malcolm in the Middle is on and H is bringing back some Chinese Duck, so all is right with the world!

Winter cleaning

I had a tidying up day today. The office is now looking a bit neater than yesterday, and the classrooms are a bit cleaner looking. Shame that the Year 11s weren't as neat and tidy about their work!

The phone lines were down all day today. Have a few calls to make tomorrow ...

Hailstorm!

I got caught in a hailstorm on the way to Church this morning. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but I got soaked!

Obsessed by Bond

(The blog help has guided me to images that are licensed to freely share, or something. Not the biggest choice, but I wanted to illustrate this post!)

Just thought I ought to admit to being a bit obsessed by all things Bond at the moment. As you know, I saw the film last week, finished the book this morning, have spent the day watching Bond podcasts and listening to 30 second preview clips of all the Bond theme tunes. And even though I wasn't totally enamoured with "You know my name" as the title song, I've just been watching the video and learning the lyrics. Well, reading them ... learning might be taking it a bit too far. Would love to go again. Have also been reading the reviews. On the rottentomatoes.com site there are about 139 positive reviews to 9 negative ones (don't worry, I didn't count, they work out the statistics on the front page). And I'm still waiting for someone else to go and see the film so I can compare notes with someone else other than H, who is now saying how boring the plot was and how he can't remember it. So I told it all back to him, pausing now and again to make sure I wasn't embellishing it with incidents from the book. So would anyone out there like to go and see it again with me?!

At least I managed to get up to date with marking all the books of the pupils who were foolish enough to forget to take their books home with them to complete their homework. Which unfortunately for them is rather a lot, but fortunately for me not too many.

I still have a methodology and methods report to write though. Maybe tomorrow ...

Things I've Done

From Amy Loves Books, from Today's Lessons, from Quiet Life (these things go round on blogs, people see a good idea, look at the original, are more inspired, copy it and perhaps inspire others ...)

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse (of the moon ...)
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk.
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe.
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. (Missing?)
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild (bought ones though)
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Well, I make that 48 things out of 150 ... how did you do?